And this squad is clearly heading somewhere purposefully, not just patrolling the area. After sending the kage bunshin further along the same route in search of the jonin, I fell behind the stone warriors and followed them at a distance far enough not to attract the attention of even an average sensor, especially since it would be difficult to lose them.
The stone idols moved at the speed of a loaded cart, losing out in speed even to an average genin, which for most ninja is nothing at all, so I had time not only to stay behind, but also to study the fighters accompanying them in a calm environment.
The result puzzled and shocked me greatly — these idiots were using someone else's poisonous chakra, paying for the boost with a greatly reduced lifespan, since this chakra digested their own, increasing the total volume and, consequently, temporary power of the user, but the human body is not designed for this and will simply die from the constantly increasing load.
In fact, the flesh dripping from the bones of the dead confirmed this without any problems during the examination.
With the same success, idiots could catch bijuu and make pseudo-jinchuriki with a similar lifespan, which would increase combat power by an order of magnitude, but after a few months or half a year, there would not even be the minimum number of personnel left in the village to carry out missions and keep the peaceful population afloat.
The locals are incapable of thinking that far ahead, considering that I haven't encountered a single ninja from Oni no Kuni with normal chakra out of the three dozen I've met so far. Have they all lost their minds?
Meanwhile, the squad of stone idiots veered further and further to the right, deviating significantly from the direction I had originally chosen and heading somewhere deep into the country. In a few hours, my clones managed to comb the territory to the border and, making sure there were no obvious traces, began to track the skirmishes between the "pumped-up" shinobi and the swamp dwellers opposing them.
The result was ambiguous — a very small part used their borrowed strength very economically, reaching the level of a decent jonin and giving a beating to anyone who was unlucky enough to run into them, while the remaining ninety-five percent got by solely on the increased power of ninjutsu and increased chakra reserves, which raised the user's physical characteristics and even provided some healing.
However, those who were overly zealous and reveled in their newfound power could collapse right in the middle of battle, but the rest didn't care much. They definitely did something to their brains, because even the locals with suicidal tendencies still had a self-preservation instinct for the sake of their missions.
But in terms of skills, everything was quite sad — scoop, throw while it's flying, rest — the level of genin from the worst small villages on the main continent, no higher.
Apparently, they pumped up all sorts of rabble who had only recently learned how to use chakra, which allowed the swamp dwellers to win some fights or escape before they could be overwhelmed by the rough difference in reserves.
Slowly but surely, the stone giants reached their destination late in the evening, but none of those present seemed to care. The towering mass of some kind of temple at the foot of the mountains was clearly visible from afar and answered the question: why make such a detour across the country?
Even such chakram-pumped blockheads couldn't jump painlessly over the steep peaks, unlike the shinobi, but they could easily get stuck or crash, not to mention possible ambushes, since they were at war with them.
At this point, I decided not to hang back and moved closer to the temple, camouflaging myself in every way possible — just because the Oni no Kuni ninja were completely incapable of sensory perception did not mean that the temple's inhabitants would be equally limited.
With their target in sight, the stone giants sped up noticeably, almost breaking into a run, and the ground around the massive structure began to glow faintly as the sources of the vile chakra approached, increasing in intensity and convincing me of the presence of some kind of protective barrier, albeit one based on unfamiliar principles — I myself felt almost nothing, So it wasn't chakra that was being used, but perhaps spiritual power?
After my experience with the third puppet in the Great Water Temple, I considered this entirely possible, despite the absurdity of the situation — in all my years in Konoha, there had never been even a hint of the presence of other forces in the world besides the followers of Ninshu, the Sage of Six Paths.
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