socalfunplaces Chapter 242 A girl’s worries
Chapter 242 A girl’s worries
The laboratory in Sound Village was filled with a pungent smell of formaldehyde and chakra crystals.
Karin's fingertips brushed across the beating heart in the petri dish, and the chakra perception network spread like a spider web, clearly reflecting the pulsation of each cell in her mind.
"The seventh subject's heart activity is still insufficient." She licked the blood from the corner of her lips, a flicker of impatience in her crimson eyes. The petri dish suddenly trembled violently, its chakra ripples turbulent like water after a stone was dropped. From outside the lab, Tayuya's flute played, carrying a disturbing low-frequency vibration.
Karin clenched her fists, and the heart in the petri dish exploded instantly. Dark red blood splattered on her fair cheek, creating an eerie echo with the curse mark behind her ear that Onotake had personally branded. Three years ago, in the ruins of the Hidden Uzushio Village, it was this curse mark that had allowed her to rise from the bloodbath of her clan's annihilation, and also made her Onotake's most trusted "living vessel."
"Shut up!" Karin kicked open the laboratory's iron door and stumbled upon Tayuya, leaning against a hallway pillar, tuning her flute. Her long purple hair was tied back with a Sound-nin forehead protector, and her bare arms were covered in cursed patterns—the "spiritual amplifier" that Ototake had modified using Orochimaru's seals.
"Hey, isn't this our Miss Blood Bank?" Tayuya twirled the flute between her fingers. The chakra seeping from the flute holes suddenly transformed into a venomous snake, spitting out its tongue and rushing towards Karin's throat. "You can't even take care of your heart. No wonder Lord Ototake would rather take Qin on the mission."
Karin's pupils suddenly contracted, and the chakra perception network instantly locked onto the snake's seven inches.
She did not dodge, but raised her hand to hold down the snake's head, the chakra overflowing from her palm was scorching hot: "At least I won't use such a despicable illusion." The chakra venomous snake touched by her let out a shrill hiss and turned into green smoke in the air.
Their curse seals illuminated simultaneously, and the tiles of the laboratory corridor cracked under the invisible shockwave. Karin could clearly sense the Yin chakra within Tayuya, the same yin chakra that Orochimaru had inherited. It clung to her bones like moss, damp and stubborn. Meanwhile, Tayuya's flute strains tried to penetrate Karin's mental barriers, each of the black vines formed by the notes entwined with the resentment of the Hidden Uzushio Village.
"Enough." The sound of a hammer echoed from the end of the corridor, resonating like metal. The girl wore a modified version of the Oto-nin uniform, and on her bare shoulders she carried a massive hammer taller than she was. The lightning crystal embedded in the hammer's head gleamed coldly in the light. She had just returned from a mission in the Land of Lightning, and the cuffs of her uniform were stained with the blood of a Kumogakure ninja.
Tayuya's flute stopped abruptly, and a trace of disdain flashed in her purple eyes: "Thunder Hammer girl, your hammer didn't damage your brain, did it?"
Qin Chui ignored her taunting and lightly slammed his hammer down on the ground. A buzzing burst of lightning chakra instantly dispelled the mist of illusion that filled the corridor. "Lord Ototake sent us to the meeting room for a new mission." Her eyes flicked to the bloodstain on Karin's cheek, and her brow furrowed slightly. "Is your chakra going haywire again?"
Karin smiled suddenly, wiping the blood from her face with her fingertips. "It's better than some people who only hide behind the sound of the flute and shoot arrows from the back." She could sense the pure lightning chakra within Koto Hammer, like unpolished ore, rough yet bursting with explosive power. Three years ago, at the Otogakure trials, this young woman from the Land of Craftsmen had broken the spines of three Cursed Seal ninjas with a single blow of her hammer. At that time, she still carried her mother's rusty iron hammer on her back.
The stone doors of the meeting hall slowly rose. Yinzhu sat on an obsidian chair, fingertips toying with a shimmering blue fragment of the Tailed Beast Ball. His black windbreaker was stained with fresh blood, and his left sleeve was bare—the result of the Flying Thunder God Slash, which had severed it while protecting Karin during the clash with the Konoha Anbu last week.
"Old Lady Chiyo of Sunagakure has been a bit restless lately." Ototake threw the Tailed Beast Ball fragment into the air, and a blue light flowed across the faces of the three people. "She is researching 'Self-Reincarnation' that can control corpses, and she needs the life force of the Uzumaki clan as a medium."
