The sky above the Amegakure interior didn't just rain; it wept. The water here was thick with the scent of stagnant marshes and the iron tang of blood that never quite washed away. For Kaito, every step through the shin-deep mud was a lesson in mechanical resistance.
Hiss... Haaaa...
He walked at the center of a diamond formation. Kagami Uchiha took the point, his presence almost undetectable even to Kaito's Observation Haki. Jiraiya and Orochimaru held the flanks, their faces tight with the strain of their first true deep-territory insertion. Tsunade held the rear, her eyes darting between the shadows of the giant, metal-pipe trees that characterized the Rain's industrial landscape.
"We're entering Sector 7," Kagami whispered, his voice transmitted through a low-level chakra signal. "This is the 'Pipe Forest.' The Rain Genin use the internal plumbing of these structures like a network of tunnels. Watch the verticality."
Kaito didn't look up with his eyes. He expanded his "Will."
> [System Status]
> Current Integration: 1.5%
> Skill Active: [Observation Haki - Fledgling]
> Stamina: 85%
> Internal Environment: Oxygen Saturated.
>
The world turned into a web of vibrations. He felt the rhythmic drip of water off a rusted valve fifty meters above. He felt the skittering of a swamp rat. And then, he felt the jagged, cold spike of intent.
"High ground! Two o'clock!" Kaito hissed.
The Pipe Forest Ambush
The attack didn't come from a jutsu. It came from the pipes. A massive, rusted iron hatch burst open thirty feet above them. Five Rain Shinobi, clad in specialized diving gear and respirators, dropped like stones.
"Scatter!" Jiraiya roared.
He slammed his hands into the mud. "Earth Style: Mud Wall!" The earth surged upward, creating a temporary shield, but the Rain ninjas didn't hit the wall. They used specialized grappling hooks to swing around the obstruction, their movements fluid and serpentine.
Kaito didn't retreat. He focused on his right arm. Harden.
A Rain Chunin swung a heavy, jagged cleaver at Kaito's head. Kaito didn't duck; he stepped into the strike. He raised his forearm, the metallic sheen of his fledgling Armament Haki glinting through the grime.
CLANG.
The cleaver hit his arm with the sound of a hammer striking an anvil. The Rain ninja's eyes widened behind his goggles. He had expected the soft resistance of a child's bone; instead, he felt the recoil of hitting solid bedrock.
Kaito didn't give him time to process. He took a short, sharp breath—Total Concentration Burst—and delivered a palm strike to the man's chest.
[Divergent Fist]
The first impact pushed the man back an inch. The second, delayed wave of kinetic energy shattered his respirator and collapsed his lungs. He was sent spiraling into a nearby pipe, the metal denting under the force of his impact.
"Kaito! Behind you!" Tsunade's voice was a sharp crack.
She didn't wait for him to respond. She leaped over him, her fist glowing with a terrifying blue intensity. She slammed her hand into the ground, the shockwave of her Heavenly Foot of Pain sending the remaining four assassins stumbling.
The Beast of the Reservoir
The skirmish should have ended there, but the ground beneath them began to vibrate with a low, guttural frequency.
"Something's coming through the main line," Orochimaru said, his voice unusually high. He was looking at a massive, three-meter-wide pipe that ran along the floor of the ravine.
The metal groaned. Rivets began to pop like gunfire. With a violent explosion of steam and sewage, the pipe burst. From the darkness emerged a creature that looked like a nightmare of biology and machinery—a Giant Swamp Salamander, its back grafted with iron plating and chemical sprayers.
A man stood atop the beast, wearing a jagged metal mask. "Sato of the Black Mist," Kagami identified him, his Sharingan spinning. "A C-Rank bounty hunter contracted by the Rain. Kaito, stay back. This one is a Jonin-level threat."
Sato didn't waste words. He tapped the beast with his heel. The Salamander opened its maw, and a cloud of thick, purple gas billowed out.
"Poison!" Tsunade screamed, already forming the seals for a wind-dispersal jutsu. "Don't breathe it in!"
The Limit Break
Kaito looked at the cloud. His Total Concentration Breathing was already filtering the air, but the sheer volume of the toxin was overwhelming the camp's perimeter. He looked at Jiraiya and Orochimaru, who were already coughing, their movements slowing.
> [System Alert]
> Environmental Hazard Detected.
> Emergency Quest: 'Clear the Path'.
> Objective: Neutralize the Black Mist.
> Reward: [Jujutsu Kaisen - Cursed Tool: Slaughter Demon (Fragment)].
>
Kaito took the deepest breath of his life. His lungs felt like they were going to burst. He didn't focus on the toxin; he focused on the pressure.
"Tsunade-san! Get them behind the wall!" Kaito roared.
He stepped toward the beast. Sato laughed from atop the salamander. "A brat thinks he can walk through the Black Mist? Die in the dark!"
Kaito ignored him. He closed his eyes. He didn't use Haki for defense. He channeled it into his lungs.
"Total Concentration... Constant... OVERDRIVE!"
He exhaled. But he didn't just breathe out; he forced the air through his throat with the intensity of a jet engine. The hyper-pressurized oxygen hit the purple gas, creating a localized windstorm that blew the toxin back toward the beast.
Sato's laughter died. "What... what kind of jutsu is that? There were no signs!"
Kaito moved.
[Soru - Prototype]
He disappeared. Not with a Body Flicker, but with the raw, explosive strength of his legs kicking the ground ten times in a second. He appeared in mid-air, directly in front of Sato's face.
Kaito's fist was obsidian-black.
"Divergent... BLACK FLASH!"
He didn't hit the man. He hit the beast.
The impact was a roar. The iron plating on the salamander's head disintegrated. The delayed impact of the Divergent Fist, coupled with the raw density of the Haki, sent a shockwave through the creature's entire three-ton body.
The beast was lifted off the ground, its massive frame crashing into the ceiling of the pipe forest. Sato was thrown into the mud, his mask shattered, staring at the seven-year-old child whose breathing was now loud enough to drown out the rain.
The Human Toll
Kaito landed in the mud. He didn't move.
The Overdrive had cost him. His lungs felt like they were lined with broken glass. Blood trickled from his nose, and his right arm was trembling so violently he had to hold it with his left.
Kagami appeared beside him, his blade already at Sato's throat. But his eyes weren't on the enemy; they were on Kaito.
"You're a madman," Kagami whispered. "You just struck with the force of a Jonin. At seven years old."
Tsunade ran to Kaito, her hands already glowing green. She didn't say anything, but her face was pale. She could feel the heat radiating from Kaito's skin—his body was literally cooking from the friction of his own power.
"I... I cleared it," Kaito rasped, his eyes fluttering.
> [Quest Complete]
> Reward Unlocked: [Slaughter Demon (Fragment)].
> Integration Progress: 2.0%
> Status: Severe Exhaustion.
>
As he drifted into a forced sleep, Kaito felt a cold, slender hand brush his forehead.
"Sleep, Kaito-kun," Orochimaru's voice whispered in his ear. "The world is watching now. And the world... is very, very hungry for what you are."