Chapter 236 - The Face-Stealing Technique, Seen Through
Iwagakure at night shared none of Konoha's brightness. After dark the village went mostly quiet, with only the area around the Tsuchikage Building showing any significant light. Scattered lamps dotted the streets - sparse, functional, nothing more.
Among all the lit windows in that cluster, the newly established Rinnegan Research Institute burned brightest of all. It outshone even the Tsuchikage Building nearby. Every floor of the seven-story structure blazed, and through the windows the silhouettes of working figures could be seen on each level, moving without pause.
With only two months to hold the Rinnegan, Iwagakure had implemented three rotating shifts - twenty-four hours a day, uninterrupted.
The dedication and endurance of the Rock ninja was genuinely admirable.
It was simply that this kind of work did not advance through endurance alone. Iwagakure's research staff lacked the quality to make headway, and the atmosphere inside the institute had visibly curdled into desperation. Red-eyed ninja paced the edges of recklessness, eyeing methods that might cause the Rinnegan structural damage. Without exception, each of them found themselves on the receiving end of a strike from Hyuga Ritsu before they could act - and because this was Iwagakure, because this was Rock Village territory and the Rock ninja's home ground, he hadn't killed any of them. He had merely left them seriously injured.
Even so, the Rock ninja were not pleased.
"Clan Head Hyuga. You hit too hard."
Kitsuchi found Ritsu sitting on a sofa and approached him with a tight expression, the anger behind his eyes plainly visible. "Even granting that they acted rashly, someone with your ability could have stopped them without -"
"Why should I put in that kind of effort?"
Ritsu didn't move from the sofa. He looked up at Kitsuchi with a cold smile.
"I was already showing restraint. Not killing them on the spot was the most generosity I had to offer."
He paused, then continued.
"And Kitsuchi - let me be clear about something. My hitting hard is what's protecting you. If even one of those idiots had succeeded and damaged the Rinnegan, even slightly - do you believe I would let half of Iwagakure's ninja walk away from that?"
The words landed like a blade in winter.
Kitsuchi stood frozen, unable to form a reply.
The Rock ninja around the room reacted in varying ways. Some shivered. Some looked uneasy. A few looked furious, and some of those moved toward Ritsu with weapons out - whether out of speed or the desire to vent, shuriken and kunai came flying his way.
Clang - clang -
Aika and Akiba acted simultaneously, striking the incoming weapons out of the air with blades and open palms. Their crimson and pale eyes swept coldly across the throwers.
Ritsu hadn't even registered the projectiles as a threat. With his current physical constitution, that kind of thrown weapon couldn't meaningfully hurt him with or without Aika and Akiba's help.
His gaze stayed on the Rock ninja he had just sent flying.
"Orochimaru-senpai. There's no point keeping the act up. Your Face-Stealing Technique is impressive, but the Byakugan of the Hyuga clan has it beat. A single layer of borrowed skin isn't enough to hide from these eyes."
The Face-Stealing Technique was exactly as brutal as it sounded - a disguise method that peeled another person's face clean and pressed it over the user's own, using the residual chakra in the flesh and blood to mask the user's chakra signature. It could fool most sensor-type techniques.
It could not fool most, however, was not the same as it could fool all. The Hyuga clan's Byakugan was clearly in the minority of exceptions. And Ritsu's Byakugan in particular - sharper than any the clan had produced - had seen through it immediately.
"Couldn't be helped."
The Rock ninja Ritsu had struck stood up. He reached up and peeled away the face he was wearing - it was bleeding from all seven orifices, a grotesque thing - and revealed his true face beneath. That familiar cold smile.
"Ritsu-kun. It's been a while."
Orochimaru greeted him pleasantly.
The Rock ninja in the room recoiled. Every weapon in the room pointed at him as they realized an infiltrator had been standing among them without anyone noticing until just now.
Onoki's brow drew together hard enough to crush something.
But he made his decision quickly.
"Kitsuchi. Stay here and assist Clan Head Hyuga against Orochimaru. I'm going to deal with the other problems. And send word to the Sealing Unit - tell them to find me."
He didn't wait for a response. He stepped through the floor-to-ceiling window - breaking it cleanly - and flew toward the southwest corner of the village where the explosions had come from. Kitsuchi took his orders and acted without hesitation - meaning he sent someone to contact the Sealing Unit. As for assisting Ritsu against Orochimaru: the word "assist" implied that Ritsu was taking the lead, and Kitsuchi knew it. He held his position and didn't rush in.
Ritsu smiled. "It really has been a long time. Though I have to say, Orochimaru-senpai, you've changed considerably. Even gone so far as to acquire a Sharingan."
"A minor addition on my part. But you, Ritsu-kun - you've left me speechless. The way you look now is genuinely terrifying."
Orochimaru studied him from top to bottom. Through the Sharingan's perception he could see it clearly - Ritsu's chakra reserves, vast enough to rival a Tailed Beast, and of a quality so pure it sent a chill through him.
Precisely because he could see it so clearly, he was being very careful. Possessing both the Sharingan and Wood Release was no reason to let his guard down against this person.
"Since I terrify you that much, Orochimaru-senpai, why not just leave? Out of respect for what you did for me and my clan in the past, and for the bond between you and Hiruko-sensei - if you turn around now, I can let this be as though it never happened."
"Ritsu-kun. Do you genuinely think I'll leave?"
"Probably not. You came for the Rinnegan, didn't you? I doubt you'd walk away empty-handed."
"Since you understand, then - hand the Rinnegan over to me. I promise the moment I have it I'll leave immediately. I won't trouble your sight any further."
"Looks like we're going to have to test each other after all."
Ritsu stood from the sofa and began moving toward where the Rinnegan was kept. Words had run their course. The conversation needed to be finished through other means.
But in the very next instant, Orochimaru threw a kunai at him - one covered in dense, complex seal markings. That detail was immediately visible to Ritsu, and to Aika and Akiba as well.
"Senpai - there's a trap on it!"
Ritsu tilted his head and let the kunai pass beside him.
But as it flew past - at the exact moment it grazed close - a figure materialized from empty air. A flash of brilliant blade-light cut across Ritsu's chest, splitting it open. Heart and lungs both took the strike. Blood -
The blood never flew. The wound was sealing itself as fast as it was being opened, forcing the blood back before it could escape.
Orochimaru stared. He wasn't sure he was seeing what he was seeing.
Then the Ritsu who had just been opened from chest to belly threw a punch as though nothing had happened, wind screaming around his fist.
Gentle Fist Style: Whirlwind Iron-Cutting Fist.
The blow connected with the Senju Tobirama who had gutted him. The wind-wrapped fist edge sliced the Second Hokage's body into pieces - no blood, only grey ash drifting down through the air.