SWNOVELXO Chapter 4: Forge The Vessel to Perfection.
The rain was relentless, as it always was in the Land of Rain. It fell in steady sheets, a cold and unyielding force that seeped into the bones of the living and the cracks of the broken. Amatsu walked through the ruins of the Rain Village, his dark eyes scanning the abandoned streets with a detachment that bordered on disdain. The echoes of his earlier encounter with Yahiko, Konan, and Nagato lingered in his mind, not as a memory to cherish but as a curiosity to analyze.
He had observed their hunger, their resolve, and their desperation. They were tools—raw and unshaped, but tools nonetheless. Yahiko's fiery determination, Konan's cautious pragmatism, and Nagato's quiet intensity all spoke of potential. But potential alone was meaningless without power to shape it. The world had already taught Amatsu that lesson in his second life: ideals without strength were nothing but a death sentence.
They cling to their dreams like drowning men clutching at straws, he thought as his footsteps echoed against the cracked stone beneath him. I wonder how long they'll last before the weight of reality drags them under.
He paused, his gaze falling on a crumbling structure that might have once been a home. The roof had caved in, and the walls were blackened with soot, but it would serve his purpose. The faint metallic scent of rust hung in the air, mingling with the dampness of decay. Amatsu stepped inside, his movements silent, and surveyed his surroundings.
The remnants of a broken world lay scattered before him: shards of shattered weapons, fragments of torn fabric, and the faint outline of a family's life now reduced to ashes. He knelt down and picked up a rusted kunai, turning it over in his hands. Its edge was dulled, its surface corroded—a fitting symbol of the weakness that had consumed this place.
"This will do," he murmured, his voice low and devoid of emotion. His gaze swept the room, calculating and precise. "A graveyard of failure. A forge for perfection."
He set the kunai down and reached into his pouch, retrieving a blade of his own. Its edge gleamed faintly in the dim light, sharp and unyielding. Without hesitation, he brought the blade to his forearm and made a shallow cut. The pain was sharp and immediate, a hot sting that sent crimson droplets cascading down his pale skin. Amatsu watched silently, his expression unchanging.
---
System Notification:
[Buff Detected: Natural Regeneration (Minor). Buff Duration Set to Infinite.]
---
The wound began to close almost instantly, the blood flow slowing as the edges of the cut knitted themselves together. Within seconds, there was no trace of the injury—no scar, no lingering pain. Amatsu tilted his head slightly, watching the process with clinical detachment.
"So the System reacts immediately, no matter the damage," he murmured. "It doesn't just heal—it optimizes."
Curiosity stirred within him. He made another cut, this one deeper, the blade slicing into muscle. The pain flared again, stronger this time, but Amatsu didn't flinch. He observed the System's response, noting the speed and efficiency with which the wound closed. Each repetition seemed to refine the process further, as though the System itself were adapting to his experiments.
"This body is no longer mine," he said softly, his voice calm and emotionless. "It's a forge. A vessel for perfection."
---
System Notification:
[Buff Detected: Muscle Recovery (Moderate). Buff Duration Set to Infinite.]
---
Satisfied for now, Amatsu turned his attention to a heavy wooden beam that lay buried beneath a pile of debris. It was cracked and splintered, but its weight was intact. He approached it, sliding his hands beneath its bulk. With a sharp exhale, he lifted.
The beam was heavier than it appeared, the strain pulling at his muscles and sending a dull ache through his shoulders and back. But before the discomfort could take root, the System intervened.
---
System Notification:
[Debuff Detected: Muscle Strain. Debuff Removed.]
---
The pain vanished as though it had never existed. Amatsu lifted the beam higher, his movements fluid and precise. He held it there for a moment before setting it down with a soft thud. His lips curled into a faint smirk, though the expression carried no warmth.
"Strength without limits," he muttered. "Weakness is nothing but an illusion. An obstacle to be erased."
--
Amatsu knelt on the damp ground, his focus shifting inward. He could feel the sluggish flow of chakra within him, uneven and unrefined. In his second life, chakra had been a weapon, but mastering it had required years of grueling discipline. Now, with the System, those limitations no longer applied.
He closed his eyes, concentrating on the energy coursing through his body. The System detected the inefficiency immediately.
---
System Notification:
[Buff Detected: Chakra Circulation (Minimal). Buff Intensity Increased.]
---
The sluggish flow transformed into a smooth, powerful current. Amatsu opened his eyes, watching as a faint glow of chakra formed around his hands. It was sharper now, denser, and more potent. He clenched his fist, feeling the difference in the energy. It was no longer raw and untamed—it was precise, optimized.
