novelhk Chapter 262 Curse Lock
Chapter 262 Curse Lock
The sea buckthorn forests of the Land of Wind were filled with choking yellow sand. Tayuya's magic flute rested against her lips, her long purple hair plastered to her cheeks by the wind. Her sensory network, like fine sound waves, swept across the three-mile stretch of sand, but only detected a chaotic chakra—a disturbance field left by Orochimaru's former subordinates, the "Curse Seal Hunters." They wielded "Curse Eaters," which absorbed the energy of curse seals, specifically targeting those of them, the Sound Ninjas once transformed by Orochimaru.
"Damn it, I can't absorb any more chakra!" Jirobo's roar echoed from the sand dunes on the left. His muscles had swelled to three times their original size, and the khaki chakra wrapped around his body, but they instantly withered when they came into contact with a black chain. The curse seals on his arms seemed to have lost their strength, emitting a dull gray-purple color. "This bastard can absorb curse seals!"
Kidomaru suddenly plummeted from the seabuckthorn branches. The spider silk stretched white between his fingers, a few broken black strands still emitting smoke—the marks of corrosion from the Curse-Eating Device. His crimson pupils fixed on the five dark figures that darted out from behind the sand dune. He licked the blood from the corner of his lips. "They're the 'Three Cursed Demons,' test subjects Orochimaru failed to destroy back then. They've fused three more Serpent Scale Curse Seals than we have."
Tayuya's flute finally sounded, but it wasn't the usual soul-eating melody. Purple illusion chakra spread along the flute's sound, attempting to weave an illusion across the sand, but it was ripped to shreds the moment it touched the curse-eating device. The leading curse-seal demon sneered and swung out three black chains, striking Tayuya's throat. "Tayuya-sama? You're nothing more than a puppet bound by a curse seal!"
"Don't touch her!" Jirobo suddenly lunged forward, blocking the chains with his back. The black chains pierced his shoulder blades, draining the energy of the curse seal like crazy. However, he gritted his teeth and clenched his fists, gathering his earth chakra into a shield in his palms. "Tayuya, use the 'Curse Seal Resonance' that Master Ototake taught you! Leave me alone!"
Tayuya's fingertips turned white from exertion, and the fragments of the seal on the magic flute suddenly felt hot. She remembered three months ago in Otogakure, Ototake holding her magic flute, his fingertips gleaming with a systemic blue light as he said, "Your seal isn't a shackle, it's a key to resonating with your allies. When your seal's chakras sync, illusions can be rooted through earth escape techniques, and spider silk can be invisible through illusions."
At that time, she didn't believe it, always thinking that her illusion could only be used to hide behind teammates; but now, looking at the bloody hole on Jirobo's back, and watching Kidomaru dodging awkwardly among the chains, she suddenly clenched the magic flute, closed her eyes, and released all her cursed chakra - no longer an attack, but like a signal, spreading towards her teammates.
"Hey! Are you crazy?!" Kidomaru's spider silk suddenly stopped. He could feel Tayuya's cursed chakra flowing through his meridians like a warm current. The spider silk that had just been corroded became tough again and even emitted a faint purple light. "This is..."
"Curse Seal Resonance!" Tayuya's flute note suddenly rose. This time, it wasn't absorbed by the Curse-Eater, but instead, it followed Jirobo's earth escape chakra and burrowed deep into the sand. The dunes suddenly trembled violently, and countless earth spikes rose from the ground, each entwined with purplish threads of illusionary light—her illusion, rooted in earth escape, formed the "Sound Earth Illusion Formation."
The three cursed demons were instantly plunged into a dream. They saw Orochimaru's laboratory before them: cold scalpels, murky culture tanks, and the painful memories of being used as experimental subjects. The leading demon screamed and swung his chain, but it only hit the air, and the black chain entangled his companions instead.
"Now!" Kidomaru's spider silk suddenly turned pitch black, its cursed chakra fused with Tayuya's illusory light, and a purple poisonous mist shone on the silk. His figure weaved through the sea buckthorn forest, the silk like a black venomous snake, precisely wrapping around the ankles of the three cursed demons. The poisonous mist seeped into their bodies along the spider silk, corroding the energy of the curse-eating device.
Jirobo took the opportunity to pull out his shoulder that was pierced by the chain, and his earth escape chakra surged again, but this time it was no longer just brute force - after his curse seal resonated with Tayuya's chakra, the surface of the earth escape was covered with a layer of purple illusion armor. When the black chain touched him again, it was misled by the illusion and chopped towards the sand dune next to it.
