Chapter 409: The Blade of Rebellion
"So, where are the ruins?" Amamiya Kenichi asked, looking curiously at the swamp before him.
He had been assembling his atomic bomb at the experimental base when Uchiha Shiori reported that she had discovered an interesting ruin. Not only that, it apparently resembled some of the pictures in the books Amamiya Kenichi had given her before.
Only after hearing that did Amamiya Kenichi decide to come with Shiori. Otherwise, he would not have bothered leaving.
Even so, Amamiya Kenichi chose to send a Shadow Clone rather than come in person. With Shadow Clones available, there was no need to handle every matter personally.
"It is inside this swamp, Lord Amamiya. This place is also a base for members of a resistance organization in the Land of Water," Shiori said respectfully.
Amamiya Kenichi nodded.
It was not surprising that there were resistance forces. After all, Amamiya Kenichi had never expected everyone to submit the moment he showed his power. That was unrealistic. He only needed to control these resistors with parasites, and over time, the trouble would naturally disappear.
So Amamiya Kenichi's idea was to slowly use time to erase the national memories of these countries, then make their people identify as citizens of one nation. Once that happened, disputes would naturally decrease.
However, all of this required time.
Following Shiori, Amamiya Kenichi soon saw a group of fanatical ninja standing before him. Many were ninja from the Land of Snow, but there were also some ninja from the Land of Water among them.
Amamiya Kenichi nodded and was about to continue toward the ruins. But as he passed one ninja, he could not help stopping and turning his head to look.
White hair, purple eyes.
Such a face was relatively rare even in the Ninja World.
"From the Hozuki clan?" Amamiya Kenichi asked, looking at the ninja before him.
He had recently been reviewing some information about the Land of Water, including details about the Hozuki clan. This person's face had been listed among the "ninja to watch," and Amamiya Kenichi remembered his name. Suigetsu Hozuki.
In the Land of Water, he seemed to be a genius ninja, someone the Daimyo of the Land of Water had been eager to recruit. Clearly, the Daimyo of the Land of Water still had some degree of control over Hidden Mist Village.
The Daimyo's mansion even had information on certain Hidden Mist ninja. Amamiya Kenichi did not know how the Daimyo of the Land of Water had managed that, but now it had all benefited him.
He had not expected to see Suigetsu Hozuki here, much less as one of his subordinates.
Just by looking into his eyes, Amamiya Kenichi knew the man before him had been infested by a parasite.
Although the Daimyo of the Land of Water had valued this ninja named Suigetsu Hozuki highly, to Amamiya Kenichi, he was merely another person. After all, he had seen many geniuses, and plenty of them had failed to realize their potential.
"Yes, Lord! My name is Suigetsu Hozuki!" Suigetsu looked excited, his eyes filled with fanaticism. He even seemed eager to shake Amamiya Kenichi's hand.
Amamiya Kenichi nodded.
He remembered that this ninja seemed to be a character who had appeared in the plot, but he could not quite recall where. In any case, he seemed to have followed Sasuke later. The current Suigetsu looked very young.
Amamiya Kenichi extended his hand and shook Suigetsu's hand.
For characters who appeared in the plot, Amamiya Kenichi still valued them somewhat. Those who could appear in the plot were often geniuses among geniuses.
But then, he looked down.
A long sword had been driven into his abdomen. The attacker had even twisted it several times.
Amamiya Kenichi looked at Suigetsu in front of him with interest.
Of course, he had noticed that something was off about this person. Even when Suigetsu made his move, Amamiya Kenichi had sensed it. If he had wanted to, he could have dodged instantly or simply used a defensive Ninjutsu to protect himself.
The reason he had not acted was because he wanted to see how far this man could go.
"Did the parasite's infestation fail?" Amamiya Kenichi asked with interest, looking at Suigetsu, who had already been restrained by a group of furious ninja.
