Chapter 97: The Mysterious Power in the Subconscious

"You're not dead?" Yatsuki Rin was also startled, but immediately moved in front of Kuriyama Shinzo's head and asked.

Kuriyama Shinzo gritted his teeth tightly. Although he wasn't dead, the excruciating pain of being decapitated was not easy to bear. 

After the pain subsided slightly, Kuriyama Shinzo looked at Yatsuki Rin and said, "Help me reattach my body."

"I'm not a doctor," Yatsuki Rin replied.

Kuriyama Shinzo's cheeks were still twitching as he said, "Do it however you want, whether by stitching or using Lightning Release chakra, just make sure my body and head become one again."

Yatsuki Rin nodded and placed Kuriyama Shinzo's body next to his head, though they were still separated.

"Shh!" 

He joined his two right fingers together, generating a blue electric arc, and placed them on Kuriyama Shinzo's neck. The Lightning Release chakra caused the flesh there to sizzle loudly.

At the same time, he used two fingers of his left hand to manipulate Lightning chakra on Kuriyama Shinzo's severed neck.

"Argh!"

A piercing scream echoed through the forest. The three Cloud ninja watching were horrified, even though Kuriyama wasn't normal, he was still flesh and blood.

Yatsuki Rin's method used the extreme heat of Lightning chakra to essentially cauterize and fuse Kuriyama's body and head back together.

Minutes later, Yatsuki Rin had "reattached" Kuriyama Shinzo's severed head and body. His face was contorted, muscles spasming all over. 

His neck area looked like burnt, charred meat now.

"Help me reattach my arm too," Kuriyama Shinzo's twitching face struggled to say.

Yatsuki Rin did as before, reattaching his severed arm the same brutal way.

This level of pain would likely kill an ordinary person. Kuriyama Shinzo convulsed on the ground for over 10 minutes before the agony slightly subsided.

"Damn you Sakumo Hatake!" Kuriyama's eyes burned with viciousness - this suffering was all thanks to Sakumo.

"Once I complete the final step of the ritual, I'll definitely take your life!" he thought.

His dismembered body parts were reattached, except for half his left arm which had been blown off completely.

He glanced at the left arm of the dead Cloud chunin's corpse, but Yatsuki's method was too painful - he didn't want to go through that torment again.

Stitching, while still painful, would be better than being literally fused back together.

"Let's go, you all still haven't retrieved what I need," Kuriyama Shinzo glared at the remaining four Cloud ninja, unwilling to say more.

Yatsuki Rin was furiously angry, but this mission was directly assigned by the Third Raikage himself.

Kuriyama seemed to possess many vital secrets about Konoha and the Land of Fire. If they could obtain this information, perhaps the Land of Lightning could crush the Land of Fire directly.

"I hope the intel you provide is valuable enough. Otherwise, I'll make what Sakumo did to you today seem tame," Yatsuki Rin bluntly threatened - their relationship was a tenuous alliance.

"I know," Kuriyama replied flatly, though he thought to himself:

"Before that, you need to make it back alive to the Cloud Village. Though Konoha thinks I'm dead, this commotion will likely draw unwanted attention from the Hidden Hot Water Village."

Clearly, there were many things he hadn't told these Cloud ninja.

After that, the Cloud chunin carried the corpse, and Kuriyama's group of four departed.

They couldn't keep carrying the body forever for secrecy, but they also couldn't bury it here either.

Meanwhile, Sakumo and his team had returned to their inn room. Minato was still unconscious from blood loss - even with his stamina, it would likely take a day or two before he could wake up.

"You two rest. I'll keep watch over him," Sakumo told Toriumi Jun and Uchiha Homura. 

The extended battle had clearly exhausted them both, even if they had no major injuries.

"That's an order," Sakumo added sternly when they didn't move.

Uchiha Homura reluctantly obeyed, but Toriumi Jun remained stubbornly at Minato's side.

Sakumo was about to try persuading her again when Toriumi turned, her beautiful black gem-like eyes shining with an emotion Sakumo had never seen from her before.

Perhaps it was guilt, or gratitude, but Toriumi's gaze held a softness and warmth he had never witnessed in her before.

Sakumo understood - at least for now, she would not follow that order. Rather than get upset, a gentle smile came to his face.

As a former Anbu member, missions of this difficulty level were nothing new for Toriumi. For a new recruit like Uchiha Homura it was a trial, but not her.

Sakumo leaned against the wall, cradling his tanto blade, his eyes narrowing as he pondered.

Kuriyama Shinzo displayed an inhuman vitality, sustaining fatal injuries and massive blood loss yet still clinging to life. So had decapitating him truly killed him?

This mission was clearly not as straightforward as it seemed. As team leader, Sakumo couldn't shake a nagging sense of confusion.

Toriumi Jun kept an unwavering vigil over the unconscious Minato. Though deeply unconscious, Minato could somehow sense an icy, immensely powerful force stirring in the depths of his subconscious. 

In his current state, Minato had no words to describe this sensation of potent energy. It simply existed in the deepest layers of his consciousness.

Unaware, as her perception was closed, Toriumi did not detect the alien chakra now coursing through Minato's body, rapidly replenishing the energies he had expended from injury and blood loss.

(End of chapter)