Agony.
The agony of tendons being ripped out and stretched infinitely.
The agony of skin being peeled away, wind and sand eroding raw muscle.
The agony of organs being gouged out, the abdominal cavity filled with boiling mercury.
The agony of bones being cracked, fragments shifting chaotically within the body.
The agony of the skull being pried open, electrodes stirring the brain wantonly.
"Guh... ah..."
Hii Kōri curled up among the branches, his body twitching involuntarily.
At this moment, his red, slightly wavy long hair—though usually neglected, its texture had always been the envy of many women—was now mottled with patches of wanness.
Unlike natural white hair, this was a lifeless, withered, bleak gray-white.
The cord he'd used to haphazardly tie his hair had long since snapped. His red-and-white-streaked hair, soaked with sweat, tangled messily together. With each tremor, his now-fragile ends shattered like withered grass on the wilderness, turning to dust.
Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip.
His right arm, equipped with the composite weapon system, had probably snapped into several pieces. Flesh and blood had melted, adhering to the inner walls. The burnt cross-sections of his wounds split open from his subconscious movements, blood gushes from the cracks, dripping through the gaps in the weapon system.
The intense pain radiating from every part of his body would be enough to render unconscious anyone who prided themselves on their willpower. Yet Hii Kōri's mind remained exceptionally clear.
The plan he had executed was this:
First, using the alternate identities he'd cultivated over the past year, attacking Konoha's stronghold, feigning the goal of destroying infrastructure and supplies while causing maximum casualties.
Then, before appearing to 'exhaust his chakra,' withdraw toward the giant puppet, giving the impression of preparing to retreat, thereby drawing Konoha's ninjas to concentrate within a certain range.
Finally, detonate the puppet to buy enough time to unleash a large-scale water release, while simultaneously firing a Scorch Release beam cannon from his distant original body. This would evaporate the large water source into high-temperature steam, using the steam explosion's impact, temperature, the Scorch Release beam itself, and the curses within to inflict large-scale damage on the assembled Konoha ninjas.
That was Hii Kōri's plan.
Honestly, at first glance, it had quite a few vulnerabilities. Several steps required the enemy's coordination to succeed.
But plans should be simple. The more intricately designed, the easier they fall apart due to minor details.
A rough framework was indeed necessary, but execution required flexibility and adaptability. You didn't necessarily need Plan A through Plan Z, but Plan A-1 through A-7 was still essential.
Hii Kōri had indeed prepared numerous branch plans—including demonstrating the Hii School's personally transmitted Magnet Release secret technique: Shuriken Manipulation on the spot.
Fortunately, the deviation wasn't significant. It only shifted from A-1 to A-5.
Considering that these alternate identities of Hii Kōri's had already earned quite a fearsome reputation, the biggest suspicion was why such caliber operatives had never surfaced before. But this very suspicion became a considerable advantage within this plan.
Hii Kōri had always adhered to one principle: when adopting pseudonyms, be sure to be casual.
If a name was too meaningful, sounding like something an author would name a character in a novel, laden with allusion and metaphor, it was far too easy to see through. This was valuable experience accumulated from his days disguised various identities, scouring the world's black markets for materials or selling dangerous goods.
Moreover, to disguise multiple identities, having them appear simultaneously was also necessary.
The fact that Konoha had only received news of the attack on the Land of Whirlpools after a considerable delay gave Hii Kōri ample confidence in their lackluster intelligence capabilities.
Clearly, Konoha had indeed been deceived.
Thus, when three enemy soldiers with no prior activity independently attacked their camp, it was inevitable that Konoha's ninjas would consider attempting to capture them.
His current state was equally expected.
Undoubtedly, this was his body's 'retribution' for being overexploited.
Due to overexploiting all his chakra tenketsu, he could clearly feel his meridian system—spread throughout his body to every cell—now crumbling like abandoned factory machinery exposed to wind and sun for over a decade, seemingly on the verge of rusting into useless waste.
Under these circumstances, neither medical ninjutsu nor Yang Release could be relied upon.
For a ninja, this was undoubtedly a state of every strategy is exhausted.
But:
"At times like this, even I have to be grateful for my past life as a jujutsu sorcerer..."
Biting back the strange feeling, like having a lively, writhing octopus stuffed into his stomach, Hii Kōri skillfully activated the Reverse Cursed Technique.
Multiplying 'negative' cursed energy produced positive cursed energy, enabling treatment of almost all physical injuries, including brain damage. It was arguably the strongest healing technique barring off-specification abilities like 'immortality' or 'resurrection.'
However, no amount of healing could remedy 'depleted life force'—which wasn't even a symptom, just 'aging.'
"Probably aged a few years... still acceptable..."
Retracting the sparking composite weapon system into his scroll, Hii Kōri, his physical state somewhat recovered, tasted the blood in his mouth as he gazed at the distant, billowing steam, assessing the effectiveness of his operation.
The essence of conventional escaping techniques was converting chakra into the corresponding property to cast ninjutsu. That is, the 'fire,' 'water,' etc., created by chakra couldn't persist indefinitely. Once the released chakra was exhausted, the corresponding technique would terminate and disappear.
But the extended effects of the technique itself weren't affected.
Smoke and campfires ignited by fire release wouldn't extinguish. Terrain modified by earth release wouldn't recover. Similarly, water gathering... The water release wouldn't have made it disappear. Thanks to the Land of Rain's climate, Hii Kōri could easily unleash such a large-scale water technique.
Even though ninjas could unleash various powerful or wondrous techniques and scale walls and cliffs with ease, their bodies, even enhanced by chakra weren't particularly resilient.
Thus, high-temperature steam could certainly inflict sufficient damage.
Additionally, that Scorch Release beam, infused with a large amount of cursed energy, was capable of inflicting continuous and subtle mental wounds on the wounded while also draining their vitality like a curse.