To be honest, ever since he obtained the parasites, every attempt Amamiya Kenichi had made had shown the same result. Once a parasite reached a certain stage of infestation, it was basically impossible to break free without external help.
"Lord Amamiya!" For the first time, Shiori's face showed another emotion. She looked at Amamiya Kenichi in panic.
Under her leadership, the Lord had actually been assassinated?
In that instant, Shiori had already started thinking about where she should be buried.
"It's fine." Amamiya Kenichi pulled out the long sword.
His Shadow Clone was about to dissipate. After all, it was only a Shadow Clone and had no physical body. Enduring a stab like this was already impressive.
"Bring him back to me," Amamiya Kenichi said before disappearing.
The atmosphere across the entire swamp grew even tenser.
Shiori gritted her teeth and looked at Suigetsu. Then she quickly stepped forward and slapped him on the chest, sealing his Chakra.
The other party had just tried to do something else.
Although she did not know whether he had intended to commit suicide or continue attacking, Shiori would not let him succeed.
Thankfully, he had been restrained now, but Shiori still felt a chill down her spine.
Fortunately, Amamiya Kenichi had sent a Shadow Clone when he came out, not his real body. Otherwise, Shiori would have been entirely responsible. But even so, Shiori knew she was definitely in trouble.
And when she thought that this trouble had been caused by the person before her, she wanted to tear him into a thousand pieces.
"Are there any survivors of the Hozuki clan?" Shiori took a deep breath.
Suigetsu was someone Amamiya Kenichi wanted, so she could not injure him or beat him, but she had many ways to solve problems from another angle.
Suigetsu's pupils constricted.
"There are twenty-three women and children, and three males who have received the grace," a Jonin from the Land of Snow said respectfully.
"Imprison those three and seal their Chakra with sealing Ninjutsu. Kill anyone who resists without mercy. Bring those twenty-three women and children here!" Shiori's voice was thick with suppressed anger.
She quickly gave her orders, then left with Suigetsu, who could no longer move.
Although she desperately wanted to retaliate right now, she also knew what could not be delayed. No matter what, Amamiya Kenichi's orders had to be completed first.
"Your threats won't work on me." Suigetsu tried to calm himself, forcing a disdainful expression onto his face.
"Because of your actions, twenty-three people will die." Shiori looked coldly at Suigetsu beside her.
She wanted to stab him to death, but she could not.
Suigetsu sneered.
"And I will dig up your Hozuki clan's graves and feed their bones to dogs," Shiori continued.
This time, Suigetsu finally broke.
"What are you trying to do?! Kill me! If you have the guts, kill me!" Suigetsu roared hysterically.
Looking at Suigetsu, Shiori showed a faint smile.
Then she sealed Suigetsu's mouth with a sealing Ninjutsu.
She had clearly seen that he intended to bite off his tongue and kill himself.
Strictly speaking, biting off one's tongue was not enough to cause death. The tongue had abundant nerves, and the pain was intense. Moreover, the tongue was long. Even if an ordinary person truly managed to do it, they would only bite off part of their tongue and would not die.
The true cause of death was usually asphyxiation caused by the severed tongue blocking the throat.
But the Ninja World was still the Ninja World. If ninja truly wanted to bite off their tongues and kill themselves, they could do it.
So, to avoid trouble, Shiori made it so Suigetsu could not even move his mouth. All he could do was glare furiously with his eyes.
However, everything he did was meaningless.
Soon, Suigetsu was brought to the capital of the Land of Water and met Amamiya Kenichi.
"Hmm. The parasite is still there, so how did he break free from control?" Amamiya Kenichi curiously examined Suigetsu's body.
Suigetsu looked no different from a normal person, and the parasite was indeed present. But the stab he had delivered had also been real.
So the question was, how had Suigetsu broken free from the parasite's control?
"How did you break free from control?" Amamiya Kenichi asked directly.
Suigetsu's expression instantly twisted in pain. He was trying to resist the parasite's influence on him, but it was useless.
