Inside the cavern.
Renya stood before the stone platform. The bound Kumogakure shinobi glared at him furiously, struggling violently.
"You bastard, let me go right now!"
Renya didn't respond. He simply pinched a bit of powder and flicked it from his fingertips.
"Swish—"
The fine dust scattered, silently falling onto the exposed skin of the Kumogakure ninja.
He didn't notice a thing and kept struggling, cursing nonstop.
Suddenly, his body twitched, and his movements paused slightly.
Renya quietly observed the reaction, feeling that the drug was beginning to take effect, so he released the restraints.
The Kumogakure shinobi, realizing he had been freed, immediately rolled off the bed and widened the distance between them.
"You damn brat! You dared ambush us?!"
As he spoke, he quickly formed hand seals to unleash a jutsu.
Renya's Sharingan observed the chakra flow in the Kumogakure ninja's body. He had no intention of interfering.
"Lightning Style: Snake Lightning!"
With the technique released, a blue snake-shaped bolt of lightning shot forth at high speed.
Renya didn't move, staring directly at the Snake Lightning with no intent to dodge.
But just as the lightning flew through midair, it abruptly changed trajectory and struck a nearby stone wall.
"What... did you do?!" The Kumogakure ninja's face filled with shock.
This guy had just stood there, yet the jutsu's path changed!
He assumed it was an accident and tried again, forming seals for another Lightning Style attack. But this time, the chakra light had barely appeared when it dissipated completely.
His pupils shrank to pinpoints. His face twisted in horror, breathing turned ragged, and his muscles began to tremble uncontrollably.
He could clearly feel it—while forming seals just now, his chakra had slipped out of his control, causing the technique to fail.
It felt like when he was a child, struggling to use ninjutsu for the first time—he had completely lost mastery over his chakra.
"You bastard, what the hell did you do to me?!" His voice sharpened from fear.
"Keep using jutsu. Don't stop." Worried the Kumogakure shinobi wouldn't cooperate, Renya activated his Sharingan and used genjutsu to force him to continue using ninjutsu.
Under Renya's control, the Kumogakure ninja repeatedly performed hand seals and attempted to cast jutsu—but without exception, every single one failed.
Roughly three minutes later, the symptoms began to ease, and he could barely manage to use a technique...
"Even though it only lasted three minutes, the effect is already excellent." Renya smiled in satisfaction, recording the experiment data.
After days of sleepless research, he had finally developed a toxin capable of countering Lightning Style Chakra Armor.
However, the precise effects were still unclear. Only one subject had been tested—there was no control group.
After all, every person's strength varies, and so does the powder's influence.
You can't take one case as a conclusive result.
He needed more "lab rats" for testing to gather accurate data!
...
Late at night, Kumogakure encampment.
Renya moved like a ghost, silently merging into the shadows.
His Three Tomoe Sharingan glimmered faintly in the darkness, calmly scanning a distant patrolling squad of Kumogakure ninjas.
Since the camp had started experiencing frequent disappearances, Kumogakure's alert level had been pushed to the limit.
The number of patrol squads had increased.
Each squad had grown from two members to three.
Patrolling shinobi surrounded the entire camp.
The increase in patrols was actually advantageous for Renya—it meant more "lab rats" for experiments.
His eyes locked onto one patrol team.
—A formation of two Chūnin and one Special Jōnin.
"Data from a Special Jōnin is... more valuable."
Moonlight was hidden behind thick clouds. Only the flickering torchlight in the hands of the patrolling ninjas remained.
The three Kumogakure shinobi moved in a triangular formation. At the front, the Special Jōnin suddenly saw a pair of crimson eyes gleaming in the darkness.
His pupils instantly dilated. The pattern of the Three Tomoe reflected in his eyes—he had clearly fallen into a genjutsu.
"What's wrong?" The other two hadn't noticed their teammate's change.
"Quick! There's a wounded man over there!" the Special Jōnin suddenly shouted, voice sharp and urgent.
"Wounded? Where?" The two looked around in confusion, seeing nothing.
"Over here, behind the tree! Come with me!" The Special Jōnin ran off suddenly. "Under the tree, it's Ryūdo from Squad Three!"
The two exchanged glances and quickly followed.
But when they arrived, the Special Jōnin was just standing there blankly, back turned, not responding at all.
They looked around but saw no sign of any injured man.
"Hey, what are you doing? There's no one here!" one of the shinobi complained.
"Are you seeing things? Let's just head back quickly," the other urged.
They had wandered outside the camp's perimeter—if they ran into danger now, it would be bad.
Things had been chaotic lately, with shinobi disappearing every other day...
Still, the Special Jōnin didn't respond.
"You bastard, stop messing around!" One of the shinobi lost his patience and pushed him.
The Special Jōnin fell straight to the ground.
The two were stunned and rushed forward to check on him.
At that moment, a faint sound of footsteps came from behind.
They instinctively turned—and met a pair of scarlet eyes.
Renya looked at the three collapsed men and couldn't help but sigh.
"My genjutsu is getting stronger and stronger."
After confirming no one nearby had noticed, he immediately dragged the unconscious trio away.
...
Early the next morning, chaos erupted once more in the Kumogakure camp.
"You bastard, you damn bastard!" A tall man with long hair grabbed his adjutant by the collar and roared, "Didn't I tell you to strengthen patrols?! How did another team disappear?!"
"Co... Commander-sama, I... I don't know!" The adjutant was pale with fear.
He had clearly reinforced the patrol teams, even assigned Special Jōnin to them.
And they still vanished. What else could he do?
"Useless!" The long-haired man threw him to the ground and said coldly, "Cease the truce. You're taking point now."
"Commander-sama... Please, give me another chan—ah!"
Before he could even beg, he was thrown out of the command tent.
The adjutant clenched his fists in frustration, eyes red with rage.
"Who the hell is targeting me?!"
He had barely taken up the adjutant position, and one disaster after another had struck. It was hard not to suspect someone had it out for him...
————————
Inside the cavern.
Renya meticulously recorded the experiment reports from the "lab rats." Four of them had sacrificed their lives for the noble cause of science.
After several days, he had finally created a toxin to deal with the muscle-bound brute!
"The strongest Raikage in history?"
Renya sneered and curled his lips disdainfully.
"That's only because he hasn't met me!"
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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