Inside a cavern 25 km away from the Konoha camp.
In the darkness, Renya's three tomoe shimmered with a ghostly red light. A special jōnin from Kumogakure lay on a stone platform, his limbs tightly bound and unable to move.
His mouth was sealed with tape, and he stared in horror at the boy in front of him.
He had only stepped out to use the toilet when he was suddenly knocked out and lost consciousness. By the time he woke up, he was already here.
"Mmph! Mmmph—"
The Kumogakure ninja tried to speak, to beg for mercy, but couldn't make a sound.
Renya ignored him and turned to fiddle with the bottles and jars in front of him, muttering softly under his breath,
"The effect is still too strong... I hope this time it works. Otherwise, I'll have to go out and catch another lab rat."
Hearing that, the Kumogakure ninja turned his head toward Renya, and with just one glance, his eyes widened in terror.
In the corner, the bodies of several Kumogakure ninja were piled up, their deaths gruesome and miserable.
Their faces were frozen in terror, as if they had been subjected to inhuman torture while alive.
Staring at the busy figure of the boy, the Kumogakure ninja's body trembled uncontrollably. He seemed to realize his fate.
Renya took out a specially crafted bamboo tube from the pouch at his waist and poured a pale purple liquid into the ceramic jar in front of him. Inside the jar was a powder he had developed to affect the nervous system.
As the liquid poured in, the powder began to emit a strange glow.
"This time..." Renya's eyes gleamed as he stared intently at the powder in the jar. "It should work... right?"
Carefully, he picked up the jar and approached the Kumogakure ninja. With a gloved hand, he grabbed a pinch of the powder.
"Mmmph! Mmmph—" Seeing this, the Kumogakure ninja was gripped by a sense of impending doom and began to struggle frantically.
But his limbs were tightly bound, and no amount of struggle would help.
"Don't panic. It's just a small experiment. It won't be life-threatening," Renya said gently to reassure him.
As he spoke, he rubbed the powder-covered hand across the ninja's face.
The Kumogakure ninja instinctively glanced at the corpses of his comrades not far away. His already terrified face grew even more horrified.
Life-threatening your ass!
If it's not dangerous, what about those corpses in the corner?!
If only his mouth wasn't sealed—he'd definitely scream his complaints out loud.
Feeling the powder on his face, the Kumogakure ninja shut his eyes in despair.
I'm doomed!
But the expected pain never came. He opened his eyes in surprise.
Renya smiled softly when he saw this.
"I told you, it's not dangerous."
However, that smile looked terrifying in the Kumogakure ninja's eyes...
"I'm going to ask you a few questions now. Once you answer them, I'll let you go."
Renya ripped off the tape covering his mouth.
"You... you'll really let me go?!"
"First question: Do you feel any changes in your body right now?" Renya didn't answer his question, but asked directly.
The Kumogakure ninja figured there was little chance the boy would actually let him go, but clung to a sliver of hope.
What if... he really keeps his word?
"I don't feel any changes in my body."
"No changes?" Renya frowned slightly and fell into thought.
According to his design, once the powder touched the body, it should temporarily damage the nervous system to varying degrees depending on the amount.
And if the nervous system was damaged, it would affect chakra flow.
This poison was specifically developed to counter taijutsu users...
Creating a toxin that erodes chakra directly in a short time was clearly unrealistic.
So Renya had to settle for the next best thing—targeting the nervous system.
Logically, there should've been some reaction after exposure.
Could it be... that his research had failed again?
He grabbed another pinch of powder and sprinkled it on the ninja's face, watching for any reaction.
Cough cough cough!
"What the hell are you trying to do?!" the Kumogakure ninja coughed violently, having inhaled a large amount of powder through his nose and mouth.
The powder could seep into the body through the skin's pores. It didn't need to be inhaled to work.
Of course, inhaling it worked even better!
Renya watched him for a long time but saw no reaction. He let out a helpless sigh.
"Another failure..."
To ensure the accuracy of his experiments, any "lab rat" who had already participated became useless.
After all, who knew if the residual powder in their system would affect the next trial?
The Kumogakure ninja sensed danger and asked shakily,
"I... I answered your question. Can you... let me go now?"
Renya took off his gloves and smiled.
"Of course. I'll send you off right now."
He picked up [Immaculate] from the table and, under the terrified gaze of the Kumogakure ninja, cleanly ended his life with one swift cut.
Staring at the corpse bleeding on the stone platform, Renya murmured softly,
"Looks like I'll have to go catch another batch of 'lab rats' for my experiments."
As he spoke, he changed into a black combat outfit and left the cavern.
...
Nightfall, Kumogakure encampment.
"Damn it, why is it our turn to patrol again today?" one Kumogakure ninja grumbled in a low voice.
"Don't bring it up. We pissed off the captain earlier, remember?" the other sighed. "Let's just do our job."
They had offended their captain recently and were now paying the price.
"Tch, this is the main base. Who would be dumb enough to sneak in here?"
"True. Once we finish this round, let's take a break."
Just then, there was a rustling sound from the nearby bushes.
"Who's there?!" Both men instinctively gripped their kunai and approached cautiously.
They parted the bushes—only for an owl to fly out.
"Haha, just an owl."
The two of them exhaled in relief.
But as they turned to resume patrol, they were met with a pair of scarlet eyes glowing eerily in the darkness.
The moment they locked eyes, they both fell into a daze.
Renya stepped forward and knocked them out with a single hand strike, then dragged their unconscious bodies away.
...
The next day, inside the Kumogakure command tent.
"Dammit! Where the hell are the patrol ninjas?!" The long-haired, burly man smashed the desk in front of him with one punch and roared at his adjutant.
In just a single day, several Kumogakure shinobi had mysteriously vanished. Among them were even two on patrol duty.
This clearly meant the culprit had infiltrated the camp!
The adjutant kept his head low, not daring to speak for fear of angering the commander.
He served as the logistics captain within the camp, normally in charge of carrying out the commander's orders and assigning patrols.
"Increase patrols immediately. If anyone else goes missing... I'll personally send you to the front lines!" the long-haired man growled coldly.
"Understood, Commander-sama!" The adjutant trembled and quickly responded.
The long-haired man clenched his fist in rage, arcs of electricity crackling across his hand.
"That damn bastard... I won't let you get away with this!"
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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