"Hah!" Jirobo slammed his fists into the ground, and the Sound Earth Illusion Formation suddenly contracted. Earth spikes and illusory light threads intertwined to form a cage, trapping the three Cursed Demons in the center. Tayuya's flute tune changed again, this time to "Magic Flute: Soul Devouring Break." A lavender sound wave penetrated the cracks in the cage, directly attacking the Cursed Demons' spiritual cores.
Kidomaru's spider silk suddenly tightened, and golden curse patterns appeared on the pitch-black threads—these were his "Cursed Soul-Devouring Silk," which had broken through his bottleneck. It could flow along the enemy's meridians, draining their curse energy and feeding it back to the body. The bodies of the three cursed ghosts shrank instantly, and the curse-devouring devices lost their energy support and shattered into black fragments.
When the battle ended, the yellow sand gradually subsided. Jirobo leaned against the sea buckthorn, the wound on his shoulder still bleeding, but he grinned, revealing his white teeth. "Damn, this resonance is awesome! It's ten times stronger than if I had cast the curse seal on my own!"
Kidomaru put away the spider silk, with purple light still lingering on his fingertips. He looked at Tayuya, a rare gentleness on his lips: "Your illusion can finally be used as a main attack."
Tayuya put down her magic flute, the purple chakra gradually receding. She walked over to the two men and pulled out the healing medicine Karin had prepared from her ninja tool bag. She first applied it to Jirobo's shoulder and then helped Kidomaru with the spider silk scratch on his fingertips. "Master Ototake is right. The three of us need to combine our seals to be complete."
The wind blew through the seabuckthorn forest, carrying the faint sound of bells from the distant Otogakure Village. Tayuya suddenly remembered how, three years ago, the three of them had been abandoned in the laboratory by Orochimaru, and it had been Ototake who had burst in with the System Crystal and untied half of their cursed seals. She remembered how, during each training session, Ototake had devised strategies tailored to their weaknesses, pairing Tayuya's illusions with Jirobo's earth escape techniques, and Kidomaru's spider silk with shielding Tayuya's flute music. She remembered their last mission, when they were besieged by Pain's clones, and it was the first time their cursed seals had inadvertently resonated, that they had barely managed to hold out until reinforcements arrived.
"From now on, we will never again be trapped by the curse." Tayuya's voice was soft, yet resolute. On her magic flute, the fragments of the curse glowed with a faint purple light. They were no longer a mark of pain, but a testament to the bond with her companions.
Jirobo patted her shoulder, and his earth-style chakra condensed into a small earth ball in his palm. Three crooked characters were engraved on it - "Three-Edged Soul": "Next time you encounter this kind of shit, I'll smash their broken weapons with one fist!"
Kidomaru also reached out his hand, and spider silk formed a triangular web above the three of them. Entwined in the web was a small purple flower condensed from illusory light threads. "Spider silk is our boundary, illusory magic is our shield, and earth escape is our blade—we are the Three Blades of Sound Ninja, and none of them can be missing."
Tayuya looked at the spider silk flowers overhead and suddenly smiled. She lifted her magic flute and gently played the "Bond Song" that Ontake had taught her. The lavender sound waves reverberated through the seabuckthorn forest, intertwining with Jirobo's earth escape chakra and Kidomaru's spider silk energy to form a three-colored light shield, protecting the three of them in the center.
As the sun set, the yellow sand turned a golden red. The three of them, supporting each other, walked towards the Sound Village. Their shadows stretched across the sand, each step punctuated by a firm resolve. They were no longer cursed test subjects, no longer solitary fighting machines, but each other's support. They were the sharpest three blades of the Sound Village, the "Three Blades of the Sound Prison," capable of breaking through all constraints for their companions.
In the distant sky, a Oto-nin messenger hawk flew by, a note from Ototake tied to its talons. Tayuya caught the pigeon and unfolded the note, which contained a single line: "Three Blades Resonate, Curse Breaks the Shackles—Welcome Home." At the end, three crossed symbols—a flute, a fist, and spider silk—carved like a warm mark into the hearts of the three.
"Go home." The three of them said in unison, quickening their pace.
In the sound of the wind in the sea buckthorn forest, one can seem to hear the lingering sound of the magic flute, the roar of earth escape and the rustling of spider silk. Those are the sounds of the Sound Ninja Three Blades.