Some things, once done for the first time, become impossible to resist repeating a second, third, or even countless more times. Eventually, one grows dependent and addicted.
"Messing with people's lives like this... one day I'll pay for it, I know it. Maybe even I will fall into corruption someday! All I've got left to tell myself is... I'm doing this to survive."
Even though Mizuki felt some guilt and unease inside, he had no intention of giving up halfway. Watching Hiashi Hyuga and Gaara break through the surrounding forces and return to the group, Mizuki hesitated no longer. The chakra generated during Sasuke Uchiha's Cursed Seal Outbreak was directly injected into his clone...
"What is this?" Ko Hyuga, who stood closest, noticed Mizuki's strange movements and asked doubtfully, "This chakra feels... extremely unpleasant."
A mass resembling some sort of animal corpse was sealed with multiple layers of seals. This cautious and wary approach clearly indicated its unusual nature. When that purple-black chakra was poured in, the previously lifeless body immediately came alive.
Then, Mizuki carefully began undoing the seals. As soon as the seal broke, one could clearly feel a rhythmic pulse near the left chest of the awakened body—the heartbeat quickened faster and faster.
"How could this happen?" Staring at the eerie mass, Ko Hyuga's suspicion deepened, "Mizuki, what exactly are you trying to do?"
"Patience," Mizuki replied with a light chuckle. If Mizuki had still felt uneasy before taking action, now that he had started, there was no turning back, and his anxiety finally settled.
"How can anyone stay calm?" Ko Hyuga pressed urgently, "Clearly, something isn't right here..."
Even a beginner could tell—something was seriously wrong with that small humanoid body. After absorbing that strange chakra, it was now covered in dense, spreading cursed seals. Soon, the entire body became a continuous web of markings. Then, a peculiar energy seemed to appear out of nowhere and was absorbed into the body. Before long, the humanoid figure visibly grew larger at an astonishing rate.
"Mizuki," clearly abnormal now, this situation couldn't be easily ignored. Ko Hyuga grabbed Mizuki firmly by the arm, "You owe *all* of us answers!"
As the humanoid figure continued growing, after absorbing sufficient natural energy, the clone steadily began releasing waves of bizarre chakra. Others might not understand completely, but under Byakugan observation, this disturbing aura was utterly impossible to hide.
"What's going on?" With such visible anomalies happening, Kurenai Yuhi and Temari could no longer ignore the commotion either. Just back from battle with Hiashi Hyuga and Gaara, both women stared in shock at the figure standing before Mizuki. Any experienced expert could easily detect the danger radiating from within.
"The dawn approaches..." Mizuki answered ambiguously, then, under everyone's confused gazes, pointed toward the distance, "Do you see that white owl?"
"That is…?" said Hiashi Hyuga, looking in the direction Mizuki pointed. He was the first to notice something strange. "That's Deidara? Already recovered? So soon…"
Among everyone present, perhaps only Gaara and Temari had relatively less experience. The others were all seasoned ninja who had seen countless battles, so of course they understood how hopeless it felt when their enemies controlled the skies during an escape attempt. Did they really think they could outrun someone flying unless Deidara decided to let them go? Escaping was nothing more than a pipe dream.
"Does this have anything to do with that thing you brought out?"
"If you don't want to abandon Gaara…" Mizuki said solemnly, "does anyone have any other solutions?"
His words left everyone speechless. With such a disadvantageous battle situation and no reinforcements in sight, despair had already gripped everyone's hearts.
"If this creation really works…" At this point, Hiashi hesitated, looking uneasily at the transforming artificial figure slowly taking shape before them.
"Don't worry, I'll take full responsibility," Mizuki said seriously. "This isn't some twisted human trial—it's genuinely an artificial creation."
"If that's truly the case, then it's fine…" Hiashi exhaled with slight relief after hearing Mizuki's explanation. Ever since Orochimaru had once conducted horrifying experiments on fellow Konoha villagers, nobody from Konoha would accept those who performed similar acts. No matter what justification existed, nothing could erase the painful memories of destruction Orochimaru had caused—the Konoha Destruction Plan, the death of the Third Hokage, and the massive devastation the village endured. If news about Mizuki conducting human trials ever surfaced, he definitely wouldn't get off lightly.
"Just because it's an artificial creation doesn't mean it's not alive... in its own way," Mizuki thought to himself.
Even though he explained things to Hiashi, Mizuki couldn't shake the guilt lingering in his heart.
Looking at the now fully-formed humanoid creature floating eerily midair without any visible support, standing at about the height of a teenage boy—its unmistakable double horns atop its head were impossible to hide under wildly growing messy hair. Its pale, ash-gray skin was slowly regaining a faint hue of color. However, the extremities of its limbs had begun shrinking rapidly; fingers began crumbling away into delicate trails of black ash that drifted down to the ground...
"It's almost time—we should leave now…"
Spotting Deidara and Red Sand of the Desert rapidly closing in from a distance, Mizuki urged Hiashi.
"What?" Hiashi asked, puzzled. "Just leave it here like this?"
"No need. And even if we wanted to, we couldn't..."
Whether it succeeded or failed, it would die soon enough either way—Mizuki couldn't think of any way to save it right now. Staying too close was dangerous too. If it targeted them as its "creator," there was no telling what horrifying measures it might unleash.
"Alright then," Hiashi Hyuga nodded. "Since Mizuki says it's all good, I guess we're fine. It's just an experiment anyway—it won't interfere with our retreat plan." Although this thing's aura was getting weirder by the second, there wasn't much hope for success considering their overwhelmingly powerful enemies—the unstoppable Red Sand of the Desert and the self-proclaimed artist of destruction, Deidara.
