Malphegor
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HSU: Ch. 100
🕑 Added 2024-12-27 20:58:29 +0000 UTCThe Flying Thunder God relied on several prerequisites, such as physical reflexes and an innate talent for space-time ninjutsu, but its most crucial requirement was chakra perception ability.
One might manage with slightly weaker reflexes or less talent in space-time ninjutsu, but without chakra perception, even mastering the Flying Thunder God would be useless. After all, if one couldn't sense the Flying Thunder God marks, what was the point of trying to teleport?
Moreover, the strength of chakra perception determined the effective range of the Flying Thunder God and the ability to accurately locate and lock onto the seals.
Both Tobirama and Minato were outliers in chakra perception, verging on BUG-like levels. In the original timeline, they could sense chakra from battlefields while still in Konoha.
During the Fourth Great Ninja War, the battlefield stretched as far as the northernmost part of the Land of Iron—roughly the same distance as traveling from Konoha to Suna.
While Masashi couldn't quite match these two monsters in terms of range, within his effective sensing range, he surpassed them.
When he activated his chakra perception, every chakra signature within Kusa's hospital vividly appeared in his "eyes."
"Care to explain?" he asked, turning toward Kusa's leader beside him. "Of course, I can pretend you didn't know."
"Masashi-sama, I really…"
"Let's set aside the fact that you've temporarily relocated a lot of people," Masashi said. "But why am I sensing Uzumaki chakra in this hospital? Are you using members of the Uzumaki clan as medicine? You should understand the implications of such actions."
The senior Kusa officials were stunned into silence.
Seeing their reactions, Masashi offered a friendly reminder.
"Every action leaves a trace; wind leaves a sound, and chakra leaves its mark too. This short period isn't enough for chakra traces to disappear. Although I doubt you'd understand if I explained further," Masashi said as he began walking toward the hospital. "All you need to know is this: if you make an enemy of Konoha, death is certain."
As he said, the first part of his statement went over the heads of the Kusa officials, but the second part was crystal clear.
"Masashi-sama!" the Kusa leader panicked and hurriedly followed. "Please, let me explain! I truly had no idea there were members of the Uzumaki clan in the village!"
Flustered, he suddenly locked eyes with a pair of Sharingan. In an instant, it felt as though he had lost consciousness. By the time he snapped out of his daze, Masashi and his two subordinates had already reached the entrance of Kusa's hospital.
"You truly didn't know. Since that's the case, I suggest you stay here and watch."
Before the Kusa leader could respond, Masashi's figure vanished into the hospital, now shrouded in darkness due to a power outage.
The Kusa leader stood frozen in place.
He now knew who that Uzumaki clan member was. No wonder… No wonder they had such a unique constitution! But… when did the Uzumaki clan develop such abilities?
Feeling his own neck as if to confirm he was still alive, he turned abruptly to face the others.
"Kill those people immediately! Go!"
"We haven't yet—"
"There's no time! Do it now!"
Being unaware of the Uzumaki clan member or their identity could perhaps be excused. But if Iwa were to find out, it would spell disaster. Their attempts to exploit Konoha wouldn't escape the White Ghost's notice.
They didn't need to fear retaliation from Iwa—the White Ghost would kill them before that happened!
Just one glance from him had made the Kusa leader fully realize—no one in the entire village could survive even a single breath in front of the White Ghost!
The Kusa ninjas who received the order hurried away.
The remaining senior officials exchanged grim looks.
"Isn't this too extreme?" one of them finally siad. "Can one man really defeat all of Kusa's forces?"
In the current ninja world, strength in numbers was the prevailing mindset.
The Kusa leader secretly agreed but couldn't suppress his fear.
"Are you fools? Did you not hear me? Did you not feel it? That man touched my shoulder! My shoulder! Not yours! He could've killed me in that instant!"
Did these bastards think he didn't know they were hoping he'd die so they could seize his position?
"Absurd! Ignorant fools! You can't comprehend power of this level! Just follow orders!"
And like a docile child, he waited obediently at the base of the hospital.
The other senior officials showed varying reactions. Some shifted nervously, others maintained their masks of defiance.
As a second-tier ninja village, Kusa wasn't so weak as to be irrelevant. Being able to get involved in the conflicts between Konoha and Iwa showed they had some standing. The main difference between Kusa and the Five Great Nations lay in the number and quality of their jonin.
