Chapter 42: The Price of Weakness
"System! Exchange for the Great Ball Rasengan!" Ren commanded internally.
Great Ball Rasengan. Item Level: A+. Cost: 8,000 Points. As the Host has already mastered the standard Rasengan, the cost to upgrade is reduced to 3,000 Points. Note: This technique requires coordination between the user's true body and a shadow clone. Confirm exchange?
Ding! Exchange successful. 3,000 Points deducted. Remaining Points: 32,000.
The knowledge flooded into him. In an instant, he understood the advanced chakra control and massive output required. A shadow clone poofed into existence beside him. Together, they raised their hands, a brilliant, light-blue sphere of chakra forming and spinning violently between them. It grew at a visible rate, swelling from a baseball size to the size of a large watermelon, its high-pitched whine deafening.
"Go to hell!" Hoshino screamed, directing his enlarged bear demon to charge.
Ren and his clone didn't dodge. They met the charge head-on, thrusting the Great Ball Rasengan directly into the chest of the chakra construct.
The result was instantaneous. The bear demon, a powerful concentration of chakra, was utterly unraveled. It didn't explode; it was simply unmade, its form twisting apart and dissipating into nothingness under the Rasengan's devastating rotation.
"Impossible...!" Hoshino's cry was a raw scream of denial, but it changed nothing. The Rasengan, now unopposed, slammed into his actual chest.
The force was catastrophic. The ground beneath the point of impact cratered violently, shattered rock and dust exploding outward. Hoshino was thrown back like a ragdoll, blood spraying from his mouth in a wide arc before he crashed to the ground dozens of feet away.
He wasn't dead. Somehow, he clung to life, trying to push himself up on trembling arms. "Guh... Damn... you..." he choked out before collapsing again, coughing up more blood, teetering on the edge of death.
I didn't expect the Great Ball Rasengan to drain almost all my remaining chakra, Ren thought, feeling the familiar drain. Without the system to restore me, that would have been a huge risk. I need to find a way to increase my chakra reserves, and fast.
"System, restore my chakra now."
Chakra Restoration. Cost: 1,000 Points. Confirm?
Ding! 1,000 Points deducted. Remaining Points: 31,000.
Warmth flooded his system, his chakra reserves refilling to their peak in an instant. The fatigue vanished.
"You're tougher than you look," Ren said, walking over to where Hoshino lay broken. He looked down at the acting leader with a cold chuckle. "But not tough enough."
"You... who... are you...?" Hoshino gasped, each word a struggle.
"Who am I? Just a stray dog passing through," Ren replied dismissively. "But that's none of your concern. You should die quietly."
"Bastard! Don't you dare hurt Lord Hoshino!" the boy, Ang, yelled from the sidelines. He tried to form hand seals for his Peacock Method. "Peacock Mystic— Ugh!"
Before he could finish, Ren's arm shot out. A spectral serpent, part of the Hidden Shadow Snake Hand technique, erupted from his sleeve and wrapped around Ang's body, constricting him and cutting off his chakra flow.
"Let me go! Damn it, let me go!" Ang struggled futilely, his face turning red from the pressure.
"Shut up," Ren said, increasing the pressure slightly, making Ang gasp for air. "If it weren't for your use later..."
He turned his attention back to Hoshino. "As for you... just go and apologize to your Third Star Leader in the afterlife."
"No... I can't die..." Hoshino rasped, a fanatical light in his dying eyes. "We have... the unique Star... With its power... we will become strong... Hoshigakure will surpass the Five Great Villages... How can I die ...?"
"Tch. Your ambition far outstrips your strength," Ren sneered. "And that Star isn't something you can control. Using it only hastens your own demise. The side effects of your training will manifest soon enough. Even if I did nothing, you'd die a slow, agonizing death."
"Impossible... I won't die... I won't... I'll kill you!" With a final, desperate surge of energy, Hoshino tried to form a hand seal.
"Seeking death!" Ren moved. In a blur, he was beside Hoshino. His right fist, glowing with the concentrated power of the Strength of a Hundred, slammed into the man's stomach. The force lifted Hoshino off the ground and sent him flying backward.
Before Hoshino could even begin to fall, Ren used the Body Flicker Technique, appearing in the air above him. He brought his elbow down like a hammer onto Hoshino's head, smashing him back down into the crater he'd just created.
It wasn't over. Ren landed, gathered every ounce of his enhanced strength into his fist, and drove it down into Hoshino's chest. The sound of shattering bone and pulverized earth was sickening. The crater deepened, webs of cracks spreading out from the impact point. Nᴇw ɴovel chaptᴇrs are published on novel※fire.net
Ren pulled his fist back. Hoshino lay motionless in the pit, utterly still.
Ding! Host eliminates 1 Jōnin. Reward: 3,000 Points. Total Points: 34,000.
With Hoshino dealt with, Ren's mind turned to the Star. So it's been stolen. Probably by Summer Star. To find the Star, I need to find her. And I have the perfect bait right here.
He looked at the still-struggling Ang. Her son is in my hands. A mother's duty to protect her child and her village... I'll see which one she chooses. I'll make her come to me.
He began walking toward Hoshigakure, the spectral snake dragging a terrified and furious Ang behind him. He passed the unconscious form of Yōtaka, the Nighthawk, and without breaking stride, a second serpent shot out, wrapping around the man and adding him to the haul.
"Bastard...!" Ang choked out, struggling against his bonds. "You... killed Lord Hoshino... Who are you?! Why are you doing this to our village?!"
"Why?" Ren laughed, a harsh, mocking sound. "Your question is naive. I killed your ninja because they tried to kill me. They tried to kill me because I came for your Star. It's that simple."
"The Star? So that was your goal! That ninja who stole it... he was your accomplice! You created a diversion while he took it! How despicable!"
"Accomplice? Despicable?" Ren scoffed. "Do you truly believe someone of my strength needs such convoluted plans? That Hoshino was your village's strongest. I crushed him without effort. Is there a single soul in your pathetic village who could actually stop me?"
Ang fell silent, a mixture of grief, rage, and helplessness washing over him. Damn it! Damn it all! He's only my age... why is he so powerful? How can this be...?
"Your village's mistake," Ren continued, his voice cold and instructive, "was possessing a treasure without the strength to defend it. Weakness is a sin. Now, enough talk."
"You... what are you going to do?!" Ang panicked as he realized Ren was heading straight for the village.
Ren ignored him, continuing his deliberate march. Soon, the modest buildings of Hoshigakure came into view.
Suddenly, a few figures shot out from the village perimeter—young genin, around Ang's age. They skidded to a halt, their eyes wide with shock and confusion as they took in the scene: a stranger dragging their comrades, Ang and the unconscious Yōtaka, bound in sinister-looking snake constructs.
Their hands flew to their kunai pouches, their young faces a mask of fear and determination. The confrontation at the village gates was about to begin.
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