"Boom!"
Reiki swung the spear in his hand, tossing Dongye's lifeless body aside. As he released the demonic armor, his "puppet" vanished, and his weapon shifted back to his long black blade. Both Siyi and Hegu, flanking him, backed away swiftly. They had seen his terrifying marksmanship firsthand and knew he had deadly skill with a blade, coated with a poison lethal from even the slightest scratch.
No longer seeing Reiki as a helpless target, they recognized him now for what he truly was—a relentless killing machine.
"Stay away from this kid!" Kuze shouted. "Use long-range ninjutsu and take him out!"
Kuze quickly spotted Reiki's potential weaknesses: his close-combat skills, poison-coated sword, and mastery of spear techniques would be devastating up close, but useless if they kept their distance. An eight-year-old, no matter how skilled, would surely run out of chakra and stamina.
"Thunder Release: Rainbow Strike!"
"Wind Release: Wind Blade!"
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"
One after another, ninjutsu attacks were hurled at Reiki from a distance, each jutsu hitting its mark. The team rained down kunai and shuriken, engulfing Reiki in a cloud of thick dust and smoke that lasted more than ten minutes. Kuze, breathless from repeated jutsu, showed no signs of stopping. Only a twisted grin of excitement remained as dark emotions—hatred for Konoha and envy toward geniuses—fueled his assault.
"Prepare more ninjutsu scrolls! Perception Ninja, check if the kid is alive and his location. If he's not dead, finish him off on sight!"
"Boss Kuze, he's..." The perceptive ninja beside him stammered, eyes wide with terror.
"What's wrong, Mei?" Kuze demanded.
"Pfft!"
Suddenly, a chakra-infused tendril emerged from the dust cloud, wrapping around Mei's head. With a sickening thud, Mei's body crumpled lifelessly to the ground.
"Mr. Kuze, your plan was indeed clever," came Reiki's voice, calm and mocking. "But a lack of information is a fatal flaw."
With that, Reiki thrust his long blade through Kuze's back, his chakra-cloaked figure materializing behind him, Murasame embedded in Kuze's body.
"You... Jinchuuriki..." Kuze's voice faltered, his life slipping away.
The remaining ninjas froze in horror, staring at Reiki. Wasn't he supposed to be Konoha's medical prodigy? Since when did he possess the powers of a Jinchuriki? And wasn't Konoha's Jinchuuriki supposed to be Uzumaki Kushina?
Within minutes, all was silent. Reiki perched on a large tree branch, his face etched with both fatigue and deep thought. "Chomei, did you just influence me back there?"
Rather than healing the surviving enemies, Reiki directed his question inward, addressing the beast within. He had tapped into Chomei's chakra, which had infused him with an immense, dark power that seemed to seize control, compelling him to destroy every foe in sight.
"No, Reiki," Chomei replied. "That reaction… it's likely an inherent effect of my chakra."
Chomei lent Reiki his power willingly, but the nature of his chakra seemed to have its own effect on Reiki, a quality even Chomei couldn't control.
Reiki's gaze grew pensive. *Something within this chakra?* He opened his system panel, reviewing his stats. Despite his careful examination, there were no negative effects listed. His control over Chomei's chakra was confirmed.
"Does the system miss certain details?" He mused. Raising his hands, Reiki activated a self-diagnosis jutsu.
"The meridians are slightly damaged, and the muscles and bones have sustained minor strain," he noted. "There's some nerve intrusion and a small impact on the brain…"
Piece by piece, Reiki analyzed his body's condition. The exertion of the tailed beast's chakra had indeed taken a toll, affecting both his body and mind. But as he restored his own health, a familiar notification chimed in his system.
[Ding! Congratulations, host, for self-healing...]
A smile crept across his lips. His theory was confirmed—the system recognized injuries only when they were caused by external forces, and not self-inflicted.
*What kind of mysterious power lies behind this chakra…* he wondered, closing his panel. "Chomei, if you sense any further influence on my mind, alert me immediately."
With that, Reiki turned to leave. Half an hour later, another group of ninjas arrived at the scene.
"Four jounin and over a dozen chuunin," one of them murmured, studying the corpses. "All wiped out?"
A strange smile spread across the lips of one of the shadows. "It looks like the work of a single person, though some died in peculiar ways. Two have no visible injuries or toxins but are clearly dead. Others were annihilated by chakra or skewered by sharp weapons. Whoever did this is exceptional."
"Cough...cough..." Another ninja attempted to speak but was seized by a coughing fit, something clearly ailing him.
"The Konoha ninjas never cease to surprise," the shadow said, etching the names of the young Konoha shinobi in his memory. Then, he melted into the ground, vanishing without a trace. The coughing ninja hesitated, then followed suit, disappearing into the shadows.
>>>>>
If You would like to read up to 75 chapters ahead you can access my Patr*on at [patreon.com/TranslatorHaven1972]