Although they lacked elite jonin, they weren't completely without capable fighters.
Even so, everyone understood what tier Masashi occupied. The White Ghost's reputation wasn't built on empty threats.
Before any decisions could be made, an explosion suddenly erupted from one of the hospital's windows.
Flames burst outward, and those outside could see them reflected in the anguished faces of the Kusa officials. The heat reached them even at this distance.
The explosion had come from a section housing severely injured ninjas—many of whom had suffered debilitating wounds from direct attacks by Iwa's explosive squad.
These were Kusa's elites. Even if some were crippled, they could still contribute in the Academy or elsewhere in the village.
By now, no one could miss Masashi's intentions.
He was here to make trouble.
Whether this was sanctioned by the Fourth Hokage or not, it was clear that Konoha was no pushover.
Kusa's provocation had failed, and a price had to be paid.
While the village wouldn't be completely destroyed, the cost would be significant.
But who would willingly pay such a price? Kusa wasn't so wealthy that they could afford to.
Perhaps, if they showed a willingness to go down fighting, Konoha might back off somewhat.
Finally, some of the senior officials stomped their feet and left.
Others, like the Kusa leader, chose to wait outside the hospital for Masashi to emerge.
Two groups, two different choices. Two different fates.
The chaos inside the hospital soon subsided.
Moments later, Masashi reappeared in front of the remaining Kusa officials, accompanied by his two subordinates.
Yumi was holding a young girl with red hair similar to that of the Uzumaki clan.
The girl clung tightly to her neck, shrinking away nervously when she saw the Kusa officials.
Masashi glanced at the group before him and nodded.
"More of you stayed behind than I expected. That's acceptable."
There was no longer any need for pretense.
"I'll help you remove the cancer within your ranks."
"Thank you, Masashi-sama." The Kusa leader exhaled in relief.
Before he could finish his sigh, a violent explosion erupted in the distance.
Turning toward the source of the commotion, the group saw a mushroom cloud rising from a cluster of buildings. In the fiery cloud, fragments—human limbs—were scattered into the sky.
Masashi recognized the chakra from the explosion.
---
The Land of Grass was quite skilled in the design and construction of prisons. For instance, they even operated an international prison, specifically built to house dangerous criminals for other nations.
Criminals deemed "dangerous" by ninja villages were typically individuals with powerful backgrounds who couldn't simply be killed, yet were too strong for regular prisons to contain. They were the sort who might escape and cause havoc at any moment.
Since no one wanted to detain such people on their own territory, they were instead sent to the Land of Grass. After all, the country was known for its hospitality.
With such expertise, it was fair to say that Kusa's prisons were well-constructed.
However, they should never have imprisoned the Explosives Corps in their own facility.
The Explosives Corps members all shared a peculiar occupational habit: whenever they saw a building, their first instinct was to analyze its structural integrity—whether it was masonry or steel, and where the weakest points were located.
Their greatest passion in life was finding ways to blow things up under the most limited or adverse conditions.
Deidara was a newcomer to the group, but even as a child, he had loved explosions.
Iwa ninjas weren't oblivious to the risk of Kusa stabbing them in the back. Smaller villages always seized any opportunity to grow stronger, while long-term strategic thinking was a luxury reserved for the larger ninja villages.
Smaller villages had to gamble.
What the Iwa ninjas hadn't anticipated was Kusa's sheer audacity. They mobilized a thousand ninjas to capture the Explosives Corps.
The difference in numbers was overwhelming. With no other choice, the Iwa ninjas exhausted their stock of explosive clay before surrendering.
Kusa had lost a significant number of shinobi to the Explosives Corps' attacks and was initially furious. However, when the Explosives Corps surrendered, their anger turned to optimism.
This false sense of security lulled the leadership of Kusa into believing the situation was under control. Consequently, the Iwa ninjas were imprisoned, but Kusa's preparations were rushed, and many safeguards were incomplete.
This led to the scene Masashi witnessed after leaving the hospital.
Not just one, but multiple mushroom clouds of explosions were rising into the sky. Human bodies were torn apart by the blasts, and severed limbs flew everywhere.
The Explosives Corps showed fear when facing Masashi because his level of ninjutsu had far surpassed what could be countered with mere technical skill.
As for Kusa? That was the Explosives Corps' ideal playground.
Kusa might have thought that locking the ninjas in prison would keep them contained, but they didn't see it that way. After a good night's sleep, they woke up refreshed and ready to kill.
