When I woke up, properly rested and healed, the first task I undertook was to take note of the supplies I had on hand and check the scroll belonging to the Kiri-nin to see what supplies he was carrying.

Inside the Kiri-nin's scroll, I found some medical supplies, for which I was grateful. However, I had rested enough for our enhanced healing factor to have sealed the cuts that I had sustained from the Kiri-nin. Additionally, there were some more kunai and shuriken, alongside a relatively large supply of senbon needles and a couple of paper bombs.

I took out my own sealing scroll as well. Upon unsealing it, I discovered that I had a large supply of chakra paper and ink available to me. Normally, my supply kit would have medical supplies and weapons as well, but the day they decided to attack was an off day for me, so I wasn't carrying any weapons other than a couple of kunai.

I retrieved the sealing paper and chakra ink, pondering various ideas for creating a new seal. Unfortunately, many of the ideas were unsuitable for combat situations. For instance, I considered a seal meant to inhibit all active chakra usage in an area, but it would also sever my own chakra flow, rendering me unable to use chakra. While it could prevent the use of ninjutsu techniques by opponents, they could still enhance their bodies for taijutsu combat, leaving me at a disadvantage due to my lack of inherent strength and speed compared to them. I had never been a front-line fighter as much as I had wanted to be one, I had always been delegated to creating seals, I let out a sad chuckle as I remembered the sheer number of times my missions would go awry and I'd end up in fights either way. It was one of the reasons I'd been a Chūnin so early.

I grabbed some regular paper and began drawing a basic matrix for a new seal design. I set the trigger condition to be the presence of blood so that if blood was present on the seal and chakra was detected in the body of a target, the seal's effect would activate. There were two reasons I incorporated both a chakra check and a blood check into the seal: firstly, I didn't want to waste chakra on a deceased individual, as they wouldn't have access to chakra; the seal would be able to determine if the body was dead, and if it was, then the seal's effect wouldn't activate needlessly. Secondly, blood serves as a potent catalyst for activating seals. With a shinobi's blood on the seal, it could be activated from a distance due to the trace of their chakra lingering inside their blood.

The actual effect I designed for the seal wasn't particularly complex; I simply had to observe and work off the sealing scroll's matrix, which contained principles for manipulating gravitational forces to a certain extent.

After I looked over the finished seal design, I smirked slightly. 'It will be a hell of a surprise when the ninja attacking me has to topple over and get their insides crushed when gravity is attacking them fifty times as much as normal,' I thought. I worked off the principle that sealing scrolls weigh nearly nothing to carry despite all the different items inside of them. I took fifteen kunai and formed them using our technique aptly named Carve.

This world ran on chakra, literally. Chakra was everything, so I would like to create a seal that would siphon a small part of my chakra enough to not put me at a backfoot in combat, but with enough time, I should have gathered enough chakra to fight just for a little longer if needed. Unfortunately, the seal turned out to be trickier than I thought. I could pump chakra inside a seal normally and refresh myself with it, but unfortunately, absorbing a small amount of chakra passively was a difficult task.

I took a deep breath in and let it out as my Mind's Eye activated. The Mind's Eye of Kagura or Kagura Shingen was a sensing technique of our clan. It is one of the largest sensing abilities, with us being able to sense ten kilometers merely on activation of the ability without any training. I felt the world turn gray as I felt my mind expand to cover a massive distance.

I sensed a shinobi camp roughly nine kilometers away as I prepared to attack. Based on the chakra levels, it seemed to be just a camp of Chunin-level ninja. Against opponents like that, my new Gravity Seal should take care of them easily. Unlike powerful monsters like Gai, Lee, or Naruto, these are likely to be more average ninja, similar to Iruka and Mizuki in strength. Someone who has only watched the show may have a skewed perspective on power levels. For me, the only real threat would be facing a group of Jonin-level shinobi. But even ninja with chakra abilities would be heavily damaged by an attack that increases gravity a hundredfold through this seal. With proper preparation, I should be able to handle this Chunin camp.

After that, I made several variations of the Gravitational Seal - one that would only affect a single person and another that could impact a large group if they were clustered together, though I doubted that scenario. I took a moment to truly consider what I was about to do. Making myself a target if even a single enemy escaped was risky, but the slaughter of my clan cut deeper than I was willing to admit. I wanted vengeance, but I knew a blind charge would only lead to my death. I would have to be meticulous.

I softened the earth once more and jumped out, silently leaping through the trees toward the camp. Using Kagura Shingen, I sensed fifteen Chunin inside the camp itself, while eight were spread nearby in the trees in pairs acting as sentries. I decided to approach from behind the entrance.

