Inside the room, Aburame Muta spoke.
The group fell into a long silence, while Hagoromo Yi stroked her chin, looking at the Kikaichū on the ground.
Immediately, Chakra appeared in his palm and enveloped the frenzied Kikaichū.
As Hagoromo's Chakra gradually came into contact with these Kikaichū.
These Kikaichū, as if encountering a natural enemy, charged even more frantically into the Kikaichū encirclement surrounding Aburame Muta.
Hagoromo raised an eyebrow and increased her Chakra output.
The next instant, some gas emanated from the Kikaichū shrouded in Chakra.
The collision then stopped.
The Yutoshi looked at Hagoromo in surprise and said, "Yang Release Chakra?"
"Hmm." Hagoromo nodded, looking at the dead Kikaichū.
"It can be said to have completely lost its function, and..." Aburame Muta said, raising a finger.
Several Kikaichū that had been surrounding the dead Kikaichū crawled out and towards them.
Sizzle--
With a faint, piercing sound, the dead Kikaichū were instantly split apart.
Hagoromo's eyes narrowed slightly, an empty shell...
"As the gas dissipated, the internal structures of these Kikaichū completely dissolved."
Aburame Muta explained.
"Rather than being contagious, it's more accurate to say that contact with some remaining debris allowed it to enter the Kikaichū's interior and cause infection."
"That's why it's like this," the Yutoshi concluded after observing for a while.
"Can you be sure?" Hagoromo asked, after all, there's a huge difference between contagious infection and infection from residue.
"We need more materials, and we haven't even started experimenting yet." The Yutoshi shook his head, relying solely on what he had at hand.
Making a direct judgment is too arbitrary.
"Let's investigate tonight," Hagoromo said, rising to her feet.
There's no other way; the whereabouts of the elders of Yugakure are unknown, and now we can only actively search for them based on this information.
Aburame Muta and the others exchanged glances; this was the only way.
--
Night--
Even though there are still tourists around, the number has decreased significantly compared to the morning.
Hagoromo and the others, dressed in black, evaded some patrolling Yugakure.
They headed straight for the place where the Yutoshi and the others had gone that morning.
Hagoromo stood on a tree trunk to the side, using the dense foliage to conceal her figure, her gaze fixed on a spot not far away.
This place is close to the most luxurious hot spring in Yugakure, but it is unusually quiet at this moment.
Hagoromo turned his head to look at Aburame Muta, who nodded, closed his eyes, and raised his hand with a finger pointing upwards.
"Disperse!"
One by one, Kikaichū flew out of Muta's clothes and spread in all directions, while Hagoromo leaned against the tree trunk with his eyes closed and waited.
After a while, Aburame Muta finally opened her eyes and said, "Confirmed, there are no ninjas around for the time being."
"Thoroughly search this area, and be careful."
Hagoromo straightened up and issued the order.
"Yes!" the three people standing to the side responded in unison, and then immediately dispersed.
Hagoromo then leaped lightly to the spot where her senses were confused and stopped.
This is the place where the remaining abnormal Chakra is most concentrated in the vicinity.
"What kind of Chakra can confuse the senses?"
He circled around the Hagoromo and found almost nothing suspicious.
After searching carefully again, Hagoromo shook her head in disappointment.
If the Cat San San were here, perhaps he could use his powerful sense of smell to find it.
Eh--
Hagoromo patted her head helplessly, feeling confused.
The next second, he formed a hand seal and slammed it onto the ground.
Thud--
A puff of smoke dissipated, and in the center, the Cat San San appeared, looking completely bewildered, with a red bean bun in its mouth.
"Meow?"
The Cat San San, who was preparing to feast, looked around and saw Hagoromo standing in front of him.
Unable to contain his anger, he shouted, "Yu...!"
Before she could even speak, Hagoromo covered her mouth and then leaped away from where she stood.
After a while, a patrol of Yugakure arrived at the spot where Hagoromo and the others had just been.
The leader waved his hand, signaling his men to look around.
Hidden in the Anbu Hagoromo, Yu Yi raised her index finger at the Cat San San, signaling him to be quiet.
He then observed the Yugakure searching the area.
After a while, the scouts returned one by one. One of them came to the Yugakure from Yugakure and said, "Sir, we didn't find any suspicious people or places."
"Was that just my imagination?"
The leader of the Yugakure from Yugakure was dissatisfied with this answer, and while speaking, he paced around, looking at his surroundings.
"Where is Elder Izumi? Has he not been found yet?"
Having found nothing, the Yugakure from Yugakure asked his subordinates.
"No, we've searched almost every corner of the village these past few days, but there's still no trace of it."
The subordinate shook his head and said.
"Let's go check out other locations."
The eyes of the Hagoromo in the shadows were unfathomable. The "Elder Izumi" they were talking about was the elder who had relayed the message to Konoha.
So, even the people in their own village can't find him?
Suddenly, Hagoromo felt a movement beneath her feet.
Looking down, he saw the Cat San San tugging at his trouser leg, pointing in the direction of the Yugakure.
Hagoromo looked up and saw that the Yugakure that had just arrived had already left and gone far away.
Instead of leaving immediately, Hagoromo squatted down and whispered to the Cat San San:
"Have you sensed that strange Chakra here?"
The Cat San San, scratched its neck and replied, "Are you talking about that kind of eerie-looking Chakra?"
"Watching?" Hagoromo blinked. After all, if he could see that strange Chakra, he wouldn't have needed to summon the Cat San San.
"Ah, where those people were just standing, there's a large mass of energy that looks like Chakra."
"However, it's about to dissipate."
The Cat San San, pointed its front paws towards a spot not far away.
He then pointed to his pupils and said, "Once you activate the Symbiosis Technique, you'll be able to see."
Without hesitation, Hagoromo stood up and clapped her hands together.
As the eyes opened, cat-like patterns appeared on the irises, red Demon Crest emerged at the corners of the eyes, and the hair turned white, with the ends slightly longer and fluffy.
His all-black attire turned crescent-white due to the use of Sage Mode.
However, Hagoromo stared in shock at the arena, at the place he had almost searched thoroughly.
At this moment, right in the center, a mysterious Chakra formed a pattern of circles and triangles.
In Hagoromo's pupils at this moment, the formation was emanating a repulsive aura, as well as a blood-red Chakra that seemed to be intertwined with the air.
Just as the Cat San San said, it does look very eerie.
"What's going on with this Chakra..." Hagoromo murmured.
"An aura even more repulsive than that of a wicked demon." The Cat San San crawled slowly to the center, its nose twitching.