After leaving Sasuke under Kakashi's watchful eye, Li Shang continued his journey back, moving silently through the treetops. The night air of Konoha was light.
As he approached the Hyuuga clan's borders, he suddenly stopped.
Four figures were hidden on the path ahead, motionless, as if waiting for him.
'Ambush?' He assessed the chakra flow without moving. 'This chakra is the same that sealed the battlefield during the Hokage's death.'
The perception deepened, and an unsettling suspicion arose.
'Did they sense that I refined Orochimaru's soul fragment?'
The air seemed to grow heavy. Li Shang disappeared without a sound, merging with the environment.
The four exchanged uneasy glances.
"Hey, where did he go?" one of them murmured. "First we couldn't find Sasuke anywhere, now this guy vanishes in front of us."
A voice emerged from behind them, cold and unhurried.
"So you really were waiting for me in an ambush?"
The quartet turned instantly, preparing to fight.
Li Shang stood a few meters away, his blue eyes fixed on them, expression neutral, his body relaxed. The absence of tension was more provocative than any direct threat.
"Hehehe... Lord Orochimaru always chooses the best," one of them commented with a crooked smile. "This saved us work. Let's finish him off and then look for Sasuke."
Li Shang remained silent for a moment, sizing up the group. The chakra of each was refined, dense, and peculiar — a mixture of human and something beyond.
'They are strong... and they work together. If they are Orochimaru's servants I think they are, I shouldn't underestimate them.'
He took a step forward, his tone calm, but cutting.
"If we're going to fight, let's go somewhere secluded. If I kill you here, it will attract too much attention."
The comment was met with laughter.
"Did you hear that, Kidoumaru?" one of the boys said, his smile widening. "The children of this village really live in a fantasy."
Sakon, with light hair, leaned his body, impatient.
"Let's not waste any more time. Let's finish him off quickly together and look for Sasuke."
The four began to release chakra simultaneously, the air vibrating with hostile energy.
Li Shang remained calm, his eyes scanning every movement.
'Even without activating the seal, they are dangerous. Orochimaru doesn't mess around with the servants he creates.'
Suddenly, a smile appeared on his face.
"Hey... I know where Sasuke is."
The group paused for a brief moment, surprised by the sudden confession.
Li Shang tilted his head slightly, his eyes glowing deep blue.
"Hehehe... I took him for a walk earlier."
Before anyone reacted, he disappeared — not with his Steps Between the Void technique, but with a calculated speed, enough to leave perceptible traces.
'Follow me.'
Kidoumaru licked his lips, excited.
"Hehehe... it seems the little rat wants to play. Let's see how far he runs."
"Don't separate," Sakon warned.
The group followed close behind, disappearing among the trees.
Ahead, Li Shang was already observing their movement.
'This quartet... must be Orochimaru's personal army. No one will care if they disappear, right?'
A slight smile curved his lips.
Li Shang stopped in the heart of the Forest of Death, but he didn't divert his attention.
'No one followed us. Perfect.'
His field of vision extended in a five-mile radius. There were no presences of jounins, nor ANBU — only the four chakra signatures approaching rapidly.
A few seconds later, he was completely surrounded.
"Hey, even if Orochimaru gave you the curse mark, don't think you're special," one of them said with a mocking smile. "You're not the only one."
Li Shang narrowed his eyes, measuring the chakra emanating from them.
"What do you mean? You want to tell me that all of you too?"
His genuinely surprised look gave him away, and that seemed to please the four. They began to laugh, confident.
"Hehehe... what's wrong? You thought you were special—"
The last word was never finished.
A dry sound cut through the air, followed by a hot gush of blood. Sakon froze, his confused gaze slowly descending to the blade that pierced his stomach.
Behind him, a second Li Shang held the sword, impassive.
"Rule number one," he said in a cold voice. "Never get distracted in a fight."
The clone made its move.
"Steps Between the Void!"
The real Li Shang disappeared at the same instant, leaving only a bluish flash in the air. Space contracted and expanded in micro-instants — and when the enemies' eyes located him again, he was already in another spot, attacking.
"Shit! Kill that bastard!" Kidoumaru shouted, retreating hastily.
But the clone followed him, cutting the golden webs he conjured before they could fix themselves.
