Naruto: Cthulhu: Ch. 253

Amid the horrified gazes of everyone present, Rinji—who had been devoutly praying to the Box of Ultimate Bliss—was pierced through the chest with a single hand by a ragged, black-haired youth.

He moved so quickly that even the nearby ninja didn't see what had happened—the result had already occurred before they could even register it.

With a deathly pale face, the black-haired boy withdrew his arm with practiced ease, flinging a streak of blood into the air. Not a drop stained his ghastly white arm.

Rinji, who had been full of vitality just moments ago, collapsed completely. His eyes were wide open in disbelief, as if he could not comprehend what had just happened.

Witnessing this, the crowd was utterly stunned. They stared at the youth in terror, not daring to breathe, inching backward unconsciously.

At that moment, the black-haired boy's eyes suddenly turned sharp and darted to the side, terrifying a nearby ninja so badly his legs gave out and he collapsed to the ground.

But the instinct to survive overcame the paralysis. The ninja scrambled to his feet and tried to flee.

He didn't get far—just a few steps—before the black-haired boy vanished on the spot.

In the next instant, the boy reappeared in front of the ninja and pierced his chest in the same manner.

"Wh-why…"

The ninja fell lifeless to the ground. The others only then came to their senses amid their fear.

"What are you doing?!"

"I'll fight you to the death!"

Dozens of surviving ninja on the plaza rushed at the black-haired boy, engaging him in battle.

But these ninja, recruited by Orochimaru, were relatively weak and stood no chance against the black-haired boy's combat prowess.

His speed was unimaginably fast, as though he were constantly using a Body Flicker technique with no cooldown, weaving in and out of the crowd.

None of the ninja's attacks landed. Each time the boy flickered into sight, he claimed a life with chilling precision.

In moments, the center of the plaza had become a blood-soaked battlefield, filled with screams and roars of pain.

In a corner of the plaza, paralyzed by Orochimaru's poison and lying helpless on the ground, Mui stared at the center of the chaos in shock.

He recognized the black-haired boy who had emerged from the Box of Ultimate Bliss—he could never mistake him.

Because it was the son he had longed to resurrect, day and night—his son, Muku.

That familiar face and black hair, even though his body seemed to have matured for unknown reasons while inside the box, Mui—his father—would never get it wrong.

Ever since Muku's death, Mui's loyalty to Kiri had died as well. His only obsession had been bringing Muku back to life.

And now, his son stood before him—but Mui felt only shock, not the tears of joy he had imagined.

Although Muku was only killing the invaders of Hōzuki Castle, something felt deeply wrong to Mui.

He wasn't filled with joy at the reunion, but a profound and creeping fear.

On a rooftop corridor in the distance, Orochimaru and Kabuto stood quietly as spectators, watching the carnage unfold below.

Orochimaru showed no discomfort or regret over the slaughter of the ninja he had brought with him.

To him, this level of ninja were mere expendables. Once used up, they could be replaced. Keeping them too long only meant wasting more food.

Orochimaru's eyes, at that moment, revealed only curiosity—and a hidden, burning intensity.

Beside him, Kabuto silently sighed at Rinji's foolishness.

He had long known of Rinji's ambition to replace him, and had planned to dispose of him after the mission.

Now he didn't have to lift a finger.

Back in the plaza, the last of the dozen or so ninja were swiftly annihilated—every one of them dying in the same way, with a hand through the chest.

At this point, the black-haired boy turned his gaze toward the two figures standing on the distant rooftop—Orochimaru and Kabuto.

They were the only noticeable living beings left in his field of vision.

The boy himself didn't know why he had to slaughter every living thing around him, but deep within, a restless, ancient, and bewitchingly powerful voice compelled him to do so.

Just as he was about to move toward the two on the rooftop, another figure suddenly appeared in his vision.

The figure appeared so abruptly that the boy didn't have time to react before the newcomer was right in front of him.

In the next moment, the same scene played out again.

The figure vanished and reappeared directly in front of the black-haired boy, piercing his chest with a black, cone-shaped arm.

At that moment, the boy finally got a clear look at his attacker.

It was a pale-skinned man clad in a short white robe, with long, wavy white hair parted in the center. The ends of his hair were bound with red cords, and two red dots adorned his forehead.

This ethereal man, draped in white, had an arm that transformed into a black, drill-like spike to impale the boy.

Because of that black spike, the wound the boy suffered was far worse than those he had inflicted on the ninja.

He groaned lowly and coughed up thick, black-tinged blood.

"No!"

"Muku!"

From the corner of the plaza, Mui shouted out in anguish, still sensing something was wrong with his son, but unable to hold back a father's desperate cry.

The shout reached the ears of the black-haired boy.

Muku.

That name—it was so familiar.

Suddenly, memories flooded the boy's mind like a broken dam. The overwhelming rush tore through his consciousness, triggering searing pain that made him scream despite his injuries.

"Ahhhh!"

His pupils turned pitch black. From his arms, a violent transformation began.

His skin began to swell like blisters and then tore open, revealing monstrous black arms with brown claws—beast-like and immense.

Kimimaro, who had just impaled him, furrowed his brows and quickly withdrew, his drill-like black arm reverting to a normal human arm midair.

But the transformation wasn't over.

Countless black feathers burst from within the boy, wrapping around him until he was no longer human—but a complete monster.

This creature was covered in black feathers, with wings on its back and enormous fangs protruding from its chest.

Even Kabuto, who had steeled himself mentally, trembled at the sight.

Orochimaru, however, gave a twitchy smile and murmured:

"So this is Satori. Let's see which of you is stronger—you or my Venom Shoggoth."

