"Cough, cough, cough!"
The smoke still hung heavy in the air. Lock, already battered and bloodied, doubled over, hacking violently. Each cough sent a spray of blood from his mouth, the taste of iron flooding his tongue.
A sharp stab of agony shot through his ribs. He glanced down and grimaced at the kunai buried in his side. With gritted teeth, Lock wrapped his hand around the handle and ripped it free.
"Ahh—!"
The pain was blinding. His vision wavered, and for a heartbeat, he thought he might collapse. But he forced himself to stay standing. His survival depended on it.
The familiar interface in his mind flickered—his earned points had climbed high enough. Without hesitation, Lock exchanged them for a vial of Healing Ointment.
Healing Ointment: Rapidly restores the user's injuries for a short duration. Effect ends if the target is struck during recovery.
A streak of chakra-laced salve spread over his wound. In moments, flesh began knitting back together. The bleeding stopped. The mangled mess in his ribs sealed shut as if time itself had been rewound.
Lock exhaled a shaky breath. The speed was unbelievable. Perhaps only the First Hokage's legendary vitality could rival such recovery.
Even his badly damaged left arm stirred—no longer useless, though still far from whole. The ointment couldn't completely heal a shattered limb, but it had restored enough strength for him to grip and move.
Three vials would likely restore his arm fully, but Lock decided against it. Too many eyes knew of his injuries. If he healed too quickly, suspicion would follow. Better to endure for now.
The smoke cleared slowly, revealing the battlefield. Four of Danzo's shinobi still stood. Everyone else had been obliterated—either by the detonating tags or by Lock's desperate strike.
"You're still alive?!" one of them gasped, disbelief twisting his features.
Lock rose to his feet, steady despite his wounds. His chakra reserves were thinning, but his gaze was sharp, predatory.
"If you want to kill me," he said coldly, "you'll need more than this."
The four survivors exchanged grim looks. They were Root operatives—Danzo's personal shadows, trained to suppress fear.
"Since he's alive, we can finish the mission," one muttered.
"Be cautious. His ability is strange."
In unison, they lunged at him, converging from four directions.
Lock's eyes narrowed. Two of them carried the weight of a real threat—the same ones who had fought him in tandem before. The others… weaker. Easier prey.
"Flash Strike!"
His figure blurred. A silver arc cut through the haze as he reappeared behind one man, driving a stolen blade clean through the shinobi's back.
"Guh—!"
Before the corpse even hit the ground, Lock vanished again, his dagger biting into the second target's chest. Blood spattered across the dirt.
The other two were on him in an instant—fast, brutal, and merciless. Their coordinated strikes left no room to breathe. Both were physical specialists, their taijutsu honed to perfection.
Lock dropped a smoke bomb. Thick, choking mist billowed out, swallowing them whole.
But this was no ordinary smokescreen. He had leveled up.
The deaths of Shiro Hijikata and the other Root shinobi had surged his experience past the threshold. He had stepped into Level Ten—and with it came a new talent.
The choice unfolded before him:
+8 Agility
Rapid Healing: Dramatically boosts natural recovery speed
Lock weighed them quickly. Agility meant sharper speed, quicker strikes, and heavier impact. Healing meant endurance.
But endurance meant nothing if his blows lacked power. He remembered the humiliation of standing powerless before the Fourth Raikage. If he had possessed enough force then, the battle would have been different.
His decision was instant.
"Agility."
Power coursed through him. His body felt lighter, faster, more precise. Every breath sharpened his reflexes. Every muscle coiled with deadlier intent.
He flexed his fingers around his dagger. The blade gleamed faintly in the smoke, as though eager to taste more blood.
The fight was far from over—but Lock had already tilted the scales.
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