Karin's heart skipped a beat, and her chakra perception network instantly captured the faint swirling bloodline in Ototake's body - that was the half of her life force that she had voluntarily sacrificed last year, and it was now entangled and growing with his Hashirama cells.
"I'll go." Tayuya suddenly spoke, the flute humming dangerously in his palm, "My illusion can make Chiyo's puppets kill each other."
Qin Chui's hammer thudded onto the ground with a dull thud. "The puppeteers of Sunagakure are skilled at countering Lightning Release. My Thunder Hammer is more suitable."
Karin said nothing, simply walking over to Ototake and gently pressing her fingertips against his bare left sleeve. Her chakra seeped through his skin, gently wrapping around the wounds agitated by Hashirama's rampaging cells. "I can sense the chakra threads Chiyo has hidden within the puppet, and..." She raised her head, Ototake's face reflected in her crimson eyes. "Only my life force can neutralize the backlash of the reincarnation technique."
Yin Zhu's gaze swept across the three faces, the system panel flashing data on his retina: [Karin: Uzumaki Bloodline Purity 73%, suitable as bait; Tayuya: Curse Seal Fusion 89%, Illusion Strength S-Rank; Koto Hammer: Lightning Release Affinity 91%, Destructive Power SS-Rank]
"Let's go together." Yinzhu stood up, his black windbreaker spreading out behind him like bat wings. "Karin will be responsible for positioning, Tayuya will be in charge of the situation, and Qin? Hammer..." His eyes fell on the lightning crystal on the giant hammer. "Smash all of Chiyo's puppets into scrap metal."
The wind from the Hidden Sand Village carried the scent of sand and gravel. Karin's chakra network spread across the desert like a giant red spider's web. She could clearly identify the puppet shop where Chiyo was hiding—the chakra flowing there carried the smell of decay, like a coffin buried in the yellow sand.
"Three hundred meters northwest, there are sixteen puppets moving."
Karin crouched down, pressing her palms against the scorching sand. Red threads of chakra stretched along the sand, each connected to the mechanisms within the puppets' joints. "The chakra fluctuations from three of them are strange, like... they're alive."
Tayuya's flute suddenly rang out, carrying the unique desolation of the desert. The puppets hidden behind the dunes suddenly froze, black mist seeping from their joints—chakra distorted by the illusion. She stood behind Karin, a glint of pride in her purple eyes. "Halfway done."
Qin Chui's massive hammer suddenly plunged into the sand, and the lightning crystal erupted with a blinding light. The crisp sound of breaking metal echoed beneath the sand, and three puppets attempting a sneak attack from underground were instantly paralyzed by the current. "Leave the rest to me."
Karin ignored their boasting, her chakra network focused on the faint life force deep within the Puppet Hall. That power belonged neither to Chiyo nor to the puppets. It carried the same Uzumaki bloodline as hers, yet it had been forcibly compressed to the size of a grain of rice by some mysterious technique.
"Be careful!" Karin suddenly grabbed Tayuya's wrist and pulled her away. The ground where she had just stood suddenly cracked, and dozens of black needles wrapped in talismans shot out from the cracks.
Tayuya's flute suddenly rose in pitch, and a giant snake formed from the illusionary mist swallowed all the black needles. But she looked at Karin with a wary look, "Don't think I'll thank you for this."
"Who cares." Karin's attention was all on the life wave. She could feel that the other party was asking for help. Those intermittent chakra pulses were like a baby crying.
The wooden door of the puppet shop shattered beneath the thunderbolt, and Chiyo's figure appeared amidst the dust of sawdust. The old woman's arms were covered in curse seals, and her ten fingers held dense strands of chakra, controlling three puppets identical to those of the previous Kazekages of Sunagakure.
"Those little brats from Otogakure are quite courageous." Chiyo's voice was like sandpaper rubbing against wood. "We just need a few fresh corpses to make puppets."
Tayuya's flute blasts transformed into sharp blades, attempting to sever the chakra threads. But Chiyo's threads suddenly transformed into venomous snakes, biting back at Tayuya's mental barriers. The girl groaned, blood oozing from the corners of her mouth—the threads were entangled with a "blood curse" crafted from the hearts of living people.
Qin Chui's thunder hammer smashed towards Chiyo with a piercing sound, but was blocked by the Wind Shadow puppet's sand iron shield. Electricity exploded on the shield, and the stirred-up sand suddenly condensed into needles and shot towards Qin Chui's eyes.
Karin's chakra suddenly erupted, and a red light curtain surrounded them. The sand needles were pulverized the moment they came into contact with the curtain, but her face also turned pale - the previous blow had almost drained half of her life force.
