"Is that guy… a monster…?"
After witnessing a clash that lasted less than five seconds, the two Sand Village jonin behind her felt their scalps go numb.
On the other side, the Konoha ninja felt the same. As enemies of the Sand Village, they understood Pakura's Scorch Release even better.
"It'd be one thing if he dodged or broke Pakura's Scorch Release, but he actually took a direct hit and recovered instantly without a scratch…"
The Konoha jonin frowned deeply. "This Kokushibo is far stronger than we imagined."
"Looks like Pakura of Scorch Release might really die here today…"
"We should retreat quickly. I'm afraid once he finishes off the Sand Village ninja, he'll turn his attention to us."
After a brief exchange, the Konoha ninja immediately decided on a course of action and turned to flee.
Meanwhile, the two Sand Village jonin who had lost their puppets exchanged glances, completely at a loss.
"You two, get out of here now!"
Pakura steadied herself as she landed, her expression dark as she gave the order.
"But—"
"No buts. That's an order!"
Her eyes remained locked on Akashō as she shouted.
The two Sand Village ninja gritted their teeth and finally turned to flee without looking back.
Akashō only glanced at their retreating figures and didn't bother chasing. This was exactly the outcome he wanted.
"Staying behind on your own for your comrades' safety… so ninja actually care about bonds, huh."
Akashō recalled the Sand ninja teams he encountered the previous night. They were completely different from what he had imagined.
Not just in behavior, but in their methods—controlling puppet-like constructs as if they were robots, even forming hand seals to release techniques.
He had thought ninja just threw shuriken.
From the information he gathered last night, most ninjutsu fell under five attributes—water, earth, fire, lightning, and wind—along with some non-elemental techniques and genjutsu. But the technique this woman used seemed like fire, yet not quite fire. It was strange.
"You monster… what exactly are you, and why are you targeting our Sand Village?"
Pakura's eyes were filled with caution as three blazing fire orbs floated around her, ready to defend at any moment.
"Seriously, do you not understand human language?"
Akashō scratched his head. "Moon Sword Demon—such an obvious title. How many times do I have to repeat it?"
"As for why I'm targeting the Sand Village instead of Konoha… obviously because I have a grudge against you."
He wasn't just saying that. His original 'cheap' parents had been killed by Sand Village ninja.
Wasn't that reason justified enough?
"Whatever, I'm done talking. Just go to hell obediently. I'll send a few more Sand ninja down to keep you company later."
The moment he finished speaking, Akashō slashed twice, sending two blade winds flying toward Pakura.
She didn't dodge—instead, she charged straight at the attacks, then leapt sideways, passing through the blade winds.
"Oh?"
Akashō raised an eyebrow with interest.
This female ninja was different from the others he had encountered. She was actually quite strong.
At the very least, she hadn't been cut down in a single strike.
And those strange fire orbs around her—though slow, their temperature was incredibly high, instantly draining moisture from their surroundings.
In simple terms, they had a wide attack range and were hard to defend against.
This reminded him of what the Konoha ninja had called her—Pakura of Scorch Release.
Scorch Release must be some kind of special ninjutsu, and Pakura was likely her name.
For a demon like Kokushibo, high temperatures were indeed a strong counter—but only when both sides were roughly equal in strength.
This woman wasn't at that level.
"Moon Breathing, Sixth Form: Perpetual Night, Lonely Moon - Incessant!"
Akashō gripped his blade tightly and, in the span of a blink, unleashed five or six intersecting blade winds toward Pakura.
Compared to ordinary slashes, these were larger, faster, and far sharper.
He had no intention of dragging this out. Since normal attacks weren't enough, he immediately used Moon Breathing techniques.
"Scorch Release: Super Steam Kill!!!"
In haste, Pakura waved both hands, gathering the surrounding fire orbs into a massive sphere. The air around it scorched violently before erupting in a powerful explosion.
"BOOM!!!"
The explosion shattered the incoming blade winds, sending dust flying. From the smoke, a figure burst out and landed nearby—it was Pakura, her body slightly charred.
Akashō narrowed his eyes, unable to comprehend how these techniques worked. There was no scientific basis at all.
Then again, transmigration itself existed—what was the point of talking about science?
He took a deep breath, tightening his grip on the Blade of Living Flesh as his Blood Demon Art activated.
The blade, formed from his own flesh, suddenly extended, and three short blades protruded from its body.
This was the evolved form of the Blade of Living Flesh—and with it came even more powerful techniques.
"Moon Breathing, Eighth Form: Moon-Dragon Ringtail!!"
Akashō swung the evolved blade in a wide arc, unleashing a massive purple blade wind that instantly reached Pakura, who had just regained her footing.
"What!?"
Her eyes widened in shock as she stared at the enormous attack. Within it were countless enlarged blue crescent blades.
Not only was it incredibly fast, but its range was immense. Pakura could only retreat to dodge—but in her panic, she couldn't outrun it.
"Slash!!!"
Blood sprayed everywhere as Pakura—and even some of the protruding rocks around her—were shredded into pieces.
As the storm subsided, the blade in Akashō's hand gradually returned to its original form.
"I didn't expect a mere female ninja to push me into evolving the Blade of Living Flesh."
Looking around, Akashō fell into thought.
Based on the intel he gathered, ninja were ranked from low to high as genin, chunin, and jonin.
Even among jonin, aside from a few exceptions, most were killed instantly by a casual blade wind from him.
Only when facing larger groups of jonin did he bother using Moon Breathing techniques.
Yet this single ninja had forced him to raise his level several times and use real strength—and she was definitely not the strongest in the Sand Village.
"Maybe… ninja are stronger than I thought."
Even so, he wasn't too worried.
Leaving aside the stronger techniques in Moon Breathing, just Kokushibo's Demon Body alone was enough to make him nearly invincible.
After all, this world didn't have Nichirin Blades.
Well… unless there were other special powers similar to them.
"Better increase my reputation points quickly and unlock the next Villain Template."
Akashō finally felt a faint sense of pressure. He summoned the system and glanced at Kokushibo's reputation value.
"Hm?"