The second form of the Curse Seal completely transformed the Sound Four's appearance.
Though they became uglier, their strength also surged dramatically.
Perhaps due to the Curse Seal's influence, combined with their sudden spike in power, the Sound Four's eyes gleamed with a ferocious aura as they looked at Yuto.
Traces of killing intent seeped from their bodies!
"Oh?"
Sensing their killing intent, Yuto raised an eyebrow slightly.
With a light step on the ground, his body seemed to teleport, appearing in front of the chubby Jirobo in the blink of an eye.
Before Jirobo could react, Yuto's finger tapped his forehead.
As if struck by an unimaginable force, Jirobo dropped to his knees, smashing a half-meter-deep crater into the ground.
At the same time, the Curse Seal on Jirobo's body rapidly faded. In a mere instant, he reverted to his normal human state and collapsed unconscious.
Yuto's figure flickered, repeating the same process before everyone's eyes.
There was no resistance. It was just a single finger, yet to the Sound Four, it was an insurmountable chasm!
By the time four craters marred the ground, Yuto had already returned to his original position.
"I'm quite sensitive to killing intent. In my era, showing such intent meant a fight to the death. But for your sake, I'll let it slide."
Yuto looked at Orochimaru, speaking with a cheerful tone, as if an elder approving of a junior, clearly favoring Orochimaru.
Orochimaru's eyelids twitched violently. He forced an awkward smile onto his face, but in the next moment, his expression froze as he muttered,
"The connection… it's gone?!"
With a Body Flicker Technique, Orochimaru appeared beside the unconscious Sound Four.
Crouching down, he flipped Jirobo's neck over. When he saw that the Curse Seal on Jirobo's neck had vanished, he froze.
He quickly checked the others, finding that the Curse Seals on all four had completely disappeared.
"The Curse Seal…"
Orochimaru's eyes were filled with disbelief. Until now, nothing had been able to remove a Curse Seal—sealing it was the best anyone could do.
Even then, if the host's emotions fluctuated too intensely, the Curse Seal's power could easily break through any seal.
"The Curse Seal? I absorbed it. Compared to calling it a Curse Seal, it has another name: Sage Transformation. This power is indeed a rather decent type of chakra."
Unnoticed, Yuto had appeared behind Orochimaru, speaking softly.
Sage Transformation and Sage Mode were entirely different powers. Sage Transformation leaned toward physical enhancements, like those seen in Jugo.
Orochimaru turned his head stiffly to look at Yuto, still unaware of when he had moved behind him.
A deep wariness flashed in Orochimaru's eyes.
This man had absorbed the Curse Seal energy from four people and showed no signs of distress.
For an ordinary person, that would be impossible.
"The Curse Seal is indeed impressive, but compared to Sage Mode, it's somewhat lacking." Yuto muttered to himself.
In the next moment, a cold, sinister aura suddenly emanated from Yuto's body.
It was identical to the aura that had burst from the Sound Four earlier.
Terumi Mei's expression shifted, fearing something had gone wrong after Yuto absorbed the chakra.
But Orochimaru's eyes lit up with glee. As expected, recklessly absorbing the Curse Seal energy from four people was bound to cause issues.
Yet, when he looked at Yuto, Orochimaru noticed no change in his appearance. No— Orochimaru's eyes narrowed. A small, black diamond-shaped mark had appeared at the center of Yuto's forehead, similar to the mark on Tsunade's forehead when her Yin Seal was inactive.
Yuto clenched his fist. Compared to other aspects, the Curse Seal mode significantly boosted physical strength.
What about Sage Mode, then?
With a thought, Yuto dispelled the Curse Seal chakra.
Under the stunned gazes of Terumi Mei, Ao, and Orochimaru, a calm yet overwhelmingly dominant chakra erupted from Yuto's body. The black diamond mark on his forehead transformed into a circle.
Compared to the Curse Seal mode, which primarily enhanced strength, Sage Mode chakra provided an overall boost, though its strength increase was less pronounced than Sage Transformation.
This Sage Mode chakra was something Yuto had absorbed during his battle with Hashirama Senju.
Until his sealing, this chakra had remained stored in his body, unused.
Yuto's eyes gleamed. This was exactly what he wanted to confirm!
Currently, his body contained three types of chakra: his own, the newly acquired Curse Seal chakra, and Sage Mode chakra.
Through this experiment, Yuto confirmed his hypothesis was correct.
The Black King's ability didn't just absorb an opponent's energy—it could convert that energy into a form he needed. This was something Yuto hadn't paid much attention to before.
Before fighting Hashirama Senju, the chakra Yuto absorbed from other ninjas was just ordinary chakra, requiring no conversion.
Though the Sage Mode and Curse Seal chakra in his body were limited—enough for only a few techniques—he could convert his own chakra into these two forms.
If successful, it would be as if Yuto had mastered both Sage Mode and Curse Seal mode.
In past battles, Yuto relied on the Black King's energy absorption and release. But if he could master these two modes, his strength would rise to another level.
"Switching between energy forms at will… how about calling it Black King Mode?" Yuto rubbed his chin, muttering to himself.
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