Naruto: Cthulhu: Ch. 241

Before Sai could respond, the Suna ninja on the ground had already removed the bandage-wrapped object from his back. In an instant, the object unfurled to reveal a strange humanoid puppet.

At the same time, the man pulled out a scroll and summoned another puppet—this one shaped like an ant.

A puppeteer! 

Sai's heart sank in alarm, but what happened next shocked him even more.

The puppeteer controlled the humanoid puppet with chakra strings, making it fly straight toward Sai. The puppet's massive chest cavity opened up, swallowing him, who was hanging against the stone wall, in one swift motion. Then, puppet and prey were pulled downward toward the ground.

As the puppet ascended earlier, ghouls on either side lunged at it, trying to seize it. However, the puppeteer manipulated another humanoid puppet to intercept and block the attacks of the ghouls.

The puppets moved like inverted marionettes, maneuvering skillfully even in midair, leaving the ghouls helpless against them.

Before long, the ant-shaped puppet returned to the ground, its chest cavity opening to spit Sai out.

"You're only the second ninja to survive being swallowed by Kuroari. Though this time, I let you out willingly," the puppeteer remarked.

Kankurō's mind wandered back to over two years ago, during the final one-on-one battles of the Chunin Exams. Back then, he had faced Shino. Their battle ended in a draw. Even though he had the upper hand at the time and had successfully trapped Shino's body inside Kuroari, Shino managed to escape using his insect substitution technique.

Now, two years later, Kankurō had honed his puppet techniques significantly. He believed that if he faced Shino again, the fight would not end in such an embarrassing stalemate.

Meanwhile, Sai, crouching on the ground, paid no attention to Kankurō's haughty boasting. Instead, he said coldly, "Why is a ninja from Suna here? Isn't this the Land of Rivers?"

Kankurō's brows furrowed. He had expected the Leaf ninja to be ungrateful and argue back, but instead, Sai had deftly turned the conversation into an interrogation.

"Hmph, aren't you a Leaf ninja here in the Land of Rivers too? What right do you have to question me?" Kankurō shot back.

"Are you planning to infiltrate the Fire Nation's borders and spy on us?" Sai's tone grew even frostier.

"Hey! Konoha and Suna are allies now. Why would I need to do such a thing?" Kankurō retorted.

"That's hard to say."

"You! I just saved your life! If I wanted to spy on the Fire Nation, I would've left you to die."

Sai said nothing. His opinion of the Suna ninja remained poor, largely because Danzō, the man he revered as both a teacher and father figure, had died during the Chunin Exams, when Suna and Oto jointly attacked the Hidden Leaf.

Although Sai knew there were other layers to the incident, it was undeniable that Suna's schemes had triggered the events that led to Danzō's death.

To Sai, Danzō was the epitome of what a true ninja should be—a towering figure he respected above all else.

On the other side, Kankurō could sense Sai's continued hostility and knew the Leaf ninja's suspicions weren't yet dispelled.

After all, two years ago, the two villages had been embroiled in conflict. While they had since reconciled, some animosity still lingered between the two sides.

Hoping to bridge the gap, Kankurō took the initiative to introduce himself.

"My name is Kankurō. As you can see, I'm a ninja from Suna. I'm here in the Land of Rivers to investigate those things."

Kankurō pointed toward the ghouls crawling up from beneath the metal mesh.

"These creatures are called ghouls. They primarily feed on corpses stolen from graves, but occasionally, they hunt living humans for food. We in Suna first discovered these creatures within the borders of the Land of Wind. In response, we dispatched many Suna ninjas to investigate and eliminate the ghouls."

"I'd heard rumors about a painter named Pickman, who often sketched in cemeteries across the Land of Wind. I suspected he might have some clues about the ghouls, so I came to this small town in the Land of Rivers to track him down. But just as I entered the town, I heard an explosion. I rushed over to check it out, and that's when I found you."

Kankurō's explanation provided Sai with a lot of useful information, such as the fact that ghouls were not exclusive to the northern town of the Land of Rivers. They also appeared in large numbers within the Land of Wind, and Suna was actively clearing them out.

"You'll never find Pickman," Sai said calmly. "Because he's already turned into one of these creatures."

Kankurō's eyes flashed briefly with surprise, but he didn't ask further questions or exclaim in shock. From his calm demeanor, Sai deduced that Kankurō was already aware that humans could turn into ghouls.

