Yoichi raised his palm to deliver the final blow, eyes locked onto the demon's throat.
Suddenly, a jagged spike of agony pierced through his skull, more violent than any physical wound.
His knee struck the earth with a heavy thud as he clutched his head, fingers digging into his scalp.
The world turned white as a translucent window flickered into existence before his blurred vision.
[Shepherd of the Innocent Lambs has been triggered!]
This was a long time coming, a mysterious curse he'd never encountered in past years.
The pain was not just physical; it was a soul-wrenching flood of a stranger's final moments.
Images of a young girl from a nearby village flashed through his mind. She had been hiding in the tall grass, far from the main battle, only for a mindless puppet to find her.
Yoichi felt the sharp sting of a rusted blade and the girl's frantic, silent prayer for a mother who would never come.
He experienced the coldness creeping into her limbs as her life soaked into the dry earth.
The two-tomoe Sharingan in his eyes spun with a violent, frantic speed.
Agonizing suffering forced the crimson orbs to evolve, the black shapes stretching and splitting until three distinct tomoe settled into place.
The shock of the evolution vied with the trauma of the visions, leaving his breath ragged and his vision sharpened to a terrifying degree.
"Damn it... not now..." Yoichi hissed under his breath, teeth gritted against the mental static.
Satori sensed the sudden shift and let out a manic, confused cackle.
"What is this? The cold ghost finally has a soul?"
The demon lunged forward, sensing the first flicker of true vulnerability.
"Yoichi!"
Tsunade's voice rang out in a sharp cry of alarm.
The mindless horde surged forward like a tide of rotting meat, swarming the girl with grasping hands.
"Get off me!" she roared, her face twisting with savage intensity.
The girl unleashed the Draconic Mammoth Guard. Dragon scales shimmered along her limbs, brimming with the vitality of the Innate Realm.
A terrifying aura radiated from her, shattering rusted blades upon contact. Tsunade followed with the Hundredfold Strike, pulverizing thralls into dust with the weight of falling mountains.
"Yoichi, get up!" she cried, but the warning came too late.
Satori lunged through the opening created by the boy's collapse.
Clawed hands clamped onto his shoulders like iron traps. The beast slammed Yoichi into the dirt, shattering stone under the impact.
The monster dragged the boy across the jagged earth, shredding flak jacket and skin.
Satori leaned in close, its beak opening to reveal a gathering of dark, crackling energy.
"Drown in your own fear!"
The orb of pure malice expanded, the heat singing Yoichi's hair.
Through the haze of the Shepherd's visions, the three-tomoe Sharingan spun with frantic clarity.
Yoichi suddenly shook his head, clearing the mental static with a surge of raw willpower.
Lightning Spear Thrust!
A bolt of black-tinged electricity erupted from his hand, striking the center of the forming orb.
The collision created a violent explosion of sparks and dark Qi, repelling the demon's lethal strike and forcing the beast's head back.
Yoichi used the explosion's momentum to flip backward, landing in a steady crouch.
Blood dripped from his torn flak jacket, but the three-tomoe Sharingan remained locked on the beast.
"A little spark won't save you, boy!" Satori mocked.
"Your mind is a mess and your body is breaking. How long can you stand using these paltry tricks?"
Yoichi offered no verbal reply.
He pulled a True Qi Pill from his pouch and swallowed it whole.
His Incinerator Stomach ignited the pill, refining it into a torrent of pure energy.
This surge fueled his passive regeneration, knitting jagged tears in his skin within seconds.
The mental fog from the Shepherd's visions receded as his meridians overflowed with fresh power.
He stood tall, the heavy aura of Heavenly Demon Qi stabilizing around him.
Satori's mockery died in its throat as it witnessed the boy's wounds vanish.
A heavy staredown commenced, the air vibrating with lethal intent. Yoichi's crimson eyes pulsed, tracking every twitch of the demon's muscles through the three-tomoe.
Yoichi then vanished, leaving a cracked crater in the earth.
Using Phantom Steps, his form flickered into a trail of ghostly afterimages.
He reappeared beneath the demon's chin with a Mountain Crushing Fist.
Satori twisted with unnatural fluidness, narrowly dodging the heavy blow as the wind ruffled its dark feathers.
The beast surged into the sky, hovering above the chaos. A wicked realization bloomed in its mind.
I cannot read the fear in your hollow chest, boy. But the girl reeks of it! If your skin is too thick to peel, I will feast on the hearts of those standing behind you!
Satori dived like a black streak of malice, aiming for Tsunade's back.
"Let's see how your cold heart handles their screams!" the monster roared.
The three-tomoe Sharingan tracked the trajectory instantly as Yoichi lunged forward, fingers snapping into a Lightning Spear Thrust coated in penetrating Heavenly Demon Qi.
The young shinobi's feet dug into the dirt, his body a coiled spring.
As he prepared to leap, his sensory range flared with a sudden alert.
Several strong chakra signatures were rapidly approaching the perimeter.
These were not the mindless dead; powerful individuals were moving with purpose toward the center of the fray.
Suddenly, a rhythmic rattling echoed through the clearing like the laughter of iron ghosts.
Golden streaks of light erupted from the forest shadows, moving with the speed of a lightning bolt. Mysterious chains tore through the air, their glowing links vibrating with a frequency that silenced the moans of the puppets.
The first chain pierced Satori's wing, pinning it mid-air with a sickening crunch.
Two more links shot through the beast's torso, slamming into its chest and abdomen.
Satori let out a shrill, agonizing screech as the divine restraints anchored its massive form to the jagged earth.
