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"That seal of yours doesn't have any provisions of that." Jugo pointed out.

"Yes, but this is the best I can offer you. Since you have seen the seal there is no way I will let you go. But I can promise that I am a better man that that snake traitor." Rei said. This made Jugo think more deeply, as Orochimaru really wasn't the torch bearer of humanity. He was there for Kimimaro and even then it didn't look like he had a good future ahead. He wanted to save his friend but he didn't know how. And him being exchanged was the only way he could help his friend.

Jugo closed his eyes and let out a long breath. He had spent years searching for someone capable of stopping the monster inside him. Orochimaru had offered hope but never a cure. Kimimaro had offered companionship but could never restrain him whenever the bloodlust consumed him. Now, sitting before him was someone who had not only defeated him head-on, but had also presented him with something that might truly solve the problem he had carried his entire life, if the contract was real.

It was frightening, perhaps even more frightening than Orochimaru's experiments, because this one wasn't temporary.

"... Fine. I don't have enough reason to trust you... but I have even less reason to refuse." Rei didn't interrupt.

"If what you said is true..." Jugo continued while looking down at the contract one last time.

"... then this might be the first real chance I've ever had." He picked up the pen that Rei had provided and proceeded to sign the paper. The paper turned into specks of light and in the air and in the next moment he felt a sudden jolt in his mind.

"... What..." His breathing became uneven. For years there had always been something whispering inside his head. A constant pressure urging him toward violence, destruction and slaughter. Sometimes it was faint and sometimes it screamed so loudly that he couldn't hear his own thoughts. Suddenly now. There was none. Rei issued the first command of never to lose himself to Jugo, and now that command was implemented on Jugo, involuntarily. Jugo meanwhile hadn't expected that.

He signed thinking that if anything went wrong, this boy named Rei would come and stop him, but suddenly seeing the voices in his head disappear made him shudder. His crimson eyes widened as he instinctively activated the Curse Mark once more. The familiar black markings spread rapidly across his body before Sage Transformation consumed him entirely. Horns emerged, his muscles expanded and his appearance became every bit as savage and terrifying as before. Yet his mind remained perfectly clear.

No, it was being forcefully suppressed. It was there but his body wouldn't listen to the words of the whisper. The next moment he was able to get back to his original appearance. He was beyond amazed. Jugo took a slow breath.

"... This... this is what control feels like." Rei smiled seeing the disbelief written across Jugo's face. That alone was worth everything. For someone who had spent his entire life chained by instincts he could neither understand nor suppress, even a single moment of silence inside his own mind must have felt nothing short of miraculous.

"Now comes my turn." Jugo looked up in confusion as he didn't understand what he meant, but the next moment his eyes went wide. Rei's body began to change. The natural energy entered him so effortlessly that Rei didn't even have to meditate. It flooded every muscle, every organ and every pathway inside his body as though it had always belonged there. He didn't even understand the concept of natural energy before but suddenly his body seemed to know and accept this foreign entity with vigor.

Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings. But it also came with it's drawback, the nature of savagery and brutality, but that died instantly that it showed up in his mind. And that wasn't the only shock that happened to Rei, or to his body. The moment the Senjutsu mixed with his chakra, Thor's physique reacted instinctively. BOOOOOM! A violent shockwave exploded outward.

The ground beneath Rei shattered into dozens of cracks while an invisible pressure swept through the entire forest, bending trees almost ninety degrees before countless trunks snapped apart under the sheer force alone. Golden arcs of lightning danced across Rei's body without him consciously summoning them. His muscles tightened as overwhelming physical power coursed through every fiber of his being.

"... What?" Jugo instinctively stumbled backwards. Rei himself looked down at his own hands. His dark scales on his forearm and hands were strikingly different now. He could also change his form and even change them into canons with which he could fly and blast others. His clothes fluttered violently despite there being no wind while tiny bolts of electricity leapt between his fingers. The golden lightning was what really came as a surprise.

He could feel that his lightning chidori would also be now golden in color when he would senjutsu. He couldn't tell why it happened or if this kind of lightning was more lethal but he was happy to see a sudden change in his ability as it meant that his physique and chakra were compatible. Curious, Rei casually swung his arm toward a distant tree, intending nothing more than to test the feeling. BOOOOOOM! The air itself detonated.

The shockwave alone erased the ancient tree from existence before continuing onward, flattening everything in its path. A massive trench stretched across the forest for hundreds of meters as though a giant invisible blade had carved through the earth itself. Both Rei and Jugo stood frozen.

"... I barely used any strength." Rei muttered. Jugo could only stare silently at the devastation. He had read the words that his ability would get transferred to Rei, but he didn't pay much heed as he felt that this was just a seal but it seemed that the contract he had just signed was beyond what he had imagined. Rei meanwhile was thinking of how to control his strength as he forced his senjutsu to recede now. While Jugo looked at everything like it was a dream.

"I know you have more questions, but for now, I will send you to a place where you can live your life better. Ask for Karin. She will explain you."

"What? Who? Where?" Jugo was confused but before he could get some answers, Rei forcefully sent him to MCU. That was better for him as there he would get more exposure and get to know what he signed up for. Rei watched Jugo disappear before finally allowing himself a moment to breathe. The biggest objective of this entire trip had been accomplished. Orochimaru had been humiliated, Jugo had been secured and the Ryuchi Cave contract was now in his possession. Everything else was merely a bonus.

Well there were no bonus, but whatever, he will take his revenge on that creepy thing later. With no further reason to remain there, Rei immediately turned around and dashed back through the forests of the Land of Fire, retracing the same path he had taken earlier. Hours of travel passed in silence before he finally arrived at the clearing where he had fought Baki.

The battlefield had long since become quiet, with only broken trees and shattered earth remaining as proof that a fierce battle had once taken place there. Rei walked to the exact spot where he had buried the Sand jonin before crouching down and placing his palm against the ground. The sealing formula immediately responded to its creator. Countless black markings spread across the earth before the soil slowly opened apart.

Moments later Baki's unconscious body rose back to the surface, still wrapped in layers of fuinjutsu that had completely suppressed his chakra ever since Rei had defeated him with the Rasengan. The jonin hadn't moved even once during the entire time he had remained imprisoned beneath the earth. With a simple flick of his fingers, the sealing chains dissolved while leaving Baki unconscious. Rei then lifted the jonin over his shoulder without much effort.

Killing Baki would've certainly removed one capable enemy from Sunagakure, but keeping him alive was far more valuable. After all, dead men couldn't become excuses. If anyone questioned where he had disappeared to during the latter half of the invasion, the answer was already lying unconscious on his shoulder. He had pursued the fleeing Sand jonin beyond Konoha, engaged him in a prolonged battle and only managed to subdue him after hours of fighting.

Of course this guy could contradict, and even if he did with the amount of time, it wouldn't matter Rei could always say that he was lying, and he didn't think that Konoha would try to ask much from this man, as according to story Sunagakure was going to surrender.

"Let's head back." The next moment Rei vanished into the trees at full speed, carrying the unconscious Baki back toward Konoha.