With the other three targets down, all that remained was Shiki's.
A prison facility with an extensive research wing dedicated to studying the only prisoner kept there . . .
*
She was a child that knew nothing of life outside her cage.
No . . . That was not right.
She did know, from the memories taken from the minds of the people she used her abilities on for the sake of "experiments".
But these things, things almost everyone takes for granted, were things that had nothing to do with her.
Monster.
Demon.
Weapon.
Tool.
The researchers and guards called her many things but never a human name.
They did not even know it, she imagined.
'Or maybe I never had one to begin with.' She even thought.
Perhaps they had read it somewhere and filed it away in a random corner of their mind as unimportant information.
She could read their surface thoughts and a name she could call her own never seemed to come up.
'Maybe I'm not human after all . . .' She, one day, thought to herself.
She knew the people in the facility thought as much.
They believed their experiments and tests were inhumane but fine since she was just a monster.
It was only right they studied her.
'She is lucky not to have been killed.' Some of the guards thought.
The only time she found some measure of enjoyment was during ability tests.
When a person was brought before her, sometimes in shackles for her to explore their mind, sometimes a shinobi ordered to kill her in exchange for freedom or survival.
'Not that it mattered.' She thought.
They were just toys for stress relief, the girl genuinely could not see them as a threat because they simply lacked the capability.
On the days she broke someone, she was fed better, treated kinder, so she began to look forward to having "sacrifices" brought to her.
Somedays, she was beaten, tossed around and starved, not for any particular purpose.
The girl could tell, the actions were motivated by fear.
She found that the worse someone treated, the more they feared her.
All the abuse was a way to affirm their power over her, remind them that they were in control, despite all the powers she had.
Most of the time, fuinjutsu and drugs prevented her from unleashing her abilities, only during the testing days were the restrictions loosened, yet another reason she looked forward to them.
She often wondered what her purpose in life was.
Why did she still wish to survive.
Did she even?
These days, she could not even tell anymore.
Mindlessly following orders and not thinking deeply about anything made everything easier to accept.
But her mind did not always cooperate.
In the end, it was just another day of pointless existence . . . Or so she thought.
*
'Onikuma Maiko . . .' Shiki remembered all the info he dug up on the subject for which the facility he was about to raid was built for.
Her father had been a Special Jonin of the Onikuma clan, relying on Hidden Jutsu to climb to that spot. He was, in fact, the clan leader's son though the clan was a rather small and politically insignificant one.
Her mother had been a rather unimpressive Chunin, bereft of any notable abilities but she was a branch member of the Kurama clan.
By the time the series started, the Kurama clan had declined with Yakumo, a girl with significant health problems, being the last remaining bearer of her clan's Kekkei Genkai but in the current era it was still in its heyday.
Purely from a status perspective, even with the mother being from a branch of the Kurama and the father being a future clan head of the Onikuma, it could still be said he married up.
Only the mother's lackluster shinobi talents made the union possible, most likely.
However, interestingly enough, when the innate aptitude of the Onikuma for their Hidden Jutsu mixed with the dormant Kekkei Genkai of the Kurama clan, a result far exceeding the sum of its parts came to be.
By the time the series started, the Kurama clan had declined with Yakumo, a girl with significant health problems, being the last remaining bearer of her clan's Kekkei Genkai but in the current era it was still in its heyday.
The Kekkei Genkai was never explicitly named but one could call it Ido.
Technically speaking, Ido was a consequence of the Kekkei Genkai and not the ability itself but they were pretty much inseparable.
Bearers of the Kurama Kekkei Genkai possess an overwhelming amount of yin power, so much so that it leaves them mentally unstable, creating an extreme and monstrous second personality known as Ido.
This extreme Yin power manifested mainly as genjutsu so powerful it can trick a victim's brain into reflecting illusory damage on the physical body.
At its peak, it is quite literally a reality bending power.
As for the Onikuma clan, they were far more minor and obscure with their prized signature hidden jutsu being conceptually interesting but ultimately not that powerful.
It was a type of summoning only, instead of calling a being to assist the summoner externally, it instead allowed one to be under controlled possession.
The end result was just a boost in physical abilities and monstrous arms tipped with sharp claws that could also stretch and bend much like orochimaru's Soft Physique Modification.
In one word, lackluster.
Not to mention it could induce bouts of uncontrolled rage if the user was not properly mentally stable.
However, when the unique aptitude for possession style summonings from the Onikuma clan fused with the awakened Kekkei Genkai of the Kurama clan, in Onikuma Maiko two miraculous effects occurred.
One was that Maiko had a much larger degree of control over Ido, turning the second personality into the equivalent of a possession style summon she could call upon when required.
The other effect was that when Maiko allowed Ido to possess her, just like the Onikuma's summons change the summoner's arms, Maiko's body was also drastically mutated depending on the degree of possession.
Most importantly, this transformation converted all of that spiritual yin power and genjutsu prowess into physical might and special yin ninjutsu based abilities.
In other words, not only was the power of the Kurama Kekkei Genkai enhanced and more easily controlled, the weakness of lacking physical strength due to overwhelming spiritual yin energy suppressing the weaker physical yang energy, was also completely solved, even becoming a strength of its own.
'The Devil Within huh?' Shiki mused.
'The Kurama and Onikumo had a ticket to fame and glory and just handed it over to Root and Danzo being Danzo, rather than turning the girl into an asset for the village, instead ran experiments on her so brutal she would likely turn of Konoha if she were to be freed . . .'
The boy sincerely could not tell what was wrong with these people, if they even deserved to be called as such.
'If Root had used its authority and privileges to force the issue and the Hokage did nothing about it, that is one thing, however, according to my investigation, the girl's family handed her over without any fuss for some benefits.' He recalled.
'Maybe they are one of those Will of Fire fanatics who just do anything they're told so long as you add "For Konoha" at the end.' Shiki theorized.
Either way, it mattered very little to him.
Their foolishness was his gain.
Ever since he learned about her from his investigations, the boy had wanted to break her out and "welcome her into the household" so to speak.
And now, it was finally time.
'Alright then . . . How shall I play this?'
+++++
Hey, Author here!
To promote the novel I will be releasing BONUS CHAPTERS on SUNDAYS based on the previous week's power stone count.
100 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter
500 Power Stones = 2 Bonus Chapters
1000 Power Stones = 3 Bonus Chapters
Every earned BONUS CHAPTER on Webnovel will also be posted on Scribble.
Just a reminder that you can read up to a FULL MONTH ahead of this site on pa-treon.
I'm trying to become a full time Author now and I'm not going to be starting any new novels just so I can make sure this one is properly completed.
Find those sweet advanced chapters on pa-treon.com/lusoba without the -