The wind was sharp in the Forest of Spirits.
It whispered through the trees like a warning. The birds had long abandoned the area. No insects chirped. Even the leaves seemed hesitant to fall.
Kiyoshi stood at the same clearing where he had once fought the chakra-mutated wolf. The grass still bore scorch marks from its jutsu. The tree it had slammed into now split in half, rotting from the inside.
But Kiyoshi wasn't alone.
A team had been assigned to back him up—more like watch him.
Team Komura.
Chunin-ranked. Three shinobi with cold stares and clipped words. Clearly ANBU candidates in training.
They weren't here for moral support.
"You'll track it," the leader, Komura, had said flatly. "We'll clean up what you can't handle."
Kiyoshi didn't reply.
He didn't need to.
Hours later — deeper in the forest
The scent hit him first.
Not rot. Not blood.
Iron. Mixed with chakra. A thick presence that made his eyes twitch.
Kiyoshi slowed.
"Something's wrong," he said.
No reply from Team Komura.
He glanced back.
They were gone.
"No chakra signatures...?" Kiyoshi whispered. His crimson eyes flared with the Ketsuryugan.
Shapes danced in the fog. Not illusions. Movement.
Suddenly, a kunai flew from his left—Kiyoshi ducked—then another came from behind.
He spun, launching a fireball.
Boom!
Smoke cleared. Nothing.
He blinked—once—then froze.
Three bodies. Hanging upside down from trees.
Team Komura.
Alive, but unconscious. A faint shimmer surrounded their bodies.
"Genjutsu?" he muttered, scanning with his bloodline.
Then he heard it.
"Kiiiii...yoooooo...shiiiiiii..."
The voice wasn't human.
It came from the ground.
And then the trees shifted.
They moved—not swayed—moved, like limbs folding in reverse.
A shadow emerged.
The second chakra-mutated beast.
Larger than the wolf. Reptilian. With a cracked Root insignia burned into its chest.
It stared at him with slitted eyes. Not angry. Not wild.
Focused.
Kiyoshi stumbled back, the sheer pressure weighing on his chest like iron chains.
"This… isn't just a mutation. This thing was made for battle," he thought.
It opened its mouth—and spoke:
"Blood. Seeks. Blood."
"You. Are. The. Key."
Then it charged.
Fight Begins
Kiyoshi leapt back, barely avoiding a sweeping tail that cracked the earth.
"Too fast for its size!"
He formed hand signs:
"Fire Style: Burning Lance!"
A stream of fire turned into a spear—but the beast opened its mouth and absorbed it.
Its scales glowed red.
Then it fired the same jutsu back at him, doubled in strength.
Kiyoshi screamed as it hit his side, flinging him into a tree.
Pain.
Heat.
Confusion.
He coughed blood. Vision blurred.
The creature crept forward, slow and deliberate.
"Adaptation… it learns from chakra."
"No wonder Root made these things."
He struggled to stand.
But as the beast reached him—it paused.
Its head tilted. Sniffed the air.
Then it looked directly at the Root tag Kiyoshi kept in his pocket.
And growled.
"C-12… Compatible…" it whispered.
It lunged.
Kiyoshi's body moved on instinct—backward handspring—explosive tag—boom!
Smoke clouded the area again, and he ran.
[End of Chapter 11 ]