"Idiot!" Tayuya roared as he used illusion to block it, "Your life was meant to be a vessel for Lord Ototake, not to be wasted on us!"
Kototsuji's thunder hammer suddenly changed direction, striking the ground behind Karin instead of Chiyo. Sand flew everywhere, and three hidden puppets were blown away. Sure enough, beating hearts were embedded in the puppets' chests.
"These are..." The sound of the hammers was filled with disbelief.
"The survivors of the Uzumaki clan." Karin's voice trembled. In the chakra perception network, the faint life wave was rapidly weakening. "Chiyo is using their hearts to refine 'living puppets'."
Chiyo's laughter echoed in the puppet shop. "Yes, the Uzumaki clan's vitality can give puppets self-awareness. Unfortunately..." Her eyes fell on Karin, like a venomous snake staring at its prey. "They are not as useful as a purebred like you."
The chakra thread suddenly erupted, wrapping around Karin's neck. Tayuya's flute and Kototsuchi's thunder hammer struck simultaneously, but were entangled by the Kazekage puppet. Karin watched the thread approaching and suddenly smiled—she could sense Ototake's chakra rapidly approaching, the power imbued with Hashirama's cells and the Uzumaki bloodline, like a sunrise in the desert.
Just as the thread was about to touch her, Karin's curse seal suddenly illuminated. Instead of defending herself, she actively injected chakra into the thread, flowing upstream along the veins, striking directly at Chiyo's spiritual core.
"You're courting death!" Chiyo's mental barrier trembled violently, but she quickly regained her composure. A cruel smile curled the corners of the old woman's mouth, as she prepared to use her "Kiseki Tensei" to forcibly strip Karin of her life force.
At this moment, Tayuya's flute suddenly changed its tune, no longer attacking Chiyo, but instead piercing Karin's mental barrier. The black vines composed of musical notes did not cause damage this time, but instead wrapped around Karin's crumbling mental core like a bandage.
Koto Tsuchigumi's thunder hammer abandoned its attack on the Wind Shadow puppet and instead injected lightning into the ground beneath Karin's feet. Lightning release chakra flowed through Karin's meridians, resonating with her swirling bloodline, making the countercurrent of chakra even more violent.
Chiyo's mental barrier shattered under the triple impact, and the old woman let out a shrill scream. Karin could clearly feel her chakra dissipating, and the blood curses forged from the hearts of Uzumaki clan members were now turning against her.
When Yinzhu appeared at the door of the puppet shop, he saw this scene - Karin was kneeling on the ground, her face as pale as paper; Tayuya was holding her shoulders, her long purple hair was stained with Karin's blood; Qin Chui was standing in front of the two of them, the crystal on the thunder hammer was still flashing, but it had deliberately restrained its edge.
"Mission accomplished." Karin raised her head and gave Yinzhu a weak smile, "We also found three living members of the tribe."
Yin Zhu walked up to her and placed his fingertips on her curse seal. Gentle chakra surged in, repairing her overdrawn vitality. "Don't take such risks again next time."
Tayuya turned away, pretending to tidy her flute, but she quietly used a genjutsu to wipe the blood from the corner of Karin's mouth. Kototsuchi heaved the Thunder Hammer back onto her shoulder, her gaze fixed on the three Uzumaki members huddled in the corner. She snorted softly, then used her Lightning Release technique to clear the talismans from their bodies.
On the way back, the desert moonlight stretched the three of them, their shadows long. Karin could sense that Tayuya's chakra was no longer hostile, and Kototsuchi's lightning technique had deliberately slowed down, forming a subtle resonance with her life force.
Tayuya suddenly spoke up: "Hey, Miss Blood Bank, don't expect me to help you next time."
"Who needs your help?" Karin's voice was soft, yet it carried a barely perceptible warmth. "Some people's illusions are even less effective than Qin's hammer."
Qin Chui's thunder hammer paused on the ground, making a dull sound, which was considered a response.
Yin Zhu walked behind them, listening to the girls' bickering. A new prompt popped up on the system panel: [The "Scarlet Bond" effect was detected, and team collaboration efficiency increased by 37%].
He folded up the panel, and his black windbreaker fluttered in the night wind. In the empty space of the sleeves, it seemed as if new life was brewing.
The desert wind still carried the smell of sand, but now it seemed to smell like something else - not the sweetness of blood, nor the burnt smell of thunder, but a kind of warmth that was intertwined like the lines of a curse, quietly growing between the flow of the three girls' chakra.