Under the dim sky, the entire village lay beneath a veil of shadow.
In one part of the village, something like a black hole swallowed the surrounding light. It made the area look extremely strange; even Hyuga Soki's Byakugan could not see through the darkness to make out what was inside.
"It's here. No mistake."
They had already cleared the entire village and had not found the oni that was supposed to be here—except for this place.
When they had cleared out the Puppet Corpses wandering through the village, it had been easier than expected.
The Anbu team that had come to seal the place before them had contributed greatly, even though they had ultimately failed their mission.
They had still cleared out most of the Puppet Corpses.
Where they had found the previous team's bodies, there was now a circular crater, as neat as though it had been carved out with a blade.
That was the final line of defense carved onto the Oni People: the Reverse Four Symbols Sealing!
After finding this ninjutsu in Root and discussing it, the village had soon carved the technique onto every Oni Person.
Kakashi and the others searched the surrounding area but found no other bodies.
They knew those bodies had already been swallowed by the Reverse Four Symbols Sealing.
After temporarily settling the bodies, they came here.
Suddenly, Kakashi threw himself to the right.
The other two immediately left where they stood as well.
When they looked back, an old woman dressed like a farmer and holding a pair of scissors stood where they had just been.
Her back was hunched, and her body was covered in age spots... or perhaps corpse spots?
Her two sunken, clouded eyes stared blankly at Kakashi, who stood directly before her—or rather, it.
"This isn't