Where the Heart Shone, Illusion Became Reality

"Heh heh, now let's see how you escape!"

Iron Sand looked at Hagoromo standing in the sea of fire, his expression extremely ferocious.

"Go! Bury him!"

Iron Sand shouted to his two colleagues who had also escaped beside him, and the two nodded and began to run along the edge of the sea of fire.

Hagoromo smirked as she watched the three Sunagakure Jonin gradually form a triangular formation.

As the three began to raise their hands and form hand seals, Hagoromo was taken aback.

This seal is--

"It's over! You bastards from Konoha!"

Iron Sand shouted loudly, and then the three of them slammed their hands on the ground at the same time.

"Ninja Art· Sand Waterfall Funeral!"

The surrounding ground seemed to groan in agony. Hagoromo looked down at the ground beneath her feet, and in an instant, it turned into sand, then seemed to come alive.

Boom--

The massive sand surged high like a giant wave, pressing towards the Hagoromo from all directions without leaving any blind spots.

Rumble--!

The moment the Hagoromo robe was concealed, the entire sandy area trembled, and within moments a huge crater nearly half a kilometer in diameter appeared on the spot.

After completing the technique, the three Sunagakure Jonin all panting heavily; even when all three of them activated the technique together, it was extremely taxing.

Iron Sand stared at the giant pit, his face grim.

Even though they killed Hagoromo, a genius of Konoha, their side lost dozens of Chunin and Genin.

It's important to know that many of these people are from powerful families, even if they are just peripheral figures.

"Iron Sand, is he dead...?"

Beside him, the Jonin who had just been manipulating the puppet asked in a slightly Jonin voice.

"Even if he were Minato Namikaze alive today, he absolutely couldn't escape such a grand Sand Waterfall Funeral!"

Iron Sand sensed the ground beneath its surface and responded coldly.

The other two exchanged a glance, their eyes still filled with fear.

After all, this guy from Konoha is just too terrifying.

"Let's go back and report, or the village will be in turmoil."

Iron Sand stood up; that attack had buried his companion's body.

Forget about recycling, there's not even a trace left.

"Okay." The other two nodded, their faces extremely grim, clearly having realized what was going on.

Just then, the pupils of the two Jonin who had only taken a few steps dilated instantly.

Snap--

As the figure in the Hagoromo descended, Sunagakure Jonin slowly Jonin, clutching his neck.

"Damn it! How could you possibly have escaped!"

Iron Sand roared, his face contorted with rage.

"Who said I was fighting you in my true form?"

Hagoromo coldly stared at the lone survivor, Iron Sand, knowing full well that Sha Tie was deliberately surrounding him. How could he be so naive as to stand still?

However, it was quite effective.

Hagoromo glanced at the two corpses of Sunagakure Jonin behind him, and then at the person in front of him.

"Wind Release: Vacuum Serial Waves!"

Like a machine gun, gas bullets were spat out from the Iron Sand mouth, aimed directly at the Hagoromo.

Hagoromo a light step, Yu Yi vanished in an instant.

Iron Sand looked around with an unpleasant expression, but still couldn't find Hagoromo Robe.

"Damn it! It happened again! I clearly didn't sense him! He couldn't have jumped out of my perception range in an instant and then reappeared!"

Iron Sand was nearly driven mad by Hagoromo Robe and shouted in all directions.

"Is it possible that you were already under Genjutsu when you first started tracking me?"

"Didn't you notice? My teammates have all disappeared?"

The figure of the Hagoromo reappeared, and a Kunai was aimed directly at the neck of the Iron Sand.

"Genjutsu..."

On his deathbed, upon hearing these words, Iron Sand unconsciously recalled the scene from the very beginning.

So—it was around that time?

As blood splattered, Iron Sand's entire body collapsed forward.

Whoosh--whoosh--

In the dense forest, Muta and his Yutoshi appeared.

Both of them wore expressions of shock, after all, from beginning to end, this group of ninjas seemed to be controlled by Hagoromo like dogs.

The Ninjutsu was indeed activated, but it was all aimed at their own people.

All around Hagoromo were the corpses of the pursuing Sand Shinobi, each with a look of terror on their face.

Hagoromo reached out and rubbed her temples, using the Yin Release: Heart-Illuminating Realm.

The system previously rewarded me with what can be described as the use of the Yin Release system, which includes various Genjutsu.

Just like when they controlled the clan leader of the Ibu Clan, this was one of the methods of manipulation.

The current method of group control is different, except that it no longer relies on those Black Threads.

This group control technique can immerse people in a world of Genjutsu without their knowledge, and the conditions for its activation are as follows.

It's very simple; it involves releasing Yin Release Chakra to control the five senses. It takes more effort than ordinary Genjutsu, but it's surprisingly effective.

The Heart-Illuminating Realm, as the name suggests, is where the void becomes real!

It is similar to Kurama Yakumo's Genjutsu, but it has a different characteristic.

Hagoromo uses his own Yin Release Chakra to create a force field, and anyone within that range...

He would then directly control her, and although there were distance limitations and the consumption was quite high, Hagoromo felt a headache coming on in just a short time.

"Lord Hagoromo?"

The Yutoshi walked over, looking at Hagoromo with a worried expression.

"It's alright, just call someone over. These things require specialized personnel to recycle."

Hagoromo pointed to the scattered weapons and the intact puppet around them; these were all poisoned.

"Yes!" The Yutoshi nodded and immediately began making contact.

Hagoromo Yi walked over and tapped the puppet.

It's a very strange substance; it looks like wood, but when you tap it, it feels like steel.

"Lord Hagoromo, the Sand Shinobi's puppets have always been their trump card; the puppet-making techniques have almost never been revealed."

Muta explained from the side, Hagoromo nodded, "That's not surprising."

--

The Sand Shinobi's main camp.

An elderly woman with gray hair was resting with her eyes closed, and the entire tent was completely quiet.

Snap--Snap--

The footsteps grew closer, and the old woman, who had been keeping her eyes closed, frowned and opened them to look.

A Jonin wearing a white headscarf, a distinctive feature of Sand Shinobi, rushed in.

"Chiyo- sama--!"

"Hmph!" Chiyo snorted lightly, which immediately silenced the Jonin who rushed Jonin.

After all, the person in front of them was a veteran ninja who had been active since the time of the Second Kazekage, and his strength and status were incomparable to those of them, the younger generation.

"What's up?"

Seeing that the Jonin who had run over Jonin in such a hurry, Chiyo finally spoke up and asked.

"After Iron Sand led dozens of Chunin and two Jonin to pursue the ninja who had been harassing the camp, there has been no news of him since."

"Just now, the personnel in charge of the patrol reported that they found some traces in a dense forest on the border of the Land of Rivers."

"Iron Sand and the others—they're probably all dead."

Below, the Jonin who was reporting Jonin an eye on Chiyo's expression, and his voice gradually lowered as he finished speaking.

After all, Chiyo, sitting above, had a dark cloud over her face.

"Any news from Iwagakure?"

The Sand Shinobi troops haven't launched any offensives at the border, waiting for the Iwagakure side to make their move.

However, after so long, we still haven't received a single message.

"Not yet." The Jonin who reported shook his head.

"Increase patrols, don't let a single rat escape!" Chiyo said coldly, her eyes narrowed.

"Yes!"