Yoichi skidded to a halt, the Lightning Spear Thrust crackling in his palm. He looked up at the golden cage forming around the struggling monster, his three-tomoe Sharingan pulsing as he analyzed the dense chakra.
A strange, ancient pressure rolled off the chains, making the atmosphere feel heavy with sealing power.
These chains... Why are they here?
The Uzumaki were supposed to be isolated within their own distant borders. Seeing their power manifest in this chaos suggested a hidden motive he had yet to uncover.
The rattling of metal slowed as the group halted.
Torifu exhaled a heavy sigh, his broad shoulders finally dropping.
"The Uzumaki... Thank goodness!"
Beside him, Sakumo, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru felt slightly relieved.
They watched as the golden links hummed, their frequency suppressing the surrounding puppets.
From the dark perimeter, red hair flashed like embers.
Members of the Uzumaki Clan popped up like mushrooms from the thick undergrowth, surrounding the clearing in a perfect circle.
They moved with synchronized grace, hands locked in the seals required to maintain the Adamantine Sealing Chains.
A tall man with a crimson ponytail stepped forward from the line. He raised a hand, signaling his kin to tighten the formation around the pinned Satori.
"Greetings, allies from Konohagakure," he announced, his voice steady and formal. "We're instructed to assist you by Ashina-sama."
The Uzumaki leader worked with his team to reinforce the links.
"This monstrous beast is resilient,"
"The Adamantine Chains can hold it, but a permanent seal requires a coordinated ritual. We need to stabilize the core before it attempts to self-destruct."
Tsunade hurried to Yoichi's side, her hands already glowing with green medical chakra and Qi.
"Yoichi, please, just stay still."
She ignored the battlefield, her eyes searching his face as she placed her palms on his chest.
"I thought I lost you. Don't ever scare me like that again!"
The boy looked at her, a calm smile spreading across his face.
"I'm fine, Tsunade... The pill did its job. My wounds are already knitting back together."
"But more importantly, what are we going to do to this monster?" he asked. "The mission to find the Prince is over. He is right there, inside that thing."
Torifu's eyes widened, his grip tightening on his staff. "What are you talking about, kid?" the veteran demanded. "How could you possibly know that this thing is the Daimyo's son?!"
Yoichi explained that the beast had spoken to him during the heat of their exchange. He recounted the monster's mockery, making it clear that the target they were sent to rescue was now the heart of the nightmare.
A heavy silence followed Yoichi's revelation, the weight of the Prince's fate pressing down on the group. Torifu clenched his fists, his gaze moving from the thrashing demon to the Uzumaki masters.
Now that the beast was temporarily pinned by the chains, the true gravity of their mission weighed heavily on the veteran's mind.
"There has to be another way," Torifu rumbled, his voice laced with a rare sense of helplessness. "We can't just seal the boy away like some common monster. Isn't there a way to cut the connection and save him?"
Reality, however, proved to be as cruel as expected.
"It is almost impossible."
The Uzumaki leader shook his head slowly, his hands remaining locked in a seal.
"This creature has tightly tied itself to the boy's soul and mind. To sever one would likely shatter the other. Our arts are meant to contain the darkness, not peel it away from the light."
As they spoke, Yoichi watched the vibrating chains through his Sharingan. He remembered how his Heavenly Demon Qi had surged during their earlier clash. He had felt the demon's "immortal" physique flicker and grow brittle.
"I can do it," Yoichi stated, his voice cutting through the gloom.
"My technique might sever the link without destroying the host. If you hold the chains, I can peel the shadow off him."
The Uzumaki leader narrowed his eyes, sensing the strange, oppressive power rolling off the boy.
"Are you sure about this?"
Torifu looked at Yoichi, a spark of desperate hope flickering in his eyes.
"Kid, if you failed, there's no going back."
"We don't have any other options," Yoichi replied, his voice flat and steady. "If we proceed with the seal now, the Prince is as good as dead. If I tried, then perhaps there's a chance to succeed and destroy this link altogether."
Torifu stayed silent, his heavy brow furrowing as he weighed the boy's words. He knew the kid was right; their traditional shinobi arts had hit a wall that only something truly different could break.
The veteran stepped back, giving the young Uchiha the space he needed to work.
The Uzumaki leader adjusted his stance, signaling his kin to maintain the tension on the golden links.
"Then do it quickly," the red-haired shinobi commanded. "We can only hold this monster steady for a few more moments before the strain breaks our formation."
Yoichi lunged, his hand a vortex of pitch-black energy. He drove his palm into the demon's chest, targeting the jagged threads of the soul-link.
The Heavenly Demon Qi hissed, violently rejecting the monster's essence.
"CURSE YOU, HUMAN!"
Satori shrieked, its voice a discordant echo of a thousand dying screams.
The Uzumaki strained as the golden chains glowed white-hot against the thrashing shadow.
With a final surge of Yoichi's power, the creature's massive silhouette shattered into thousands of harmless black feathers.
The golden chains fell slack upon the scorched earth.
A frail figure collapsed where the monster once stood.
The Daimyo's son lay motionless, his skin pale and his breathing shallow.
"He's alive."
Tsunade knelt beside him, her hands glowing green. She checked his pulse, her expression turning solemn.
"But the trauma was too much. He's in a deep coma."
Torifu looked down at the boy, his heart heavy.
They had severed the link and saved his life, but the Prince's mind remained lost in the darkness.
"Phew... I really thought we were going to be demon food for a second there," Jiraiya muttered, his voice cracking slightly.
The silence of the forest felt heavy and strange after the deafening shrieks of the beast.
"You really pulled it off, you crazy genius!"
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