Naruto：Immortality and the Eight Inner Gates[Double agent]

A hoarse voice pierced the silence, sending chills down Rinjin's spine and making every hair on his head stand straight up.

As the voice faded away, a tall figure materialized from the darkness. Upon closer inspection, it was none other than Isamu Inoue, the divine messenger of the Jashin Cult.

With each crack of thunder and flash of lightning, Isamu's heavily scarred face became visible beneath his hood, creating an eerily terrifying sight.

"Jesus Christ! What are you, some kind of bloodhound? How the hell did you track me all the way here?"

Ignoring Rinjin's question, Isamu found himself suddenly intrigued by this person he had previously paid little attention to. He countered with his own question:

"Immortal... No! Rinjin-kun!

Tell me, Rinjin-kun, I'm curious. For someone who was thoroughly brainwashed, what made you suddenly decide to flee the base?"

"Well... that's quite a story! You sure you want to hear it?"

"Indeed!" Isamu nodded slightly beneath his hood. He didn't mind wasting a bit of time - after all, in his eyes, the weak Rinjin posed no threat besides his immortality. As a full-fledged jonin, he had nothing to fear.

Noticing that Isamu wasn't planning to capture him immediately and instead wanted to play cat and mouse, Rinjin formulated a plan. Maintaining a calm expression, he began speaking steadily.

"There are too many reasons why I left the base.

First of all, it's the food. I'm not picky, but having nothing but food pills every single meal is unbearable. You have no idea! I've been terribly constipated lately, and every time I go, there's bleeding.

Speaking of that, the toilets at our base are absolutely awful. Forget about automatic flush toilets, even the toilet paper..." Rinjin clutched his bottom with a pained expression, complaining bitterly, "The paper is so rough it tears up my hemorrhoids every time!"

As Rinjin rambled on, the corners of Isamu's mouth twitched violently under his hood.

He had expected the immortal freak to talk about freedom, dreams, or bonds. Instead, this guy couldn't stop talking about his rear end - it was vulgarity taken to the extreme!

"Come on, you're immortal for crying out loud! Are hemorrhoids really worth complaining about? They probably heal the moment you pull your pants up! Have you ever considered how us normal people feel?!"

Suddenly, Isamu froze, his scarred face contorting as if wearing a mask of agony.

Damn it, he'd fallen for it! This was all that bastard's fault for having too many ridiculous things to criticize! He couldn't help but take the bait! No wonder that subordinate Hitoshi had warned him before departure: "If you find the immortal, don't waste time talking - just capture him immediately."

Unaware of Isamu's internal struggle, Rinjin continued chattering away.

"And another thing - we really need to address the water situation at the base!

The water tastes like limestone. I suspect everyone's teeth are turning yellow because we're drinking this unfiltered hard water."

"Enough!" Seeing Rinjin was building up steam and could potentially go on forever, Isamu growled, cutting him off.

"Save your chatter for the journey back. Now, it's time we returned!"

As his deep, raspy voice fell, a murderous atmosphere filled the alley. Isamu felt more at ease in this environment.

Rinjin seemed to have some kind of aura of irreverence about him. Isamu feared that if he talked with him any longer, he'd be drawn into more pointless banter, which would completely ruin the intimidating image he'd worked so hard to build.

"No!" Seeing Isamu's intention to take him back, Rinjin shook his head like a rattle drum.

Though he knew he probably couldn't resist this guy, he still had to make a show of defiance.

"You don't have a choice!"

Before he could finish speaking, Isamu instantly drew a kunai and threw it at Rinjin's feet with speed that would be difficult for ordinary people to track.

However, Rinjin was no longer the same person who had just crossed over. Without exaggeration, his physical abilities had improved at least tenfold compared to before.

Along with his enhanced physical capabilities, his dynamic vision had also grown remarkably sharp.

The moment Isamu made his move, Rinjin had already reacted, pushing off the ground and shooting towards the alley entrance like a gust of wind.

He was gambling - betting that Isamu wouldn't let him escape to the main street, wouldn't let him slip into the crowd.

Clearly, his gamble paid off.

At the alley entrance, Isamu's shadow clone had appeared without warning, gripping a sharp kunai.

"Useless!" Rinjin maintained his speed, charging forward like a wild bull while forming hand signs.

"*Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!*"

Rinjin's calm voice made Isamu's brows furrow tightly.

Impossible, how could this guy form hand signs and use jutsu?

The clone at the alley entrance held its kunai defensively and leaped high into the air - it seemed Isamu planned to sacrifice the clone to block Rinjin.