"Let's try it and see..."
Leaving the creepy floating clone behind, the six of them took off running again.
Before long, Deidara, riding on his owl, arrived at the spot where Konoha's group had briefly stayed. Moving at such incredible speed, he even got there earlier than Red Sand of the Desert.
"Huh? What's that?" Deidara suddenly spotted the strange-looking Sasuke Uchiha clone below while chasing enthusiastically. "Looks like nothing good, but whatever it is, it'll be shattered into dust under my art..."
In Deidara's eyes, no matter how strange something might appear, it absolutely couldn't withstand his explosive artistry. He launched dozens of Explosive Clays downward from above, directly hitting the motionless clone below. The explosives struck without any sign of evasion and detonated up close and in direct contact.
"What? Didn't even flinch? Are there really idiots who don't dodge?"
The clone didn't even try to dodge—that really threw Deidara off. However, he wasn't overly worried either; with such intense explosions, unless there was some extraordinary jutsu involved, it should've been shattered into dust.
Unfortunately, things weren't as simple as Deidara had imagined. As the smoke cleared from the explosion, the clone stood completely unharmed.
"How could this happen?"
Such massive-scale explosions hit it directly without dodging at all, yet it remained untouched—completely defying Deidara's understanding.
"What now, Aniki Sasori? Should we go around it?" Looking utterly disheveled, Deidara's previously proud demeanor vanished entirely. Burnt in patches, his golden hair hung messily over his head, no longer bearing its earlier arrogance. Having messed up repeatedly, Deidara wasn't about to start an argument now.
Sasori, also currently having no interest in bantering with Deidara, followed the direction indicated by Deidara's finger.
"Huh, what's that?" Even Sasori, ever the calm one, couldn't hide his surprise. The aura radiating from that weird creature surged higher wave by wave, emitting oppressive pressure so overwhelming it felt unreal.
"No," Red Sand of the Desert replied calmly. Something this peculiar appeared to be very promising material for puppets.
"And there's no time to go around either..."
Before them floated a clone radiating overwhelming power, its presence sending out terrifying ripples that pushed everything away. The clone hovered effortlessly in midair, completely unharmed by Deidara's absurdly powerful explosions.
"That thing… we should just get out of here already, Aniki Sasori~" Deidara said uneasily. That kind of terrifying energy was way beyond anything a normal person could handle.
"Don't worry, Deidara!" Red Sand of the Desert rejected Deidara's suggestion once again, his tone cold and confident. "Watch closely. That thing is about to die."
The clone's body started falling apart faster than ever. Its arms and legs had mostly vanished, and at this rate, the collapse would soon spread to its torso.
Whether it was arrogance or just plain cluelessness, as Deidara and Red Sand of the Desert floated above watching the clone's mutations grow worse, suddenly an awe-inspiring pressure descended from the heavens, landing on the clone's crumbling body. At the same time, the clone's previously tightly closed eyes flew open. Instantly, the surrounding pressure eased, and the repulsive waves wrapped around its body weakened significantly.
"This is the moment…"
Red Sand of the Desert finally decided he couldn't wait any longer. From the moment this all began, the clone's body had kept deteriorating nonstop—now nearing its chest. If it kept going like this, it'd turn into nothing but useless black ash.
In a flash, several super-fast Puppets shot forward, arriving before the clone. Several long blades speared right through its body. The clone, which had just opened its eyes to this world, stared in shock and bewilderment. Even when its consciousness was fading, its body had instinctively emitted protective energy. But now fully awake and yet completely powerless, the clone immediately showed vulnerability, quickly getting skewered like a pincushion by Red Sand of the Desert's controlled Puppets.
But those wounds didn't matter much anymore—it was already on death's door. Despite knowing next to nothing about battle, its survival instincts remained intact. Driven by its overwhelming ability, it quickly spotted Deidara and Red Sand of the Desert floating in the air above, then turned its gaze toward Red Sand of the Desert—the one who had impaled it first.
What kind of eyes were those? [Rinnegan]—a strange eye surrounded by swirling vortex-like patterns—gazed innocently and curiously upward at Red Sand of the Desert, seemingly puzzled why it—a being just born—would suffer such harm.
"Aniki Sasori, that eye… you don't think it's actually…" Looking up at the clone's eerie gaze, Deidara was already too frightened to speak clearly. What a disaster of a day—beaten up and now staring at a legendary Rinnegan at the end.
"Quiet, Deidara. I know!"
"Sasori, known as Red Sand of the Desert, looked down at the clone, his voice tinged with both awe and yearning," he murmured. "[Sage's Eyes]—the legendary ones. Never thought I'd see them again. Isn't our Leader the only one who was supposed to have the one-of-a-kind [Rinnegan]—the eyes chosen by fate to save the world? Now another pair appears here. What does that mean? Has heaven abandoned the Leader and Akatsuki? I really wish the Leader could see this for himself!"
Regardless of Sasori's schadenfreude toward Nagato and his conflicted feelings toward those Rinnegan below, the clone had apparently recognized Sasori and Deidara as enemies. In an instant, the clone blasted the surrounding puppets outward. Immediately afterward, a massive force erupted from the clone like ripples in water, radiating from Sasori outward. Everything nearby—Deidara, his owl steed, the [Hundred Puppet Army], even trees and earth—was instantly pulled toward the clone by that overwhelming power.
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