---

In the center of the plaza, a massive black-feathered monster stood face-to-face with Kimimaro.

Aside from the fallen Mui in the corner of the square, as well as Orochimaru and Kabuto, the rest of the prison's inmates were huddled inside their cells, watching from behind the bars.

Originally, the prisoners had taken advantage of the chaos and planned to escape through the already-breached gates of Hōzuki Castle.

However, as soon as they reached the outside of the gate, flames suddenly surged from the sealing spell of the Celestial Prison Technique, engulfing those attempting to flee.

For their own safety, the prisoners had no choice but to return to their cells.

The plaza had already become a slaughterhouse, and with their chakra sealed, there was nothing they could do.

On the battlefield, Kimimaro looked up indifferently at the huge creature in front of him and made the first move.

Kimimaro's speed surged to the extreme as he dashed at Satori. Just as he reached Satori's front, he leapt up, his right arm morphing into a massive blade and slashing down.

The enormous black blade extending from his right hand was over forty meters long—twice the size of Satori's own body—entirely formed by the venomous Shoggoth tissue transplanted into Kimimaro by Orochimaru.

Seeing this transformation, Satori trembled inwardly.

How could a human arm become something like that?

Though called Satori, the monster was in truth yōkai—an entity unfamiliar with such bizarre ninjutsu.

Yet just before the giant blade could strike, Satori flapped its wings, using the burst of air to evade the massive slash.

As a result, Kimimaro's strike hit empty air and cleaved a massive rift into the plaza's stone floor.

"It's more agile than expected."

Kimimaro muttered to himself, and the 40-meter blade quickly retracted down to five meters.

At the same time, Kimimaro shifted from wielding one blade to dual blades, with both arms transforming into five-meter-long black bone sabers.

As he swung the twin black blades, they resembled a pair of wings.

"Dance of the Willow."

Kimimaro whispered as he blinked forward and once again appeared before Satori.

This time, Satori believed the shortened blades wouldn't pose much threat, so it lifted its brown claws and swiped at Kimimaro.

But before the claws could even touch him, dozens of slashes filled the air.

In just two seconds, Kimimaro's speed exploded to an incomprehensible level, and his black bone blades danced through the air, leaving scores of wounds across Satori's claws.

However, as a yōkai who had long been immersed in the endless darkness of the Box of Ultimate Bliss, Satori was numb to pain and fear. These wounds were not enough to stop it.

Its claws grabbed Kimimaro, who didn't try to evade.

But just as Satori was about to crush Kimimaro with full force, countless black spikes suddenly erupted from Kimimaro's body, piercing straight through Satori's claws.

It was as if Satori had grabbed a giant porcupine—its claw was skewered by dozens of spikes. The intense pain finally triggered a reflexive reaction, and it flung Kimimaro away.

Kimimaro landed unscathed, the bone spikes retracting into his body as he touched the ground.

In the distance, Kabuto was calmly watching the fight while assessing Kimimaro's condition.

Compared to during the Chunin Exams more than two years ago, Kimimaro had vastly improved in both his compatibility with the Venom Shoggoth tissue and his mastery of its powers.

Yet this progress had often gone unnoticed due to the lack of worthy opponents.

But Satori—left behind by the Sage of Six Paths—was truly an ultimate weapon, finally providing Kabuto a chance to witness Kimimaro's true strength.

Now, Kimimaro and the venomous Shoggoth were one entity, mastering both offense and defense. The speed at which he could deploy and retract his bone weapons had dramatically improved.

Furthermore, Kimimaro had learned to efficiently harness the Shoggoth's ability to temporarily boost physical power, avoiding the extended overuse that previously caused strain to his original body.

Without a doubt, the current Kimimaro was Orochimaru's most powerful lieutenant—possibly even surpassing the rapidly progressing Sasuke.

Standing on the ground once again, Kimimaro looked at Satori ahead and glanced at Orochimaru on the rooftop behind him.

Although his previous combo of offense and defense had inflicted significant damage to Satori, it was far from enough.

Satori's massive body made the damage seem minor.

With his normal body size and no ninjutsu, it would be nearly impossible for Kimimaro to seriously wound or kill Satori.

But in that brief glance at Orochimaru, he saw the man's eyes burning with impatient frenzy.

The Box of Ultimate Bliss.

That was what Orochimaru desired—and he could no longer wait.

"I will defeat this monster as quickly as possible to fulfill Orochimaru-sama's wish!"

With that resolution, Kimimaro decided to stop holding back.

He calmly reached behind himself and yanked out a long, pitch-black spinal column.

From his other wrist, over a dozen forward-curving bones extended and intertwined into a massive spear at his forearm.

The dark bone spear spun at high speed, stirring the dust and pebbles at his feet into motion.

This was the Dance of the Clematis: Vine, a technique Kimimaro had long since mastered. But now, with all his bones replaced by venomous Shoggoth tissue, the technique had evolved dramatically.

The spinal cord he pulled out contained most of the venomous Shoggoth infused into his body.

Now free from the limitations of Kimimaro's original body, the Shoggoth's terrifying power and shapeshifting could finally be unleashed.

Kimimaro suddenly hurled the less-than-two-meter-long spine at Satori, who was twenty meters away.

Satori was baffled—it didn't seem long enough to reach him.

But in the next instant, Satori was stunned.

The spinal cord began to rapidly grow and expand in midair, extending faster than a jonin could run at full speed.

From each joint of the spine, hundreds of black bone spikes shot outward.

These spikes grew simultaneously, interweaving into a vast black net.

In less than a second, Kimimaro's spinal cord had grown into a massive net twice the size of Satori's twenty-meter-tall body!