"Aaaaaargh!"
Jiroubou, the slowest, tried to raise an earth barrier. He didn't have time. Li Shang's sword opened his chest from top to bottom, almost splitting him in half.
From the first blow to Jiroubou's death, two seconds passed.
Kidoumaru and Tayuya looked at their companion's lifeless body, panic etched on their faces. The same thought crossed their minds.
'We need to escape. Now.'
Their chakra was already boiling. Black marks spread across their bodies, contorting muscles and bones. The power of the Curse Mark exploded from within them, deforming their bodies into demonic shapes.
Li Shang observed, attentive, the evil glow around them.
'Oh... so this is the complete mark? Good thing I didn't kill all four at once. I need to understand this properly.'
Tayuya roared, conjuring three demons with her cursed flutes. The creatures advanced, but each was destroyed in a single blow.
Kidoumaru, now with six arms and bloodshot eyes, spat golden threads, creating a web reinforced with chakra. Li Shang dodged effortlessly, moving as if space bent around him.
A single cut flashed in the air.
"Aaaaaargh!"
Kidoumaru fell, his monstrous body convulsing before becoming still.
"Hunf... Hunf... Aaaargh!"
Tayuya tried to retreat, but Li Shang was already upon her. A precise sword blow cut off her arm, and the cursed flute fell to the ground, cracking. The demonic marks began to disappear, her body returning to normal as she fainted.
Li Shang slowly sheathed his sword, his gaze serene before the carnage he had left behind.
'Their strength increased with the mark, but their control dropped drastically... a corrupted and unstable energy. Orochimaru created something similar to demonic refinement.'
He looked at Tayuya's unconscious body.
'Three dead, one alive... that should be enough to study.'
"First, let me learn everything about this mark."
Li Shang placed his hand on Tayuya's forehead, and a thin bluish current spread from his fingers. His consciousness penetrated deep into the girl's spiritual sea. The resistance was weak — fragments of thoughts, screams, and distorted memories tried to mix with the flow of cursed energy.
Li Shang's eyes remained firm. In seconds, he traversed every corner of her mind.
Images formed: Orochimaru's face, the experiments, the sealing runes, the process of the mark spreading like a virus.
"Mind Awakening Pill... die..." he murmured, deciphering her memories.
A small smile curved his lips.
"I guess I won't be able to complete the mark... hehehe."
His hand slowly rose. A single movement.
The blade cut through the air and Tayuya's head rolled to the ground, the dry sound echoing through the silent clearing.
"Now for the main course."
He stood up and gathered the four bodies nearby — Tayuya, Kidoumaru, Sakon, and Jiroubou. The chakra of each still pulsed faintly, the remnants of the Curse Mark distorting the environment.
Li Shang sat in the lotus position, his sword beside him, his eyes closed. The Tenseigan slowly opened, its ethereal glow flooding the air.
"Heart of the Celestial Devourer."
The instant he uttered the words, the ground trembled. Silver-blue spiritual currents emerged around the bodies, connecting to him like roots feeding from the earth.
A low roar echoed, not physical, but spiritual — the corrupted souls of the four being forcibly torn out, twisting amidst invisible screams.
Li Shang remained motionless. Only his chakra oscillated violently, like a whirlpool consuming everything around him.
The blood evaporated. The cursed marks detached from the dead skins, floating like black smoke before being absorbed. The metallic smell mixed with something deeper — pure vital energy being absorbed.
'Incredible... their chakra density is very high.'
His body began to vibrate, the veins in his neck becoming visible. The energy flow became increasingly dense, merciless, until impurities began to exit through his skin, staining the ground with a blackened hue, signaling an advance.
A few meters away, the carcasses of the four shinobis completely disintegrated — flesh, bones, and chakra, all dissolving into silvery particles and being devoured.
"Hunf... perfect."
Li Shang opened his eyes. The aura around his body pulsed, alive, as if the air bent before his presence.
The Heart of the Celestial Devourer had absorbed everything — chakra, blood, and even traces of Orochimaru's soul.
He inhaled deeply and smiled with satisfaction.
"This will save me a lot of cultivation time." He still needed to refine and perfectly incorporate this energy into his own, but that was the least of his worries.