He extended his arm, forming a single seal. A small flame flickered to life in his palm, its light casting dancing shadows on the ruined walls. The fire burned steadily, requiring almost no effort to maintain. Amatsu extinguished it with a flick of his wrist. "Even chakra bends to perfection," he murmured.
---
Among the scattered debris, Amatsu found a cracked vial, its contents dark and viscous. He uncorked it, the acrid scent of poison wafting into the air. Without hesitation, he drank it.
The effects were immediate. His throat burned, his stomach churned, and his vision blurred. The poison coursed through his veins like fire, bringing him to his knees. But before it could do lasting damage, the System intervened.
---
System Notification:
[Debuff Detected: Poison (Moderate). Debuff Removed.]
---
Amatsu straightened, his breathing steady, the effects of the poison fading as quickly as they had come. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, his expression unreadable. "Even toxins are meaningless," he said quietly, setting the empty vial down.
Next, he retrieved a rusted blade from the floor and heated it over a small flame until it glowed red. Without hesitation, he pressed the blade to his palm. The searing pain was immediate, the smell of burning flesh filling the air.
---
System Notification:
[Debuff Detected: Pain Sensation. Intensity Reduced.]
---
The pain dulled, becoming a distant thrum in the back of his mind. Amatsu watched as the burn began to heal, the charred flesh replaced with smooth, unblemished skin. He flexed his fingers, marveling at the System's efficiency.
"Pain, poison, exhaustion—none of it holds meaning anymore," he muttered. "This body is no longer human. It is a tool, and tools do not feel."
---
Amatsu stood amidst the wreckage, his body unscathed despite the punishment he had inflicted upon it. The rain had begun to ease, the faint light of dawn breaking through the clouds. He gazed at the horizon, his dark eyes reflecting the dim light.
"pwrfection..." he said, his voice low but resolute. "Perfection is within reach."
Amatsu stood in silence for a moment, his dark eyes scanning the ruins around him. His experiments had yielded promising results, but they had also revealed limitations. The System was adaptive, constantly refining his body's processes, but it wasn't omnipotent. Chakra overload, while brief, still caused disruptions. Pushing his body to extreme thresholds triggered temporary spasms before the System could stabilize him. These were vulnerabilities, cracks in the foundation of perfection that he couldn't ignore.
It isn't enough, he thought, his fists clenching as he turned his gaze back to the remnants of the shelter. The body must be flawless. There can be no room for failure.
The rain outside softened to a drizzle, the rhythmic patter on the broken roof now faint and uneven. Amatsu moved to the center of the room, his mind racing with calculations and hypotheses. He had tested pain resistance, healing, and chakra refinement, but there was one more aspect of his abilities that required exploration: genjutsu resistance.
---
Amatsu had always considered the mind to be the greatest vulnerability of any being. Even the most powerful warriors could be brought to their knees by illusions that preyed on their fears and doubts. In his second life, he had witnessed generals and kings crumble under the weight of carefully crafted lies. Even Kaguya, for all her strength, had been betrayed by those she trusted.
Trust... The word left a bitter taste in his mouth.
He sat cross-legged on the damp floor, closing his eyes and focusing inward. The chakra within him flowed steadily now, refined by the System's enhancements. He concentrated, bringing his mind into a state of calm. Then, he deliberately disrupted that calm.
Amatsu visualized the faces of those who had betrayed him in his second life: the advisors who whispered lies into the ears of his people, the soldiers who turned their blades against him, the friends who abandoned him when he needed them most. The memories surged forward like a tidal wave, threatening to drown him. His breath hitched, his hands trembling slightly as the emotions clawed at the edges of his mind.
---
System Notification:
[Debuff Detected: Emotional Instability. Debuff Removed.]
---
The wave of emotion receded as quickly as it had come. Amatsu opened his eyes, his breath steady once more. The System had intervened, stabilizing his mind and banishing the illusions of the past. But this was only a self-induced test. True genjutsu would be far more insidious, far more dangerous.
He reached into his pouch and retrieved a small mirror, its surface cracked but still reflective. Staring into its fractured depths, he began to weave a basic genjutsu, one designed to feed on fear. The reflection in the mirror shifted, warping into an image of his younger self—frail, bedridden, and dying. The boy in the mirror stared back at him with hollow eyes, his lips moving silently, as though whispering accusations.
Amatsu felt the genjutsu take hold, the edges of his vision darkening as the illusion tightened its grip on his mind. A lesser man might have succumbed, but Amatsu's will was ironclad. He focused inward, calling upon the System.
