Chapter 252: The Soul-Body Separation Technique

Gensai tried to kill himself, but Tonbo's genjutsu would not allow him to move. He could only watch as Tonbo placed a hand upon his head.

Tonbo showed no mercy. A spy who had murdered a Konoha shinobi to protect his identity had accepted the consequences of discovery.

The Mind Reading Technique opened Gensai's memories before him.

They stretched like a tunnel filled with scattered fragments. Tonbo began with the most recent. Fire flared in the darkness, and Kaede Nakamura lay bleeding on the floor of her home.

Gensai had known that Seiji was investigating infiltrators after Konoha's recent losses. Once he realized the ANBU operative suspected him, he entered Seiji's house to obtain a physical medium for the Soul-Body Separation Technique. He found a strand of hair, but Kaede returned before he could leave. Gensai killed her, burned the house, and used the stolen hair to lure her husband toward the same fate.

Tonbo frowned.

"This is war."

He had killed enemy shinobi while infiltrating Amegakure. Death between hidden villages was hardly unusual. The difference was that this victim belonged to his own village, and that made the memory strike closer to home. If anyone harmed Ayame or their children, Tonbo knew he would never allow the culprit to escape.

He pressed deeper and found an unexpected identity.

Gensai did not serve any of the Five Great Shinobi Countries. He had once belonged to the Hannya Group of the Land of Woods.

The armed group had maintained diplomatic relations with the Land of Fire before greed led its leaders to cooperate with Iwagakure and covet Fire Country's resources. Konoha discovered the scheme. Years earlier, while Itachi still served the village, he had joined Kakashi, Guy, and other ANBU shinobi in the mission that crushed the Hannya Group.

Tonbo remembered the operation from records he had read as Acting Hokage. The Land of Woods' military power had collapsed, but scattered survivors remained.

Gensai was one of them.

He entered Konoha to influence its defenses and sell the resulting intelligence to other great nations. The money and damage would fund the survivors' revenge. His proposed defense network contained weaknesses that only he and his contacts would know how to exploit.

"All that for a ruined organization? He is more loyal than I expected."

Gensai had come remarkably close. One approval would have placed his design inside Konoha. He had nearly eliminated Seiji as well. Only Tonbo's chance presence at the river had destroyed years of preparation.

The remaining Hannya members still plotted in secret, but their strength was limited. Tonbo recalled that Danzō would eventually erase those remnants. The information offered little immediate value.

The sealing technique was another matter.

Tonbo followed the memory of Gensai preparing the talisman and studied every stage. Soul-Body Separation used part of the target as a medium. Once the formula was complete, it dragged the victim's soul out and sealed it away. Unlike the Hundred Puppets Soul Binding Technique, Spiritualization, or Edo Tensei, it did not appear to be classified as a forbidden jutsu.

"Ingenious."

He memorized its construction. This was another powerful soul technique obtained from an enemy, and its principles might advance his own research.

The formula's elegance lay in its preparation. It did not overwhelm the victim through raw chakra alone. The stolen medium established the connection, the talisman defined the target, and the outer array provided the force that separated soul from flesh. A shinobi who understood none of those stages might believe the technique unavoidable. Tonbo could already see several ways to interrupt it—and several ways to combine its principles with Spiritualization.

When Tonbo opened his eyes, Seiji stood beside him.

"What did you find, Captain?"

"He is a remnant of the Hannya Group from the Land of Woods. His purpose was revenge against Konoha. There is no useful intelligence left to extract."

Tonbo removed his hand from Gensai's head and turned away.

"Kill him."

Seiji pulled off his cat mask. His eyes were swollen and red. He drew a kunai and approached the helpless murderer with an expression that promised no quick death.

Gensai's screams followed Tonbo through the rain as he left the riverbank.

Konoha's successive counterintelligence battles prevented its enemies from transmitting the most valuable information while the village remained weak. Its defenses held, and under Tsunade's leadership its strength continued to recover.

The victory was quiet. No monument marked the reports that never reached an enemy village, the signal posts that remained uncompromised, or the patrol routes changed before an infiltrator could exploit them. Most residents only saw that streets reopened and damaged buildings rose again.

Shikaku paid much of the price.

Shikamaru found his father exhausted again after another long day at the Hokage Tower. It had become a regular sight. Even Yoshino had stopped scolding Shikaku when he returned home late.

"Is advising the Hokage really that tiring?" Shikamaru asked.

Shikaku stared at him with hollow eyes.

"I thought Lady Tsunade's return would make the recovery proceed smoothly and let us live quietly again. Konoha *is* running smoothly, but only because I am the one doing the work."

He nearly wept. Life under Tsunade was more exhausting than the weeks Tonbo spent as Acting Hokage. Tonbo had handled much of his own administration. Tsunade preferred major decisions, drinking, and gambling. Without Shizune, Shikaku suspected that even more of the Hokage's work would land on the chief strategist's desk.

"I knew it," Shikamaru muttered. "That job is nothing but trouble."

"Troublesome or not, it is for Konoha." Shikaku managed a tired smile. Watching the village recover made the burden easier to endure.

At Konoha Hospital, Tsunade worked with far greater concentration than Shikaku imagined.

Medical chakra shone around her hands as she operated on Lee. Sweat gathered on her brow. Sealing formulas surrounded the table and assisted her control through the most delicate part of the procedure.

During the past two weeks, Tsunade had developed a medical technique capable of creating the protein cells Lee's damaged body needed. Her accumulated knowledge allowed her to finish it at astonishing speed. Today she was finally using it to repair him.

The new cells alone could not solve the injury. Tsunade still had to clear damaged tissue, reconstruct channels that had healed incorrectly, and guide the regenerated material into the proper place. The seals around Lee stabilized the field while her chakra performed work no ordinary surgeon could attempt.

She enjoyed alcohol and gambling, but she never treated a life in her hands carelessly.

Outside the operating room, Tonbo watched Guy pace back and forth.

One circuit. Two. Then another.

"Relax, Guy. Lady Tsunade raised the chance of success. How could the operation fail now?"

"Of course it will succeed! I am a man who believes in miracles!" Guy stopped, then immediately burst into tears. "But Lee is my beloved student. If anything happens to him, I will have failed him. Lee, you must come back! You are Konoha's Azure Little Beast!"

Tonbo winced at the nickname. *Azure Beast of Prey* sounded far better.

His attention soon moved elsewhere. Lee's recovery meant the mission to retrieve Sasuke would begin soon. The question was whether Orochimaru could still penetrate Konoha's adjusted defenses.

Tonbo needed him to succeed.

Sasuke still had to study under Orochimaru, take everything from him, and eventually help save the shinobi world. Tonbo intended to remain a supporting force no matter how strong he became. If the new defenses threatened to derail that path completely, he might have to open a door for Orochimaru himself.