Chapter 105: Then, Yahiko, what is the price?
The entire conference room fell into an eerie silence.
If the previous destruction could barely be explained as some kind of strange unsealed Ninjutsu, then the current 'Mirror Mended' could only be described by two words in any Ninja's understanding.
A miracle.
Sasori stared intently at the table, his fingers trembling uncontrollably. As an artist pursuing 'Eternal Beauty,' he had turned himself into a human puppet to preserve momentary beauty.
But what Nagato just displayed was the eternity of a moment.
"What in the world is this..." Jūzō swallowed, putting away his greatsword, feeling fear for the first time toward the red-haired cripple sitting in the wheelchair.
"This is 'Stand'."
Yahiko stood up from his seat, an arrow made of gold appearing in his hand from nowhere.
He toyed with the arrow in his hand, his gaze sweeping over every S-Rank Rogue Ninja whose expressions had collapsed.
"It is not Ninjutsu, nor a Kekkei Genkai, but the materialization of your Mental Energy."
"Only those with extremely intense obsessions, desires, or insane wills can awaken this power sleeping deep within their Souls."
Yahiko walked up to Orochimaru and dangled the arrow in front of his eyes.
"Orochimaru, you pursue truth, but the Ninjutsu in this world has an end. A Stand, however, represents the authority of rules."
He then looked at Kakuzu: "Kakuzu, you pursue money and eternal life. Earth Grudge Fear can only stitch flesh, but some Stands can even stitch fate."
"As for Sasori, your so-called eternal art also possesses Eternal Beauty in the face of this new power."
At this moment, everyone's breathing grew heavy.
Fear was devoured by greed, and doubt was replaced by fanaticism.
As the outlaws of the Ninja World, every one of them was a fanatic, harboring desires incomprehensible to ordinary people. This 'invisible power' displayed by Yahiko was like poison tailor-made for them.
"How do I do it?"
Orochimaru was the first to speak, his snake-like eyes burning with an unprecedented thirst for knowledge. He was too interested in this 'ghost' that could not be seen or touched yet truly existed.
"Very simple."
Yahiko inserted the arrow into the tabletop with a crisp sound.
He spread his arms, like a generous deity, extending an invitation to this group of villains.
"In this decaying Ninja World, Chakra is the remnant of the old era. And we will become the kindling that ignites a new era."
"Come, everyone."
The smile on Yahiko's lips was arrogant and ferocious:
"Welcome to the glorious evolution."
...In the dark corner of the conference room.
A pitcher plant silently poked half its head out from under the floor.
On Zetsu's half-black, half-white face, true terror appeared for the first time.
As a product of Kaguya's will, he had lurked in this world for millennia, witnessing countless Reincarnations of Indra and Ashura.
But neither his memory bank nor Kaguya's Legacy contained any record of this 'invisible power'.
"What on earth is this..."
Black Zetsu's hoarse voice echoed in his mind, tinged with a tremor: "What exactly did this Yahiko bring into the Ninja World?"
That unseen 'ghost' gave him a sense of being targeted by a natural predator capable of tearing Souls apart.
It seemed that from this moment on, this world had completely slipped out of Madara's control.
Inside the conference room, dead silence spread like a plague.
Inside the conference room, dead silence spread like a plague.
The air in the conference room felt as if it had been filled with lead, heavy enough to suffocate.
The words 'glorious evolution' still buzzed in their ears, but the expected cheers did not materialize; instead, it was like a bucket of ice water thrown into a pot of hot oil, causing a chilling white smoke to rise.
Yahiko relaxed his fingers, and the golden arrow landed with a crisp 'ding' sound, embedding itself firmly in the restored obsidian tabletop.
The sound wasn't loud, but it was like the final second before a casino roulette wheel stops spinning.
Nagato's [Crazy Diamond] had vanished behind him, but the oppressive feeling of being targeted by a natural predator clung to everyone's nerves like a stubborn disease.
Kakuzu froze mid-air, clutching the coins he was counting; Orochimaru's golden vertical pupils shrank to pinpricks; Sasori was retracted inside the shell of his hiruko, his tail sting taut; even on the back of Biwa Jūzō's hand gripping the kubikiribōchō, veins bulged like earthworms.
Everyone's gaze was magnetically drawn, stuck firmly on the tip of the arrow, which shimmered with an eerie light under the candlelight.
This was the key.
A key that could kick open the Chakra system and lead to the 'Domain of God'.
But everyone knew that obtaining power always came with a price; so what was the price for this power that surpassed the existing system?
"Cough, cough..."
A raspy, low chuckle broke the silence. Orochimaru extended his long tongue, licking his chapped lips. While his snake eyes were filled with greed for truth, they held even more of the calculation characteristic of a cold-blooded animal.
"Yahiko-kun, this power is indeed fascinating. But as a rigorous research scientist, I have a question."
"Mr. Nagato is from the Uzumaki Clan; his vitality is monstrous to begin with. While we aren't weak, on a biological level, we haven't entirely transcended the category of 'human'."
Orochimaru narrowed his eyes, his gaze cutting back and forth between Nagato and the arrow, his tone sharp: "I would like to ask the leader, what is the'sample mortality rate' for ordinary humans exposed to this arrow?"
This sentence acted like a thorn, instantly piercing the balloon of 'greed' in everyone's hearts.
Who among those present hadn't crawled out of mountains of corpses and seas of blood? Who would believe in pies falling from the sky? The greater the power, the greater the price—this was the eternal truth of the Ninja World.
Yahiko leaned back in his chair, interlocking his fingers over his abdomen, his expression as cold as if he were observing a cage of white mice.
"Orochimaru, you are indeed sharp."
Yahiko made no move to hide anything. He leaned slightly forward, his amber pupils reflecting the flickering candlelight, looking terrifyingly grim.
"This arrow carries an ancient virus."
"Virus?" Orochimaru's pupils trembled slightly; this word touched upon his area of expertise.
"That's right. It isn't a sluggish energy like Chakra, but a domineering screening mechanism." Yahiko's voice was unnervingly steady. "The moment the arrowhead pierces the skin, the virus invades your spirit and body."
He raised one finger: "If your Mental Energy is strong enough, if you possess an obsession capable of distorting reality, the virus becomes your nourishment. It will induce a leap in your life level, awaken a Stand, and grant you the authority to interfere with rules."
Immediately after, he raised a second finger, his tone dropping to freezing point.
"But if you are a wavering, mediocre waste..."
Yahiko pointed at the table, revealing a cruel smile: "Your Soul will collapse, and your cells will completely dissolve. You will turn into a puddle of pus from which not even DNA can be extracted, something even the Six Paths Sage cannot save."
"There is no middle ground. Either become a god, or die."
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