"Born of Darkness, Return to Darkness—"
Like ink dripping into clear water, the black barrier spread across the sky. In an instant, it touched the ground, even extending deep underground, enveloping the entire Kirigakure Village.
The Curtain.
In Hii Kōri's original world, this was a special barrier used by jujutsu sorcerers to seal off battlefields and screen for curses.
This barrier could block the vision of ordinary people, preventing battles between sorcerers and cursed spirits from being exposed, thus ensuring the peace of mind of non-sorcerers.
Beyond this basic effect, additional conditions could be imposed to add various other effects to the Curtain.
"All foul impurities, be exorcised."
Just like now.
"Wha—what is this?!"
A Kirigakure chūnin, who had been forming hand seals with his teammates to release a Water Release technique in an attempt to block the Mechanical Wolf's charge, was the first to cry out in surprise.
His eyes widened. The village reflected in his pupils—ravaged and brutalized—had become utterly alien, like another world.
The air was filled with a blue-black mist, viscos as rotting grease, rising from every comrade, every corpse, every inch of earth, and even from their own bodies.
The turbid currents writhed beneath the black canopy as if alive, condensing into countless indescribable forms.
That was the effect Hii Kōri had added to the Curtain: allowing ordinary people to see curses, cursed energy, and cursed spirits.
Almost the moment their vision was altered, they were tightly wrapped by the sticky sensation of the curse flowing across their skin—reluctant to leave, nearly seeping into their bodies.
Immediately after came the nauseating smell that filled their noses and mouths, like a rag used to wipe up vomit and then thrown into a sewer.
"BLEGH!!!"
Not far away, a young Kirigakure genin fell to his knees on the spot, clutching his stomach and violently dry heaving.
But this was only the beginning.
"You—you bastard—"
As if their reason and body temperature were both leaking out into this turbid, chaotic sensory world, radiating a chilling cold that made one's back shiver a chūnin with a scar on his face suddenly spun around, plunging his kunai without warning into the comrade beside him.
His eyes were bloodshot, fixed on the other's face, which was filled with shock at the sudden attack.
"During the last mission debriefing, you kept badmouthing me, didn't you?! I knew it! I knew it, you mongrel—"
"Have you lost your mind?!"
The attacked ninja hastily raised his blade to block. The clash of metal was harsh on the ears. He could have explained, shouted, or counterattacked.
But seeing the other's face, written all over with killing intent, all his thoughts were replaced by a more primitive impulse.
"Die!"
The long blade reversed upward. Blood splattered.
"Crazy? Useless trash."
Then, both were summarily executed on the spot by the jōnin still at the scene.
As a jōnin whose strength far exceeded theirs, he could easily have restrained the two. But trash who caused internal strife while fighting the enemies invading the village had no right to live.
Seeing nothing wrong with his actions, his face splattered with blood, the Kirigakure jōnin's expression twisted as he looked around and roared, "All of you, listen—"
Before he could finish, he was torn into meaningless chunks of meat by several magatama-shaped "teeth."
Compared to back in the Land of Rain, where he used Demonic Descent to interfere with all targets simultaneously, making them see his illusions and attack them, the effect of Hii Kōri's Curtain in drawing out curses was almost too effective.
After all, back when Amegakure hadn't yet surrendered, he had also tried releasing curses to affect minds, but the effect had never been this remarkable.
In a word, the external factor of the environment was the reason for this effect's power this time.
The suspicion, dissatisfaction, and hatred that Kirigakure ninjas had repressed under the Bloody Mist policy on a daily basis were magnified a hundredfold at this moment. Those visible, distorted negative emotions were merely a catalyst. The true cause of the instantaneous disintegration of their already fragile comradely bonds was the curse rooted within the Kirigakure ninjas' own hearts.
On another battlefield, a sharp shout exploded like thunder.
"Don't worry about those things!"
Yagura's figure landed on a high point amidst the ruins, his coral club striking the ground heavily. His short, grass-green hair seemed incongruous amidst the surging cursed mist, but the expression on his baby face was as hard as iron.