Soon, a miraculous scene occurred.
A wriggling parasite was slowly expelled from the back of Suigetsu's head.
"I see." Amamiya Kenichi looked at Suigetsu, who was still unwilling to cooperate, and suddenly understood why he had been able to avoid the parasite's control.
"You truly are a genius of the Hozuki clan. You've already mastered the ability to liquefy your body." Amamiya Kenichi looked at the silent Suigetsu, interest flickering in his eyes.
He understood now.
Suigetsu possessed a very unique ability: he could liquefy his body. When he liquefied, his brain and organs would naturally become liquid as well. Under those conditions, the parasite naturally could not control him.
After all, the parasite controlled the human brain, not water. If the parasite possessed even that kind of ability, then its power would be far too absurd.
Amamiya Kenichi paced around the laboratory a few times.
After learning that the Shadow Clone had dissipated, he had been thinking about how Suigetsu had managed it. He had not expected the truth to be so simple: liquefaction.
However, liquefaction was, to a certain extent, an excellent countermeasure against tangible foreign objects. After all, if the body's tissues liquefied, external objects could not possibly liquefy along with them. Being expelled by the liquid was not strange at all.
"I suppose very few people from your Hozuki clan ever suffer from parasites." Amamiya Kenichi smacked his lips.
Let alone parasites, even losing weight would become simple.
After eating their fill, they could liquefy their bodies and expel undigested food residue. In extreme cases, they might not even need to use the bathroom.
"..." Suigetsu said nothing.
He wanted to commit suicide now, but he sadly found that he could not.
"I read in the intel that you even led a team to kill your own uncle. So, were you planning to endure humiliation just to kill me?" Amamiya Kenichi looked at Suigetsu.
He was not very old, yet he had such a scheme. That proved Suigetsu was indeed a significant figure.
If his talent could be realized and his strength rapidly improved, becoming Mizukage in the future would not be impossible.
Suigetsu still did not speak.
Amamiya Kenichi found that rather boring.
Although he remembered Suigetsu as a character who appeared in the plot, his natural talent did not seem especially outstanding. Otherwise, Amamiya Kenichi should have seen him appear multiple times.
So Amamiya Kenichi activated his Mangekyo Sharingan and controlled Suigetsu directly.
Then he looked at Shiori, who was kneeling on the ground in a flustered state.
Frankly, Amamiya Kenichi was not very angry. No one had expected Suigetsu's liquefaction ability. The parasite had always been in his brain, so Shiori clearly was not responsible for this matter.
However, someone had to take the blame, and that could only be Shiori.
"Don't let it happen again," Amamiya Kenichi said with a wave of his hand.
He truly did not care much about this matter, but there was nothing else he could do. Shiori herself seemed to care deeply. If he did not say something, Shiori probably would not be able to get past it, so Amamiya Kenichi could only say that.
"Thank you, Lord!" Shiori breathed a sigh of relief.
It seemed the Lord was not very angry. That was good.
But then, Shiori glanced at Suigetsu. He stood there with vacant eyes.
Shiori took a deep breath. She felt she probably would not see Suigetsu again. His future would likely be miserable.
However, Shiori did not say anything more. Instead, she asked whether the remaining members of the Hozuki clan needed to be punished.
Amamiya Kenichi thought for a moment and decided not to let Shiori do so.
After all, the Hozuki clan was quite interesting, and their liquefaction ability was clearly not something ordinary people could master. As long as they could not master liquefaction, they could not escape the parasite's control, which meant they posed no threat to Amamiya Kenichi.
Looking at the vacant-eyed Suigetsu, Amamiya Kenichi led him into the laboratory.
Amamiya Kenichi wanted to figure out one question.
Was the liquefaction ability unique to Suigetsu himself, or was it a bloodline trait of the Hozuki clan?
However, that question would have to wait until after he dealt with the Ninja World's allied forces.
.....
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