Hearing an unfamiliar voice beside him, the Third Mizukage felt no surprise.
Seeing the state of this shrine, and the fact that the residents of Kirigakure under the influence of that black barrier could now clearly observe and feel the increasingly dense curse spreading through the village, the Third Mizukage realized that someone was definitely planning to use this curse for something.
In that case, it was only natural that this "culprit" would return to the place in Kirigakure with the highest concentration of curses.
The only thing that had caught him off guard was Hii Kōri's intention—to use this opportunity to elevate a new Mizukage...
No, thinking it over carefully, it wasn't incomprehensible.
Regardless of Hii Kōri's purpose, he himself, a "maddened" Kage, was a nuisance. Wanting to dispose of him was only natural.
Thinking this, the Third Mizukage didn't even turn his head. He simply continued gazing at the deep hole before him, as if there were something in it more worthy of attention than the suddenly appearing enemy.
After a long moment, he finally spoke, his voice carrying a peculiar mix of exhaustion and relief.
"I didn't expect that genius from Sunagakure to have such insight into these curses."
Even hearing such remarks, the Third Mizukage felt no anger. This long-missed "calm" felt nostalgic to him. His voice was soft, as if worried that if he got excited again, he would revert to that mad state of the past.
Although Hii Kōri's words were not entirely trustworthy, the "tamed" cursed energy wrapping around him could not be faked.
Thanks to the suddenly acquired ability to see curses, the Third Mizukage could clearly see the cursed energy on the young man beside him enough to overshadow the curse diffused through the environment.
"I spent over a decade, using all of Kirigakure's research capabilities, and could only barely contain a portion of the curse. Yet you... seem to be able to wield these curses like extensions of your own limbs."
He raised his hand, looking at the blood-tinged turbidity rising from his palm. He paused, then looked at Hii Kōri with complex eyes.
"Strictly speaking, dealing with curses is my original profession." Hii Kōri tilted his head, finding the question quite interesting. "Being a ninja and such is more of a side job."
Then, he reached into his sleeve and pulled out a metal three-section staff with numerous nicks cut into it. While simple cuts could be repaired, the various techniques inscribed on it had been completely destroyed, beyond repair.
Ukon.
Or rather, what used to be Ukon.
"This is..." The Third Mizukage narrowed his eyes.
Even without any special sensory ability, he could feel a certain wonderful attraction from the fragment.
"A broken toy." Hii Kōri answered casually, then did something the Third Mizukage hadn't expected.
He casually tossed the Ukon fragment into the bottomless pit before them.
"You—"
Before the Third Mizukage could finish, a sudden change occurred.
The cursed mist that had been floating in the air, like a school of sharks sensing blood, began rushing madly into the hole.
The overly condensed filth even caused the air around the void to twist, forming a visible black vortex. The Third Mizukage could feel the curse within his own body accelerating its outflow. The sensation of being drained became so strong it nearly made him lose his footing.
As if standing in a filthy sewer, an unpleasant, sticky sensation rushed past them, all converging into that void. The ground beneath their feet even began to faintly tremble, like the slow pumping of some creature's heart.
"You plan to gather the curses together, then deal with them?"
Seeing this sight, the Third Mizukage suddenly perked up.
"Even after being mad for over a decade, your judgment is still sharp, Lord Mizukage."
Although he used honorifics, Hii Kōri's tone and words carried little respect. But the Third Mizukage clearly didn't care much about such things, merely assuming an attentive posture.
"To be precise, I'm gathering the curses, then 'cultivating' something that can be disposed of in one go."
"Cultivate?" The Third Mizukage frowned.
"Mm-hmm."
Hii Kōri walked to the edge of the massive pit, looking down. In his special view, something astonishing was happening at the bottom.
Unlike the Special Grade Cursed Tool from his previous life, which had no innate techniques and was known purely for its physical strength, his Ukon was a multi-purpose cursed tool inscribed with various techniques.
Even though it had become an irreparable piece of scrap, it was still a pretty cursed object.
