Rain began to fall.
Slow.
Cold.
The Cloud shinobi wiped blood from his nose.
Annoyed now.
"You're forcing me to kill you."
Lightning surged around his arm.
Not paralysis this time.
Lethal intent.
Izumi's leg trembled.
She could not outrun him.
Could not overpower him.
So she changed strategy.
She stopped attacking.
Stopped chasing openings.
Instead—
She made him move first.
He lunged.
Lightning spear formed in his hand.
She dodged left—
Too slow.
The spear tore through her thigh.
Bone cracked.
She collapsed instantly.
Her scream echoed through the trees.
He approached calmly.
No rush now.
"You've cost me enough time."
He grabbed her broken arm and twisted.
Fracture confirmed.
She gasped.
Vision blurring.
He lifted her slightly by the collar.
"You did something to me."
His voice was colder now.
"My stamina feels wrong."
Her lips curved faintly despite blood.
"Good."
That answer sealed it.
He slammed her into the ground.
Hard.
Her ribs cracked.
He raised the lightning blade again.
This time—
Aimed at her heart.
She tried to move.
Her body refused.
Her heartbeat slowed.
Not from control.
From collapse.
Zack screamed internally.
We can't win.
For the first time—
She agreed.
He thrust downward.
She rolled instinctively.
The blade pierced through her calf instead.
Missing her chest by centimeters.
She convulsed.
Blood pooling beneath her.
He exhaled slowly.
"That's enough."
He stepped back.
Watching.
Waiting.
Her breathing became shallow.
Irregular.
Slowing.
Her eyes unfocused.
Her chakra flickered.
He observed carefully.
No tricks this time.
No sudden lunges.
Just a dying child.
He waited a full thirty seconds.
Her heartbeat nearly disappeared.
Satisfied—
He lowered his guard.
And stepped closer.
He crouched beside her.
Checking pulse.
Weak.
Almost gone.
"Waste," he muttered.
"But usable."
Even a corpse could be studied.
He reached down—
And that was the mistake.
Her eyes snapped open.
Animal.
Desperate.
Not graceful.
Not calculated.
She grabbed his collar with her good arm.
And lunged upward.
Her teeth and lips crashed against his mouth.
Full contact.
Not gentle.
Not controlled.
Violent.
He tried to pull back instantly—
But she bit down.
Hard.
Drawing blood.
Locking jaw.
His eyes widened in horror.
"Y—"
He couldn't finish.
Her ability activated at full force.
Not measured.
Not counted.
He punched forward—
Lightning blade forming reflexively.
Aimed at her chest.
She twisted.
Her already impaled leg intercepted the strike.
Lightning ripped through muscle again.
Nearly reaching bone near her skull.
But she did not release him.
She endured.
Five seconds.
Ten.
His body began to tremble violently.
He felt it.
The erosion.
Not just chakra.
Time unraveling.
His heartbeat destabilized.
Wrinkles formed faintly at the corner of his eyes.
Hair losing luster.
His strength faltered.
He tried to form another seal—
Too slow.
She held on.
Fifteen seconds.
His vision blurred.
Lightning flickered weakly.
He attempted one final strike.
His arm dropped mid-motion.
Chakra dispersed.
Twenty seconds.
His heart stuttered.
Collapsed.
He fell backward.
Taking her with him.
She didn't release immediately.
Even after his body stopped moving.
Even after silence consumed the clearing.
Only when she felt absolutely nothing left—
Did she let go.
She rolled onto her back.
Rain fell on her face.
Her body was broken.
Leg pierced twice.
Arm fractured.
Ribs cracked.
Internal bleeding.
But alive.
Barely.
And stronger.
Not overwhelmingly.
Not suddenly invincible.
But different.
She had crossed something tonight.
She had chosen to hunt.
Not because she was hungry.
But because survival demanded it.
Zack's voice was quiet.
We almost died.
"Yes."
She stared at the sky.
"…and next time we won't."
But somewhere far away—
In the Hidden Cloud Village—
A spy had just gone silent.
And silence in the shinobi world—
Always led to investigation.
End of Chapter 5