En Oyashiro slowly removed the pair of diamond shaped sunglasses from his face.
His pupils had already transformed into a single horizontal line resembling the character for one. The whites of his eyes were a deep, dark crimson, like blood that had long since congealed.
The Ketsuryugan.
Kiyohara's Sharingan met those blood colored eyes directly. The two tomoe within his scarlet irises revolved slowly against their red background.
He could see something.
A peculiar chakra enveloped En Oyashiro's entire body. That chakra was resonating subtly with the blood scattered throughout the surrounding environment. To be more precise, it was manipulating a certain component within the blood itself.
Iron.
In that instant, Kiyohara understood. The Executioner's Blade could repair itself by absorbing the iron contained within blood, and one of the abilities of the Ketsuryugan was precisely the manipulation of iron elements within blood. In a certain sense, En Oyashiro himself was like a living Executioner's Blade, one that possessed both awareness and intent.
"What truly enviable eyes," En Oyashiro said, interrupting Kiyohara's train of thought, his voice carrying undisguised greed. "The Sharingan… the treasure of the Uchiha clan. I have collected numerous kekkei genkai users for many years, and what I have always desired most is a complete pair of Sharingan."
He raised a hand and lightly snapped his fingers.
The six subordinates behind him moved at the same time.
The two black clothed shinobis closed in from the left and right with astonishing speed, clearly specialists in taijutsu. The other four mercenary shinobis remained at the rear and began forming hand seals. Fluctuations of fire, wind, lightning, and earth chakra rose simultaneously into the air.
It was coordinated with professional precision.
As expected of a merchant who had survived for years within the black market, the people under En Oyashiro might not have been top tier elites, but their tactical discipline was not lacking.
The first to arrive was the black clothed shinobi on the left. The shinobi blade in his hand was wrapped in wind nature chakra, its edge slicing through the air with a piercing shriek as it aimed straight for Kiyohara's throat.
Kiyohara did not attempt to block head on. He simply shifted his body slightly to the side. The blade grazed past his collar, and the pressure of the wind severed several strands of hair.
Almost at the same moment, the guard on the right reached him as well. Instead of using a weapon, he formed hand seals and slammed both hands onto the ground.
"Earth Release: Fist Rock Technique!"
The earth surged upward as rock encased his right arm, forming a massive stone fist the size of a water vat that smashed down toward Kiyohara.
A missing-nin from Iwagakure.
Kiyohara raised an eyebrow slightly. He lifted his left hand, palm facing forward, and executed the same Earth Release: Rock Fist Technique. With the transformation of earth attribute chakra, yellow brown stone rapidly covered his arm, shaping itself into a hardened stone fist. This was something Steel Release Kiyohara had once taught him.
BOOM!
The two stone fists collided and shattered, gravel spraying in all directions.
But it was the opponent's stone fist that broke apart.
With sufficient chakra support, Kiyohara's rock fist was visibly larger by a full circle. The black clothed shinobi let out a muffled groan, the bones in his entire arm feeling as though they had splintered. He was sent flying backward, crashing through half of a mud wall.
At that moment, the ninjutsu attacks from the rear arrived.
"Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet!"
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"
"Lightning Release: Earth Walk!"
"Earth Release: Earth Dragon!"
Four B rank techniques converged from different angles. Flames, gale force winds, crackling lightning, and a charging earth dragon roared forward.
A thunderous explosion resounded. The area where Kiyohara had been standing was blasted into a deep crater, as though a bomb had been detonated there, dust and debris filling the air.
"Leaves?"
One of the shinobis noticed leaves drifting within the smoke.
Kiyohara himself had already vanished. He had slipped away before the techniques even reached him.
On the other side, Kiyohara began condensing chakra in one hand. The chakra rotated and compressed at high speed within his palm. Blue white lightning burst from between his fingers, emitting a sharp buzzing sound.
"Lightning Release: Vanishing Rasengan."
A sphere of chakra smaller than an ordinary Rasengan formed in his hand. Around the outer layer of the spinning chakra mass, a ring of silver lightning arcs flickered.
Then Kiyohara hurled it directly forward.
The swirling Vanishing Rasengan tore through the smoke, absorbing and ripping it apart. Those present were able to immediately see Kiyohara's position. The sphere flew straight toward En Oyashiro.
Its speed was not particularly fast, even somewhat erratic in its trajectory.
