Kannabi Bridge (17)

Poison spread through Takeshi, causing him to collapse, unable to move.

He couldn't tell if it was a different poison from before or if his injuries were simply too severe.

But all his thoughts and questions amounted to nothing. The enemy was still alive and looked full of energy despite his battered, bloodied body.

"If you're looking to extract some information from me, don't even bother. I won't tell you a thing."

Despite being at the enemy's mercy, Takeshi showed no weakness. Even if tortured or killed, he would never betray the village.

"Why do you all have the same reaction when you're at the enemy's mercy? You're annoying, so just shut up for a moment."

Yami clicked his tongue and ignored Takeshi's glare, focusing on himself.

Absorbing that soul not only restored his spiritual energy but also increased its capacity. This would have been great news if not for the huge drawback that almost made him lose his mind and forget his real identity.

That soul merge was no joke, and under normal circumstances, he would never have tried such a thing. But he didn't have much choice, as he was pushed into a corner. It was either die or risk losing himself. Fortunately, his gamble succeeded, and he gained an additional understanding of his Kekkei Genkai.

Even though he still didn't completely grasp how to infuse a soul into animate objects, he was confident that after this mission, he could take a step further in developing it.

"I should deal with my injuries before it's too late."

He was still severely injured, with blood still leaking from his wounds.

Currently, he was standing due to the adrenaline rush from absorbing that soul. But if he couldn't close his injuries now, he would surely die from blood loss.

"But first…"

Tightening his grip on the blade, he swiftly cut off Takeshi's arm.

"Agh," Takeshi groaned but didn't scream, only glaring at him and cursing. "Bastard!"

"Sorry, can't afford you attacking with Jutsu while I'm busy."

After making sure the enemy was completely helpless, Yami used soul vision to scan the area and see if anyone else was still alive.

Aside from Takeshi, he felt two more souls, but their auras were weak and flickering, showing they were on the verge of death. He also noticed that his soul vision field had extended to 130 meters.

After thoughtfully scanning the area and making sure no one posed a danger to him, Yami turned his attention to his body.

There were many injuries across his whole body, and using medical ninjutsu to heal himself wouldn't be very smart, as he would lose blood while being occupied with one wound.

But he had an idea of how to deal with his injuries quickly enough before he died from blood loss.

"Hopefully, this will work…"

Closing his eyes, Yami took a deep breath before spreading his spiritual energy across his whole body, specifically to the areas where he was injured.

"Animate!"

Inside his body, Yami focused his spiritual energy on his injuries. Slowly, his blood, veins, and flesh began to animate. Faces twisted with pain appeared on the wounds, eyes, and mouths forming grotesquely.

"Stitch yourself," Yami commanded through gritted teeth, his voice strained with concentration.

The grotesque mouths on his wounds whispered in unison, "Healing…"

The animated blood flowed back into his veins, stitching torn vessels and closing gaping wounds. The faces on his flesh contorted as they pulled the skin together, knitting the torn muscles and sealing the cuts.

Yami watched as his injuries mended before his eyes. The twisted faces on his body slowly disappeared as his flesh returned to its natural state. The pain subsided, replaced by a tingling sensation as his body healed.

Sweat dripped down his forehead, but he remained focused. "Almost there..."

The final wounds in his stomach closed, and Yami felt a surge of relief. His body, though still aching, was no longer in immediate danger.

"Hahaha." He couldn't help but burst into laughter, seeing this method actually working. If he wasn't severely injured, he would never have tried that. Truly, fighting on the verge of death seems to increase ninjas' experience and open up their minds to new ideas.

Turning his attention back to Takeshi, Yami saw the disbelief in his eyes.

"You're… really a freak!"

Takeshi had never heard of such weird ninjutsu. It seemed to allow the enemy to bring things back to life. Just like he did to the trees, he made his flesh come to life and commanded it to stitch itself.

This wasn't the wood style he heard about but something else entirely.

"Come on, man, I'm human, the same as you. There's no need for such cruel words."

Now that he was out of danger, Yami finally relaxed and even joked around with Takeshi as if they weren't trying to kill each other a few minutes ago.

"Piss off." Takeshi cursed but then saw Yami walking toward him, making him tense. Despite being mentally prepared to die for his village with no hesitation, he couldn't help but have second thoughts when his time truly approached.

But unlike what he expected, Yami didn't kill him and instead took bandages and closed the wound around his severed arm.

Seeing his actions, Takeshi asked, "What are you doing? Aren't you going to kill me?"

"Nah, like I said, I need your help with something," Yami said casually.

