The cave trembled faintly, deep in the earth where shadows stretched long and the air hung damp and heavy. Amatsu sat motionless, his sharp eyes closed, but his mind remained alert, attuned to the distant echoes of war.
Even from here, through layers of stone and distance, the battlefield reached him.
A distant boom rolled through the earth like a muffled drum, its force subdued but undeniable. The ground beneath him vibrated, subtle but constant, like the pulse of something monstrous in the dark.
Then came the voices—distant, distorted by space and chaos, but still carrying the weight of fury.
"You ruined everything!" The words tore through the night, faint yet sharp, a howl of unrestrained rage.
Boom. Boom. BOOM.
Three rapid explosions, their shockwaves dull but forceful, making the walls groan in protest. The echo of metal clashing followed—thin, sharp chimes swallowed by the wind.
Then another voice, hoarse, venomous.
"I will kill youu!"
A pause. Then—CRACK. A dry, splintering noise. The unmistakable sound of something breaking. Bone, perhaps. A sharp gasp carried across the distance, followed by a strangled cry that was swiftly cut off.
Another explosion—farther, but still strong. The sound of burning—chakra paper igniting in an instant, followed by a low, heavy detonation that rumbled through the stone like distant thunder.
Wind howled through the unseen battlefield, carrying the faint whistle of something slicing through the air—kunai, shuriken, maybe something worse.
"You think you deserve to live?!"
A dull impact, a body striking the ground. Then silence. Brief, fragile.
Then, a final roar of flame, a last desperate clash of power. And then—
Nothing.
The echoes stretched thin, fading into the night.
Amatsu exhaled slowly, his gaze unreadable. The fight was ending. One of them was dead. Or soon would be.
Amatsu's sharp eyes flickered with cold calculation. He was not safe yet.
His breathing was steady, his body aching from exertion, yet beneath that fatigue, there was growth. He had felt it—his body adapting, refining itself, pushing its limits and solidifying the gains of battle. He accessed the system, watching the newly stacked buffs, the silent evidence of his continued evolution.
--- System Interface ---
Energy Buff Effect: Increases energy regeneration speed Stacked Total: +27% Energy Regeneration Speed (Locked, Permanent)
Stamina Recovery Buff Effect: Enhances stamina recovery speed Stacked Total: +55% Stamina Recovery (Locked, Permanent)
Balance Buff Effect: Increases stability on unstable or narrow surfaces Stacked Total: +50% Stability (Locked, Permanent)
Reaction Speed Buff Effect: Increases reaction time and overall agility Stacked Total: +103% Reaction Speed (Locked, Permanent)
Pain Resistance & Endurance Buff Effect: Increases the ability to endure physical discomfort and pain Stacked Total: +38% Pain Resistance (Locked, Permanent)
Strength Buff Effect: Increases overall muscle strength and physical power Stacked Total: +56% Muscle Strength (Locked, Permanent)
Physical Recovery Buff Effect: Speeds up the healing and recovery process Stacked Total: +38% Recovery Speed (Locked, Permanent)
Enhanced Reflexes Buff Effect: Increases reflex speed and reaction capabilities in critical situations Stacked Total: +75% Reflex Speed (Locked, Permanent)
Poison Immunity Buff Effect: Provides resistance to toxins and poisons Stacked Total: +19% Poison Immunity (Locked, Permanent)
Mental Buff Effect: Increases mental resilience and stability Stacked Total: +47% Mental Fortitude (Locked, Permanent)
Endurance Buff Effect: Increases long-term physical and mental endurance Stacked Total: +30% Endurance (Locked, Permanent)
Precision Buff Effect: Increases overall precision in movements and attacks Stacked Total: +40% Precision (Locked, Permanent)
Chakra Sensitivity Buff Effect: Increases sensitivity and attunement to chakra Stacked Total: +29% Chakra Sensitivity (Locked, Permanent)
Chakra Control Buff Effect: Enhances precision and mastery over chakra control Stacked Total: +54% Chakra Control (Locked, Permanent)
Chakra Adaptability Buff Effect: Enhances the ability to adapt chakra flow under various conditions Stacked Total: +27% Chakra Adaptability (Locked, Permanent)
Situational Awareness Buff Effect: Increases awareness of surroundings and environmental changes Stacked Total: +30% Situational Awareness (Locked, Permanent)
Sight Processing Speed Buff Effect: Increases the ability to process visual information faster Stacked Total: +20% Sight Processing Speed (Locked, Permanent)
Target Lock Precision Buff Effect: Enhances accuracy and efficiency in locking onto targets Stacked Total: +40% Target Lock Precision (Locked, Permanent)
Spiritual Energy Capacity Buff Effect: Increases the maximum limit of spiritual energy storage Stacked Total: +30% Spiritual Energy Capacity (Locked, Permanent)
Mental Focus Buff Effect: Enhances ability to concentrate and maintain focus Stacked Total: +90% Mental Focus (Locked, Permanent)
Vitality Buff Effect: Increases overall life force and resistance to exhaustion Stacked Total: +20% Vitality (Locked, Permanent)
Muscle Repair Buff Effect: Speeds up muscle tissue recovery and repair Stacked Total: +10% Muscle Repair (Locked, Permanent)
---
Strength, endurance, reflexes—all enhanced beyond recognition. His body had changed, his instincts sharpened. He had gained more in days than most did in a lifetime. And yet... it was still not enough.
