[Affection detected]
[Multiple sources: +3,000 points each]
[Total accumulated: 39,000 points]
[Curse Growth - Love: 31.9%]
The Ame ninjas looked toward Shiratori, their eyes reddened. They were all in a miserable state, but compared to their comrades who had already died, simply being alive was already a rare blessing.
If it weren't for his presence, they would have been long dead.
They owed him far too much...
On the other side...
Pfft...
Mahito's figure broke through the dense barrage of ninjutsu attacks. His body could always morph into the most advantageous form according to the battle.
"Hahahahaha..."
"This is so fun..."
Mahito ran through the Suna ninja ranks, his face lit up with a joyful smile, like a child in an amusement park.
"Now..."
"It's my turn~"
He winked at the terrified Suna ninjas. His figure blurred, moving so fast that an afterimage was left where he had stood.
"Ah!"
The Suna ninja closest to Mahito felt a blur before his eyes, and in the next instant, Mahito's twisted figure was right in front of him.
In the reflection of the ninja's pupils, his childlike innocent smile loomed large.
The man didn't even have time to form hand seals before Mahito's palm, stitched all over, lightly pressed against his chest.
His pupils trembled. He felt no sharp pain, only a bone-deep coldness, as if that hand had passed right through his body and clutched his soul itself.
"Are you ready?"
"It's time to transform~"
Mahito's voice was laced with irrepressible excitement.
Suddenly, the ninja's body went limp, as though all his bones had been removed. Then, his skin began to squirm violently.
One bulge after another rose on his body's surface.
His limbs stretched unnaturally. His spine elongated and twisted like a snake, his skull was pulled into an eerie spindle shape, and his mouth split all the way to his ears, revealing rows of jagged teeth.
In just a second, a living ninja had turned into a four-limbed, lizard-tailed, gaping-mawed abomination.
The creature let out an inhuman shriek, its clouded eyes locked onto its former comrades.
"No..."
"Don't!"
"Ida!"
Watching a comrade they had fought alongside day and night be transformed into such a monster made the their eyes nearly burst with rage and despair.
[Fear detected]
[Multiple sources: +3000 points each]
[Total accumulated: 98,000 points]
[Energy transferred to Hanami]
[Development progress: 87.5%]
Despair spread among the Suna ninjas. The impact of seeing a comrade transformed into a monster was far more devastating than death itself.
"Heehee, don't worry, soon everyone will be more... interesting!"
Mahito tilted his head and smiled. As his words fell, his figure flitted through the Suna ninjas like a ghost. One of them gripped a kunai tightly and lunged at Mahito head-on.
"Die!"
"You monster!"
The ninja's eyes were bloodshot as he roared.
[Killing Intent detected: +5000 points]
[Energy transferred to Sukuna]
[Development progress: 90.17%]
Mahito's pupils widened in surprise.
"Oh! You actually still have strength left!"
His arm coiled around the ninja's arm like a chain.
The next second, the man's entire arm elongated like melting wax.
Under the terrified gazes of everyone present, it split into several slick tentacles, whipping around toward the comrades behind him.
Mahito stood where he was with keen interest, watching the newly transformed ninja slaughter his own companions.
[Killing Intent detected: +3000 points]
[Energy transferred to Sukuna]
[Development progress: 90.2%]
Just then, a Suna ninja launched a sneak attack from behind Mahito, driving a kunai toward the back of his heart.
Mahito turned his head with a strange smile, the spot where the kunai struck sank in like a bog, swallowing both the weapon and the attacker's arm into his body.
Inside Mahito, the ninja's arm was crushed and squeezed relentlessly. Mahito's hand pressed against the man's face.
The ninja could only watch in horror as his own body began to warp and mutate. He let out an uncontrollable, desperate, and piercing scream.
The air was thick with the stench of blood.
"Monster!"
"We... we can't win!"
A Suna ninja stood frozen, his weapon slipping from his hand and clattering to the ground with a crisp ring.
Their eyes were dull and lifeless, like puppets.
Mahito seemed to be growing bored. He stood atop the corpses of monsters, his gaze sweeping over the battlefield. Bodies of all shapes and sizes were strewn across the ground in a chaotic mess.
After admiring his handiwork for a moment, a new idea took shape in his mind.
"Ah, that's enough."
He stretched out both of his hands. A gleam of anticipation shone in his eyes. Under the blank stares of the Suna ninjas, he slowly brought his hands together.
"Let me show you... something even better."
His hands came together, then spread outward toward the ninjas before him.
Self-Embodiment of Perfection!
In an instant, countless arms spread outward from Mahito's body, encircling the Suna ninjas. They wove together into a perfectly black sphere that sealed off the space. Like the gaping maw of some great beast, the black sphere swallowed all the surviving Suna ninjas whole.
Inside the domain, time itself seemed to freeze.
The ninjas found themselves unable to move as countless cold, pale arms reached out from the void.
Their very souls had become toys, kneaded and twisted with ease by the monster before them.
Bang.
Bang.
Bang.
The sound of bodies bursting echoed in Mahito's ears. He closed his eyes, quietly waiting for the noise to subside.
---
"What... what is that...?"
On the silent battlefield, the Ame ninjas behind Shiratori stared in shock at the massive black sphere floating in the air ahead and asked in disbelief.
Their gazes soon turned toward him. Perhaps only he, with his cursed power, could explain what they had just seen. But when their eyes met his face, they found only confusion there.