"Everyone, keep your emotions stable! These things affect the mind!"
Seeing the scene before him, Yagura immediately realized that Hii Kōri had already acted. He then directed the other Kirigakure to calm their emotions while rushing forward to intercept Rashōmon, who was currently holding the longsword Nuibari retrieved from the Mechanical Bird's battlefield and charging toward the crowd.
"Those with insufficient strength, leave here now—"
Yagura's words carried enough weight in the village whether due to his infamous reputation for mercilessly slaughtering village comrades or his authority as the Mizukage's assistant to hold the situation together.
Most of the Kirigakure ninjas who could still maintain their sanity instinctively followed his orders, trying their best to forcibly suppress their agitated emotions while retreating.
Of course, Yagura had told them to stabilize the village's order. Having received orders from their superior, they now had a legitimate excuse to leave the battlefield. If he had ordered them to advance, they certainly wouldn't have been able to calm their emotions.
After all, Rashōmon's performance was far more terrifying than the two mechanical beasts.
"But Lord Yagura, what exactly is—"
"It's a problem with the thing sealed in the village."
Yagura cut off another jōnin's questioning. He swung his club, unleashing a massive wave to temporarily block Rashōmon, who was moving in physical form. "The village's curse has erupted due to the invaders' attack. Someone will deal with it later. Now, follow my orders!"
"All chūnin and genin, evacuate this area immediately!"
After brushing off the overly inquisitive jōnin with rapid speech and increased volume, Yagura sidestepped the longsword Nuibari thrown by Rashōmon, used his coral club to deflect the wire trailing behind it, and then ordered again, "Go to the residential areas to maintain order, protect the civilians, and put out the fires! I don't have time to look after you useless lot right now!"
"Yes!"
The remaining Kirigakure ninjas, as if pardoned, quickly dispersed. Those chūnin and genin who had already been pushed to the brink of collapse by the visible curses fled almost desperately from the central battlefield, heading to the relatively safer residential areas.
Even though they'd been yelled at, at least they weren't being sent to their deaths. In Kirigakure, that made Yagura a top-tier good leader.
In an instant, fewer than twenty jōnin remained on the ruins, along with—
Rashōmon retrieved the longsword Nuibari, swinging the trailing wire back and forth, watching the other Kirigakure retreat.
He didn't particularly like this weapon, which could only thrust and cut with its wire. Compared to the other ninja swords, Nuibari was rather unremarkable.
Before Yagura arrived, he had received information from Hii Kōri that they were cooperating. So there was no need to continue slaughtering everyone.
But even when putting on a show, it had to look convincing.
The pitch-black beast suddenly lunged. Those two eyes, like ominous trails of incense smoke, were even more dazzling in the vision of the Kirigakure jōnin who had gained the ability to see cursed energy.
The long needle in his hand flew again, ruthlessly piercing through a jōnin's shoulder. Rashōmon, appearing behind him, caught the needle and stabbed again, instantly piercing all the joints of the jōnin's limbs.
Using the wire behind the needle as puppet strings, Rashōmon controlled that Kirigakure jōnin to attack other enemies, while he himself engaged in combat with Yagura.
But after a few seconds, the controlled jōnin was dismembered and scattered on the ground.
Perhaps because his earlier killing had been too efficient, causing him to show an opening due to surprise at the "camaraderie" among Kirigakure ninjas, Rashōmon's movements clearly paused. Yagura took the opportunity to smash his coral club, wrapped in surging water, heavily into Rashōmon's body.
Even though he had been forced to accept cooperation with Hii Kōri, that didn't mean he would show mercy to this pitch-black "subordinate" of Hii Kōri before him.
Wanting to assassinate the Third Mizukage earlier was one thing. Making a deal with Hii Kōri was another. Having the village he lived in destroyed by outsiders was yet another.
However, even though the blow sent Rashōmon flying a considerable distance, the sensation of the club striking felt very wrong to Yagura.
No bones, no internal organs. The sensation was less like hitting a human body and more like smashing a rubber toy with a hammer.