Had his past self stood before him now, the difference would have been laughable. The boy who was dragged into the darkness by Hanzo's men—weak, desperate, clawing for survival—would not have lasted a breath against him.
He could see it clearly.
The past Amatsu, frail and hopeless, charging forward with weak fists. A pathetic display. His movements slow, His attacks—childish, predictable, meaningless.
And the current Amatsu? He would dismantle him. Effortlessly.
A single step, and he would be upon his former self. A strike—clean, precise, unavoidable. His past self wouldn't even see it coming before his throat was crushed, before his ribs caved in, before his life was snuffed out in an instant.
No contest. No struggle.
And yet—
Still not enough.
Strength was a bottomless abyss, and he had only begun to descend. If he was five times stronger than before, then so what? Against true monsters, against beings like Hanzo and the unseen threats lurking in the world, it was meaningless.
His fingers tightening into a fist. The bones in his hand cracked softly. He had come far—but not far enough. Not yet.
Never yet.
He exhaled slowly, his dark eyes narrowing. "A fledgling learns to fly, but the sky remains endless. The beast sharpens its fangs, but hunger never ceases. I have devoured weakness, yet strength is an abyss without a bottom."
He had survived another ordeal.
He exhaled, his dark eyes narrowing. He had survived another ordeal, but that was not enough. Survival was never enough. Strength was the only truth, and he had merely scratched the surface.
The battle outside still raged, distant yet all-consuming. The cave rumbled faintly with every shockwave. Amatsu knew this respite was temporary. The battlefield would call him again soon. He would answer.
Amatsu's gaze shifted to the pile of scrolls beside Higanbana. The remnants of Hanzo's twisted experiments lay within them—fragments of knowledge buried beneath blood and suffering.
Perhaps these scrolls held secrets beyond expectation. Perhaps, in unraveling them, he would unearth something invaluable. Or perhaps, they would bring new dangers upon him. It did not matter.
He would use them. He would extract every ounce of power they offered, no matter the cost. Strength was the only currency that mattered in this world, and he would claim it without hesitation.
His gaze flickered toward Higanbana.
She sat motionless, her crimson eyes gleaming in the dim light like polished bloodstone. The damp air of the cavern clung to everything—dripping from the walls, seeping into their clothes, yet she remained untouched by it.
As if the world itself refused to settle upon her.
Then, for just an instant, the shadows around her shifted unnaturally. Not from the firelight, not from movement—something else. Something unseen.
Amatsu's grip on his own presence tightened instinctively, as if warding off something that had not yet revealed itself.
It passed.
A trick of the mind? No.
His instincts, honed through countless battles, never lied to him.
Higanbana... what exactly are you?
His sharp eyes observed her in silence. The girl sat there, seemingly delicate, but there was something beneath the surface—something faint, something incomplete.
Her jutsu was strange—different from anything he had encountered before. Unlike Ryojin, who was a product of Hanzo's brutal experiments, molded into a warrior who wielded fire and chains as if they were extensions of his body, Higanbana's abilities were something else entirely.
She could use her jutsu without training.
Effortlessly. As if it had always belonged to her, waiting to be unleashed.
The Higanbana flower genjutsu—an illusion born from crimson petals—was not mere deception. It was a death sentence.
Her flowers did not just trap minds; they siphoned life, drained victims until nothing remained but dread and decay. A slow, merciless demise awaited those who were not careful.
A perfect technique.
It did not need brute strength. It did not need endurance. It was not a tool of struggle—it was a method of certainty. A slow, creeping execution masked by beauty. And it came to her as naturally as breathing.
Yes, Higanbana was different. And that difference... made her valuable.
Amatsu studied her carefully.
Her long black hair cascaded over her shoulders like silk spun from shadows. Pale skin, untouched by the world's cruelty. Crimson eyes—deep, unfathomable, holding a quiet softness that should not exist in a place like this. She was delicate in form, refined in presence.
Like a flower untouched by the storm.
Beautiful.
But beauty was meaningless.
Amatsu did not look at her as a man would admire a woman. He looked at her as a predator would assess something unknown—something that might prove useful or dangerous.
A tool was only valuable as long as it was sharp.
If the day came when she dulled—when she became nothing but a weight dragging him down—he would cast her aside. Without hesitation. Without regret.
For now, she was an asset. But an asset that needed to be understood.
His dark eyes lingered on her for a moment longer. That presence he felt earlier... it was still there, lurking beneath the surface.
Something unseen.
Something waiting to bloom.
He would watch. He would wait. And when the time came, he would decide.
Because in this world, power was everything.