Taking a step back to avoid the iron ore that had fallen all over the ground, Hoshiyomi looked at his work with a satisfied nod.
He casually picked up two pieces of the iron ore and examined them. The cuts were smooth and neat. With this kind of power, even against the Four-Tails, he could probably unleash a strike no less formidable than an unstoppable torrent itself.
After seeing the power, of course, he also had to check the consumption. Closing his eyes, he felt that he'd used about one-tenth of his chakra. This level of consumption was roughly similar to the Heavenly Flying Dragon Slash, so it was an acceptable rate.
However, Hoshiyomi also keenly noticed a huge flaw in the Soul Eater's Demon Seal Slash: this skill had a cooldown, and it was much stronger than Banshō Ten'in
After Hoshiyomi used the Soul Eater's Demon Seal Slash for the first time, he clearly felt a sense of emptiness in his left hand.
What did it feel like? It felt as though his left hand had been hollowed out... It didn't affect his sword technique, but there was an unmistakable discomfort. It was as if some invisible voice was telling him that he couldn't use Soul Eater's Demon Seal Slash again for a while.
Looking down, Hoshiyomi noticed a small blood droplet-shaped mark had appeared on the palm of his left hand. At that moment, the mark was semi-transparent, with only a small red portion at the very bottom.
After observing it for a while, he could clearly see the red slowly rising. As the red in the blood droplet mark increased, the hollow feeling in his left hand slowly began to fade.
Hoshiyomi estimated that it would take about two minutes for the blood droplet mark to fully return to red, meaning there was a cooldown of about two minutes for using Soul Eater's Demon Seal Slash.
He speculated that the appearance of this mark was likely related to the system's modification of his body. The energy stored in the blood droplet mark was probably the same energy as the red gravitational vortex.
Having spent the entire afternoon in the mine, Hoshiyomi had thoroughly tested Soul Eater's Demon Seal Slash. By the end of the testing, he understood the skill completely.
There were significant differences between the skill and the game version. In the game, the more enemies Soul Eater's Demon Seal Slash absorbed, the stronger the damage. However, in reality, the damage remained the same regardless of how many targets he absorbed.
Another key finding was that the intensity of the gravitational pull could be adjusted. If the pull was set to maximum, Hoshiyomi could pull in targets within two to three seconds, without needing to maintain the pose for a long time.
Additionally, if he wanted to keep pulling targets from around him, the vortex could last around ten seconds. However, the longer the vortex lasted, the weaker the immediate pull would become. Against stronger opponents, this might allow them to break free, so it was best used when clearing weaker enemies.
An unexpected benefit was that Soul Eater's Demon Seal Slash didn't consume chakra unless the final slash was executed. But would simply consume the pulling force in the blood droplet mark.
This was a pleasant surprise, as it greatly expanded the skill's usability.
After testing all afternoon, Hoshiyomi returned to the center of Rain Mine Town, feeling a little fatigued. By this time, Orochimaru had received the intelligence and dispatched a team of around one hundred shinobis to take over the town.
After completing the handover with them, Hoshiyomi took his team back to Konoha's main camp.
...
When Hoshiyomi returned to the main camp, Sunagakure's camp received the news of Rain Mine Town's change of control.
Upon hearing this, the Sunagakure shinobi, who had previously mocked Konoha for being too weak to defend their patrol quad, were no longer laughing.
They had been secretly pleased with themselves for eliminating a patrol squad of ten or so Konoha shinobi, only to turn around and realize that their own force of sixty or seventy had evaporated, and a precious mine vein was lost.
It was like the red side's AD quietly ate two waves of minions, feeling secretly pleased, only to suddenly realize the enemy's AD had killed their mid-laner and taken down the first turret.
It was frustrating, damn it!
In the command tent, Chiyo, Ebizo, and a newly arrived Sunagakure elder were so angry when they heard the news that their noses were almost crooked
Chiyo, in particular, smashed the tea cup in her hand to the ground with a loud crash, her face filled with fury as she cursed:
"It must be Sakumo! It must be that bastard's doing! I'm going to skin him alive and turn him into a puppet to vent my anger!"
Ebizo and the other Sunagakure elder watched Chiyo's hysterical behavior with a bit of a headache. Chiyo was already close to menopause, and ever since the deaths of her son and daughter-in-law, she had completely lost her grip.
After spending some time in Sunagakure, she hadn't gone crazy, but she had become rather neurotic. Now, every time something went wrong, she blamed Sakumo.
"Ahem, ahem, sister, have a drink of water and calm down."
Compared to the straightforward Chiyo, her younger brother Ebizo was more rational and composed. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been entrusted with handling the most meticulous and complex intelligence and coordination tasks.
After some persuasion, Ebizo finally managed to get Chiyo to sit down again. He carefully chose his words and said:
"Although I also think this matter was most likely done by Sakumo, our Anbu investigation found that he actually didn't do it."
Chiyo, just sitting down, sharply raised her voice:
"Impossible. The Anbu must have investigated incorrectly."
Ebizo, feeling a headache coming on, rubbed his temples:
"We conducted a thorough investigation, and it's confirmed that Sakumo has already returned to Konoha... on a new mission. The current commander of Konoha is no longer Sakumo, but Hoshiyomi, who was reassigned from the Iwagakure front."
Ebizo had originally planned to share all the intelligence he had gathered about Hoshiyomi with his sister so they could plan their next steps based on Hoshiyomi's character.
But before he could finish his sentence, Chiyo shot to her feet. She was trembling with fury, her fists clenched so tightly that it was obvious she was at her breaking point:
"How dare he! How dare he! He ruined my son and daughter-in-law, left my precious little Sasori without parents, and then just went back to Konoha to live his good life? How can this be?
We have to bring him back. I must kill him to make him pay for the lives of my son and daughter-in-law!"
Ebizo grabbed his sister and tried to calm her down:
"Sister, even if we want to kill Sakumo, it's not something we can just talk about and do. Let's focus on dealing with Hoshiyomi first, alright?"
Chiyo wasn't having any of it. She flicked her sleeve and coldly snorted:
"I don't care if it's Hoshiyomi or Silver Moon. Tell me, if I kill Hoshiyomi, will Sakumo have to return to the front lines?"
Upon hearing this, cold sweat broke out on Ebizo's forehead, but he tried to follow along with his sister's logic:
"Logically, yes, but..."
"No buts! Whoever tries to stop me from killing Sakumo, I'll kill them too. Arrange for a hundred Sunagakure shinobi to be on standby. Once we get the chance, we'll ambush this Moonlight Hoshiyomi together!"
With that, Chiyo stormed out of the tent.
Ebizo watched his sister's retreating figure, slapping his forehead with a sigh. He felt that there was a reason his head was so big.