"And I told you that I would never betray my village." Takeshi's voice was firm, not swayed by Yami's act of kindness. If he could move, he would have ended his own life rather than being subjected to torture. Unfortunately, the damn poison spread across his body, making him immobile.

"Oh, I believe you," Yami nodded, not taking his words seriously.

After he was done, he went toward the two weak souls he sensed earlier and brought back two severely injured Chunin.

They were both unconscious, but after he bandaged them, poisoned them, and cut off their fingers, they woke up screaming and cursing his entire generation.

Yami stood amidst the three Iwa ninjas and clasped his hands. "Now guys, there's no reason for us to be hostile to each other. I'm not gonna ask you to betray your village or anything. I'm merely looking for your cooperation to take a step further."

The three of them looked at Yami in silence before the two Chunin directed their gaze toward Takeshi. They were all experienced ninja and didn't believe a single word Yami said and knew their chances of surviving were nearly zero. But now they were offered a choice to survive without betraying their village, they were naturally curious.

"What kind of cooperation are you talking about?" As their captain, Takeshi took the lead to ask.

"It's pretty simple," Yami continued. "I want you to do a little experiment and report how you feel and obey my words."

"Hahaha!"

Hearing his words, Takeshi burst into laughter before glaring at him. "You want us to be your guinea pigs to experiment on?!"

Yami shrugged. "You say it lightly, but yeah, essentially that's what I'm asking."

"Then don't even think about it." Takeshi spat on the ground. "We'd rather be tortured and die than help Konoha's scum."

The other two Chunin also looked angry and shared Takeshi's opinion.

Yami's eyes briefly glowed purple as he sensed their soul emotions.

"Really? What a pity…"

With a sigh, he formed a hand sign, and with a puff of smoke, a shadow clone appeared beside him.

"Go on, you know what to do," Yami said.

The shadow clone groaned as he glared. "You always make me do this kind of thing. When will you man up and do it yourself?"

"Hehe, this is the last time, I promise." Yami smiled bitterly.

"That's what you said the last five times." With a sigh, the clone approached Takeshi and pulled a kunai.

"What are you going to do to the captain?" one of the Chunin asked.

"Oh, I'm just gonna give him some make-up and make him look better." The clone said, waving the kunai and smiling sincerely before glancing at Takeshi. "Are you ready?"

"Do your worst," Takeshi said defiantly, spitting on him and showing no fear.

"Oh, what a brave unknown ninja." The clone said, getting closer. "Since you like spitting so much, why don't we start the make-up with that mouth of yours?"

Yami looked at the sinister smile on the clone's face and knew that Takeshi had messed up as he made his clone angry, and the results wouldn't be pleasant.

Sure enough, the clone grabbed Takeshi's face, put the kunai inside his mouth, and looked at the nearby Chunin who glared at him and kept yelling.

"You sick freak, what do you think you're doing to the captain?" The Chunin yelled, but his screams only made the clone look at him in confusion before a smile spread across his face.

"Why so serious?!"

Without waiting for a response, the clone began to carve a smile into Takeshi's cheeks. Blood dripped from the wounds as Takeshi's muffled screams filled the air.

"Stop it." The Chunin turned toward the real Yami. "Don't you have any honor, torturing your prisoners? We're all ninjas; at least give us an honorable death."

"An honorable death?!" Yami couldn't help but smile. "Don't make me laugh. Us ninjas and honor would never coexist with each other. We lost that privilege the moment we took the first human life, so don't try to preach to me about what is right and wrong. I gave you a choice to help me, and you refused, so deal with the consequences like a real Ninja."

Yami looked indifferent as the clone continued to torture Takeshi, moving from tearing his mouth to gouging his eyes. But Yami didn't bat an eye and instead approached the two Chunin.

Torturing Takeshi wasn't because he had a sadistic fetish or anything, but he had a goal in mind.

If he remembered correctly, Big Mom used fear as a tool to extract souls from people. Yami was currently trying to see if he could do the same.

Takeshi had a strong will, and he doubted he could shake him and affect his emotions, but the same couldn't be said about the other two Chunin.

In his soul perception, he could clearly feel their emotions, and their wills weren't as firm as Takeshi's. So, he used him as a tool to trigger their emotions and see if he could extract part of their souls using his Kekkei Genkai.

Before, Yami might have been reluctant to use such a method, but since merging with that soul, he felt he had lost something within himself. He didn't know what exactly, but he was sure that this was unlike him.

"Whatever, I'll find out later," Yami said before looking at the two Chunin with a smile. "Now, shall we begin our little experiment?"

****

Read Advance Chapters on Patreon:

patreon.com/Calm_Storm

Thank you very much for your support!!