Number One's head turned, scanning the surrounding Suna ninjas. The core of cursed energy circulated within its body. A jutsu engraved into the core activated. Its hands formed seals at a speed nearly imperceptible to the naked eye.
"Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!"
RUMBLE.
The ground beneath Number One let out a deep roar. Then, in front, behind, and on both sides of the puppet, four massive, solid earthen walls erupted from the ground.
BOOM!
A fierce gust of wind slammed into the earth wall.
The highly condensed wind pressure was like a giant hammer falling from the sky, smashing into the surface of the wall. The wall in front of Number One trembled violently, spiderweb-like cracks spreading across it.
As the wind gradually subsided, the wall crumbled into pieces.
Only then did the Suna ninjas clearly see the figure that had intruded alone into their ambush zone.
It was a puppet made of wood and metal.
No, if it were just a puppet, how could it possibly perform ninjutsu?
Could it be a puppet technique?
The Suna ninjas immediately caught on.
But when they looked more closely, they couldn't find any chakra threads attached to Number One.
"This…"
"How is that possible?!"
Without chakra threads to control it, how could a wooden puppet have mobility?
And even more, how could it perform ninjutsu like a true ninja?
Like a torrential downpour, thousands of senbon needles mixed with kunai and shuriken were launched from the ninjas' hands.
"Wind Release: Gale Palm!"
Number One formed seals with both hands, and cursed energy surged through its entire body from the core.
A hurricane whipped up around its feet, instantly sucking in the senbon, kunai, and shuriken into a vortex, clanging against each other in midair with sharp metallic sounds.
The hurricane stirred up yellow sand, obscuring the Suna ninjas' line of sight.
"What the hell is that thing?"
Watching the wooden puppet perform a Wind Release technique, the Suna ninjas' pupils contracted; their faces were filled with disbelief.
"This thing is seriously weird!"
"There might be an actual ninja inside that wooden shell!"
"Watch me rip its shell off!"
The ninjas locked their eyes tightly on Number One.
Suddenly, an indescribable chill descended without warning.
The Suna ninjas instinctively stopped in their tracks. The light around them darkened in an instant. They all looked down simultaneously. A black shadow gradually engulfed their bodies. They looked up, above them, it was as if an invisible giant hand was slowly closing in.
The blazing noonday sun was instantly consumed by some power that couldn't be sensed by any ninja.
An inky, tar-like darkness gradually enveloped them. The temperature plummeted. A freezing cold that penetrated to the bone and chilled the soul. Even the sound of the wind disappeared. In the darkness, the only thing left was the pounding of their own hearts.
"W-what's happening…?"
A Suna ninja's voice trembled. All they could see was an impenetrable darkness. Just then, they heard something that made their blood run cold. The sound of wood scraping against wood.
THUD.
THUD.
THUD.
Heavy footsteps echoed through the darkness, each one seeming to shake the very ground beneath their feet.
In the blackness ahead, a pale, towering figure emerged, humanoid but wrong in every way that mattered.
The Smallpox Deity stood nearly three meters tall, its body covered in festering sores and rotting flesh. Where its face should have been was smooth, eyeless skin marked only by a gaping mouth filled with blackened teeth.
Its left hand was already raised in a fist.
[Fear detected]
[Multiple sources: +3000 points each]
[Total accumulated: 30,000 points]
[Energy transferred to Hanami]
[Development progress: 55.5%]
"Wh… what is that thing…?"
As one of the Suna ninjas uttered the question, wooden coffins erupted from the ground around each of them.
SLAM!
The lids snapped shut, trapping them in cramped, suffocating darkness.
The Smallpox Deity lowered its left fist into its right hand. Massive gravestones materialized above each coffin, their weight crushing down.
Inside the coffins, the ninjas pounded desperately against the wooden walls.
"Let us out!"
"HELP!"
Then the countdown began.
Three.
The first ninja felt it, tiny bumps appearing on his skin, spreading like wildfire across his arms and face.
Two.
The bumps grew larger, filling with pus and fluid. His skin began to burn and itch unbearably.
One.
The smallpox erupted across their entire bodies. Pustules burst and reformed, their flesh rotting from the inside out as the disease consumed them completely.
"No—"
"NO!"
"GET US OUT!"
The muffled screams from within the coffins grew weaker and weaker.
Their bodies convulsed as the disease ravaged them, pustules covering every inch of their skin until they could barely be recognized as human.
The Suna ninjas' eyes were no longer visible beneath the grotesque swelling as the smallpox consumed their faces completely.
Up in the desert sky, Shiratori sat calmly on his broom, gazing down at the enclosed black sphere on the sands below.
"Within the domain… the technique always lands…"
"Smallpox Deity's Gravestone Technique, once you're in the coffin, death is guaranteed."
A black crow landed on jagged stones nearby, its pitch-black eyes fixed on the black sphere and the situation around it.
Number One stood atop the sphere as several more dark figures leaped from the yellow sand.
They wore Suna forehead protectors, and their lower faces were concealed by masks, revealing only pairs of cold, sinister eyes.
"What is this?"
"Where are our people?"
"What kind of trick is this thing playing?"
After confirming all ambushing Suna ninjas had arrived, Shiratori lowered the broom's altitude. His figure floated above the black sphere.
"This brat is from Ame!"
The Suna ninjas' gazes converged on Shiratori's forehead protector.
[Killing Intent detected]
[Multiple sources: +3000 points each]
[Total accumulated: 24,000 points]
[Energy transferred to Sukuna]
[Development progress: 61.3%]
One by one, shadows flickered across the battlefield. The Suna ninjas simultaneously drew their blades, leaping high toward Shiratori's position.
In an instant, the black sphere vanished.
A thick, putrid stench of rotting flesh blasted toward the Suna ninjas, quickly dispersed by the desert wind. The coffins split open, spilling their contents onto the sand. What emerged could barely be called human, bloated, pustule-covered corpses that had been utterly consumed by disease.
The remaining Suna ninjas who had been outside the domain stared in absolute horror at the grotesque remains of their comrades.
Shiratori glanced at the Smallpox Deity, whose figure was then swallowed by a swirling purple vortex from below.
Silence returned to the surroundings.
He formed hand seals; a storm whipped up on the spot, and sand quickly buried the corpses.
"Let's go. Notify Mizu."
The broom carried Shiratori's figure back into the sky.
Number One obediently followed behind him.