“Heh~!
This seal is interesting.
It can even repair itself automatically.
Is this the wisdom of the ancients?!”
Shikatoki looked at the gradually repairing seal with a trace of surprise on his face.
Then his eyes filled with fighting spirit.
“No, seriously…
what kind of monster is sealed in there?
Why is it resisting so fiercely?
Normally, monsters shouldn’t even have the ability to break through a seal!”
Akane sat in front of the stone tablet with an ancient text from the Land of Demons in her hands.
Using the inscriptions carved into the tablet, she checked the records one by one.
Crack!
The familiar sound immediately made a vein bulge on Akane’s forehead.
“Again?!”
Sure enough, another crack appeared on the stone tablet.
Akane’s priestess power enveloped the tablet.
The crack slowly began to repair itself.
“Lady Priestess, this is the last batch of ancient records.”
“Alright.
Leave them here.
I’ll take a look.”
Akane picked up one of the books and began flipping through it.
Some of the monsters recorded within were even older than the Land of Demons itself.
Many had been sealed long before the profession of priestess had even existed.
After the priestesses of the Land of Demons emerged, their role had mostly been to maintain and manage those ancient seals.
“Hm?”
“This one!”
Akane spotted a familiar sealing formula.
After carefully comparing it with the tablet, her face lit up.
“This is it!”
“Now let me see what kind of monster is sealed inside…”
“Jashin?”
“What the heck is that?”
“It’s actually called a god?”
“I’ve never even heard of it.”
“Immortality…
blood manipulation…
curses…”
Akane turned the page.
The next entry described an entirely different monster.
“But this thing doesn’t say anything about being capable of breaking through seals!”
Crack!
“Again?!”
“I’ll fix it!”
Shikatoki watched the stone tablet slowly repair itself yet again.
His fighting spirit burned brighter.
“Every single time, you just slowly repair yourself without strengthening the seal at all.”
“What?”
“Are you provoking me?”
“Fine!”
“I accept your challenge!”
“I’m breaking this damn thing today!”
The struggle continued until deep into the night.
Then Shikatoki suddenly noticed— the seal was repairing itself more slowly.
His eyes instantly lit up.
“Good!”
“Victory is within reach!”
“I’m so sleepy…”
“How can the monster inside be this persistent?”
Akane yawned.
Heavy dark circles had formed beneath her eyes.
Her head repeatedly dipped forward like a chick pecking at grain.
Boom!
A massive explosion erupted.
Akane was blasted backward and crashed onto the ground.
“Oh no!”
“I fell asleep!”
Her expression immediately filled with panic.
She stared fixedly toward the stone tablet.
“Hahahaha!”
“I knew something like this couldn’t stop me!”
Shikatoki’s triumphant laughter rang out.
As the smoke dispersed— he stood in the middle of the ruins, laughing wildly.
Akane stared blankly.
A completely naked young man was standing there laughing like a lunatic.
“So handsome…”
“And his body isn’t bad either…”
She blinked.
“Wait!”
“Pervert!”
Hearing Akane scream, Shikatoki turned toward her.
Only then did he belatedly realise how…
unrestricted his entire body felt.
His shadow immediately rose and covered the important areas.
Shikatoki smiled awkwardly.
“Ahem.”
“Miss…
could you possibly get me some clothes?”
Akane’s face turned bright red.
She nodded and hurried outside to have someone find a set of men’s clothing.
After Shikatoki got dressed, he gave her a polite nod.
“Thank you.”
Akane finally recovered from her embarrassment.
She looked at him in surprise.
“I didn’t expect a monster like you to be so polite.”
“No wonder my prophecy kept telling me there wasn’t any real danger.”
“Monster?”
Shikatoki stared at her.
“What monster?”
“What world did I end up in?!”
Akane looked equally confused.
“This is the shinobi world.”
“This is the Land of Demons.”
“Aren’t you the monster called Jashin?”
“No!”
Shikatoki immediately denied it.
“I killed Jashin.”
“It took me forever to escape from that seal afterward.”
“That sealing technique was pretty interesting, though.”
“It kept repairing itself.”
“Fortunately, I was just a little better!”
“What?!”
Akane stared at him in disbelief.
“You were the one breaking the seal from the inside?”
“You weren’t the monster?!”
“Yeah.”
