"Huff! Huff!"
Kakashi had practically thrown himself out.
He collapsed into the puddle outside the tower, gasping violently. Fear and pushing past his limits made sweat pour down like streams.
His legs had almost lost all sensation. From his feet to his thighs were charred marks, muscles spasming uncontrollably, even dark red burns visible beneath the skin.
Clearly, he had stimulated his body with Lightning Release chakra just to escape, he hadn't even been left the chance to use Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall to defend.
So the others…
Boom!!
A bone-cracking, ear-piercing impact rang out as two figures were blasted out and sent flying toward him. Kakashi instinctively reached out to catch them, sliding several steps back before stabilizing himself.
Looking down, he saw two familiar faces, his expression instantly turned to shock and relief.
Arata… and Tenzō.
The former was merely exhausted, but the latter had his abdomen pierced clean through, as if a chunk had been gouged out of him.
'Right, Rotation doesn't require hand seals. Arata actually saved Tenzō!'
'Now that he basically understood that guy's ability, it was troublesome, but if Arata helped… maybe there was still a chance-'
"Kakashi… senpai…"
The 'Arata' he held spoke hoarsely, likely from exhaustion.
"Go… quickly. Hanzo and the Rain shinobi are about to make their move!"
Those words hit Kakashi like a bucket of cold water, snapping him back to reality.
Hanzo had been swayed. With just him and Arata, they couldn't face that many enemies.
Kakashi staggered to his feet and looked back toward the tower.
Damn it! That sudden intruder, if not for him, the alliance between Konoha and the Rain Village would've already been secured!
And now… the dozen men he brought were probably all dead!
The sounds inside the tower gradually quieted. Kakashi realized if they didn't leave now, it would be too late. Gritting his teeth, he supported the two and fled.
.....
Inside the tower, Hanzo entered with the Rain shinobi.
They instinctively sniffed the air, and were met with an overwhelming stench of blood. Many faces turned pale.
What they saw next was a grotesque crimson scene.
Like an artery torn open into a fountain of blood, thick, sticky red had flooded and swallowed the ground.
They looked up.
Under the moonlight, a web woven from shadows hung silently in the air.
Cruel. Evil. Bloody. Violent.
And yet… it carried a strange, twisted beauty.
Several Konoha shinobi, still barely alive, were suspended in the air by pitch-black shadows, struggling.
But they quickly realized, their chakra couldn't be used. They couldn't break free. All they could do was curse weakly.
As the shadows slowly crept up their bodies from below, their curses turned into low sobs… then into pleas for mercy…
Until everything fell into a chilling silence.
Everyone could feel that violent, predatory aura above them.
That suffocating, terrifying presence pressed against their very senses, enough to make one tremble, grit their teeth, and want to flee in terror.
"…"
Hanzo exhaled deeply, as if trying to expel the coldness in his chest, and the overwhelming stench of blood.
"Do your words still stand?" he asked in a low voice, looking at the shadow above. "We can purchase supplies at ten percent above black market prices. But what you said at the end…"
The Land of Rain and the Rain Village were never short of money.
Their steel industry was actually quite developed.
And their assassination expertise was well-known, many people hired Rain shinobi for such jobs, so they never lacked bounty income.
But what they lacked… was food.
In peacetime, they could buy it.
In wartime, trade routes were cut off, and grain became unavailable. Even if merchants risked smuggling it in, the skyrocketing prices were unbearable.
If "Shadow" could truly provide food… they would dare to fight the Five Great Nations to the end.
But what Hanzo cared about most…
"…You mean restoring my youthful body, and gaining greater power?"
Arata stored Tenzō's flesh and blood into a scroll, then stepped onto an invisible shadow, walking down slowly under the wary and fearful gazes of the crowd.
Only now did they clearly see him, a flowing black robe covering his entire body, his face completely hidden within deep shadows.
Meeting Hanzo's still-sharp, though clouded gaze, Arata stopped in front of him and smiled faintly.
"Don't move."
He reached out his hand.
Shenda's expression changed, he was about to intervene, but Hanzo calmly said:
"Do as he says."
Shenda and the others froze.
At the same moment, Arata placed his hand on Hanzo's shoulder.
In the next instant, black, writhing lines spread from his palm, crawling over Hanzo's body.
This was a weakened version of a Kāma.
Like a complete Kāma, it could absorb and release ninjutsu, and also carried partial effects of the Strength of a Hundred Seal and the Cursed Seal of Heaven.
Simply put, it couldn't replicate a full genetic backup like Ōtsutsuki Momoshiki.
It could only achieve parasitism on the level of chakra and soul.
Like how Minato and Kushina sealed part of their chakra inside Naruto, Arata could also communicate directly with the holder of the Kāma.
With this technique, he could do many things, and secretly approach people he couldn't face openly…
Buzz… buzz…
Feeling that gentle yet domineering chakra flow into his body, Hanzo frowned, about to speak,
But suddenly froze.
Because in his stunned expression, from his shoulder… something white began to grow.
"AHHH!!"
With a terrified, shrill scream, a white humanoid creature twisted its way out, first the head, then the body.
"What the hell is this thing?!"
Both the white humanoid and Hanzo shouted in shock at the same time.
Hanzo didn't know what it was.
Arata, however, knew very well.
White Zetsu.
It had been parasitizing Hanzo's body all along, monitoring him and relaying information. For years, it had remained perfectly hidden.
Until now.
"Impossible?!"
White Zetsu twisted violently, like white fluid being squeezed out, emerging from Hanzo's body while shouting in a human voice. Its pale face was filled with terror.
"What the hell are you?!"
That black substance, similar to chakra, had forcibly expelled it from Hanzo's body!
It was a creation made from the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path and Hashirama's cells!
Yet the chakra it felt now was even more savage and domineering than Hashirama's!
As if it regarded Hanzo's body as its own territory, refusing to allow any foreign presence!
"That's my question!"
Before it could get an answer, Hanzo, face filled with fury, grabbed its neck and violently yanked it completely out of his body.
"What the hell are you?"
Hanzo glared at it, expression twisted with rage.
"How long have you been inside me…?!"