Izanami had no idea that his actions inspired Zabuza Momochi to go rogue. After gathering the materials needed for creating Human Puppets and chakra cores, he didn't immediately return to Konoha. Instead, every three days, Izanami would create a chakra-rich shadow clone of Izayoi and send it back to the village to relieve the outgoing clone. Apart from Hinata and Hanabi, no one recognized that the returning Izayoi was a clone. Having already warned the Hyuga sisters, Izanami found no urgency to return himself.
Assuming a new identity, he met the shadow clone tasked with distributing the treasures it had collected from Kado. Their haul was so vast, it defied calculation. The most valuable items weren't cash, gold bars, or jewelry—they were prime land deeds. These deeds covered high-value homes and shops across multiple countries. Selling just a few netted far more than several Asuma Sarutobis combined.
Loaded with wealth, Izanami used one deed to claim a villa in the Land of Fire. He also purchased a clothing store in the same city, leaving one shadow clone behind to learn tailoring and design. Meanwhile, the main Izanami body skipped returning to Konoha. He instead carried two large, empty storage scrolls and left the Land of Fire, walking straight into the Land of Rivers.
Above a mountain village, dark clouds rolled in and thunder rumbled. A drizzle began, but villagers, bare-chested, continued pulling carts of ore from a nearby mine. The clatter of pickaxes echoed within the mine's depths. Outside, a small crowd wearing black raincoats surrounded a freshly buried coffin. The gravesite, lined with headstones, was the focal point of a makeshift funeral.
"Oh… why would someone as good as that die? It breaks my heart!" one man wailed dramatically. His performance, however, didn't fool anyone—the villagers watched him in fear. He was their tyrannical clan leader, someone they couldn't cross, or he'd stage another mock funeral.
"Raiga, there's strong chakra approaching," a child's voice piped up from within a raincoat, panic lacing their tone. "Be careful—this person can fly!"
Startled, Kurosuki Raiga—still clutching his coat—raised his gaze skyward. Through the downpour descended a lone black figure. "Lightning Release: Lightning Ball!" Raiga cried, crossing his twin blades skyward. Electricity crackled at the tips, coalescing into a blue-white orb that shot forward.
The stranger held out his palm, fingers spread. The Lightning Ball struck an invisible shield, sending electric arcs scattering like pyrotechnics. "As expected, I didn't mistake you," Izanami said, smiling. "It's you, Kurosuki Raiga… and the so-called Bloodline Limit: Red Eyes."
"I spared the original. Now I'll use you two bootlegs for my Human Puppets," he continued. "I'm in a hurry, so this battle will be swift. All Creation of Attraction!"
An unseen force, like a massive invisible hand, gripped Raiga by the waist. "No hand seals, stealthy—what kind of ninjutsu is this?" Raiga's eyes widened as he responded with speed. Crossing his blades again, he infused them with chakra and Lightning Release.
"Lightning Release: Raiga!" Lightning blades shot forth like twin lasers. Raiga's signature move, a counterpart to Kakashi's Lightning Blade. Missed, the lightning would vanish into the clouds above.
Izanami nodded approvingly. "Your form is good, and the blades—top-notch. But that's all the praise you get." He spread his arms; a greenish air barrier appeared, distorted by concentrated energy. "Shinra Tensei!"
The barrier swelled like a balloon full of water, then burst. The Amenotejikara storm within exploded, scattering the rain—and crushing Raiga, who fell, suddenly free from Attraction. Villagers fleeing below were also caught in the blast. The thunderous explosion echoed across the mountain.
Inside the nearby mine, echoes of falling debris reverberated—but thankfully, the cave didn't collapse. As the dust and mist cleared, villagers blinked. The cemetery was gone. In its place lay a massive meteorite crater, swallowing the graves and their mourners.
The entire Kurosuki clan had been wiped out. Raiga lay battered—broken bones, internal bleeding—but still alive. His final act: he'd dropped his twin blades to spare Ranmaru, who suffered grave injuries but remained breathing.
Izanami descended slowly through the rain. Raiga, drenched in blood, moaned: "Plea… please, spare… spare Ranmaru."
Izanami sneered. "The people you killed begged the same, didn't they? You're an elite jonin, rogue ninja… and yet you talk like a child."
He spread his hand to call the twin blades back, but paused. "Help me conduct an experiment," he ordered. "Show me the last value you've got before your death."
He formed a single hand seal, creating another lightweight Izayoi shadow clone. Izanami and the clone each gripped a Lightning Blade, infusing it with chakra until they held live lightning.
They flung the blades into Raiga and Ranmaru's bodies. But nothing happened. No explosions. No entry-point disruption.
Monitoring the results, Izanami frowned. "Shadow clones and killing don't enhance explosion rates? So there's no mechanism to improve it?" he thought. "Chakra alone can't be the measure of strength—otherwise only Jinchūriki and Naruto would qualify. And if it's tied to entries, there are only a few in the ninja world who can produce them since childhood. But classmates showed entry-based explosions—that can't be it. Techniques? Performance?"
Looking down at the two dying men, Izanami muttered, "One more experiment. If it fails, I'll just get more brutal. And shake the ninja world a bit."
He glanced at himself and his clone. "I've already reached this level," he mused. "How could I allow people with weaker configurations to catch up to my decades of effort in just a few years?"
Only Izanami understood that anxiety.
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