“What’s wrong?”
Akane laughed awkwardly.
She obviously couldn’t tell him that she had been the one constantly repairing the seal from outside.
“Nothing.”
“You’re pretty impressive.”
“You even managed to kill an ancient monster like that.”
“Lucky.”
“Just lucky.”
Shikatoki sounded humble.
But if he had a tail, it would already have been pointing toward the heavens.
Once he understood where he was, Shikatoki instinctively reached for his map.
Then he remembered— his map had disappeared along with his clothes.
“Hello.”
“My name is Shikatoki Nara.
I’m a shinobi from Konoha.”
He asked politely,
“Could you give me a map?”
Akane hurriedly replied,
“My name is Akane.
I’m the current priestess of the Land of Demons.”
“Why don’t you come back with me first?”
“I’ll have someone prepare one for you.”
Shikatoki thought about it.
“Sure.”
He followed Akane back to the capital.
The people there seemed to be living quite well.
After arriving at the palace, Akane had food prepared for him.
Shikatoki immediately began devouring everything in sight.
Because of natural energy, Shikatoki technically no longer needed to eat in order to maintain his life.
But still— he was human!
Enjoying delicious food was one of life’s greatest pleasures.
Watching him eat, Akane began reconsidering whether Shikatoki might actually be some kind of monster after all.
Could a normal human really eat this much?
“I’m full!”
“I’m finally full!”
“That was amazing!”
Shikatoki sprawled across the floor.
Akane handed him a scroll.
“The map you asked for.”
Shikatoki opened it.
It was a standard map of the shinobi world.
The Land of Fire occupied the central region.
Shikatoki scanned the entire map before coughing awkwardly.
“Um…”
“Where exactly is the Land of Demons?”
Akane’s expression darkened.
She pointed toward the lower-right corner of the map.
There was a tiny region marked—
Land of Demons.
“Holy crap!”
“It’s this far away?!”
Shikatoki genuinely hadn’t expected the Land of Demons to be so far from the Land of Fire.
“If you’re heading to the Land of Fire, you could wait a few days.”
Akane explained,
“The Land of Demons needs to purchase supplies from the Land of Fire.”
“When our next merchant convoy leaves, they can take you with them.”
Shikatoki’s eyes lit up.
“Thank you so much!”
Over the next several days, Shikatoki wandered around the Land of Demons and enjoyed its unique customs and scenery.
Perhaps it was because he had gained immortality.
Or perhaps it was because he had discovered that stabilising his soul could make him immune to physical damage.
Either way— the tension that had constantly filled Shikatoki’s mind suddenly disappeared.
For once, he began paying attention to the scenery around him.
Those few days were undoubtedly the most relaxed he had experienced since transmigrating.
Eventually, the merchant convoy preparing to leave the Land of Demons arrived as scheduled.
After saying goodbye to Akane, Shikatoki boarded one of the merchant ships and began travelling toward the Land of Fire.
By now—
Shikatoki’s strength had undergone another tremendous improvement.
After obtaining the Jashin Template, he had also discovered the Blood Curse Technique within it.
The Blood Curse was essentially the prototype of Hidan’s future Curse Technique: Death Controlling Possessed Blood.
Once Shikatoki obtained an opponent’s blood, he could use it to curse them.
Any damage suffered by the user would simultaneously be transferred to the original owner of that blood.
Shikatoki possessed an immortal body now.
But he had absolutely no intention of stabbing himself for fun.
So instead— he converted the Blood Curse into a Template and loaded it into his modified Shadow Imitation Technique.
Now, when one of the shadows he summoned was killed— the original owner wouldn’t simply suffer a heavy impact anymore.
Whatever damage the shadow received would be transferred directly to its original owner.
For example— if the shadow was stabbed through the heart…
then the original owner’s heart was going to have a very bad day.
This— was the effect Shikatoki had wanted from the very beginning.
Just looking at the technique made even Shikatoki feel that it was absurdly devious.
“Enemy attack!”
A crewman suddenly shouted.
Akane had told him that the ship carried the emblem of the Land of Demons.
Normally, nobody would attack vessels belonging to them.
“Mr.
Shikatoki!”
The captain shouted.
“Quickly, get inside the cabin!
We’re being attacked by shinobi!”
“You head back inside.”
