004 : Cursed Mark

Looking at Yugao, who was still slightly dazed, Shigen smiled and then looked at her face.

Although she was wearing a mask, Shigen still knew that this young senpai of his who was only one or two years older than him, looked pretty good.

His enhanced senses giving him an unfair edge in 'detection'

"Are you... are you okay?" Yugao didn't know what Shigen was thinking about, as such she asked him with some concern. "Also, what happened to Orochimaru?"

"Orochimaru didn't want to delay too much time, probably because he was worried that the reinforcements will come, as such he took everything of Importance ran away" Shigen said softly.

Their 'Small' team was nearby, as such both of them became the advance scouting team. Of course, this was also 'one of Danzo's plans'.

"So I was lucky enough to survive in his hands..."

"That's good, that's good..."

Yugao breathed a sigh of relief when she heard this. Although she was somewhat regretful about Orochimaru's disappearance once again, It was better that her Teammate had survived this confrontation.

"Are your injuries serious?"

"Don't worry, I'm fine." Shigen lowered his head and glanced at his body.

Although his body was covered in Blood and bruises, they were all just superficial while none of it was long lasting.

After all, he did it himself.

Besides, his physical fitness was very strong, and his recovery speed was not slow.

Bang-

Just as the two were communicating, the earth wall that Shigen had cast before was finally broken, and rubble echoed in the underground laboratory along with roars.

Yugao immediately gripped the sword in her hand when she saw this, but Shigen stopped her..

"Senpai, leave it to me."

"You can't, you're injured now, how can you..."

Yugao refused without thinking, but Shigen shook his head.

"I have just joined the ANBU and my synergy with you isn't much, since we can't fight together, let me handle it, plus, I don't want Yugao senpai to be injured again."

"You..."

Shigen's words made Yugao's heart beat faster. Was this guy saying these things without looking at his surrounding? they were in middle of a active battle zone for god sakes!

But fortunately, Shigen let go of her hand and went towards the roaring 'monsters'.

"But I will still require your support. Please be sure to help me at critical moments."

Shigen was a master of handling such situations, on one hand he explained that cooperation might not yield desirable results while on the other hand, he also expressed his need for help in critical moments

This would both save Yugao some embarrassment and give her enough sense of participation. Most importantly, Shigen would be able to feel the power of the curse mark!

'Moreover, this laboratory is probably researching curse marks' Hiro thought, looking at the mindless "Test subjects" Orochimaru had left behind, most of them showing similar signs of going berserk with the overload of Natural energy.

Looking at these monster-like guys in front of him, especially the black marks on their bodies, and the chaotic and violent natural aura on their bodies. Shigen was a hundred percent sure that this was one of the places where Orochimaru was developing his Cursed mark Jutsu.

As such, Shigen wanted to test his [Unowned Cursed Seal] against Orochimaru's Cursed mark jutsu.

"Roar!"

Just as Shigen was done observing them, one of the monsters let out an angry roar and charged fiercely towards him.

"Be careful!" Yugao immediately reminded him, but Shigen moved in a blur.

The curse mark on the back of his hand flickered slightly, and in an instant, Shigen's body revealed the aura of natural energy.

Just like the description said, Shigen was not corroded by this violent natural aura. He still maintained his own sanity.

"However, the improvement doesn't seem as significant as I imagined." Hiro muttered underneath his breath, feeling the foreign energy coursing though his body.

As a 'numerical freak,' Shigen has a very strong grasp of his own abilities. He can naturally perceive the extent of the [Unowned Cursed Seal]'s enhancement.

"Roughly, it can elevate me to the level of an elite Jonin, but to advance further, I need to improve myself or have the upgrade the Cursed Seal "

The Cursed Seal is comparable to Sage Mode, to some extent.

After all, one is obtained through external force, while the other is self-cultivated. One can easily take a guess which one will be more powerful. However, Shigen wasn't interested in that debate.

He was only interested in the end result, which was the same for both, giving the user access to Natural energy.

And natural energy was the only thing in this world that could counteract reality bending Jutsus.

"Roar!"

While he was pondering, a monstrous ninja suddenly lunged at him.

His hand had transformed into a claw, frantically swiping at Shigen with unmatched ferocity.

However, Shigen, also in the 'Cursed Seal state,' reacted extremely quickly. The blessing of natural energy enhanced his perception.

In an instant, his figure moved, dodging the attack, while the kunai in his hand struck fiercely at the monster.

"He's actually faster than before?"

Yugao watched the battlefield with tension.

She immediately noticed Shigen's unusualness, and at that moment, she seemed to understand something more.

"No wonder he could hold off Orochimaru..."

Shigen's attack forced the monstrous ninja to change his move, but Shigen didn't actively pursue.

Instead, Shigen dodged by tilting his head slightly as another figure appeared behind him, slashing its long talon like fingers over his face as several messy strands of his hair were cut and scattered in the air.

However, Shigen didn't care. Because as he was tilting his head, he had completed another set of hand seals.

"Earth Release: Quick sand!"

With the infusion of natural chakra, the ground instantly softened and began to spin, and one ninja was directly swept into the ground before he could even react.

Seeing this, Shigen immediately stood his index and middle fingers together, and chakra erupted once again.

"Earth Release: Earth Spear!"

The originally soft ground instantly sprouted sharp rocky spikes. One if the ninjas who was almost entirely covered in Cursed Seals couldn't react in time and was directly pierced through over his entire body.

At the same time, the kunai in Shigen's hand suddenly thrust out quickly, and with a quick sound of it tearing through the air, it collided heavily with another figure

The kunai pierced right into the carotid artery in his neck, blood spraying out like a fountain as the edge of Shigen's mask was covered in droplets of purple colored blood.

Now, only one of the Orochimaru's Cursed mark test subjects remained on the battlefield, and seeing the rest of it's 'partners' get killed, it instantly went berserk.

"Roar!"

Amidst the roar, the test subject slammed a fist fiercely at Shigen's head.

But as if Shigen had not even seen the fist coming, it collided heavily with his head, shattering it into a thousand pieces.

However, instead of blood and brains, pieces of rock and earth flew out as Shigen's entire body turned into clumps of clay

"Earth Clone? When? That fast?"

Yugao was completely dumbfounded by Shigen's bizarre fighting style, which was beyond her expectations.

She felt both happy and helpless. She was happy that the matter seemed to be resolved, but helpless because she seemed to be unable to do anything.

"Hmm, It seems they finally arrived?"

In the battlefield, Shigen's figure, hidden underground, suddenly sensed something.

Outside the laboratory, another squad of ANBU had rushed in, apparently the support force for this operation.

"A bit late but its fine. It's time to end this."

While pondering, Shigen's body suddenly moved. In an instant, he burst out from ground.

The LV3 Cursed Seal obviously couldn't last too long.

Bang--

As the ground shattered and Shigen came out, he had already completed another set of hand seals.

"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet!"

The roaring water dragon ferociously headed towards the last of Orochimaru's test subjects, and amidst the violent impact, the test subject roared and crashed heavily to the ground.

However, the test subject was obviously unwilling to give up, fueled by chaotic natural energy. He threw severed pieced of his 'fellow' test subject's bodies at Shigen who was rushing towards him.

But unfortunately for him, Shigen, in the Cursed Seal state was extremely agile, deftly dodging his dying counterattack during the sprint.

The very next moment, Shigen's kunai also pierced fiercely into the test subject's head!

Finally putting the rabid beast to a silent end.

[Completed mission: Rescue ANBU members]

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T/N : Two Chapters Everyday.

Every 300 Power stones will be an extra chapter

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