Sensing something amiss, Yagura immediately swung his coral club and unleashed his signature technique.
"Water Release: Water Mirror Technique!"
Tracing a circular path with his coral club before him, Yagura condensed a water mirror over two meters in diameter.
Having been sent flying, Rashōmon was naturally unharmed. He casually threw the longsword Nuibari with a special technique, twisting it into the surrounding buildings to serve as an anchor point, then swung back to his original direction like a certain "friendly neighborhood" New Yorker.
In midair, two new arms suddenly emerged from behind the pitch-black humanoid figure, each holding an ax and a hammer, connected by specially crafted fabric.
That was the fourth ninja sword Rashōmon had collected: the Blunt Sword: Kabutowari.
The four-armed, "dual-wielding" Rashōmon descended from the sky, his figure reflected perfectly in the water mirror Yagura had created.
The same four arms, the same hands holding Nuibari and Kabutowari, the same pitch-black figure wreathed in shadows every detail is clearly visible.
The next instant, the "reflection" in the water mirror broke through its surface, transforming into a watery projection, charging to meet the original!
"CLANG—!!!"
The twin swords collided, sparks flying. The strength of the water clone was actually equal to the original.
Rashōmon, whose own ability was to transform into countless forms, found this deeply amusing. Having no intention of continuing to attack Kirigakure anyway, he immediately engaged in combat with Yagura and his own "shadow."
The other jōnin nearby wanted to help or rather, to claim some credit from Yagura but after watching the first to step forward die on the spot within three exchanges, they lost any desire to "advance."
Compared to Yagura, who had mastered the Water Mirror Technique to a supernatural degree, and that monster who seemed completely immune to damage, their bodies weren't nearly as resilient.
East of the center of Kirigakure, where the building that had once been a shrine stood, it had now vanished completely, along with the laboratory hidden beneath it.
In its place was a massive hole so deep that anyone who fell in would never be rescued.
"Truly... I've had an unpleasant dream..."
In this place shrouded in desolation, the Third Mizukage who seemed never to have opened his eyes now opened them.
He wore very ordinary clothing of the Land of Water. His long black hair hung to his shoulders, adorned with a ring of decorative beads. If no one introduced him, no one would think this gentle-mannered man was the "culprit" who had pushed Kirigakure into the Bloody Mist.
No one responded to him somewhat dull words.
Apart from him, the other ninjas were probably all dealing with the enemies that had come from nowhere, and the strange things spreading through the air.
As he had said, the days from succeeding Gengetsu Hōzuki as the Third Mizukage until now had been an unpleasant dream to him.
From taking office as the Mizukage with high hopes, to trying to deal with those curses, to being forced to use the village's children as containers for the curses...
Finally, to turning Kirigakure into the bloody Village of the Bloody Mist.
It was like a long nightmare lasting over a decade.
He would rather admit that it was his own inadequacy, that he had betrayed the trust of the First Mizukage and that damn mustached man, that had caused Kirigakure to fall to its current state.
But the elder "Genji" who held power and status equal to the Mizukage and had been handling village affairs since the First Mizukage's time had told him bluntly that it wasn't his fault.
It was Kirigakure's problem. The Land of Water's problem.
"Who would accept something like that..."
At this moment, when the curse was most active, his inner anxiety and anguish having been exploited, becoming increasingly extreme under the curse's influence, the Third Mizukage suddenly seemed to have returned to over a decade ago not a trace of manic depression visible in him.
The Third Mizukage's gaze fell on the massive hole that seemed to lead to the bottom of Naraka. His laments echoed within it, making him feel that even in this war-torn village, this place was so empty, allowing him a moment of peace.
"Well then. Would you be willing to lend me your head?"
Amid this calm inquiry, Hii Kōri appeared beside the Third Mizukage, speaking as if in casual conversation.
"As the foolish former leader who created this Bloody Mist, to die alongside the Curse haunts this village at the hands of a 'hero of the new era,' becoming a cornerstone for a brand new tomorrow... doesn't that sound like a rather fitting end for you?"