After completing what appeared to be hand signs, Rinjin's chest swelled up, and he spat at the airborne clone... but it was just saliva.

By now, the real Isamu behind Rinjin realized he'd been tricked.

While Rinjin's hand movements had looked convincing, they weren't actually the signs for the Great Fireball Technique at all. Even in the dark alley where he could only make out rough movements, Isamu knew this guy was just randomly gesturing.

"You damned monster, you're asking for death!"

Isamu was furious at being deceived, his anger boiling over. But he couldn't really blame himself - after all, dishonourable fighters like Rinjin were rare in the ninja world.

Normally, ninjas either concealed their jutsu to catch opponents off guard, or fought honorably with skill and strategy.

Rinjin had neither the speed nor exceptional chakra - he relied purely on deception, completely lacking in principles.

"You immortal freak, you've angered me!" The cold voice came from behind.

"I was planning to bring you back in one piece, but now, I'm going to cut you down to a torso and drag you back!"

"*Earth Release: Earth Spear!*"

Hearing this, Rinjin's heart tightened. He had tricked the clone into jumping, so this jutsu must be from the real body!

With the alley entrance right before his eyes, Rinjin instinctively reacted by diving forward. If he could just get out of this dark alley, he might still have a chance.

At that moment, a tremendous force came from beneath his feet. In the next second, Rinjin felt weightless, and when he regained his bearings, his line of sight was level with the ground. The earth spear he had anticipated never appeared.

"Heh, how does it feel to be deceived?" A pair of large feet appeared in Rinjin's vision as Isamu formed hand signs, looking down at him with mockery in his eyes.

Isamu crouched down, slowly pulling out a sharp kunai from his ninja pouch, and contemptuously patted Rinjin's face.

Rinjin sighed helplessly, showing no awareness of being captured, and looked at Isamu with an innocent expression.

"Divine Messenger, what technique was that?"

"I might as well tell you - it was the *Earth Release: Hiding Like a Mole Technique*."

Hearing this, Rinjin nodded and asked again.

"Sir, look, since I've been caught and probably won't have any chance to escape in the future, could you grant me one small request?"

Feeling assured of his victory, Isamu smiled cruelly and shook his head mercilessly.

"Rinjin-kun, the only request you can make is for me to dismember you quickly."

"No, no, no." Rinjin's neck, buried in the earth, shook with effort, seemingly unconcerned about the bloody scene to come.

"That's not my request. Divine Messenger, I just want to know - how did you manage to find me after I ran so far?"

"Heh heh~" Isamu's eyes unconsciously shifted downward towards Rinjin's heart, then quickly pretended nothing had happened.

However, his slight movement didn't escape Rinjin's notice.

Instantly, a memory flashed in his mind.

In the memory, he was bound in the base's laboratory, his limbs firmly secured by sturdy chains, and unusually, his head was covered with a black cloth hood.

Then, he felt his chest being brutally split open, his heart experiencing intense pain as if someone had stabbed it with a shovel.

At the time, he thought it was just an ordinary experiment, but now he realized these people must have done something to his heart!

After all, these cruel people never bothered hiding their experiments on his body from him.

And in the ninja world, all sorts of strange curse techniques were common, nothing surprising about it.

"It's the heart, isn't it?"

"Rinjin-kun, you're quite clever," Isamu's lips curled into a cruel smile.

"But you've realized too late. This time when we return, I plan to plant these curse seals in every bone in your body."

Hearing these inhumane, cruel words, Rinjin showed no reaction, slowly closing his eyes in an apparent gesture of resignation.

Seeing Rinjin's silence, Isamu's face twisted.

All his expectations - Rinjin's desperate struggle, his pathetic begging, his tears and wailing - none of it materialized.

He knew that Rinjin valued freedom extremely highly, otherwise why would he have wracked his brains to choose such a perfect moment to escape?

Thinking of this, Isamu grew increasingly angry, roughly grabbing Rinjin's hair and striking his face with his rough palm like a madman.

"You damn little beast, why aren't you struggling? Scream! Maybe you'll attract some onlookers! Maybe they'll even save you!"

Seeing Rinjin's cheeks swell up but still showing no reaction, Isamu felt increasingly like he was punching a cotton ball, which only fueled his rage.

"You beast, I'll gouge out your eyes and feed them to the dogs!"

With that, the increasingly frenzied Isamu's rough hands formed into claws, violently tearing at Rinjin's eyelids and grabbing his eyeballs.