Yugito's heart sank.
When had she fallen into his trap without even realizing it?
She had been completely certain that she hadn't made direct eye contact with Shimizu's Sharingan!
Inside her mental world, the Two-Tails, Matatabi, was cloaked in boiling blue flames, roaring and violently throwing its body against the iron cage. Above the rippling surface of the water hung a crimson moon. Like a dream yet a mirage, three black tomoe slowly rotated within it.
Back in reality.
"To counter my attacks, you have to track the movements of my body to see where my force originates. Your gaze naturally shifts upward," Shimizu said, shaking his head. "Did you really think that simply focusing your attention away from my eyes would protect you?"
The Sharingan required eye contact to cast Genjutsu.
"The eyes are the easiest entry point for Genjutsu. I don't need you to look directly at the pattern in my eyes; as long as your peripheral vision catches my Sharingan, it's enough."
Shimizu walked toward Yugito step by step.
Peripheral vision—even a split-second glance was more than enough for Shimizu to unleash his Genjutsu.
Yugito had already been forced out of her Tailed Beast Chakra Mode, revealing her true appearance. She wore a short-sleeved, high-collared blouse, tight purple pants, and a red cloth wrapped around her waist, which seemed to be a cultural custom of Kumogakure. Her athletic, aesthetically striking physique was fully on display.
"Yugito, what exactly are you fighting for?"
"For peace, of course."
Yugito frowned slightly. Though she found Shimizu's question bizarre, she still answered him. She needed to buy time to break through the Genjutsu, and keeping Shimizu engaged was her best option right now.
"Absurd. During the Third Shinobi World War, it was your Kumogakure that took advantage of the chaos when Sunagakure's Third Kazekage went missing to declare war on both Konohagakure and Iwagakure."
"No, that's not right!" Yugito shook her head repeatedly.
To master the power of the Two-Tails and avoid the prejudiced gazes of the villagers, she had trained alone on the mountains for a very long time. She had joined this war precisely to bring peace to Kumogakure and put an end to this meaningless conflict. How could Shimizu claim that Kumogakure was the one that started the war?
Shimizu scoffed. Moving like a flash, his figure shifted, and he drove a heavy punch straight into Yugito's abdomen.
Thud!
Yugito took the blow full force. Foam escaped the corner of her mouth, and she nearly blacked out. She collapsed to the ground, curling up and trembling in agony.
To wage a war, one always needed a righteous pretext. Anyone or any organization that initiated a war—provided they had a shred of intelligence—would never admit they were invading someone else. Instead, they would concoct high-sounding excuses, such as claiming the citizens of a certain nation were suffering and needed saving.
But no matter how they whitewashed it, their underlying motives were always shameful. It was always about plundering more resources and encroaching on the interests of others. War was waged to seize resources; everything came down to greater profits.
At the same time, it was a display of power. Once a war concluded, the shinobi village that performed the best would receive the largest share of mission requests.
"Lady Yugito!" Samui cried out in panic.
She tried to stand up to check on Yugito's condition, but her exhausted, paralyzed body allowed her to move only a few centimeters. She could only watch helplessly as Shimizu grabbed Yugito.
"A war... started by Kumogakure?" Enduring the pain, Yugito questioned the truth of Shimizu's words.
To Kumogakure, a Jinchuriki was ultimately just a tool, so the higher-ups never disclosed much to her. Most people looked at her with discrimination, including many in the upper echelons. After Killer B became a Jinchuriki, he was just as detested by everyone as she was. Very few people treated Killer B well, but at least he had an older brother, "A." As for Yugito, her closest confidante was Samui.
"Yes. So, shouldn't you be atoning for your sins?" Shimizu knelt down, grabbed Yugito's disheveled hair, and pulled her head up.
The gesture was violent, but such an injury was practically nothing to a Jinchuriki. The wound from the punch he had just delivered was already mostly healed. As long as there was Tailed Beast chakra remaining, a Jinchuriki could regenerate at incredible speeds.
"Impossible!" Yugito clearly could not accept this reality. She fought back fiercely against Shimizu, her fingernails extending into sharp claws as she lunged at him.
Shimizu didn't even bother to dodge, letting her claws scrape across his skin, leaving only faint white marks. If Yugito were still in her Tailed Beast Chakra Mode, Shimizu might have shown some caution and used Crystal Release for defense. But in her base form with her Tailed Beast chakra suppressed, she posed no threat at all. After all, her years of training were entirely centered around mastering the power of the Two-Tails. Stripped of the Two-Tails, she was nothing more than a declawed tiger.
Slap!
Shimizu struck Yugito across the face.
"Ultimately, you all are nothing but war criminals. Who knows how many innocent lives have been lost because of executioners like you," Shimizu sneered.
Even he had never laid a hand on innocent civilians; even the human experiments conducted in his simulator used death-row convicts sourced through specific channels.
Yugito clutched her swollen left cheek, her eyes burning with fury as she glared at him. Before she could speak, however, Shimizu struck her again.
This time, on her right cheek.
Now, both sides of her face were red and swollen, marked by two perfectly matching handprints.
"So you are the sinners, the instigators of war. What right do you have to speak of peace?"