The 'variant genjutsu' Hii Kōri had experimented with on Kōrin was now applied to the Konoha ninjas who had also invaded his homeland. Surely this good brother from Amegakure could rest easy in the afterlife.
Probably.
Even though the shadow clone that released the water release had erupted and scattered in the boiling steam on the spot, before dissipating it had confirmed the tragedy of nearby Konoha ninjas.
of course, these weren't immediately fatal injuries. The few Konoha ninjas who died on the spot were those caught directly in his Scorch Release beam.
However, compared to those in the high-temperature steam, being burned to ash on the spot was actually the kinder fate.
Deep steam burns weren't something one could lightly brush off. Ninjas with injured legs and arms, unable to form hand seals or escape, could only collapse helplessly in the steam, wailing before their throats, too, were burned, slowly dying in pain from within.
And the survivors certainly had nothing to celebrate either.
Though medical ninjutsu could achieve detoxification, attack, and other effects through form changes, its essence still relied on chakra stimulating cells to promote wound healing.
This treatment method was quite effective for tears, penetrations, etc., but far less useful for deep burns injuries highly likely to Cause large area tissue necrosis.
Improper treatment, especially in the damnable environment of the Land of Rain, could easily lead to widespread infection. Even if treatable, eyesight might severely deteriorate.
As for that little princess of the Senju clan's summoned animal? She currently lacked the ability to summon healing for so many people.
Whether medical ninjutsu or herbal medicine, treating these thousand-plus extensive burn cases would be a heavy burden on Konoha's logistics. Moreover, after Hii Kōri's attack, this Konoha stronghold's supplies were essentially scrapped.
One could only call the war fruitful.
As for what Hii Kōri hadn't anticipated—probably his current mental state.
Relief or satisfaction at avenging his brother? No.
The so-called emptiness after revenge? No.
Forced to describe it, at most it was: 'Ah, this is handled. Time to deal with other matters.' As mundane as frying eggs and bacon, preparing to eat breakfast.
The reason, perhaps, was that he had temporarily consumed his chakra to near exhaustion, and Yin Release could no longer interfere with his four-core, two-hundred-fifty-six-thread brain.
People remember unfinished tasks more vividly than completed ones.
In social psychology, this concept is referred to by the technical term 'Zeigarnik memory effect.' To put it more artistically: 'Regret is an emotion more lingering than love or hate.'
Of course Hii Kōri wondered: if he had been with Mataza back then, would things have turned out differently? But everyone knows such 'what ifs' are meaningless.
So that regret didn't even last seven seconds in his mind. His almost nauseating brain even told him that so-called 'revenge' was meaningless too.
Whether Mataza lived or died wouldn't affect Sunagakure's hostility with Konoha. Nor would it prevent them from reconciling later due to mutual interests.
Sasori's upbringing after losing parents, Chiyo's psychological state, how to protect those he valued from further harm, where to obtain research materials on techniques that could resurrect his eldest brother and sister-in-law, whether he could seize this opportunity to severely bruise Konoha's forces...
Compared to these thoughts popping up in his mind one after another, so-called 'revenge' seemed utterly insignificant.
Hii Kōri had to admit: yes, these thoughts in his mind were all correct. Even narrowly speaking, if he wanted revenge, he should directly target Konoha's White Fang. Attacking this Konoha stronghold was, at best, a somewhat excessive action driven by emotion.
But so what?
As a former jujutsu sorcerer, a Yin Release practitioner, shouldn't he be allowed some emotionality?
With such high processing power, if his emotions grew thin, who would supplement his cursed energy and Yin Release chakra? Let him see how the alchemists of Atlas Institute solved their emotional issues...
Oh. They didn't.
Damn!
Still somewhat weak in the legs, Hii Kōri thought wildly as he collected the remaining traces, meticulously burning away every drop of spilled blood. Then he prepared to evacuate.
Though based on his visual range, I'm afraid fewer than one in ten Konoha ninjas hadn't been caught in his attack.
But considering Konoha ninjas' overall quality and richness of technique mastery, even on that steam, some could probably cope.
After all, that beam's trajectory was so conspicuous. If any Konoha ninja could ignore their companion's wails and come check on him, in his current state he'd likely be unable to defeat them.
However, arriving before Konoha's ninjas were Sunagakure's reinforcements.
"So reckless, you brat."
Accompanied by a blame laden with mixed emotions, Chiyo somewhat tenderly lifted Hii Kōri from the half-shattered branches.
Though she couldn't have spoken obstruction against her foster son in that atmosphere, neither would she let her remaining 'son' do anything dangerous alone.
"Just exhausted from chakra depletion. Nothing serious."
Patting his foster mother's shoulder, Hii Kōri casually comforted, "Instead of worrying about me, see if there are any captives or supplies worth taking over there."
"Already sent people."
Normally, Chiyo would have retorted, saying something like, 'If I needed you to remind me of such things, I might as well hand over command to you.'
After all, Sunagakure specialized in using poison to neutralize enemy combat effectiveness and burden their logistics. But though she'd now pulled herself together, she apparently couldn't return to her usual state.
Glancing at the unbroken blockbuster steam, Chiyo muttered quietly, "Hope we find some lightly injured or unharmed secret technique users and bloodline users. Byakugan, Sharingan the more the better..."
"Don't be so greedy, you old hag. Trading one test unit for such fruit and still picky."
Hii Kōri narrowed his eyes. "I don't have the ability to precisely control who gets hurt and who doesn't."
"Eh, you little brat, won't even let me dream?"
"Dream on. Better yet, dream up some expert who can use Impure World Reincarnation. I'd happen to be researching the resurrection technique."
"...Resurrection, huh..."
***
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