Chapter 201: Cleaning Up...
After listening to Link's words, Baki, Uchiha Fugaku—who hadn't gone far—and Utakata, who was being restrained by a shadow, all felt a chill in their hearts.
Even if they were to die, they wouldn't want to end up in such a hell.
"...!"
Sweat dripped down Hidan's face. His bloodshot eyes were wide, showing a mixture of terror and rage.
"Jashin—will punish you—!" He had no tongue or teeth, so even though he tried desperately to roar, all that came out was muddled sounds.
It was probably just another of his verbal curses.
For a monster who had killed countless victims, a curse like that hardly seemed effective.
After all, in the manga, those he cursed so vehemently always ended up shooting straight to the top.
Link just smiled nonchalantly, looking quite relaxed as he directed the shadow to gather Hidan's scattered remains. He bagged up the head, then deliberately took Akatsuki's ring into his hand and sealed it in a scroll.
He planned to reassemble Hidan's pieces only after returning to the village—doing it here would be a hassle. His current sealing scroll couldn't store living things, so he had no choice but to let the shadow carry the fragments along.
After thoroughly unsettling Hidan, Link swallowed a highly potent soldier pill, then used the Delicate Illness Extraction Technique on himself. A short rest later, his body had recovered to its peak condition.
As long as he had enough medicine, he could recharge his stamina bar over and over, just like a jinchūriki.
These new super soldier pills were specially made by Tsunade. They were extremely effective but also carried intense side effects—only someone like him could handle them.
"~"
In the meantime, another one of the shadows attempting to collect Tailed Beast chakra vanished back into two-dimensional form. The highly corrosive fluid covering that chakra was strong enough to melt even the Eight-Tails' hide, so just a single touch instantly drained the shadow's strength to zero.
Because that corrosive liquid was a chakra-based substance, it lasted a surprisingly long time, refusing to dissipate and clinging firmly to the surface of the Tailed Beast chakra. Link instructed one of his shadows to bury the chakra in soil, like giving it a "sand bath." No matter how potent the acid, it couldn't resist an endless supply of dirt and was eventually worn and scraped away.
This was different from the "wool" he'd harvested from Shukaku the first time. After all, half-transformation still left the user in a humanoid form, much smaller than a fully transformed Tailed Beast. Aside from the solid six tails, most of the rest was just a shell, and breaking it down properly would be difficult.
If he tried to turn all of it into shadows, it wouldn't yield many. As his physical abilities soared, the Tailed Beast chakra required to create a single shadow also kept increasing. If he were to open the Eight Gates and create shadows, the chakra cost would be prohibitive.
Besides, creating a shadow required peeling away an intact object's "shadow." Even though Link had tried to keep everything as intact as possible during the fight, his opponent was a decently strong jinchūriki, so some parts inevitably got sliced apart.
He guessed each tail could serve as one normal shadow, while the other bits of shell might be used for experimentation. Once he returned to the Land of Waves, he planned to summon the Earth Dragon again to test the waters. It could be countered by Lightning Release, but since it was ultimately a ninjutsu construct that still followed basic chakra principles, it wasn't worth too much worry.
Thinking along those lines, shadows might really be an application of Yin Release—creating a physical form out of nothing.
[Next, I'll have to get more Tailed Beast chakra out of Utakata—ideally after a full transformation,] he thought, sealing away the chakra.
Gaara never had good control, but Utakata seemed much better. Since he was a jinchūriki, he definitely had plenty of chakra. Letting him transform once in a while for Link's purposes shouldn't be too big a problem.
Too bad he couldn't bring him back to the village.
[I can stay out here for a while, talk it over with him, collect more of what I need, then take him to my base in the Land of Waves.]
[If he ends up escaping later, so be it; not a big deal. If I need him again, I can always hunt him down.]
For anyone who wasn't skilled in space–time ninjutsu, escaping in front of Link would be tough. With means to track both sky and ground, Link simply tucked the scroll away. Since his shadow was already carrying Hidan's body parts and couldn't remain hidden, he threw the scroll to it as well.
Meanwhile, the other shadows weren't just standing around; they searched the ruins for any survivors—or valuables like gold and silver. After all, for him, money was power.
Before long, the resurrected dead he had summoned vanished, taken back by Rashomon once their time was up. The shadows managed to haul out over a dozen unconscious survivors from the debris. Most were only lightly injured, one was critically wounded and near death, and a few would likely need amputations.
Link didn't hold back on using his chakra. He provided simple medical treatment and gave Tsunade's healing medicine to the most gravely injured, then placed them on a flat, dry spot. After that, he didn't bother with them anymore. If Tsunade's medicine couldn't save them, there was nothing decisive his healing could do—unless he used Delicate Illness Extraction. But he wasn't so softhearted as to go that far. If these people hadn't been hurt because of his fight, he wouldn't have paid them any attention in the first place.
[This kid—]
Utakata watched quietly, feeling a twinge of emotion. It was easy to tell whether someone was just putting on an act, and he could see Link was helping others by instinct.
He himself had behaved well enough, saying nothing the entire time—apart from picking up that bubble blower like it was some precious treasure.
Once Link was satisfied that there was nothing more to find, he formed some hand seals to summon the Earth Dragon once again. Calling for the captured jinchūriki and the shadow carrying his things, he climbed onto its back and flew away from the utterly devastated Sunlight Inn.
High in the air, he watched the ruined landscape shrink below him. His expression remained calm, but inwardly he was deep in thought:
[I really have grown a lot stronger.]
His improved physical condition had dramatically boosted his overall capabilities. Now that his speed was on par with a jōnin's, he wouldn't easily be blindsided in a fight against powerful foes. Coupled with his uncanny ninjutsu, he was nearly invincible in close quarters. Both the Five Elements Seal and Disruption Charge activated on contact and required no seals, making them exceedingly potent.
It was somewhat ironic that, despite being a ninjutsu-oriented fighter, he relied so heavily on melee combat. Though his summoned undead provided some ranged offense, his direct ranged capabilities were still a bit lacking.
Most Earth Release techniques were large in scale, and since he had at least a shred of conscience, he couldn't simply unleash them with abandon in populated areas like Kakuzu might. Conversely, using wide-area ninjutsu just for single-target attacks felt wasteful. When he thought it over, the only real single-target ranged technique he had was the Shadow Clone Jutsu.
[I've had the Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu for a while now but still haven't gotten around to training with it. I've been pulled in so many different directions that I keep putting it off.]
[Once I'm done mastering the Wind nature transformation, I'll move on to Lightning next. Maybe I can ask Kakashi for guidance...]
[Who knows, I might pick up Chidori or the Lightning Blade while I'm at it.]
[After all, they're technically the same jutsu, both referencing the story about a "Chidori Blade" cutting lightning in Japanese lore. I wonder how it might mutate or evolve if I adapt it...]
Link's thoughts drifted onward.
~~~
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