Naruto: The Ninja World's Life Buyer

Chapter 26 The Geometry of Strangulation

early morning.

Sosuke sat at the table, looking at his hands.

The black ointment had completely solidified.

He tried to move his fingers.

Crack. The black shell split open.

Fine cracks spread along the knuckles, and pieces of black material peeled off.

The new skin underneath was revealed.

It was a dull, grayish-white color with a keratinous sheen.

Rough, thick, like old leather.

Sosuke picked up a steel needle and tried pricking his palm.

There was no pain.

The needle tip pierced the skin, like it was stuck into a very tough cowhide. It wasn't until it penetrated two millimeters deep that I felt a sharp sting.

"It's done."

Sosuke breathed a sigh of relief.

Nono's prescription, after a night of chemical reaction, forcibly caused his palms to undergo a "keratinization evolution".

It's a bit ugly, and it feels like touching sandpaper. But that's exactly the "iron hand" needed to manipulate the steel wire.

Sosuke picked up the roll of special steel wire.

This time, he wasn't wearing gloves.

He wrapped the wire around his finger and pulled hard.

Nourishes—

The wire cut into the flesh, but did not sever it.

The thick layer of keratin blocked the sharp metal wire.

There was only a dull sense of oppression, no longer the excruciating pain that cut through the nerves.

"very good."

Sousuke grabbed his ninja tool bag and pushed open the door to go out.

Waste treatment plant.

When Genzo saw Sosuke's grayish-white hands, a glint of light flashed in his cloudy eyes.

"You're pretty ruthless with yourself."

Genzo grabbed Sousuke's hand and touched the calluses on it.

"Medicated bath? Or poisonous bath?"

"Yes, I have both." Sousuke withdrew his hand. "Can we practice now?"

"able."

Yuanzao threw away the empty wine bottle in his hand and took out an eye mask from his pocket.

It's made of thick black cloth.

"Today, I want you to use your hands to see where you're going. Put them on."

Without hesitation, Sosuke put on the blindfold.

Vision was plunged into darkness.

Hearing and touch are instantly amplified.

The wind rustled through the scrap metal, the distant roar of the incinerator echoed, and Yuanzao swallowed his drink.

"Throw the wire out of your hand."

Yuanzhao's voice was unpredictable.

"Whatever you're clinging to, just tell me. Then tell me what it is."

Sosuke flung out the shuriken in his hand, which was attached to a steel wire.

Ding.

The shuriken struck the object, bounced off, and then became entangled.

The steel wire is taut.

Sosuke twitched his fingers slightly, feeling the vibration transmitted back from the steel wire.

"It has a very high hardness. The surface is rough. It feels like rust."

Zongsuke analyzed.

"It's an abandoned water pipe."

"Continue." Genzo did not comment on right or wrong.

Whoosh.

the second time.

The steel wire got tangled in something soft and squishy.

"Soft. Elastic."

Sousuke frowned.

"Is it a dead rat? No, it's still alive. It's a wild cat."

"Put it back, don't hurt it."

Sosuke carefully shook his wrist to untangle it.

It's hard.

Unraveling a slipknot without relying entirely on the fingertips' sense of tension, even when it's invisible.

But he did it.

That thick layer of calluses not only did not hinder the sense of touch, but instead acted like a voltage regulator, filtering out the interference of pain and leaving only pure physical feedback.

Sosuke spent the entire morning groping around in the dark.

He "touched" a rusty iron bucket, rotten wood, and even a crawling beetle.

The steel wire became his whiskers.

It wasn't until noon that Yuanzao allowed him to remove his blindfold.

"This is called wire induction."

Yuanzao threw away another empty wine bottle.

"The biggest fear for tool users is losing their sight. Smoke bombs and dark environments are common occurrences for ninjas."

"When you go blind, this thread will be your life."

He stood up and stretched his injured leg.

"You've laid a pretty good foundation. Now, I'll teach you the killer move."

"A killer move?"

"right."

Genzo was holding a withered branch in his hand.

"At your current level, if you encounter a Chunin, you'll undoubtedly die in a head-on confrontation. Even against a slightly stronger Genin, you'll only be able to run away."

"While your chakra reserves are at the genin level, your explosive power is insufficient. Although your speed is barely adequate, you haven't undergone systematic taijutsu training, and your movements are full of openings."

Genzo mercilessly exposed Sousuke's weaknesses.

This is indeed true.

Half a month of training taught him the Three Body Techniques and shuriken throwing, but he knew nothing about physical skills.

"Therefore, you can't engage in close combat."