En Oyashiro frowned slightly and instinctively moved to dodge to the left. Yet before he could fully evade, he suddenly laughed. The rotating chakra sphere vanished midair, disappearing without a trace before it ever reached him.
"Did it dissipate before arrival?"
It was the first time En Oyashiro had ever seen a shinobi like this.
His subordinates also laughed.
"Can't even control his chakra properly?" one mercenary sneered. "So this is the level of a Konoha shinobi?"
"The Sharingan isn't that impressive after all."
While continuing to form hand seals, they hurled insults at Kiyohara.
"Looks like you…"
Before En Oyashiro could finish his sentence, Kiyohara smiled faintly.
Good. They all liked to laugh. He liked to laugh as well. Then let them laugh louder.
In the very next second, the right side of En Oyashiro's face suddenly caved inward.
The power of the Lightning Release Vanishing Rasengan struck his face directly. Flesh, fat, and muscle tissue were shredded in an instant. A clear spiral imprint appeared on the surface of his skin.
A wet tearing sound echoed.
Half of his face exploded outward as blood and fragments of bone sprayed into the air. En Oyashiro's head snapped violently to the right. His entire body was flung more than twenty meters away as if struck by an invisible giant hammer. He smashed through the walls of three earthen houses before finally coming to a stop amidst the ruins.
Silence fell over the entire scene.
The four mercenary shinobis who had just been mocking Kiyohara froze, their smiles stiffening on their faces. The two black clothed shinobis were equally stunned.
"You did not truly think I would use such an obvious technique to attack directly, did you?" Kiyohara said calmly.
The so called Ketsuryugan was nothing more than a counterfeit Sharingan.
It also possessed a type of chakra known as ocular power, and it could similarly cast genjutsu upon others.
However, what they lacked was the ability to perceive the flow of chakra.
If one could not see the chakra permeating the air, then once light and shadow were distorted, it would naturally become impossible to discern what was real.
This was a technique that had even caused Ōtsutsuki Momoshiki to suffer a loss.
Within the ruins, En Oyashiro slowly rose to his feet.
The entire right half of his face had vanished, exposing ghastly white bone beneath. His left eye remained intact, but the Ketsuryugan in his right socket was laid completely bare. Without the protection of an eyelid, that crimson eyeball was embedded directly within the hollow of bone, making his appearance even more grotesque and terrifying.
Yet what was even more bizarre was that the blood which had splattered outward was now flowing back.
One drop, two drops, countless droplets of blood separated themselves from the ground, the walls, even the very air, as though guided by invisible hands, converging toward En Oyashiro's wound.
The instant the blood made contact with the torn flesh, it began to proliferate. New skin tissue, muscle fibers, and nerve endings grew at a speed visible to the naked eye.
In the blink of an eye, roughly seventy percent of the right side of En Oyashiro's face had been restored. Although it was still uneven in places and the color of the skin did not fully match the surrounding areas, the basic contours and functions had already returned. The exposed Ketsuryugan was gradually covered once more by newly regenerated eyelid tissue.
"Ketsuryugan: Blood Restoration Technique."
En Oyashiro's voice carried the irritation of someone who had just been toyed with.
"You nearly disfigured me. Fortunately, I have the Ketsuryugan. By consuming the blood I have stored, I can repair my injuries. A very practical ability, would you not agree?"
He touched his newly grown cheek. The last trace of mockery in his eyes vanished, replaced by pure fury.
"I have changed my mind," En Oyashiro said coldly. "Originally, I intended to capture you alive and slowly study your bloodline limit. But now I will gouge out your eyes, drain every drop of your blood, and grind each of your bones into powder. Then I will transplant your Sharingan into one of my other pets."
He raised his hand and pointed directly at Kiyohara.
"Kill him."
This time, his subordinates attacked without holding anything back.
The black clothed shinobi closest to Kiyohara struck first. His blade was wrapped in rapidly rotating water attribute chakra, the edge vibrating at high frequency.
"Water Release: Water Fang Slash!"
With a single swing, spiraling torrents of water carved a trench half a meter deep through the ground in their path.
Kiyohara did not evade.
He extended his right hand, bringing his index and middle fingers together, and lightly pinched toward the incoming blade.
Clang.
A crisp metallic sound rang out.
The blade, capable of slicing through steel and reinforced by surging water chakra, was caught between his two fingers. More precisely, it was the layer of deep black metallic sheen covering his fingers that forcibly withstood the cutting force.
Steel Release.