In fact, rather than a curse that could suppress other curses, this broken cursed object, due to its structural damage, was more likely to become a container for curses.
And then... give birth to a cursed spirit.
In his past life, Hii Kōri had been two years ahead of Gojō Satoru and the others at Jujutsu High.
He and Gojō Satoru could be considered "frenemies" to some extent. At the very least, having died by his hands in the end, Hii Kōri had no complaints.
Through that connection, he had also become quite familiar with Geto Suguru. In fact, after the latter became a curse user, they had communicated even more frequently.
Geto Suguru needed him to custom-make rare cursed tools, and Hii Kōri had taken the opportunity to research Geto's Cursed Spirit Manipulation, tinkering with some small creations based on it.
He had also used those tools to try cultivating his own cursed spirits as materials for cursed tools, but had given up because the cost outweighed the benefit.
But now, with plenty of curses available, and no cursed spirit of this type having been born yet, cultivating one here posed no trouble at all.
"Cursed spirits are the physical manifestation of curses. Generally speaking, this accumulation requires a long process."
Hii Kōri's gaze fell on the Ukon fragment submerged in the dark depths below, explaining slowly: "But if you prepare a 'container' in advance and guide the curses to condense in a specific way—"
"You can create this 'cursed spirit' you speak of, then eliminate it. Correct?"
The Third Mizukage narrowed his eyes again, asking in a calm tone.
"Mm-hmm. That's exactly it. And of course, some other troublesome matters."
Like you.
Hii Kōri didn't say those words aloud, but the Third Mizukage understood.
He suddenly laughed.
"Truly an excellent plan."
"So then, what is your answer?"
It would still be some time before the cursed spirit was born. Hii Kōri didn't mind chatting a bit longer with the dying man beside him.
After all, this was one of those rare people who, upon meeting him, didn't call him "Crimson of Agony." He had to provide good service, right?
The Third Mizukage looked up at the sky.
Although it was obscured by the pitch-black "Curtain," the outline of the real sky outside was still faintly visible. Lowering his gaze, the thick fog of Kirigakure was also gradually thinning. This was the first time since becoming Mizukage that he had seen the village's full form so clearly.
Even though the scattered buildings and intersecting waterways looked quite miserable at this moment.
Hii Kōri followed his gaze. The fighting in Kirigakure had gradually subsided. The only ones still skirmishing in the distance were Rashōmon.
The Mechanical Bird's main and secondary cannons had both overheated. With no need to continue fighting, it had been the first to dispel its summoning and return to the hangar.
The Mechanical Wolf, however, was in excellent condition. During its rampage, a fool named Raiga Kurosuki had hit it with a series of Lightning Release techniques, giving it another charge.
As "thanks," it had painlessly sent that man to his death. After collecting the Lightning Sword: Kiba, it had also returned to the hangar to prepare for a repaint.
"But what if I refuse?"
"It doesn't matter if you refuse. After all, from your perspective—and from Kirigakure's—I am indeed the enemy." Hii Kōri shrugged, fully understanding the Third Mizukage's reaction.
"So I'm just here to inform you, not ask for your opinion. After all—"
"That would be even better—"
Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique!
Before Hii Kōri could finish, the Third Mizukage skipped the hand seal process entirely, mobilizing the chakra for this A-rank technique within his body and expelling a massive water sphere from his mouth.
Not to injure the enemy with this, but merely to create a battlefield favorable to himself.
As a Water Release ninja most affected by environmental bonuses, this was second nature.
But the moment he mobilized his chakra, Hii Kōri had already sensed it.
"Let me show you something interesting."
Before the words had even faded, the massive water sphere expelled by the Third Mizukage was solidly frozen into a single block of ice the instant it approached Hii Kōri.
"Ice Release?! How can you—"
"Ah, just a combination of Wind and Water Releases. My chakra control is so precise, why wouldn't I be able to use it?"
With a thunderous crash, Hii Kōri shattered the massive ice block with a single punch.
