Chapter 121: The Cage of Flesh

Ren pulled the massive door open, its groan echoing in the silent corridor. The cell beyond was pitch black, a void that seemed to swallow the dim torchlight from the hall. For a heartbeat, there was only stillness.

Then, a voice, low and laced with a predatory arrogance, slithered from the darkness. "A new one... I can smell you. Fresh meat. I'm going to kill you!"

Before the words had fully registered, a blur of motion erupted from the blackness. A figure, moving with impossible speed, shot toward Ren. There was no technique, no finesse—just a raw, brutal fist aimed directly at Ren's chest. Find the newest release on novęlfire.net

The impact was thunderous. Ren was thrown backward like a discarded doll, smashing into the opposite stone wall with a force that cratered the rock and sent a cloud of pulverized dust billowing into the air, obscuring the view.

"Boss!" Suigetsu yelled, his grip tightening on the Kubikiribōchō.

Sasuke's eyes widened a fraction, a flicker of alarm crossing his features before his customary mask of indifference slammed back into place.

Karin, her senses ablaze, gasped. "His chakra... it just spiked violently!"

As the dust began to settle, the scene cleared. Ren was standing, unharmed, within a cage of his own making. A skeletal structure of grey-white chakra—the ribs and a single, massive arm of a nascent Susano'o—had materialized around him. The spectral hand was clenched firmly around the fist that had struck him.

The attacker was revealed. A man with wild, orange hair, dressed in standard prisoner rags. A heavy chain, connected to a colossal iron ball, was shackled to his ankle. The most striking feature was the curse mark that crawled up the left side of his face, and the way his arm had transformed into a monstrous, scaled limb ending in vicious claws. This was Jūgo.

"Hahaha!" Jūgo laughed, a wild, unhinged sound. "Strong! You're much stronger than Kimimaro!" He seemed exhilarated by the resistance.

Ren's expression was cold. With a thought, the Susano'o's hand opened, releasing Jūgo's fist. "I did not come here to fight you," Ren stated, his voice calm yet carrying an undeniable weight. The chakra skeleton dissipated. "I came to talk."

"Talk?" Jūgo sneered, hopping back to create distance, his monstrous arm still poised.

"I'm getting you out of here."

The wild laughter died in Jūgo's throat. He stared, confusion warring with his bloodlust. "Leave? You're an idiot! Without him... I can't leave this place! The cage is necessary!"

"I will say this once more," Ren repeated, his patience clearly finite. "I am not your enemy. Come with me."

"YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!" Jūgo roared, the curse mark on his face flaring. He lunged again, a whirlwind of savage punches and kicks. Ren didn't retaliate; he simply flowed around the attacks, his movements a blur of effortless evasion. Each of Jūgo's blows shattered stone where Ren had been a microsecond before.

"Kill you! I have to kill you! You know nothing!" Jūgo screamed, his attacks growing more frenzied.

"Why won't the boss fight back?" Suigetsu grumbled, his irritation getting the better of him. "If he won't, I will!" He hefted the executioner's blade and charged. "Hey, ugly! Over here!"

The Kubikiribōchō swept toward Jūgo in a deadly arc. Sensing the new threat, Jūgo's right arm instantly underwent the same monstrous transformation, hardening with scales. He brought it up in a brutal block.

*CLANG!*

The sound of metal striking something far harder than flesh echoed through the corridor. Suigetsu's arms vibrated from the impact.

"Who are you?!" Jūgo growled, his dual-colored eyes locking onto the new combatant.

"His arm... it hardened!" Suigetsu noted, a grim smile on his face. "I remember you now! Jūgo!"

"You're a difficult one, aren't you?" Suigetsu taunted, shaking out his numb arms. "Boss, he's not the talking type!"

"Stand down, Suigetsu!" Ren commanded. "This is not a battle!"

"He's not going to listen to words! Sometimes you gotta speak his language!" Suigetsu ignored the order, swinging the massive sword again. Jūgo met him head-on, their clash sending shockwaves through the narrow space.

"ENOUGH!"

The word was a whip-crack of pure authority. In an instant, Ren was between them. The grey-white chakra of the Susano'o flared to life once more, this time forming two full arms. Each giant hand shot out, one seizing Suigetsu, the other clamping around Jūgo, lifting them both off the ground and halting their assault completely.

But more terrifying than the physical restraint was the killing intent that poured from Ren. It was a palpable wave of icy malice that sucked the warmth from the air, a promise of absolute obliteration that made the very soul shudder.

"Disobey me again," Ren's voice was a deadly whisper, his Mangekyō Sharingan burning into each of them, "and I will end you. Are we clear?"

The fight drained out of both captives instantly. Suigetsu felt a primal fear he hadn't experienced since his own imprisonment. Jūgo, for the first time, looked truly terrified. The violent impulse that drove him was frozen solid by a fear greater than its own madness.

Ren released them. The Susano'o vanished. Suigetsu dropped to the floor, gasping, his cocky demeanor utterly shattered. Jūgo scrambled backward on all fours, the curse mark receding from his body as panic took over. The monstrous warrior was gone, replaced by a trembling, frightened man.

"No... no more killing... I don't want to go outside... leave me alone!" he whimpered, scrambling back into the dark confines of his cell and slamming the door shut. Muffled sobs could be heard from within.

"Is this guy for real?" Suigetsu panted, wiping cold sweat from his brow. "What kind of split personality is this?"

"That's what I tried to tell you," Karin said, her voice tight. "The urge to kill is not him. It's a sickness. The man in there... he's the one fighting it."

Ren walked calmly to the cell door. He didn't open it. He simply spoke, his voice low but firm. "Jūgo. Kimimaro is dead."

A sharp intake of breath was heard from inside.

"But his promise does not have to die with him," Ren continued. "I will be your cage now. My strength is greater than Kimimaro's. You cannot hurt me. You do not have to fear yourself anymore. You can leave this place."

The sobbing from within the cell stopped. There was a long, heavy silence.

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