Yugito's head was ringing from the force of the two slaps, which had nearly knocked her unconscious. Yet, she couldn't find a single argument to refute his words. Because their current location was indeed within the territory of the Land of Fire, not the Land of Lightning, which lay several nations away.
"We are shinobi... our duty is to obey orders." Yugito's confusion lasted only a few seconds before she snapped out of it.
How could she let her convictions be swayed by a few words from Shimizu? Being a shinobi was never a clean profession. Filthy missions were a dime a dozen. She closed her eyes, planning to rely purely on her hearing to fight Shimizu.
Seeing this, Shimizu swiftly grabbed Yugito by the hair and slammed her head directly into the earthen wall.
Three consecutive strikes left a deep, rounded indentation in the wall. Dust swirled through the air as the skin on Yugito's pale forehead broke, causing blood to flow slowly down her face. A dozen seconds later, following a puff of white steam, the wound gradually closed.
Shimizu released his grip.
A sharp intake of breath echoed. Yugito felt her chakra rapidly vanishing from the point where Shimizu was touching her. She wanted to break away, but Shimizu held her firmly in place.
"A shinobi stripped of their chakra is nothing more than a lamb to the slaughter." Shimizu watched the chakra constantly dissipating into the air, continuing to employ his new technique.
Ever since acquiring Dark Medical Ninjutsu, Shimizu had been contemplating whether he could absorb chakra like Orochimaru's subordinate, Yoroi Akado. Yoroi absorbed an enemy's spiritual and physical energy to synthesize chakra within his own body. Dark Medical Ninjutsu possessed a similar application. However, it was quite unrefined; it could only extract chakra but could not assimilate it for his own use.
Currently in his Cursed Seal mode, all of Shimizu's ninjutsu received a massive boost. Even if the technique was unrefined, it was completely irresistible to Yugito, who lacked the physical strength to resist.
"Even if you kill me, the Tailed Beast inside me will just revive somewhere else. Your Konohagakure won't gain anything from this," Yugito rasped, feeling the chakra within her body nearing absolute depletion.
Right now, she couldn't draw upon the Tailed Beast's chakra at all. Every time she kneaded even a small amount of chakra, Shimizu would immediately extract it from her body. Her mental and physical stamina were pushed to their absolute limits; if she forced herself to knead any more chakra, it would become life-threatening. To put it mildly, it was already taking a toll on her life force.
If it weren't for the fact that her base chakra reserves were far larger than an average person's due to the influence of the Two-Tails, the amount Shimizu had just drained would have sent her into a state of near-death instantly.
"The information you wanted... I must have already given it to you while my consciousness was compromised. Stop making things difficult for Lady Yugito!" Samui pleaded from the ground.
She couldn't bear to watch Yugito die right before her eyes from total chakra exhaustion. The two of them were dearest friends who shared everything!
"Is that so? Then let me collect a little interest on behalf of those victims first." Shimizu halted his chakra-draining technique. Was he really the type of person who lacked basic understanding?
Only the heavy breathing of Samui and Yugito filled the earthen room.
"Samui, don't agree to anything Uchiha Shimizu says!" Yugito urged immediately as soon as she recovered a fraction of her chakra. She didn't know what Shimizu intended to do, but it couldn't possibly be anything good.
"Lady Yugito, as long as you are safe, it doesn't matter what happens to me." Samui's voice was weak, but to Yugito's ears, it carried the weight of a mountain.
A Jinchuriki lacked affection far more than anyone else, and consequently, they yearned to be cared for even more intensely. Yugito's eyes rimmed with red. In a situation like this, Samui was actually willing to beg a demon to spare her.
"What touching sisterly affection," Shimizu praised.
However, despite his verbal praise, his hands did not idle. Forming hand seals, he summoned his one-horned giant beast.
Crystal Release!
Samui and Yugito were completely numb at this point. Was there really someone who utilized a Kekkei Genkai like this? Wasn't this an insult to the prestige of a Kekkei Genkai? To bestow a noble Bloodline Limit upon a summoning beast—and such a hideous monster at that?
"Tell you what, I am a very soft-hearted man. I will give the two of you a chance. There is one slot available to escape this ordeal. What is your choice?"
Poof!
Shimizu produced a sealing scroll and unsealed a large bed. The storage capacity of a sealing scroll depended heavily on its physical size—the larger the scroll, the more space it held. Conversely, the smaller and more portable the scroll, the more restricted its internal space.
Shimizu's sealing scroll usually hung behind his waist and was only about the size of half a palm. This bed alone occupied two-thirds of its capacity, leaving the remaining third for food pills, explosive tags, and other miscellaneous supplies. If any other shinobi knew that Shimizu allocated his storage space like this, they would likely curse him out for being an incredibly wasteful profligate. Everyone else utilized every single inch of space like it was pure gold, yet this guy had stuffed a massive bed inside.
"Alright, make your decision quickly. My patience is limited." Shimizu sat on the edge of the bed.
The one-horned giant beast glared down menacingly at Yugito and Samui.
"I... will do it."
--
Support me & read more advance & fast update chapter on my patreon:
pat reon .com/yuuwand