"What? How is this possible?!"
Two eyes squeezed out of the formless, tumorous mass, looking up at Qianyu descending from the sky, a flash of disbelief within them.
The man had been kilometers away, with seven or eight powerful summoning beasts—crafted by his own hands—blocking the path. How could he have arrived here so quickly?!
"Take this! Wind Style: Rasengan Shuriken!"
Qianyu had witnessed the fleshy mass swallow all five figures. He wasted no time. He lifted his hand and hurled the Wind Style: Rasengan Shuriken straight at Hiruko.
BOOM!
The moment the spiraling shuriken struck, a terrifying storm erupted. Within the dazzling cyan-blue light, countless microscopic "needles" pierced viciously into Hiruko's colossal form, vibrating at a maddening frequency.
Skree-skree-skree—
Amidst the piercing, grating noise, the tumorous mass bubbled and foamed violently. It swelled like an overinflated balloon until it could bear the Rasengan Shuriken's power no longer.
BAM!
It exploded into pieces.
Thud. Thud.
Two figures were sent flying backward by the blast's force. One was Hiruko. The other was…
"Pakura?!"
Qianyu dove, catching her. One glance at her delicate features and beautiful back, and he knew exactly who she was. Don't ask how. Let's just say a friend had shared some… fan art.
The other four had already been assimilated by Hiruko. The moment they entered his body, they were digested, becoming one with the monster.
Pakura, being the fifth, was different. Harder to digest. And because Qianyu arrived just in time, she managed to cheat death (a nod to the movie adaptation).
"Ugh… cough cough cough!"
The rough treatment jolted Pakura awake. She retched violently.
It felt like a chunk of rotting flesh had been smeared over her mouth and nose. That sensation of suffocation and sheer disgust… she never wanted to experience it again.
"Thank you for saving…?!"
She began to thank her rescuer, but Qianyu suddenly shot downward like a meteor toward the mountain base. Using his flight momentum, he simply… threw her.
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH? Ugh!"
Thus, Pakura's scream trailed off for a solid thirty seconds. Not because she stopped, but because she was thrown so far that Qianyu couldn't hear her anymore.
"Alright. Now I don't have to worry about you feeding him."
Qianyu dusted off his hands. Worried that Pakura might get swallowed again and power up Hiruko, he'd opted for the tactical yeet. She should survive the fall.
If she broke a few bones? Even better. He could check on her later and maybe collect a little… reward.
Swish!
Qianyu flashed back to the summit. By now, Hiruko had risen from the ground, muttering like a madman.
"So close… I was so close to immortality! Just a little more, a little more…!"
Hiruko's head snapped toward Qianyu. "You ruined the perfect moment, the perfect alignment!" he roared. "You owe me a replacement! Your body will do!"
He formed a hand seal. A massive summoning beast with an eagle's head, a horse's body, and great wings materialized.
"Merge!"
Hiruko activated the Chimera Technique once more. The beast let out a mournful cry as Hiruko consumed it, the creature's form dissolving into a pair of wings sprouting from his back.
"First! Storm Style: Thundercloud Wave!"
With a beat of his new wings, Hiruko became a blur. He shot toward Qianyu, summoning a dense, black thundercloud laced with crackling arcs. It expanded, morphing into a roaring dragon of lightning that charged its target.
"Wind Style: Rasengan!"
Qianyu channeled wind-nature chakra into the Rasengan. Exploiting wind's advantage over lightning, he easily shattered the thundercloud-dragon and drove the spinning orb straight for Hiruko's core.
"Second! Dark Release: Absorption Hole!"
Instead of dodging, Hiruko unwound the bandages on his left arm, revealing a dark sigil pulsing with red light.
"Hah! Ninjutsu is meaningless against me! Dark Release: Inhaling Maw!"
In an instant, Hiruko's Dark Release devoured the Rasengan completely. He pivoted, his free hand lashing out to release a blast of blue chakra flames at Qianyu.
Ninjutsu is meaningless? If I weren't waiting for the damn Rasengan Shuriken cooldown, I'd slap you so hard your ancestors would feel it!
Qianyu banked hard with his wings, veering away from the chakra flames, a sour expression on his face.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
Suddenly, all the bandages on Hiruko's arms shot loose. Infused with chakra, they sharpened into bladed ribbons, whipping through the air toward Qianyu like deadly streamers.
