Chapter 156: The Tightening Curse on the Monkey's Head
"Clang!" The telescoping sword in Tatsumaki's hand slipped from his grasp and fell to the ground.
But at this moment, he couldn't care about any ninja tools. He'd long forgotten his mission, only staring dumbfounded at his two companions' corpses, feeling his mouth go dry and limbs go weak.
He'd originally charged out intending to attack the One-Tail and lure it away. But he'd barely run out—hadn't even launched his attack yet—when he discovered his two companions were already dead.
He knew his companions' strength best. Yet after just one exchange, both had died silently.
They died so decisively, so unbelievably, he couldn't help wondering if he'd fallen under some genjutsu.
He reached out and slapped himself hard in the face, knocking out teeth, yet saw no sign of the genjutsu dispelling.
Tachi and Konpaku's corpses still lay there like garbage.
He suddenly screamed like a frightened little girl, clutching his head tightly in both hands. He fell to his knees, dry-heaving continuously.
Originally, Takumi Village was a place that mainly relied on selling ninja tools. The shinobi village didn't have many missions. At most they dealt with some rogue ninja escaping from elsewhere—combat opportunities were already scarce.
Even when encountering rogue ninja, relying on powerful ninja tools, he could easily win without fighting any difficult bitter battles.
Tatsumaki was the youngest among the "Four Celestial Symbols Men" and had witnessed the least carnage. Now on his first real battle, he encountered a hardcase like Yasushi. His companions suffered instant casualties. He immediately broke.
The shinobi world held no mercy. Yasushi didn't care whether he was a novice. Since he dared come out to rob, he needed the resolve to be killed.
Yasushi's gaze swept over. Shukaku raised his large foot and stomped down heavily toward Tatsumaki.
With a "splat," like a water bag bursting, blood sprayed in all directions from beneath Shukaku's foot.
By now Yasushi had remembered who these people were—the "Four Celestial Symbols Men" from Takumi Village! At most jonin level, though their ninja tools were somewhat interesting.
Yasushi jumped down from Shukaku and collected all three people's ninja tools together.
The Infinite Armor, Flying Twin Swords, Telescoping Blade... There should also be a laser-firing sword. Why didn't it appear?
Yasushi instinctively looked left and right, wanting to find where the last craftsman ninja was. But everywhere his gaze fell, he only heard pine waves and rustling leaves—not even that person's shadow.
Huff, huff...
Kamekichi ran forward desperately without looking back, terrified of losing his life if he ran too slowly.
Though he'd considered beforehand that enemies might be somewhat strong, he never imagined they'd be that strong!
He'd reached the predetermined location, standing on a tree branch observing from afar, waiting for his companions to lure the One-Tail over.
Who knew that everywhere his gaze fell, he witnessed three companions being easily slaughtered.
He was immediately scared numb. Instinctively jumping from the tree, he ran toward the village. His mind was completely blank, his heart ceaselessly crying out:
"Going to die, going to die, going to die..."
"How can such powerful shinobi exist in this world?"
"Are Five Great Nations' shinobi really this terrifying?"
"Does Ancestor Seimei have this level of strength?"
"Just looking at that person's casual methods—even if we revived Ancestor Seimei, it probably wouldn't help, right?"
After witnessing a high-level battle, Kamekichi finally gained perspective, completely abandoning thoughts of reviving their ancestor to restore Takumi Village's glory.
Yasushi's side couldn't find Kamekichi's traces. He'd hesitated briefly about whether to simply visit Takumi Village and collect all four ninja tools.
But after thinking carefully, he abandoned this notion.
Takumi Village truly had nothing particularly rare. These ninja tools might work against ordinary jonin, but in battles between truly powerful shinobi, they were utterly useless.
Going to Takumi Village would only satisfy his collector's habit beyond practical necessity.
So after storing away the three ninja tools, he mounted Shukaku and continued toward the Land of Fire.
Several days later, he re-entered Land of Fire territory.
The Land of Fire's situation had deteriorated further.
During Sunagakure's withdrawal period, Konoha Village finally had some spare capacity for counterattacks.
Battlefields were no longer limited to near Konoha Village. Throughout the entire Land of Fire, small-scale slaughters could occur anywhere.
But offense and defense had completely different difficulty levels. Offense required investing far more troops and resources.
The most obvious situation was that across various battlefields, clearly many child-like genin had begun appearing.
Konoha possessed the most complete academy education. Many children could serve as genin completing missions immediately after school graduation.
Only previously, Konoha's strength was robust—they tried avoiding sending children to battlefields during war.
But now Konoha's situation had deteriorated to a certain degree. Even children couldn't escape the fate of going to war.
"Heh, this is the Will of Fire!"
After sneering coldly, Yasushi ignored these small-scale wars, continuing forward riding Shukaku on his own.
With Shukaku's massive size, walking anywhere would inevitably attract attention. He hadn't planned on hiding either, just wanting to see which fish he'd hook.
This day, Yasushi was leisurely proceeding forward when sounds of slaughter suddenly came from ahead.
He still didn't care, continuing forward, then saw a group fighting desperately.
Originally he hadn't planned to interfere. But his gaze swept over and suddenly paused.
He saw within Konoha's crowd a familiar child wielding kunai, fighting enemies in close quarters.
The child wore no forehead protector. On his pure white forehead, a clear marking was branded there.
That was the "Caged Bird" seal unique to the Hyuga branch family.
But the problem was—this child's eyes weren't Byakugan, but a pair of ordinary eyes.
This was very strange.
A peculiar notion suddenly arose in Yasushi's heart. The "Caged Bird" seal was a good thing! It seemed he could use it to control Rin and Obito!
He'd previously considered placing restrictions or poison on Rin, but found no foolproof method—she could definitely be rescued.
But the "Caged Bird" curse seal had no solution. Even Zetsu had no method. As long as this seal was applied, he wouldn't worry about Obito rescuing Rin!
If he placed the "Caged Bird" seal on Obito—wouldn't that be like installing a Tightening Curse on the Monkey King's head? Whenever idle, he could recite it a few times for amusement.
Rin as a hostage could only manipulate Obito but had no restrictive function. With a Tightening Curse, this game could have many more new ways to play.
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