Chapter 9
The ruins of the Hidden Sky Village looked more like the bones of a long-dead beast than a former shinobi stronghold.
Twisted scaffolding reached skyward like broken fingers. Torn flags fluttered limply in the breeze. Most of the technology that once defined the village had been reduced to rust and memory, warped by years of desert winds and quiet decay.
Ghost crouched near the edge of the ruins, his eyes sharp beneath the dusty hood. He'd been scouting the area for three days now, careful not to stir whatever might still linger beneath the sand and steel.
The Zero Tails was somewhere down there. Still dormant. But not for long.
He double-checked the perimeter traps—tripwire nets, spring-loaded spikes, oil jars hidden under false stones. If it fled, it would bleed. If it charged, it would suffer.
The roulette rolls came first. Always.
He moved to the shadow of a half-buried tower, pulled up the system interface, and braced himself.
> Available Rolls:
Common Tokens: 42
Uncommon Tokens: 18
Rare Tokens: 5
Epic Tokens: 1
He paused to convert the extras.
> [10 Common → 1 Uncommon] x4
Remaining: 2 Common
Uncommon now: 22 → [10 Uncommon → 1 Rare] x2
Remaining: 2 Uncommon
Rare now: 7 → [5 Rare → 1 Epic] x1
Remaining: 2 Rare
Epic now: 2
One Epic and one Legendary.
He let the Epic Roll spin first.
The roulette clattered in his mind's eye. Images blurred past—comic panels, runes, strange weapons, a loaf of bread, a frog in a tuxedo.
> Epic Reward: Enhanced Spatial Awareness [Passive]
Your ability to map and retain spatial memory has drastically improved. Traps, terrain, and movement patterns register instinctively.
Useful. Very useful.
He didn't let himself get too excited. The Legendary Roll loomed.
He exhaled slowly, heart rising.
The roulette screamed with velocity. Power pulsed behind every flicker. A dozen worlds danced through his mind: bleach, jujutsu kaisen, invincible, chainsaw man, marvel, star wars—
It stopped.
> Legendary Reward: Soul Contract – Binding Oath
A mystical scroll that creates an unbreakable contract between two sentient beings. Violation results in permanent dissolution of the violator's soul. Requires mutual signature and intent.
Ghost stared.
Perfect.
---
That night, beneath the stars and steel, Ghost moved deeper into the ruins.
The core was exactly where the memories from that old movie had hinted it would be—a subterranean vault beneath the collapsed council chamber.
The sealed husk of the Zero Tails throbbed with weak pulses of energy. It looked... wrong. A mass of shadowed cloth and whispering smoke, like someone had tried to bind grief and hatred into a cocoon.
Ghost stood alone in the dust.
His body trembled—not with fear, but focus.
He reached into his pouch. Three storage scrolls.
One filled with ration pills, tools, and wire.
One with traps and sealing tags.
And the last... rebar.
He didn't hesitate.
He began to funnel energy—Stockpile brimming with Nen, Cursed Energy, and the tiny spark of chakra he'd stolen from the chakra beast.
He'd spent a week experimenting.
Cursed Energy was malevolent, sharp and reactive. Nen was will, silent and dense. Chakra was mutable—potential incarnate.
When overlaid carefully, with extreme control, they didn't cancel each other. They stacked.
Ten minutes in, Ghost cracked a boulder with a backhand.
Half an hour later, he was moving faster than most jōnin-level shinobi—not from technique, but sheer force.
This might work...
---
He stood before the cocoon.
Ghost reached out with cursed energy, feeding it into the chamber.
The cocoon stirred.
> [Warning: Sealed Entity Awakening]
Passive: Aura Pressure Detected – Classification: Unknown
The Zero Tails emerged in a slow, churning cloud of purple-black smoke, its mask of hate twitching as if tasting the air.
Then it paused.
"You... you reek of grief," it hissed. "A child of nothing. But your hatred... your pain... how can so much feed such a small frame?"
Ghost said nothing.
"You are not like the others," the Zero Tails murmured. "You carry that power... twisted... sharp. Like curses. You could be—"
Ghost moved.
The first strike was a blur of reinforced fists. The second, a razor-wire trap detonating with cursed energy.
The battle erupted.
The Zero Tails lashed out in waves of mind-break screams and shadow tendrils. Ghost ducked, rolled, struck back with a spike of Nen. The beast recoiled but reformed. Each hit screamed through his body, bruising muscle and fracturing ribs.
He dropped smoke. Ducked under tendrils.
A rebar stake through the neck. Another in the eye.
"YOU—!" the beast roared.
Ghost hit it with a curse-enhanced kick that launched it through a broken archway.
He chased it down.
A lucky claw caught his shoulder, tore fabric and blood alike.
He screamed.
And then—clarity.
The world snapped into focus. Time warped. Cursed energy flared—
> [Black Flash – Achieved]
The punch landed like a thunderclap.
The Zero Tails howled—reeling, dissolving, bleeding shadow and spite across the earth.
> [Nanami Template Advancement: 60% → 100%]
Cursed Technique – Ratio Technique: Unlocked
The ratio shimmered into his mind—a precise sixth-of-the-strike, a line that marked death.
Ghost stood over the writhing husk of the Zero Tails.
He raised the final rebar.
"WAIT," the Zero Tails rasped. "Listen—LISTEN. You want power? I have it. You want chakra? I can give it. You... You feed me cursed energy—just that—and I can turn it into chakra. Tenfold."
Ghost hesitated.
"I don't lie," it said. "It's math."
"You're a mass of hate," Ghost muttered.
"And you're not?"
Silence.
"I'll need insurance," he said.
He pulled the scroll from his bag. The Soul Contract unrolled itself in the dust.
The Zero Tails snarled.
"I will not—"
"You die otherwise."
"I'll never serve—"
"You'll convert."
A long pause. Then, with a tremble of smoky tendrils, it signed.
> [Soul Contract – Binding Oath Established]
Entity: Zero Tails
Role: Chakra Converter and Jinchūriki Host
Status: Subjugated
Ghost collapsed to one knee, bloodied but alive.
In his chest, the Zero Tails curled like a flickering ember—silent, waiting.
The battle was over.
But the war had just begun.