Combined with the reinforcement of Earth Release: Earth Spear, Kiyohara's physical defense had reached a terrifying level. Catching a blade with bare hands was nothing particularly difficult for him.
The black clothed shinobi's pupils contracted sharply. He tried to yank the blade free and retreat, but Kiyohara's fingers were like iron clamps that would not budge.
"Too slow," Kiyohara's voice sounded beside his ear.
Then came a punch.
A sickening burst followed as the man's head exploded like a smashed watermelon. Blood sprayed backward, splattering across the face of another guard behind him. The headless corpse swayed once before collapsing limply to the ground.
Silence.
A deathly stillness settled over the battlefield.
The remaining five enemies forgot to attack. They stared blankly at the headless body, at Kiyohara's slowly retracting fist, at the blood and fragments of brain matter dripping from his knuckles.
Kiyohara flicked his hand, shaking the filth onto the ground. His upper clothing had been torn in multiple places during the fight, revealing the lean lines of muscle beneath. At this moment, both Steel Release and Earth Spear were active upon his body.
In appearance alone, it was as though his entire form had been coated in armament haki.
"Not fast enough. Not ruthless enough either," Kiyohara said calmly.
The second black clothed shinobi finally reacted. With a furious roar, he hurled three kunai from each hand, six projectiles aimed at vital points from different angles, while simultaneously leaping backward to widen the distance.
Foolish.
Kiyohara did not even glance at the kunai. In a fully activated Steel Release state, weapons of this level could not even scratch his skin.
He stepped forward.
It was only a single step, yet the ground beneath his foot cracked apart. The repulsive force generated by the recoil propelled his body into a blur, and he appeared instantly before the retreating guard.
The guard attempted to form hand seals, but Kiyohara's blade had already been drawn.
It was neither a direct thrust nor a downward slash, but a peculiar motion like the swaying of willow branches in the wind.
Leaf-Style Willow.
In that instant, a genjutsu filled the guard's vision. It was no longer a single blade but countless blades. Hundreds, thousands of sword shadows bloomed around him, each one terrifyingly real, each one brimming with killing intent.
He could not distinguish which was real and which was false.
In truth, it no longer mattered.
He was already too late.
At the final moment, all the blade shadows converged into one and pierced his heart.
The steel passed through his chest and emerged from his back. The guard looked down at the hilt protruding from his torso, disbelief filling his eyes before he slowly dropped to his knees and breathed his last.
Kiyohara withdrew the blade, flicked away the blood, and turned his gaze toward the remaining four mercenary shinobis.
They had already broken down.
Faced with a monster so far beyond their comprehension, the instinct to survive overwhelmed everything else.
"Run!"
Someone shouted, and all four turned and fled in four different directions.
But Kiyohara had no intention of letting them escape.
He raised his left hand and spread his five fingers. Magnetic Release chakra surged from his palm as he began to manipulate magnetic force.
"Magnetic Release: Iron Sand Drizzle."
His fingers closed into a fist.
Iron sand transformed into a torrential downpour, shooting toward the fleeing men at speeds surpassing sound.
Four dull impacts sounded almost simultaneously.
Just as they were about to die, their bodies began to convulse.
Dark red blood flowed outward as though alive, yet instead of spilling onto the ground, it spread rapidly across the surface of the corpses, coating them. Within moments, each entire body was wrapped in a thick, writhing membrane of blood, as if something inside were swelling violently.
"Allow me to show you the true art of the Chinoike clan," En Oyashiro said, a cruel smile curving his lips.
"The human bomb."
The instant his words fell, one of the blood wrapped bodies suddenly sprang up from the ground. Its movements were stiff and twisted, like a puppet manipulated by invisible strings. At the same time, the wound in its chest radiated an intense crimson glow.
Through his Sharingan, Kiyohara clearly saw that the chakra originally belonging to the shinobi within the blood was being forcibly ignited by an external chakra, as though an unstable bomb had been implanted inside the human body.
"So that is how it works," Kiyohara murmured, raising an eyebrow.
He immediately understood the principle behind the Ketsuryugan's human bomb technique.
It was a sinister ninjutsu that combined genjutsu, blood manipulation, and chakra control.
First, at the moment the target was wounded, the Ketsuryugan implanted a special chakra into the injury through its genjutsu ability. Once activated by the caster, it forcibly drained the remaining blood and chakra within the victim's body, mixed it with Ketsuryugan chakra, and in an extremely short time produced a powerful self detonation. Judging by its intensity, it was likely comparable to the explosive force of five explosive tags.
