The air was damp, carrying with it the stench of blood.
Kairen slowly opened his eyes, and immediately, a piercing pain stabbed through his mind. Gritting his teeth, he looked down toward his abdomen.
It was tightly wrapped in bandages, and his insides felt as if they had been hollowed out.
Cold sweat covered his forehead. Weakly, he glanced around. The room was filled with strange experimental equipment, all reeking of formalin.
There were human heads, hearts, eyeballs...
"You're awake, huh!" A cold voice sounded.
Kairen turned his head and saw a kunoichi from Sunagakure in a white lab coat. Her appearance was plain, but the centipede-shaped scar across her left cheek was impossible to miss.
She held a test tube in her hand, her expression calm but concealing a cruel undertone.
Her voice lacked any trace of humanity: "I really don't know what those people are thinking. Your blood is completely ordinary. There's not a single trace of a kekkei genkai."
She seemed disappointed, but immediately picked up a scalpel.
"Every experiment has its margin of error. Let's see what practice can prove!"
The blade stabbed fiercely into Kairen's throat. Blood sprayed from his mouth, his eyes bloodshot as he struggled, before slowly fading away.
"Ding!"
"You were killed by Jonin Shabei using a scalpel. EXP +60!"
A cloud of white smoke rose, gradually obscuring Shabei's sight.
Shabei quickly used a Wind Release, dispersing the smoke.
Standing there was a delicate-faced boy, bare-chested, dressed only in prisoner-like pants.
Shabei's eyes burned with unconcealable frenzy: "Resurrected... and all his injuries are gone!"
The system's voice rang out: "Seal +3!"
Kairen immediately assigned his EXP points to Seal, raising his hand seals proficiency to Chunin-level.
He quickly formed hand seals, fire-natured chakra surging into his throat, his cheeks bulging.
"Fire Release—"
But what was a jonin?
Before Kairen could finish, Shabei used Body Flicker, striking Kairen's head with a hand blade. His vision went blank, unable to tell north from south.
Shabei then bound Kairen's limbs with rope, sealing his movements.
"You are now Sunagakure's precious experimental subject. Your undying kekkei will bring the village unimaginable influence."
With that, Shabei hacked off one of Kairen's arms, making him grit his teeth in pain.
Holding his remaining hand, Kairen seethed with rage, desperate to kill her.
"Don't let me get the chance, or you'll regret what you did to me."
Shabei sneered: "Just you? Your kekkei genkai is indeed remarkable, almost comparable to Wood Release. And yet Konoha was too blind to see the war potential hidden in you."
Turning away, she picked up Kairen's severed arm, carefully extracting flesh samples with tweezers...
Kairen endured the pain, his mind sinking into despair. His ability wasn't invincible.
As long as his movements were restrained, he couldn't trigger resurrection.
He was just like an Edo Tensei ninja—able to revive endlessly, but unable to act if bound.
In the future, seals would be his greatest weakness.
Not to mention unconsciousness, restraints, or severed limbs—his current vulnerabilities.
Kairen opened the system interface, shouting: "System Daddy, help me!"
The mechanical voice responded: "Host may exchange items in the Exchange Interface."
Startled, Kairen opened the Exchange, scrolling quickly for something useful.
[Explosive Tag] Price: 1 EXP.
He immediately thought of a plan. He could use the Explosive Tag to kill himself, trigger resurrection, and escape in peak condition.
He closed the interface, carefully scanning his surroundings.
His Ninja Basic Skills were poor, and he hadn't been able to analyze much.
So, he assigned points to [Int].
"Int +3!"
[Int] represented a ninja's battle IQ, granting sharper perception and analytical ability.
With Int raised to 6, his thoughts cleared, and his memory sharpened.
He calmly observed again.
The walls were earthen, unlike Wind Country's sand walls. From the faint birdsong outside, this was within the Land of Rivers.
There were also faint sounds of kunai clashing—people training. This confirmed it: a Sunagakure encampment in the Land of Rivers.
Given Shabei's importance, this was likely their largest camp here.
'Troublesome!'
Kairen sighed in frustration. Even if he escaped Shabei's lab, there was no way past Sunagakure's heavily guarded camp.
'Giving up means the end!' He recalled Sasuke's words.
He was the undying ninja. He could try to escape countless times, so long as Sunagakure didn't seal him.
For now, he needed to stockpile EXP and exchange for a large number of Explosive Tags to create the chaos needed to flee.