Genzo drew a triangle on the ground with a dead branch.

"You must be a spider."

"Spiders never chase their prey. They just weave their webs and wait for the prey to run into them and die."

Yuanzao stood up and walked between two dead trees that were five meters apart.

"Watch closely. I'll only demonstrate once."

He moved.

He was backing away.

As he retreated, he suddenly flung four shuriken to his sides.

The wire was pulled, went around the left tree trunk, made a bend, and flew to the right tree trunk.

It looks like it's been littered.

But the moment the shuriken returned to his hand...

Yuanzao suddenly pulled his fingers back.

collapse.

A very faint sound, like a snapping string, rang out.

There seemed to be no change in the air.

Genzo picked up a stone and casually threw it over.

A stone flew between two trees.

Click.

The stone suddenly shattered in two mid-air.

The cut is as smooth as a mirror.

Sosuke's pupils suddenly contracted.

He took a few steps closer and squinted to observe carefully.

Under the sunlight, he finally saw a net.

Several steel wires, using the tree trunk as a fulcrum, intertwine in the air to form a complex geometric shape.

The rock just now hit one of the taut steel wires and was cut by inertia.

"This is the invisible blade."

Yuanzao loosened his fingers, and the steel wire instantly slackened.

"Use the environment as a foothold—trees, pillars, or even the bodies of enemies."

"Through several refractions, a three-dimensional cut space is constructed."

"As soon as the enemy steps into this space, you only need to move a finger..."

Yuanzao made a tightening gesture.

"Strangulation."

Sosuke looked at the steel wires.

The brain is working at lightning speed.

This is geometry.

It involves the calculation of angle, tension, and friction.

And it requires extremely strong spatial imagination.

For him, this was much easier to understand than the mystical concept of chakra control.

"Teach me the standard wiring method," Sosuke said.

There is no fixed formula.

Yuanzao shook his head.

"The battlefield is dynamic. You need to anticipate the enemy's movements in the blink of an eye, combine that with the surrounding environment, and calculate the optimal wiring path."

"However, there are a few basic structures you can memorize."

Yuan drew a picture on the ground.

"Triangle lock. This is the most stable. It uses three points of leverage to lock the enemy in the middle."

"Cross cut. Utilize two diagonal fulcrums to form a deadly intersection in the middle."

"And then there's the most insidious—the tripwire. It only reaches the ankle and is specifically designed to sever the enemy's Achilles tendon."

"Now, you try it."

Sosuke took a deep breath.

He held four shuriken between his hands.

This was his first attempt at throwing at multiple targets simultaneously.

Whoosh.

The sword flew out of his hand.

However, the force was uneven.

Two of them stuck to the tree, while the other two flew past the branches and landed in the grass.

The steel wire hung loosely on the ground, like a tangled mess.

"fail."

Yuan Zao gave a cold evaluation.

"Again."

Sosuke retrieved the wire.

His fingers were trembling slightly.

It wasn't because I was tired, but because I was excited.

This sophisticated killing technique gave him immense pleasure.

He was calculating.

Parabola, wind speed, tension in the steel wire.

the second time.

Three shots hit the target, one missed.

The net is not yet formed.

the third time.

All four shots hit their target.

But the location is wrong.

The steel wire did not form a sealed "well" shape, but instead became a leaky "mouth" shape.

A huge gap was left in the middle, enough for an enemy to squeeze through.

"Too slow."

Yuanzao shook his head.

"If it's a speed-type ninja, by the time you throw your shuriken, his sword will already be at your neck."

The next three days.

The waste treatment plant has turned into a giant spiderweb.

Sosuke was like a tireless weaver.

He moved among the discarded tires, rusty iron frames, and rotten wooden stakes.

The gray calluses on his fingers became even shinier under the friction of the steel wire.

At first, it took him ten seconds to set up a simple triangular lock.

Too slow.

Ten seconds is enough for the enemy to kill him ten times.

"Faster! Faster!"

Yuanzao shouted from the side.

"The action must be hidden within the movement!"

"You're supposed to be laying cables while we're running away! Not standing there like an idiot taking measurements!"

Sosuke started running.

Using the displacement effect of the Substitution Jutsu, he hooked the wire onto the obstacle in a split second.

Use the throwing of the shuriken to create a fulcrum remotely.

He was simulating a scenario of being chased.

three days later.

Sosuke is able to use three changes of direction while running at high speed to set up a hidden "tripwire" behind him.

Although it's not yet at the level of Yuanzao, who could instantly create a network.

But at least, he now has the means to fight back.