More terrifying still, this was only one corpse. With sufficient targets, the explosions could be stacked and compounded.
Kiyohara now understood why the Anbu Kiyohara's teammates had all fallen within thirty seconds.
In the original account, only two methods had ever been shown to break this technique.
First, a member of the Uchiha clan could use the Sharingan's genjutsu to reverse the effect and restore the opponent to their original state, or alternatively, a genjutsu specialist whose illusionary prowess was not inferior to that of the Sharingan could accomplish the same.
Second, a member of the Hyuga clan could activate the Byakugan, perceive the flow of chakra directly, and use Gentle Fist to inject chakra into the precise acupoints, thereby eliminating the Ketsuryugan chakra at its source.
Unfortunately, there had never been an example of a member of the Hyuga clan joining the Anbu. As for the Uchiha clan, only Itachi had ever entered the Anbu ranks, which meant that the teammates who had accompanied Anbu Kiyohara back then clearly had not included Itachi.
When facing such an insidious technique that was almost impossible to guard against, unless one avoided injury from the very beginning or possessed a direct countermeasure, once struck it would trigger a chain reaction.
In the span of a lightning flash, Kiyohara's mind had already completed its analysis.
A thunderous explosion erupted beside him.
One second later, the aftermath of the blast and the thick blood mist finally dispersed.
Kiyohara stood unmoving in the same spot. The upper half of his clothing, already torn and tattered from the earlier battle, had now been completely reduced to strips of cloth, exposing the powerful physique beneath.
Under the dual reinforcement of Steel Release and Earth Release: Earth Spear, his skin had taken on a deep dark gray hue. After enduring the explosion and the corrosive wash of blood mist, there were only a few faint pale marks left behind. They were merely traces from the blast, not even enough to break the skin.
"So this is the art you were boasting about?" Kiyohara said calmly. "Turning your companions' corpses into bombs is certainly… inventive."
For the first time, En Oyashiro's expression turned completely grim. The vertical slit of the Ketsuryugan contracted to the size of a needlepoint, and the vein like patterns within it writhed frantically, revealing the turmoil in his heart.
How could this be possible.
He knew the power of the human bomb technique better than anyone. An ordinary shinobi would die from a single explosive tag. Yet this Uchiha brat had endured it purely through defense.
"Truly… astonishing," En Oyashiro said slowly, clapping his hands. The applause sounded especially sharp within the silent ruins. "The perception of the Sharingan, the control of Magnetic Release, and that monstrous physical strength and defense… just what kind of creature are you?"
"Sorry. My master is Tsunade. Being a little stronger than normal is perfectly natural. That is all," Kiyohara replied indifferently.
"That is all?" En Oyashiro laughed. The laughter grew louder and louder until it turned into manic cackling. "Only that? A shinobi who possesses two bloodline limits and can wield them perfectly, and you say only that? Even Tsunade was not this outstanding at the same age."
The laughter ceased abruptly. Madness almost overflowed from the Ketsuryugan.
"Do you know how many bloodline users I have seen over the years? Countless so called geniuses. Yet they either could only master a single bloodline, or they possessed several but could not use them simultaneously without conflict, or even if they did not conflict, they lacked true proficiency in any of them. But you… you are different."
His voice lowered, taking on a tone of temptation.
"Join me. We can cooperate. I can help you develop all of your potential. I can help you gather even more bloodline limits."
Kiyohara did not answer.
En Oyashiro was not capable of transplanting bloodline limits. He was merely painting an empty promise. In his previous life, Kiyohara had already learned not to be swayed by a superior's hollow assurances. Besides, he already possessed a better path to bloodline limits. He only needed to inherit different versions of himself.
En Oyashiro without the Ketsuryugan was nothing remarkable.
"I truly envy the Uchiha clan," En Oyashiro said, staring at Kiyohara with undisguised greed. Both were ocular clans. Both had once served the Daimyo of the Land of Lightning. The daughter of the Chinoike clan leader had even been married as a secondary consort to the Land of Lightning's Daimyo. She had been gentle, virtuous, and beautiful, so perfect that she provoked jealousy from the lord's principal wife. Tragically, not long after taking her as a consort, the lord fell gravely ill and passed away.
Where there were many women, especially within a royal household, intrigue was inevitable.