They immediately understood, his mastery over the cursed power wasn't yet enough to explain this phenomenon.
The domain dissipated.
Mahito and a pile of shredded flesh reappeared in the middle of the battlefield. He brushed nonexistent dust from his hands, a satisfied smile on his face. Humming an off-key tune, he began walking slowly toward Shiratori.
As Mahito drew closer, the Ame ninjas grew tense without realizing it.
Takigawa stepped in front of him, glaring warily at the monster before them. No one could guarantee that this creature fully obeyed Shiratori... could they?
"Takigawa..."
Shiratori shook his head at him. There was a resolute light flickering in his eyes.
Takigawa looked at him and slowly stepped back.
Shiratori looked at Mahito and reached out a hand. A purple vortex appeared behind the cursed spirit. His figure was gradually swallowed by the vortex.
"Next time, remember to come find me~"
The vortex disappeared. Mahito's words still echoed in Shiratori's ears.
The corner of his mouth twitched imperceptibly.
Out of the corner of his eye, he glanced at the Ame ninjas behind him. Suddenly, he showed them a brilliant smile.
The moment they saw the smile on his face, all the ninjas' hearts tightened.
A bad premonition surfaced in their minds.
The next second, Shiratori's body collapsed toward the ground.
"Shiratori!"
"Hey!"
The ninjas let out a cry of alarm in unison. Their pupils widened as they scrambled toward him.
Takigawa reacted instantly, catching his falling body.
The ninjas quickly surrounded them.
"Is he okay?"
"What happened to him?"
They asked anxiously.
Takigawa's trembling fingers probed under his nose. Feeling a faint airflow, he finally let out a heavy sigh of relief.
As long as there was still breath...
As long as there was still breath!
He hoisted the boy onto his back. He looked toward the ninjas beside him.
"Send the signal!"
"We have to get back to camp as soon as possible!"
"Let a medical-nin check on his condition!"
He swept his gaze across the group, his voice heavy:
"Don't forget... He became like this... for our sake..."
[Gratitude detected]
[Multiple sources: +3,000 points each]
[Total accumulated: 126,000 points]
[Curse Growth - Gratitude: 12.6%]
With a pale face, Shiratori leaned against Takigawa's back.
This Takigawa's really not bad! he thought to himself.
A signal flare let out a sharp whistle as it shot straight into the sky. By now, the sky was fully bright, and the red glow of the morning sun illuminated the battlefield.
The Ame ninjas' pupils were lit up by the fireworks of the signal flare.
Dust- and blood-streaked faces showed faint smiles. No matter what, they had won, they had survived.
Although fewer than fifty of the original two hundred had returned, compared to the total annihilation of the two Suna squads, they were already fortunate enough.
All of this was thanks to Shiratori.
Without him, they too would be just another corpse lying on the ground.
[Gratitude detected]
[Multiple sources: +2,000 points each]
[Total accumulated: 128,000 points]
[Curse Growth - Gratitude: 25.4%]
The battlefield was utterly silent.
The ninjas stayed in place to rest.
Until the sun rose higher, the stench of corpses filled the air, and the scorching desert heat distorted the space around them.
On the already weary faces of the ninjas, irritation began to show.
Takigawa glanced at the empty desert ahead where not a single figure appeared, then looked back at the still-unconscious Shiratori on his back.
"Something's wrong!" he said with certainty.
He looked gravely at the comrades who had survived from the first ambush unit.
The ninjas stood up from the ground, regrouped, and turned their eyes to him at the front.
"It's been five hours since we fired the signal flare, and there's still no sign of the relief unit. There's only one possibility..."
Before Takigawa could finish, one of the ninjas spoke, "The ninjas in our camp have fallen into a hard battle."
"Captain, you mean Suna's reinforcements split into two groups, one to support their own camp, and one to raid ours?" another ninja asked.
Takigawa shook his head. "Right now, it's still just speculation."
His expression did not look good.
"So what do we do now?"
The ninjas exchanged uneasy glances.
"Let's return and support our camp!"
"No!"
"We worked so hard to take this Suna camp, abandoning it now would mean all our efforts were wasted!"
"But our camp is under attack!"
"If no one has come to meet us, it means the battle isn't over yet!"
"The Suna forces we fought were led by Pakura, so who's leading the ones attacking our camp?"
"They'd only be stronger!"
The ninjas' opinions clashed.
Some insisted they should turn back immediately to support the Ame camp. Others thought they should hold the Suna camp to avoid losing everything they had gained.
"Enough arguing!" Takigawa barked.
The ninjas instantly fell silent, looking toward him. Only Takigawa had the authority to decide.
"Return to camp. Support our comrades!"
His voice was firm and resolute.
"But..."
As soon as a voice of doubt rose, he cut it off sharply: "Do you think we can hold this Suna camp without reinforcements? If another Suna reinforcement unit arrives, we're finished!"
No one spoke again.
He gave a decisive wave of his hand. "We march back!"
"Yes!"
He carried Shiratori and ran toward the camp on the border that had been taken by Ame. If Suna had gone on the offensive, they would reclaim this key camp as soon as possible.
Suna's reinforcements were highly likely to attack it.
Perched on Takigawa's back, Shiratori controlled a flock of crows to speed toward the border. He had to see what exactly had happened.
Takigawa's words sounded ominous.
Where there was a battlefield, how could he not be there?
And where Hanzō was, it was even better for him to collect emotional value!
A mistake!
Before leaving the Ame camp, he should have left two crows behind as surveillance.