The Spirit Transformation Technique was a secret jutsu unique to the Katō clan—a technique that transformed the user into a living soul, allowing them to traverse any distance and kill enemies while ignoring physical barriers. It could control opponents' bodies and invade their mental worlds. Once someone's spirit and soul were in your grasp, you could mold them however you wanted—round or flat. Dan Katō had defeated many ninja with this technique and earned quite a reputation in Konoha.
However, this jutsu had obvious weaknesses. First, while casting it, the user's physical body had almost no defensive capabilities and required other ninja to "guard" it. If the body was destroyed, the soul would have nowhere to return—certain death.
Second, the technique had a time limit. The actual effective combat duration was only two hours. If that time was exceeded and the soul couldn't return, the caster would face mortal danger.
Most crucially, the ninja world had plenty of jutsu and sealing techniques targeting soul attacks. Once countered or sealed, the caster was still dead.
So for this assassination mission, Danzo made extremely thorough preparations. Not only did he assign four ANBU jōnin to specifically guard Dan Katō's body, but he also had a team of strategists carefully calculate the distance to Sunagakure's command center.
Not much—six kilometers. For Dan Katō's Spirit Transformation Technique, that was just a matter of breaths.
Additionally, according to Konoha ANBU intelligence, none of the top fighters in Moon Lake New District seemed skilled in soul-targeting jutsu or sealing techniques.
Rasa specialized in gold dust techniques, Karuke excelled with fan-based Wind Release, and Yura was skilled in Wind Release. None posed particular threats to Dan Katō.
So Danzo estimated this assassination had quite high odds of success.
When the spirit-form Dan Katō suddenly appeared in Sunagakure's control center, it indeed caused quite a commotion.
A blue humanoid light mass—so eerie that anyone would be terrified.
"It's... a ghost!"
Lushu was most afraid of such things—all his hair stood on end instantly!
Rasa remained perfectly calm.
"What ghost? That's Konoha's assassin!"
As he spoke, he was already rapidly forming hand seals.
"Dan Katō" quickly locked onto his assassination target. Rasa in black clothing was easy to recognize. Come on, Rasa—give me your life!
Immediately, "Dan Katō" dove straight toward Rasa.
Rasa showed no panic. He had already completed his hand seals and calmly raised his hand.
"Hmph! Soul Binding Technique!"
Invisible chains seemed to instantly bind the spirit-form Dan Katō tightly.
The blue light mass struggled desperately in the air, twisting and writhing like a shining orb.
"You... how do you know our Konoha's forbidden technique!"
The spirit Dan Katō roared in fury.
"This? Heh, I got it in trade from Danzo."
Rasa smiled coldly.
"Time's about right—Dan Katō should have succeeded! Increase the bombing intensity! Both armies advance immediately! Catch them off guard!"
Danzo commanded loudly.
"But it seems we're running out of explosive tags!"
Hamaki Mimura said.
"Can't worry about that now! Have Earth Release ninja set up earth barriers in the blasted passages—that should block puppet attacks and ensure rapid troop movement!"
Hamaki Mimura and Iwana Akame exchanged glances—this plan could work!
"Sir, brilliant!"
"Enough talk! We're fighting for surprise—quickly! Move out!"
Just then, Hyūga Iroha suddenly burst into the command tent.
"Report to Lord Danzo! Large numbers of Sunagakure ninja are gathering behind the puppet formation, and the puppet formation's movements have obviously slowed!"
Danzo thought briefly, then his face showed wild joy.
"Dan Katō must have succeeded! Sunagakure is organizing a second defensive line—quickly! Seize the opportunity, don't let them form effective resistance! Let's go to the front lines!"
Danzo immediately charged out of the tent without another word.
"Go! Attack!"
With Danzo's mighty roar, Konoha ninja surged into the puppet formation like a tide.
Everyone was delighted to discover that the menacing puppets' movements had indeed slowed considerably—their threat was almost negligible.
"Charge! Victory belongs to Konoha!"
Danzo roared dominantly, and Konoha's ninja hesitated no more. Wielding ninja swords and kunai, they charged forward with battle cries, their momentum like a rainbow.
The puppet formation's depth was five kilometers—for well-trained ninja, just a matter of three to five minutes. Watching the streaming Konoha ninja, Danzo couldn't help but laugh toward the sky. Moon Lake New District was as good as taken.
There was one thing Danzo had never mentioned—Moon Lake New District had been developed for years and was Sunagakure's industrial and agricultural center, far richer than Amegakure. This victory would finally cover the losses from those iron mines.
"Huh? What's that?"
Looking up, Danzo saw something strange flying toward them in the bright moonlight.
An egg-shaped body below, topped with a huge propeller, making heavy noise as it flew their way.
Looking closer, it wasn't just one—it was a dark swarm!
Danzo suddenly felt an ominous premonition.
"All forces halt!"
Danzo decisively gave the order.
The Konoha ninja looked at Danzo in confusion.
Just then, that unidentified flying object suddenly dove straight into the crowd of Konoha ninja.
"Not good! Retreat!"
Danzo ran toward the camp without looking back.
"BOOM!"
The aircraft crashed into the ground with a massive explosion. Those nearby were instantly blown to pieces, and many Konoha ninja were hurled away by the blast wave.
Then came the second, the third—countless more, too many to count.
The two passages Konoha ninja had opened were instantly turned into fire dragons, the thunderous explosions drowning out the Konoha ninja's screams.
"Lord Kazekage, isn't what we're doing a bit too cruel?"
Lushu grinned wickedly, though his face showed no trace of compassion.
"Cruel?"
Rasa asked back.
"Isn't it? Each flying puppet costs one hundred thousand ryō, each carries ten explosive tags, and we have two thousand such flying puppets—we're using them all tonight. Isn't that cruel?"
So Lushu was talking about the cruelty of spending money.
"When you put it that way, it does seem a bit cruel. What do you think?"
Rasa turned to ask the spirit-form Dan Katō.
The current "Dan Katō" clearly had a fierce expression, eyes bulging with rage, looking ready to bite someone.
Last year, Danzo had traded the Flying Thunder God Technique with Sunagakure for weakening medicine. Jinghang claimed the Flying Thunder God Technique was incomplete and forced Danzo to add another forbidden technique as a "bonus"—that bonus was the Soul Binding Technique developed by the Second Hokage Tobirama.
Only Jinghang in the entire village had mastered the Flying Thunder God Technique. Rasa always felt cheated, so he studied the Soul Binding Technique diligently and had achieved some success—unexpectedly useful today.
"Lord Jinghang was right—having many skills never weighs you down, heh."
Rasa laughed.
"Danzo, you're a disgrace to Konoha!"
Dan Katō cried out mournfully as his spirit gradually faded into nothingness.
~~~~❃❃~~~~~~~~❃❃~~~~
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