"It was because that woman married into this house that such misfortune occurred!"
Thus the principal wife spread rumors, placing all blame upon the consort, accusing the Chinoike clan of deceiving and even murdering the lord. Ignorant people believed her blindly, deeming the clan's bloodline limit an ill omen. Eventually, the Uchiha clan accepted a commission from the Land of Lightning to expel and supervise the Chinoike clan.
"Narrow communication breeds conflict. Minor frictions accumulate into hatred, and hatred ultimately leads to mutual slaughter," En Oyashiro continued. "Why is it that your Uchiha clan could earn trust and remain so united?"
This was what he could never comprehend.
"That is merely your perspective," Kiyohara replied, finding the words darkly ironic. The Uchiha united? Certainly they were united. Yet according to the original course of events, within a few years the clan would be erased from existence.
There would emerge a ruthless figure who annihilated the entire clan, much as En Oyashiro had destroyed his own. Itachi left behind his younger brother Sasuke, while En Oyashiro left behind his daughter Chino.
"You have already wasted too much of my time," Kiyohara said as his figure blurred and he launched forward. He had no leisure to listen to En Oyashiro's personal philosophy. He only wished to complete the lingering regret and claim the inheritance.
Still, the Ketsuryugan did hold research value. He wanted to see how its ocular power differed from that of the Sharingan.
Seeing Kiyohara attack, En Oyashiro fell silent. Against other opponents he might have continued his derisive monologue, but before Kiyohara he dared not be careless. If he made the slightest mistake, he might truly die.
"Ketsuryugan: Blood Pool!"
En Oyashiro formed hand seals. The ground began to tremble. Blood that had seeped into the soil, blood that had not yet coagulated within corpses, and droplets scattered everywhere all converged toward his feet.
Within moments, blood seeped from the earth, trickled down walls, and even condensed from the air. It gathered in depressions nearby, forming puddles that merged into a massive pool. Weapons and tools clattered to the ground as the blood mixed with water.
Kiyohara stepped back to avoid contact with the crimson liquid.
At the center of the pool, En Oyashiro slowly rose. His legs were submerged, and the blood crept upward along them as if forming armor. The pool began to boil and bubble, exuding a heavy metallic scent. Kiyohara could feel the iron within the blood being extracted.
"Do you know what the true strength of the Chinoike clan is?" En Oyashiro spread his arms, and the blood churned violently. "It is not genjutsu. It is not merely blood manipulation. It is the iron within blood. And here…"
The pool surged upward into a massive vortex.
"There is so much blood, so much iron. I should thank you for killing so many people."
At his words, eight pillars of blood shot upward. Each twisted and reshaped in midair, forming eight ferocious blood dragons. Every dragon was as thick as a water vat, composed entirely of blood and iron.
"Ketsuryugan: Blood Dragon Technique!"
All eight lunged at Kiyohara. Each possessed power comparable to a fully executed Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique. Eight attacking simultaneously was equivalent to eight coordinated shinobis.
"Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique!"
This was a fire style Kiyohara had obtained from another Uchiha. At first only a single fire dragon could be released, but a skilled user needed only a single hand seal to unleash multiple dragons.
Three massive fire dragons roared from his mouth, colliding with the eight blood dragons. Fire and blood met with a violent hiss as steam erupted. Several blood dragons were shattered instantly, forcing En Oyashiro to release even more blood. The pool's reserves were halved in an instant by Kiyohara's assault.
En Oyashiro's face darkened. Without blood, his techniques would become unusable. Why were this youth's techniques stronger than those of ordinary Uchiha? Was his chakra truly that abundant?
"Lightning Release: Vanishing Rasengan!"
Another chakra sphere was hurled. With a thunderous crash, one blood dragon's head was obliterated. The remaining dragons continued their assault, and Kiyohara evaded continuously.
"Other me," Kiyohara called inwardly. The Anbu Kiyohara had observed the entire battle. "I will borrow your power. Give me the power of the cursed seal."
He had no intention of dragging this out further. Even without the cursed seal, victory would be his, but it would take longer. Now he intended to seize En Oyashiro swiftly and fulfill the lingering regret.
Anbu Kiyohara did not hesitate. His spiritual form gradually merged into Kiyohara's body, taking partial control.
"The power of the cursed seal is also a form of natural energy, so it is difficult to control. I will stabilize it for you first," Anbu Kiyohara said.
Kiyohara nodded.
(End of Chapter)