I would first clear that area. As soon as I came near enough, I charged the seal with my chakra and threw two kunai straight at the nearest sentry pair. Just as they were about to jump off the tree branch, I activated the seal. Resisting the urge to vomit, I kept a neutral expression as they fell dead instantly, the seal having turned them into piles of gore, shattering the branch.

I quickly used the Body Flicker technique to escape the scene before the other sentries were alerted. I rapidly made my way towards the next sentry pair, knowing I had to take them out before they all decided to group up together and make targeting them more difficult.

I repeated the same tactic, charging the Gravitational Seal and launching kunai just as they sensed my presence. With a burst of chakra, the seal activated, and the two sentries were instantly crushed under exponentially increased gravity, their bodies reduced to mangled piles on the forest floor. I suppressed the urge to retch at the gory sight, maintaining my neutral expression.

I swiftly moved on to the next pair of sentries, not allowing myself to dwell on the acts. One by one, I systematically eliminated the outlying guards with precise applications of the seal. As much as a part of me wanted to simply obliterate the entire camp, to make them pay for the slaughter they had wrought upon my clan, I couldn't risk that level of mass destruction. There was a chance, however small, that they could have captured an Uzumaki during their attack. I had to proceed carefully when I finally arrived at the entrance to the main camp.

All of the sentries were dead, I knew that even with the Gravitational Seal having the attention of fifteen Chūnin could still lead to my death, I after all wasn't someone strong or born naturally with a lot of talent. I couldn't use the seal inside of the camp as the noise of it would likely result in everyone being aware that something is happening within the camp.

I wove a minor genjutsu around myself that would help me blend better with the foliage. I silently slithered towards the perimeter as I saw a chunin pacing and keeping an eye out for any disturbance, though I could tell he hadn't discovered me yet. I used Kagura Shingen to see that the outer layer didn't have any ninja huddled together in a group as I readied myself and sent chakra coursing to my legs. I disappeared and appeared in front of the chunin as his eyes widened. I clamped my hand over his mouth as I quickly slit his throat. I grimaced lightly as blood sprayed out of the artery that I had cut and covered me. I utilized an earth technique which buried the shinobi underground, I felt a sense of satisfaction as the shinobi was buried his horrified look making me smile lightly.

Unfortunately I didn't have time to hesitate or take a breath. I entered deeper into the encampment. Wherever I saw a flicker of movement, I killed and buried the corpse. I kept repeating the same tactic over and over again until, near the end, my face and neck were covered entirely in the blood of my enemies. When I had finally slaughtered all of the perimeter shinobi, I moved to the largest tent, where there were only six chakra signatures left.

This time I didn't linger in the shadows. I jumped straight into the fray, though without letting out a war cry to give away my approach. I rapidly threw several kunai inscribed with the Gravitational Seal, the projectiles arcing to land on either side of the large tent.

With a pulse of my chakra, the seals activated in unison, emanating a localized gravitational field amplified twenty-five times normal intensity. It wouldn't outright kill, but the crushing force would severely hinder and slow any occupants.

Sure enough, five shinobi stumbled out of the tent entrance, staggering under the incredible weight pressing down upon them. That meant there was potentially one still inside - an Uzumaki they had captured. A sliver of cold dread lanced through me. If they had tortured whoever was left there… I may have just killed one of my own kin. I cursed my lack of medical ninjutsu.

Gritting my teeth, I abruptly ended the gravitational distortion I had unleashed. Kunai flashing, I charged straight towards the reeling shinobi, their movements sluggish from the crushing forces. They had already sustained injuries from the gravitational assault, making it relatively simple to dispatch them with a flurry of slashes and thrusts. However, I noted their bodies bore signs of other lingering wounds from a separate altercation, which only made eliminating them an easier task.

I wasted no time once they fell, immediately barging into the tent. I had to know - had I just killed one of my own clan members? Creating that gravitational field had been my only choice. Exhausted as I was, directly facing six chunin would have been a death sentence. But now the coppery tang of blood coated my mouth, the entire lower half of my face wet with the fluid that had accidentally found its way inside during the fray.

I entered the flap to see…

I've always wanted to leave people on a cliffhanger. I'll be honest, I'm a bit dissatisfied with this chapter but I feel like if I don't upload it I would keep putting it off forever.

On another note, I'm never writing an infiltration scene again. That took me such a ridiculously long amount of time to do that I was just thinking of scrapping the idea altogether.

I have a (pat re on. com / spiderlite) where you can become a Patron and support me to write faster! I want to thank Bishop7053 Will for both becoming members of the Antagonist Tier. Even a dollar is appreciated!

The only reason I've continued any of my stories is because of a single fact and that is interaction!

The more you comment, reply, review the more I'll remember, "Oh, yeah. There are people waiting for the next chapter."

Finally, we now have a Discord! (bDHRZu96AM). If you want to chat with me about the stories Discord is going to be the best place!