"Gah!"
Qianyu pretended to dodge too slowly. One bandage-spear punched through his torso. He went limp, plummeting toward the ground.
"A hit?!"
Overjoyed, Hiruko reeled Qianyu in with the bandage, intending to use the man's robust physique to fill the void left in his own form.
"Earth Grudge Fear: Tendrils!"
But just as Qianyu was pulled within arm's reach, a slick black tendril shot from within his body. It stabbed straight into Hiruko's chest.
"I'll just take your heart for safekeeping—wait, holy shit, where's your heart?!"
Swish!
The next instant, both figures disengaged simultaneously. Putting distance between them, they stared at each other, bewildered.
Qianyu had planned to snatch Hiruko's heart as a resurrection token. But the guy's heart wasn't in his chest… Did he keep it in his ass or something?
They stood there, eye to eye. For some reason, the scene felt strangely familiar to Qianyu.
"You… you've also modified your body with forbidden techniques?!"
After a moment of silence, Hiruko's face flushed bright red. It was like he'd finally met a kindred spirit. Questions tumbled out of him, one after another.
"What were those black tendrils? A conversion of your own flesh? Do you gain power by stealing hearts? And also…"
Hiruko, having spent his life buried in research, had no clue how to hold a conversation. He rambled on and on, completely unconcerned with whether Qianyu was listening.
Qianyu, of course, was just waiting for his cooldown. Otherwise, he'd have backhanded Hiruko already.
A few moments later…
Hiruko finally wound down, looking at Qianyu with genuine confusion. "Why… why are you fighting me? We're the same!"
"The hell? The hell is that?! That's slander! You're slandering me!"
Qianyu was furious. First Orochimaru, now this guy. Why did every lunatic insist he was one of them?!
He, Qianyu, was a life-saving shinobi! How could he possibly be the same kind as people who used living humans as spare parts?
"Believe me," Hiruko said, utterly ignoring Qianyu's protest, his tone sincere. "Konoha has no place for people like us. They'll turn on you eventually. Don't go back. Stay here. Research with me. We could accomplish so much together!"
Qianyu fell silent. He'd just tried to carve this guy up, and now he was being recruited? Reality was getting weird.
"First! Storm Style: Lightning Flash Assault!"
Qianyu's prolonged silence was answer enough. Hiruko used the Body Flicker Technique to appear directly in front of him. A fist wreathed in lightning flashed out like a thunderbolt. Apparently, he'd decided to persuade with force.
"Ninja Art: Needle Jizo!"
Facing the wind-swift strike, Qianyu retreated. His hair lengthened, forming a protective spiked barrier that absorbed the impact. A layer of insulating paper shielded him from the current. Using the force of the blow, he created more distance, denying Hiruko a combo.
"That's Jiraiya's technique! Jiraiya's!"
Hiruko got excited again, like a child. "Then you really shouldn't fight me! Jiraiya and I are good friends! The best of friends! What's your relation to him?"
Qianyu remained silent in the face of Hiruko's eager questions. Hiruko's expression cooled, as if doused with cold water.
"It seems I must defeat you before you'll listen."
Hiruko retracted his wings, landing on the ground. His hands flew through a series of seals. A terrifying wave of chakra erupted from him, shooting skyward like a geyser of molten rock. The very ground around him cracked and heaved.
"Storm Style Secret Technique: Storm Ghost Dragon!"
With Hiruko's low shout, the entire sky was devoured by rolling, pitch-black thunderclouds. A deep, rumbling roar filled the air, like the thunder of ten thousand galloping steel horses. The sheer scale was horrifying.
Qianyu's face turned deadly serious as he looked at the endless sea of storm clouds.
Fed by a massive ocean of chakra, the thunderhead continued to expand. And he, Qianyu, was standing at its dead center.
If he let this monstrous Storm Style ultimate technique complete its formation… if those thousands of lightning bolts rained down… he'd be lucky to survive, let alone walk away unscathed. Then he'd truly be at Hiruko's mercy.
"Fine. Let's end this with one move."
Qianyu's hand rose, chakra swirling violently into a familiar, screeching form.
"Wind Style: Rasengan Shuriken!"
~~~~❃❃~~~~~~~~❃❃~~~~
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