Kairen looked toward the busy Shabei and cleared his throat.
It was time for Zu'an Sasuke to make his debut!
"Ugly woman, no wonder no man has ever chased after you!"
Shabei ignored him, continuing her work.
Let's see how long you can endure, Kairen thought.
"Because you're so ugly, you're afraid to go outside. That's why you're always locked up here!"
Shabei tightened her grip on the tweezers.
"And that scar? Already ugly enough, and you added a scar on top of it? Hideous!"
...
"Ugly woman—"
Shabei flickered in an instant, slicing Kairen's throat with her scalpel.
"Ding!"
"You were killed by Jonin Shabei slitting your throat. EXP +60."
Good, another 60 Explosive Tags. I'll blow you sky-high.
Resurrecting again, Kairen snarled with bloodlust: "Ugly woman, if I feel like it, I can wipe your entire village off the map. Then I'll sell you to a brothel. Wonder if they'd even take you?"
A flash of silver.
"Ding!"
"You were killed by Jonin Shabei tearing out your heart. EXP +60."
"Ugly woman, I'm the falcon soaring in the skies. You're just a filthy desert crawler. Release me, and I might spare some of your villagers!"
"Wind Release: Wind Cutter Jutsu!"
"Ding!"
"You were killed by Jonin Shabei with Wind Release. EXP +100!"
Killed by ninjutsu, the EXP was much higher. Kairen secretly rejoiced upon reviving.
Again, his words stabbed at Shabei.
"Ugly woman, don't you have three mouths? Come on, let's trade insults—see who wins!"
Kairen realized he was going further down the road of courting death, with no way back.
But this time, Shabei plugged her ears with stoppers, ignoring him as she focused on studying his bloodline.
Days passed. Every day, Kairen spat venomous insults.
But after a few bouts of anger, Shabei no longer reacted. She gagged him with a rag, denying him opportunities.
Finally, during a high-level Sunagakure inspection, Kairen saw a glimmer of hope.
A man with dark red hair, dressed in black robes, his face devoid of eyebrows—the Fourth Kazekage, Rasa.
Two ANBU followed behind him as they entered the lab.
Shabei quickly bowed: "Rasa-sama!"
Rasa nodded, asking, "How goes the research on the undying kekkei?"
Shabei shook her head: "It's strange. His blood shows no signs of any kekkei genkai, yet it undeniably exists."
Rasa folded his arms, thoughtful: "Could this be some kind of secret technique?"
Like his Magnet Release Gold Dust, inherited from the Third Kazekage—a self-developed kekkei.
Shabei shook her head firmly: "Impossible. A mere genin could never master a forbidden-level secret art!"
"True." Rasa slowly walked over to Kairen.
The boy was drenched in blood, bound to a wooden cross. His naked body was scarred from countless cuts, an unbearable sight.
Rasa frowned slightly, gently pulling the rag from his mouth.
"Rasa-sama, don't—" Shabei tried to stop him, but it was too late.
Rasa glanced at her. "Don't what?"
Kairen opened his eyes, instantly recognizing the Kazekage.
"Ptui!"
He spat a mouthful of blood and phlegm right onto Rasa's forehead.
Expressionless, Rasa muttered coldly: "You really don't fear death, do you?"
Kairen grinned, his teeth stained with blood foam: "So you're the Fourth Kazekage, huh? Hey! Where are your eyebrows? Ohhh... turns out you don't have any. What a bizarre ninja!"
Suppressing his rage, Rasa finally understood why Shabei had tried to stop him. This brat's personality was infuriating.
Kairen sneered further: "Your greatest achievement was repelling some Kumogakure raiders. How does that make you Kazekage? Did you just pick up the title by luck? I bet you assassinated the Third Kazekage yourself."
Barely holding back his fury, Rasa turned to Shabei: "He truly can't die?"
Shabei nodded: "He won't die. Every time, he resurrects, fully healed."
Kairen still pressed on: "I heard you've got a beautiful wife. Mind introducing us someday? I might not know her 'depths' yet, but she's definitely stronger than a browless freak like you!"
"Courting death!"
Golden sand surged, enveloping Kairen completely.
With a violent pull, his body was torn apart, flesh and blood raining down, splattering across the lab.
Rasa stood still, letting the blood soak his face, silently watching the white smoke rise again.
"Ding!"
"You were killed by Kazekage Rasa with Magnet Release. EXP +500."