---
System Notification:
[Debuff Detected: Genjutsu Influence (Low). Debuff Removed.]
---
The image in the mirror dissolved, the illusion shattering like glass. Amatsu exhaled slowly, setting the mirror aside. While the System had successfully negated the genjutsu, he knew this was only the beginning. Stronger genjutsu, wielded by skilled opponents, would require greater resistance.
"I must go further," he muttered. His voice echoed faintly in the empty room. "The mind must be as unyielding as the body. There can be no weakness."
---
Amatsu stood, his gaze turning to the broken walls around him. The experiments had drained the resources of this shelter, and it was no longer suitable for his needs. He stepped outside, the cool drizzle washing over his face. The ruined streets stretched before him, silent and lifeless. But far in the distance, he could see faint plumes of smoke rising from what might have been a campfire.
Yahiko, Konan, and Nagato. The trio had left an impression, not because of their ideals but because of their potential. They were raw, unshaped—pieces of iron waiting to be forged. Amatsu wasn't sentimental enough to consider them allies, but he wasn't foolish enough to dismiss them entirely. They could serve a purpose, if only as stepping stones on his path.
His feet carried him forward, his mind already planning his next steps. The System was evolving, adapting to his demands, but there was still room for improvement. He needed to expose himself to greater challenges, greater dangers, to push the limits of what his body could endure.
Immortality isn't simply the absence of death, he thought. It is the absence of weakness. The absence of failure.
---
As the hours passed, Amatsu ventured deeper into the ruins, moving further away from the remnants of civilization. The rain-soaked landscape gave way to jagged hills and narrow valleys, the air growing colder with each step. Here, the ruins were older, their origins long forgotten. Stone walls covered in moss stood like sentinels, watching over a land that time itself seemed to have abandoned.
Amatsu found a narrow cave nestled between two cliffs. The entrance was obscured by overgrown vines, but the space inside was dry and secluded. It was perfect.
For the next several days, he remained in isolation, subjecting himself to a relentless regimen of tests and experiments. He pushed his body to its limits, running until his legs gave out, then forcing himself to rise and continue. He drained his chakra to the point of collapse, only to let the System stabilize him and begin the process again. He consumed poisons and toxins, testing the extent of his resistance. He exposed himself to fire, to freezing temperatures, to the sharp sting of blades.
Each time, the System responded.
---
System Notifications:
[Debuff Detected: Physical Fatigue. Debuff Removed.]
[Debuff Detected: Chakra Depletion. Debuff Removed.]
[Debuff Detected: Poison (Severe). Debuff Removed.]
[Debuff Detected: Frostbite. Debuff Removed.]
---
The days blurred together in a cycle of pain and recovery, each test refining his body further. His muscles grew denser, his chakra flow smoother, his senses sharper. But it wasn't just the physical changes that mattered. Amatsu could feel the shift in his mind as well. The System wasn't simply a tool—it was a part of him, an extension of his will. And as he pushed himself further, it began to evolve.
On the fifth day, he sat cross-legged in the center of the cave, his breaths slow and steady. The air around him seemed to hum with energy, the faint glow of chakra illuminating the dark space. He opened his eyes, his gaze sharp and piercing.
"This is what it means to be unbreakable," he said softly. His voice carried a weight that seemed to settle over the cave like a shroud. "This is what it means to transcend humanity."
He stood, his movements fluid and precise. The cave walls seemed to press in around him, the air heavy with the scent of moss and damp stone. But Amatsu felt none of it. His mind was clear, his body steady, his resolve absolute. There was still work to be done, but the foundation had been laid.
As he stepped out of the cave and into the cold light of dawn, a faint smile touched his lips. The rain had stopped, the sky above washed in pale shades of gray and blue. This land was broken, its people weak, its future uncertain. But Amatsu had no intention of leaving it that way.
"This world," he whispered, his voice heavy with the echoes of loss, "has broken me, torn from me all I held dear, and left my dreams to wither in the ashes of betrayal. But I will not falter." His gaze pierced the horizon like a blade, cold and resolute, yet burning with unquenchable fire.
"This world will bow—not in reverence, but in recompense. Every stone will be reforged, every flaw burned away, until nothing fragile remains. I will carve from its ruins a perfection unyielding, a creation unbreakable, a testament to all that was taken from me."
He turned toward the horizon, his figure disappearing into the mist. The path ahead was long, but Amatsu was patient. Perfection wasn't achieved in a day—it was forged through fire and blood, through sacrifice and ambition. And Amatsu would stop at nothing to claim it.