While the two were speaking, the ghouls beneath the ground began climbing up one by one through the hole in the metal mesh.

In the moonlight, the ghouls' twisted forms appeared far clearer and far more horrifying than they had in the sewers earlier.

"Hey, since you're injured, just step back and watch me deal with these creatures myself!" Kankurō manipulated two puppets, one with each hand, preparing for an all-out assault.

However, Sai didn't back down. Instead, he drew a brush and a scroll from his waist. Judging by Sai's posture, he wasn't planning to let Kankurō steal all the glory. Sai, too, intended to unleash his unique jutsu against the ghouls.

"Super Beast Scroll!"

With a dramatic stroke of his brush, several ink-painted lions sprang to life from Sai's scroll, leaping toward the ghouls to attack.

Earlier, he had wanted to use this technique, but the environment in the sewers hadn't been ideal. One of the weaknesses of his jutsu was that it couldn't be used recklessly in close-quarters combat.

Now, with enough space to maneuver, Sai quickly summoned multiple lions. They pounced on the ghouls, pinning several to the ground. One particularly large lion even sank its teeth into the waist of one ghoul.

Sai didn't stop there. His brush moved again in fluid strokes.

"Super Beast Scroll!"

This time, a massive ink-painted bird emerged from Sai's scroll.

Sai leapt onto the bird's back, and the large lion, still holding a ghoul in its mouth, followed, jumping up onto the bird as well.

"Let's go, bird."

With that, Sai soared into the night sky on the ink bird, the entire sequence of movements executed flawlessly in less than ten seconds. All that remained was Kankurō, standing in stunned disbelief.

This guy... really just left?!

As Sai disappeared into the night, Kankurō's face darkened, and his right eye twitched uncontrollably.

But there was no time to curse Sai's lack of camaraderie. Dozens of ghouls were now rushing toward Kankurō, claws outstretched.

---

In the underground laboratory of Konoha, the high-ranking officials of Konoha were staring intently at the monster inside the iron cage.

The creature in the cage had the head of a dog and the body of a man, its legs resembling hooves, its mouth filled with fangs, and its rubbery skin giving off a humanoid appearance. However, anyone with a clear mind would never classify this being as human.

"What is this…?"

As everyone stood before the cage observing, Tsunade, who was standing closest to the cage, leaned slightly forward out of curiosity. This immediately provoked the monster, which lunged toward her like a rabid dog.

Fortunately, the iron cage was sturdy and secure, preventing the creature from reaching Tsunade. However, its ferocity gave the people standing behind her a serious fright.

"Lady Hokage!"

"Tsunade-sama!"

"I'm fine, I'm fine…" Tsunade forced a faint smile as she waved her hand to reassure the two Konoha advisors behind her. But deep down, she too had been startled by the monster's sudden aggression, causing ripples in her heart.

At that moment, Koharu turned to look at Sai, who was kneeling on one knee behind her, and asked, "Did you discover this kind of monster within the Land of Rivers?"

"Yes," Sai responded.

"What exactly happened?"

At the insistence of Konoha's high-ranking officials, he recounted his experience in detail.

He explained how he first learned about Pickman, an outstanding painter, from a local informant named Ike. Sai then described the events that unfolded during his visit to Pickman's residence, culminating in the unexpected appearance of a Suna ninja named Kankurō and the things Kankurō revealed to him.

This sequence of events would have been enough to astonish even these seasoned leaders of Konoha, were it not for their high-ranking positions and ability to mask their emotions.

But now was not the time to dwell on amazement—there were more pressing and practical issues to address.

"Suna reaffirmed its alliance with us after the Chunin Exams, yet they're withholding critical information about these monsters from us," Koharu said indignantly.

"If not for the coincidence of our Konoha ninja stumbling across this, those people probably never would have told us a thing, right?" Homura added, sharing her frustration.

Koharu and Homura were clearly furious about Suna's failure to share information. However, Tsunade retorted, "We also have plenty of information about these monsters that we haven't shared with Suna, haven't we?"

Her words left the two advisors speechless. Tsunade then turned to Sai with a question.

"Sai, you mentioned that these creatures, called ghouls, have the ability to turn humans into ghouls as well. Are you certain about this?"

"Yes. I personally saw a ghoul wearing Pickman's clothing appear in Pickman's home. Furthermore, the Suna ninja did not dispute my hypothesis," Sai replied firmly.