The Kusa ninjas had been too lenient in their treatment.
Chakra sealed? They broke the seals.
Weapons confiscated? No problem, they simply scavenged what they needed.
Explosive clay missing? They made more, right on the spot.
Not enough manpower? The prison was full of inmates.
By the time Kusa's leader's attendants arrived at the prison, the Iwa ninjas had already organized the other inmates, using the underground market within the prison to manufacture enough explosive clay for their plans.
Before the attendants could issue their orders, the Iwa ninjas had struck first.
The inmates followed suit immediately.
One Iwa ninja crushed the head of an attendant with his bare hands, and within a short time, all Kusa guards in the prison were wiped out. The prison's defenses were meaningless against the Explosives Corps, who were all experts in demolition.
Once they broke out, the explosions began in earnest.
They couldn't target the White Ghost, but they could certainly target Kusa's ninjas.
Even Deidara fully embraced the joy of destruction, encouraged by his comrades.
He tossed another lump of clay into the air, infused it with chakra, and sent it darting into the formation of a squad of Kusa ninjas.
Boom!
The explosion engulfed the squad in flames.
He turned around to face more Kusa ninjas swarming toward him down the street, with some leaping across rooftops.
Altogether, there were about thirty of them.
Quickly forming a hand seal, he called out softly, "Ha!"
A series of explosions rang out, flames spreading down both sides of the street.
Overloaded buildings collapsed one after another.
When the dust settled, the area in front of Deidara had been reduced to rubble and debris.
In the wreckage, the limbs of half-buried Kusa ninjas could still be seen.
Suddenly, he took a step back.
A piece of rubble was shoved aside, and a severely injured Kusa ninja emerged. Shards of debris from the explosions were embedded all over his body.
Deidara sidestepped the man's desperate attack and, with a kunai seemingly conjured out of thin air, stabbed him through the neck.
With a twist, the man's head flew off.
The headless body stumbled forward a few steps before collapsing into the dirt.
Deidara kicked the severed head aside, wiped the kunai on his clothes, and headed to the next target.
This war had made him keenly aware of his weaknesses, and he was already formulating plans to address them. Of course, those weaknesses were only relative. Against the Kusa ninjas, he had no such vulnerabilities.
As for Kusa's jonin, they were naturally being handled by the Explosives Corps' own elite members.
If Gari were still alive, Kusa's losses would have been even greater.
Thinking of him made Deidara uneasy.
Gari had sacrificed himself so that Deidara and Kurotsuchi could escape, but his actions had been for the sake of the village.
What kind of power did the village possess to inspire such acts?
He didn't particularly care about the village. To him, it was just another settlement, except with more ninjas.
It wasn't that he disliked the village—he simply couldn't comprehend the so-called "Will" that Ōnoki spoke of.
But now, he seemed to understand it, if only a little.
The village was like a family, yet not entirely the same.
The houses that crumbled so easily in explosions weren't the village. The place where his comrades were—that was the village.
Thinking of the time he'd spent with the Explosives Corps, he realized that the people he cared about weren't limited to just his teacher and the dim-witted Kurotsuchi.
As Deidara ran, a faint smile appeared on his face.
Then, the smile vanished.
He had emerged from the street to see a large crowd in the distance. Many of them were Kusa ninjas, which didn't bother him.
What bothered him was that they were all standing submissively before one man.
As he locked eyes with that man, the latter smiled with a hint of amusement.
Without hesitation, Deidara turned and darted into a nearby alley.
At the same time, he pulled out a makeshift signal flare, pointed it skyward, and fired it. The flare burst into fireworks in the sky, catching the attention of all the Iwa ninjas wreaking havoc in Kusa.
Watching the fireworks and the quick retreat of Deidara, Masashi turned to the grim-faced Kusa leader and smiled.
"Kusa still has plenty of fight left, it seems."
"We don't dare, Masashi-sama. We only wish to serve Konoha," the Kusa leader said, forcing a smile that looked on the verge of tears.
"No need to look so down," Masashi replied, shifting his gaze. "You can think of it this way: Kusa was bound to lose many people today anyway. Dying to an enemy is better than being killed by your own people."
"You're absolutely right, Masashi-sama…"
"Since the Iwa ninjas have been discovered, there's no other choice. I'll have to act now," Masashi said.
