Chapter 29 – The Spirit Transformation Technique
Night had already fallen over the Konoha encampment, yet Hatake Sakumo remained awake inside his command tent. His sharp eyes, usually calm like steel, were restless. No matter how many battlefields he'd crossed, nothing unsettled him quite like sending a younger brother into enemy territory.
The elite team he'd personally selected to infiltrate Sunagakure's rear base had been gone for hours. The war between Konoha and Suna was vast and vicious, two military giants clashing with every ounce of strength. Even for someone called the White Fang, the stakes weighed heavily.
Suddenly, the tent flap flew open. An ANBU operative rushed in, still breathless from running.
"Commander Sakumo! A moment ago, Sunagakure's main camp came under attack! Even our sensory units stationed dozens of kilometers away could hear the explosions. The battle is still raging as we speak!" His words tumbled out in a rush. "I've already sent scouts to confirm the situation. Could it be Lady Tsunade, Lord Jiraiya, and Lord Orochimaru returning from the Land of Rain with reinforcements?"
Sakumo slowly shook his head. His voice was low but firm. "It isn't them. The village's last message said the Sannin only just left the Land of Rain yesterday."
Then his brow furrowed, a sudden, sharp thought striking him.
Kyūjō. The elite squad. He'd sent them to infiltrate the very heart of Sunagakure's supply lines.
Had they been discovered? Were they now fighting for their lives?
But the pattern didn't make sense. If they'd been caught, why was the fighting erupting at Sunagakure's central camp, not out in the supply routes? Had something unexpected happened?
Even without knowing the full picture, his instincts screamed. Waiting idly was not an option. His brother's safety came first.
With quick, clipped instructions to the ANBU, Sakumo grabbed his ninjatō and slipped into the night, vanishing toward Sunagakure's base.
— — —
Meanwhile, at Sunagakure's main camp, flames clawed at the sky. The dark desert night burned as though it were dawn.
Most of the elite Sunagakure jōnin had already been lured outside to intercept intruders. Inside the camp, fewer than twenty jōnin remained. And even that dwindling defense was being torn apart.
Under the relentless bombardment of five Konoha elites led by Araki, Suna's forces were collapsing. Fire, wind, and steel rained down on them with no pause.
And the deadliest of all was Katō Dan, who had unleashed his ultimate move: the Spirit Transformation Technique.
An S-rank jutsu that lived up to its reputation. Not only could chūnin and genin do nothing to stop it— even seasoned jōnin were helpless, fleeing in terror as their comrades dropped one by one. Any soul touched by Katō Dan's spirit form shattered instantly, leaving behind a lifeless body.
He focused especially on the higher-ranked shinobi. In this war of attrition, eliminating jōnin was worth more than any cache of supplies.
Most crucially, Chiyo—Sunagakure's puppet master of near-Kage level—was too busy locked in a vicious duel with Hatake Kyūjō to intervene. With Suna's pillar distracted, the rest of Araki's team unleashed their full power, each turning into a living artillery piece, hammering the camp without restraint.
It was as if they'd all been possessed by tailed-beast fury, bleeding chakra like water, smashing Suna's defenses to pieces. The enemy looked less like shinobi now and more like stray dogs driven to a corner.
Among them, Sarutobi Chikawa—the hot-tempered jōnin—kept spitting out waves of fire, punctuating his jutsu by hurling insults at the Sunagakure clans, "sending his regards" to their families far away in the Wind Country. His creativity in cursing had lasted a full ten minutes without repeating a word.
— — —
Even Kyūjō, fighting at the center of camp against Chiyo herself, couldn't ignore the scene. It wasn't Chikawa's colorful language that shocked him—though that was impressive in its own right—but the devastating reality of Katō Dan's hidden trump card:
The Spirit Transformation Technique.
In the canon of this world, Katō Dan—Tsunade's future lover—was only a footnote, barely shown. Yet hints in the manga had always suggested that his secret technique was a weapon Konoha's elders had placed great hopes on.
(At this point in history, Dan and Tsunade were not yet romantically involved.)
Now, on this battlefield, Kyūjō was seeing that potential firsthand.
In the original timeline, Suna eventually learned of the Spirit Transformation Technique. The result was tragic: Dan was ambushed while his body lay vulnerable, his stomach slit open in a brutal act of revenge.
Seeing the jutsu in action now, Kyūjō finally grasped why the elders had bet on it as a trump card. Its power was terrifying.
And yet, because it was so powerful, Kyūjō felt compelled to study it.
He activated his Infinity Perception, his eyes and mind analyzing every detail of the technique's essence even as his sword deflected Chiyo's puppets.
But the truth wasn't simple.
For all its might, the Spirit Transformation Technique carried a terrible price. Each use chipped away at the user's soul. Permanent damage. Irreversible.
With the way Dan was recklessly using it now, Kyūjō doubted his spirit would last until year's end.
Did Dan even realize the cost?
Kyūjō exhaled softly. No—this wasn't a path for him. Even with his extraordinary spiritual power, mastering this jutsu would make him a walking bug in the system. But his soul was the foundation of his existence. Even if he died in this world, as long as his soul remained intact, he could reincarnate and continue his journey across worlds.
If his soul shattered, he'd lose that chance forever.
It wasn't worth the gamble.
Still… the method of soul projection and control on display here was fascinating. Worth understanding, even if not copying.
— — —
With Infinity active, Kyūjō's body moved like two people at once. One hand deflected the strikes of Chiyo's Ten Chikamatsu Puppets, his blade flickering in arcs of lightning.
At the same time, his eyes followed Katō Dan across the battlefield, dissecting the flow of chakra, the shape of the jutsu, the very mechanism of separating soul from body.
Watching. Learning. In the middle of chaos, Hatake Kyūjō continued to fight, study, and evolve—each swing of his blade another step deeper into the secrets of this world.
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