The pillar of freezing ice crystals, wrapped in his teasing words, shot toward the Third Mizukage, followed closely by his charging figure.
"Tch!"
To some extent, Ice Release countered Water Release even better than Earth Release. The Yuki Clan's status in Kirigakure was largely due to their kekkei genkai's ability to counter Water Release.
Hii Kōri's use of Ice Release had indeed caught him off guard.
Compared to Hii Kōri, who operated Yin and Yang Releases constantly and grew stronger with every breath, the Third Mizukage long bogged down in government affairs was truly out of practice in combat. After two exchanges, he could only be pushed around by Hii Kōri's various Ice Release techniques.
"After all, Lord Mizukage hasn't had real combat experience in a very long time, has he?!"
Hii Kōri emerged from an ice pillar that had grazed past the Third Mizukage, taunting him as he did, and with a follow-up side kick, sent him tumbling into the sea beside them.
But the Third Mizukage, who should have been an excellent swimmer, found that no matter how he struggled, he couldn't break free from this strangely dark sea.
Wait—
Where did a sea come from?!
Suddenly, the Third Mizukage realized that he had been fighting Hii Kōri beside the "shrine" in the center of the village. There was no way such a large "body of water" could be here.
"Exactly. In less than a minute, those curses have already gathered to this extent."
Sinking, sinking... sinking further, until he plunged to the bottom of the lightless abyss.
"I told you, I'm an expert in this field. Don't think my skills are so insignificant."
The intense pressure, as if from the depths of the ocean, rushed in from all directions, crushing Hii Kōri's words into fragments, barely reaching the Third Mizukage's ears.
"But... it seems not a full-form cursed spirit, but a cursed womb..."
Surveying the pitch-black "deep sea" at his feet, Hii Kōri amusingly flicked his chin, then revealed an intrigued smile and leaped into the clearly formed "other world."
When accumulated negative energy takes form as a tangible cursed spirit, it sometimes appears in the form of a "cursed womb." Cursed wombs have the potential for further metamorphosis; their completed forms mostly possess strength equivalent to Special Grade cursed spirits.
Therefore, cursed wombs are registered as "Special Grade Imaginary Vengeful Spirits" upon detection and handled according to that grade.
"If a life born to become true evil, when near death, will it proclaim its deeds as 'good,' or implement them as 'evil'?"
Plunging straight into the domain of curses, Hii Kōri revealed an especially bright smile, dragging the Third Mizukage who had fallen in ahead of him as they burst through the "surface" of that sea.
"What—?!"
What met their eyes was a wasteland. Replacing the sky was a wasteland piled high with bones.
Corpses, remains, torn bodies, scattered limbs, crushed masks, rotting organs...
Even from a great distance, seeing only vast swathes of turbid color, the Third Mizukage could still distinguish those subtle traces—as subtle as ants gathered at the base of a tower viewed from its peak.
They were the dead of Kirigakure.
Children, ninjas, enemies, Anbu...
The moment the Third Mizukage and Hii Kōri surfaced, countless crimson eyes gradually lit up in the eye sockets of those corpses. A tide of blood-red spread almost endlessly through this darkness.
They let out silent roars, scrambling to reach up with their limbs, trying to drag the Third Mizukage down from his height, to make him part of this endless corpses.
The corpses are piled in towers, higher and higher, higher and higher.
"Ha... quite the enthusiasm!"
Bracing his arms against the sea's surface and pulling his body from the depths, Hii Kōri revealed a knowing smile. "No—it could only be this way. A cursed spirit born from your Kirigakure—it wouldn't be right any other way!"
As if falling from a great height, Hii Kōri—having emerged from the "sea"—was instantly captured by gravity, plummeting toward the "ground."
He could see the filthy sea they had entered this domain through growing smaller in his vision as he fell, eventually becoming an inconspicuous black dot.
"How does it feel? This is your Kirigakure's 'karma'!"
"Ha... quite persistent, aren't you."
The Third Mizukage answered expresslessly, clearly not wanting to engage with Hii Kōri.