"You guys deal with these armored guys. Leave the three to me."
Li Shang joined his hands and the seal was formed in an instant. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Two clones appeared beside him, and the three advanced together, the impact of their movements echoing like thunder inside the metallic vessel.
Haido and his followers were thrown against the walls, the metal twisting under the impact.
"Brats..." Haido raised his head, his voice now hoarse and distorted. "You always think you're special, heroes destined to change the world. You should have accepted my offer."
As he spoke, the transformation began. His body was covered by a rigid, gray layer, black veins pulsing under his skin. Horns emerged from his forehead, and claws formed on his hands. Behind him, the two women screamed. One of them gained membranous wings, her face elongated like a bat's; the other bent her body forward, her nails becoming claws and an animalistic howl echoing through the hall.
Li Shang sighed and disappeared — the sound of his movement was just a whisper in the air.
"You seek easy power," his voice echoed behind Haido, "and that's why you will always fail."
"Pow!"
The blow hit Haido's face with brutal force. The demonized leader was thrown against the wall and sank into the metal, unable to react.
The two women tried to attack him together, but Li Shang's clones intercepted their movements with surgical precision. A kick to the ribs, a palm to the chest — the result was the same: both collapsed, unconscious, their transformations oscillating between human and monster.
Haido staggered to his feet, blood dripping from his mouth. "HOW CAN YOU BE SO STRONG?" He roared, his voice reverberating with anger and fear.
Li Shang walked towards him, his gaze calm, almost indifferent. "I can tell you, it's simple..."
He disappeared again, reappearing in front of Haido. "What you have in your arm is crystallized Yuan Qi. The correct use would be to absorb, refine, and store it in the body."
Before Haido could react, Li Shang assumed the Gentle Fist stance.
"Hakke Rokujuuyon Shou!"
The blows came in sequence, each faster than the last. Palm after palm, the dry sound of the hits echoed — forty, fifty, sixty-four. Haido's energy collapsed, the flow completely interrupted.
When the last blow hit his chest, the man's body was thrown backward, falling onto the metallic floor.
Li Shang took a deep breath, observing him with disdain. "You used your body as a channel for spiritual energy. But it wasn't trained for it, so it began to adapt by force. This is called demonization."
Haido, bleeding, tried to crawl away. The black veins pulsed irregularly, and pieces of his skin began to crack.
"Argh!"
The scream of pain echoed as Li Shang stepped on his leg.
"Crack!"
The dry sound of bones breaking made the entire environment tremble.
"Now tell me, Haido." Li Shang crouched down, his voice cold and impassive. "You discovered the location of a Yuan Qi vein, right?"
Haido's face contorted in terror. He, who saw himself as the man destined to dominate the world, now trembled before a young man with a serene gaze.
"You don't understand..." Haido whispered, coughing blood. "I... I just wanted... to rewrite this world... to free it..."
Li Shang smiled, but his eyes remained cold. "Free? No. You just wanted to play god."
He slowly raised his finger and placed it on the man's forehead.
"If you don't want to talk, that's fine..."
The touch was light, but the impact was devastating.
In an instant, Haido froze. The green glow in his eyes faded, and everything around seemed to darken.
Silence.
Li Shang removed his finger after reading his mind and stood up, observing the motionless body in front of him. The black armored knights, without command, began to fall one by one, like puppets without strings.
'I've seen many countries destroyed by people like you,' he thought, looking at the body. 'They always think they can use the world's power without paying the price.'
He sighed and turned towards the group. "It's over here."
The interior of the vessel was in ruins. The metallic floor was now a mixture of blood, debris, and fragments.
Naruto, sweating and panting, still looked at the bodies of the fallen knights. "I guess... it's over," he murmured, wiping his dust-covered face.
"Don't relax yet," Sasuke replied, his Sharingan still active. "Some of these bodies still have remnants of chakra."
Rock Lee appeared carrying two unconscious children, both dressed in torn clothes. "These children... were trapped in the chambers of that room, and some are still breathing. They were used as test subjects."
"There are three more!" Sakura shouted, coming from another corridor with Tenten right behind her. "I found them locked in containment compartments. Their pulses are weak, but they are still alive."
Li Shang walked slowly down the main corridor, dragging the unconscious and mutilated body of Haido with one hand, and the two fallen women, one on each side, like simple burdens, with the other. He stopped before the group and observed them, each exhausted, but still standing. "Good job. No casualties," he said calmly, dropping the bodies with a dull thud on the metallic floor.
Naruto approached, staring at the unconscious man. "Was this Haido strong?"
"Yes," Li Shang replied, emotionlessly. "A fanatic who believed he could shape the world with the strength of a stone. He wasn't the first... and certainly won't be the last."
Everyone was silent for a moment. The weight of those words hung like lead.
Sasuke stepped forward. "What are we going to do now?"
"I'll check," Li Shang replied without hesitation. "According to what I extracted from Haido, they used an abandoned base of operations near the border with the Land of Wind. That's where I'm going. If there are other followers, I need to eliminate them before they try to continue his work."
'I destroyed what was left of his mind... and the two women's.' Haido tortured an elder from a traveling caravan who was apparently a survivor of the fallen country, now I have the exact location of the Gelel stone vein.' Li Shang smiled with satisfaction, this resource was what he needed most now.
Tenten, still holding one of the children, looked at him suspiciously. "What about the rest of the mission? Isn't our priority to get to Sunagakure now that we know about the attack?"
Li Shang turned his gaze to her, serene. "And it still is. That's why you will go without me." He approached Sasuke, placing a hand on the Uchiha's shoulder.
"Sasuke, you take command. Take the children, inform Sunagakure about the attack, about the legend of this Gelel stone, and about the existence of this fanatical organization."
Sasuke didn't answer immediately, but his firm gaze showed that he would obey the order. "Understood."
Naruto, however, exploded. "Hey! Are you serious? You're going to leave us here with all these kids and go alone?"
"Yes." Li Shang looked at him, his expression calm but firm. "You have a clear objective now. And I have another, I will take responsibility when I return to Konoha."
Rock Lee nodded seriously. "I understand, Neji... We will do whatever it takes to complete the mission."
Li Shang looked at the group one last time. Naruto still seemed frustrated, Sakura watched him in silence, and Tenten lowered her gaze, without arguments. Sasuke remained serious, but a slight respect showed in his gaze — something rare from him.
Naruto smiled, even without fully understanding. "Haha! Always mysterious, huh, Neji?"
"Perhaps," he replied with a small smile. "But trust me this time."
Li Shang then turned, Sasuke called him before he disappeared. "You'll come back, right?"
Li Shang looked over his shoulder, his expression serene and determined. "Of course, I'll just check if what this old man said is true, if it's dangerous I'll just retreat."
Without further words, he moved forward. The blue chakra expanded under his feet and space folded. In an instant, Li Shang disappeared.
Behind him, the group silently watched the spot where he vanished, as the sun began to rise, illuminating the ruins of the vessel and the rescued children.
Sasuke was the first to move. "Let's go. We have a mission to finish."
Naruto adjusted one of the children in his arms, sighing. "Tch... that guy really never rests."
Tenten looked at the horizon and murmured, almost to herself. "And that's why he's always one step ahead of all of us."