Tsunade pondered for a moment before concluding, "If that's the case, we can infer that ghouls have some method of infecting humans to turn them into their own kind. Although we don't yet know the exact mechanism, from a medical perspective, it's highly likely to involve something as common as blood contact."

Then she asked, "Did you sustain any injuries during your encounter with the ghouls?"

"Huh? Uh, yes," Sai replied, momentarily stunned before nodding woodenly.

He had indeed been injured during the mission. However, on the way back to Konoha via his ink bird, he had already treated his wounds with hemostatic bandages.

"You should go to the hospital for a full-body checkup first, just in case there's any underlying issue," Tsunade advised, her tone calm yet commanding.

Her words made everyone present, especially Sai, tense up internally. If someone like Tsunade—renowned as the pinnacle of medical ninjutsu—believed there was a risk of infection or further complications, then...

"Yes, I'll take my leave," Sai said quickly.

Without wasting a moment, he left in a hurry, even using the Body Flicker Technique, vanishing into a shadowy blur as he exited the underground lab.

Once he had left, Tsunade resumed speaking. "It seems Jiraiya's earlier speculation was correct."

"What speculation?"

Homura and Koharu looked confused. Tsunade then slowly recounted what Jiraiya had told her when he left Konoha with Naruto.

"In places where human eyes rarely linger, there exist shadows so cold and dark they pierce to the bone. Even if we don't often see them, we must never forget their existence."

"Our previous thinking was far too narrow, limited by the divisions between nations and the rivalries among villages. But this crisis may not be about any single ninja village or organization. This might be a threat that humanity as a whole will need to face together."

"Them."

Tsunade still remembered the solemn look in Jiraiya's eyes when he spoke those words. He was usually so carefree and easygoing, but Tsunade had never seen him so serious and grave.

At the time, however, she hadn't fully understood what Jiraiya meant—or perhaps she hadn't recognized the gravity of the situation as he had.

But this incident had changed that. Tsunade now realized that these monsters, which were so ancient that not even the oldest records in Konoha's archives mentioned them, were not confined to the Land of Fire.

The ghouls discovered by Suna in the Land of Wind were creatures that neither the Land of Fire nor Konoha had ever encountered before. If not for Sai's chance encounter, Konoha would have remained completely unaware.

This meant that in far-off nations and regions, there could also be terrifying creatures lurking, waiting to be discovered.

What about the Land of Water, the Land of Lightning, and the Land of Earth?

These nations were no smaller than the Land of Fire. Could it be that these lands had also experienced strange events and creatures, but due to the isolationist and antagonistic policies among the ninja villages, Konoha simply hadn't heard about them?

Perhaps these creatures were no less fearsome than Konoha's already known threats: the Shan, the Color Out of Space, the Mi-Go, and the man-eating rats.

If these bizarre lifeforms were limited to just one or two types, it might still be a problem that could be handled by one nation or one village.

But if the Great Toad Sage's prophecy was correct—that the powers of the old world were awakening and more secrets buried deep in ancient history would soon surface—then this world could be in grave peril.

If the ninja villages failed to unite by then and remained stuck in their current stage of mutual secrecy and isolation, the entire world could be doomed.

Tsunade fell silent, lost in thought for a long moment. Then, she waved her hand decisively and said, "Immediately contact the Kazekage of Suna. I want to speak with him."

"Better yet, ask him to come to Konoha in person. I want to meet him face-to-face."

"Tsunade! What are you planning? This is a major issue—you should at least discuss it with the village council first!"

Tsunade's abrupt and firm decision startled the two Konoha advisors.

A meeting between Kage-level figures was no trivial matter, especially given the events of the last Chunin Exams. Both Konoha and Suna had been trying to avoid their Kage-level leaders gathering in the same place, fearing they might be targeted by some strange creature seeking to take them all out at once.

Furthermore, the two advisors felt it was not the right time to engage with the young Kazekage, Gaara. According to intelligence, he lacked sufficient influence within Suna and the Land of Wind, and there were indications that he was being sidelined politically.

If Konoha reached out to him now, it might bring unnecessary trouble to the village.

However, Tsunade's resolve was far stronger than the two advisors had anticipated. Their objections were immediately and decisively dismissed.

"Now go and notify the Kazekage!"