“I’ll take a look.”
Shikatoki instantly appeared atop the mast.
Seven figures landed on the ship.
They didn’t immediately begin killing or looting.
Instead— they looked around as though searching for someone.
The captain gathered his courage and approached them.
“Gentlemen, this is a merchant vessel belonging to the Land of Demons.”
“May I ask what you shinobi require?”
The man at the front answered coldly.
“I heard the Shadow Sovereign is aboard this ship.”
“Shadow Sovereign?”
The captain froze.
Then hurriedly shook his head.
“Lord Shinobi, I’ve never even heard that name before.”
“Hmph!”
The man reached for the enormous blade on his back.
“Seems you prefer punishment over cooperation.”
Shikatoki appeared in front of the captain with a Body Flicker Technique.
His expression turned cold.
“What do the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist want with me?”
That was right.
The seven people standing before him were none other than the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist— the group that would one day be reduced to the so-called Three Survivors after Might Duy’s Eight Gates assault during the Third Shinobi World War.
Kubikiribōchō, the Executioner’s Blade — Jūzō Biwa.
Samehada, the Greatsword — Fuguki Suikazan.
Kiba, the Lightning Blades — Raiga Kurosuki.
Nuibari, the Longsword — Kushimaru Kuriarare.
Shibuki, the Blastsword — Jinpachi Munashi.
Kabutowari, the Blunt Sword — Jinin Akebino.
And finally—
Hiramekarei, the Twin Swords.
Its current wielder was such a complete background character that he didn’t even have a name before getting kicked to death.
The captain looked toward Shikatoki.
Shikatoki spoke reassuringly.
“Go back inside.”
“I’ll handle this.”
The captain knew there was nothing he could do to help.
He nodded and returned to the cabin.
Jūzō Biwa looked at the portrait in his hand.
The person in front of him looked considerably more mature than the one in the image.
But the portrait was already two years old.
Shikatoki had simply grown up.
“Shadow Sovereign!”
Jūzō revealed a savage grin.
Hearing that unbearably dramatic title yet again, Shikatoki immediately raised a hand.
“Shikatoki Nara.”
“Please.”
Fuguki Suikazan revealed a mouth full of sharp teeth.
“Hmph!”
“Whatever you want to call yourself—”
“you’re dying here today!”
The others drew their respective ninja swords.
Seeing this, Shikatoki jumped off the ship.
He landed lightly on the surface of the sea.
The Seven Ninja Swordsmen exchanged glances before following him down.
The merchant ship from the Land of Demons slowly sailed away.
“Mind if I ask something?”
Shikatoki looked at them calmly.
“How exactly did you know I was aboard a merchant ship from the Land of Demons?”
In truth— he already had a suspicion.
Jūzō sneered.
“Information about you being aboard that vessel has already spread throughout the underground black market.”
“Your head is worth two hundred and fifty million ryō.”
“The Third Mizukage personally ordered us to make sure you die here.”
Hearing that—
Shikatoki immediately confirmed his suspicion.
“As expected.”
“That old bastard Black Zetsu!”
“I just don’t understand why he’d choose to kill me with someone else’s blade.”
“He doesn’t even dare show his face.”
“What a coward!”
If Black Zetsu knew what Shikatoki was thinking, he would probably start cursing on the spot.
Do you think I’m stupid?!
I know you can seal Tailed Beasts, and you expect me to walk up in front of you myself?
Do you understand the discipline of someone who has survived by hiding for a thousand years?!
“Interesting.”
Shikatoki looked at the seven swordsmen.
“So all seven of you think you’ve already got me?”
His shadow silently sank into the seawater.
Before long— it had connected with the shadows of all seven men.
“Brat!”
Kushimaru Kuriarare sneered.
“All seven of us coming to kill you is already showing you more respect than you deserve!”
The others burst into laughter.
“I see.”
A warm, friendly smile appeared on Shikatoki’s face.
It was so gentle that it almost felt like a spring breeze.
“I’ve been away from Konoha for quite a while.”
“The Third Hokage is probably pretty unhappy with me by now.”
“So I was just wondering…”
“If I brought back a few gifts—”
“maybe he’d forgive me.”
The meaning behind Shikatoki’s words was obvious.
The expressions of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen immediately darkened.
“Kill him!”