Permissions

"Lantern?"

Shinji raised an eyebrow.

He was a Lantern Bearer, while the mysterious voice claimed to be a "lantern." Didn't that mean the mysterious voice was the lantern he carried in his hand?

In other words.

This mysterious voice, which usually ignored him, was actually a treasure belonging exclusively to him.

"Is it because my permissions aren't high enough that I can't control it?"

Understanding gradually dawned on him.

The means by which that mysterious Lantern Bearer had invaded the Shinobi World, as well as the Light Marks it had left behind, should both be abilities of the lantern the other party carried.

In other words, as Shinji's permissions increased, he might eventually be able to accomplish, one by one, all the strange and unfathomable things the other party could do now.

With that thought, he asked the mysterious voice, "What permissions do I have now?"

[Junior Lantern Bearer can conceal his Lantern Shadow.]

Shinji froze when he heard this, then recalled how, when he first resisted the Hand Demon's invasion, the Hand Demon had recognized him at a glance and called him "light." This time, Rui had practically pointed out his identity as a Lantern Bearer directly.

He had found that strange before.

Only now did he understand. It turned out that beings from beyond the Shinobi World might be able to see the Lantern Shadow on him and identify him through it.

Now that he could conceal his Lantern Shadow, this was good news for him.

At least he no longer had to worry about invaders seeing through his identity at a glance.

[Junior Lantern Bearer can block external pollution.]

This was easy to understand.

Knowledge, objects, information, and so on from other worlds were deadly poisons to the Shinobi World. However, as long as they were in his hands, they would not affect the Shinobi World.

For example, the Breathing Technique he had cultivated before, as well as the threads still in his possession.

His Lantern Bearer abilities could completely block the pollution these objects would inflict on the Shinobi World.

[Junior Lantern Bearer can recruit two attendants. Attendants can block external pollution.]

Shinji's eyes lit up.

With the Shinobi World anchored by that mysterious Lantern Bearer, more and more demons would certainly invade in the future. By then, he truly would be unable to handle everything alone.

That was why, when he had been surrounded by the demons of Mount Natagumo, he had considered recruiting some helpers.

However, after learning that everything from other worlds was deadly poison to the Shinobi World, he had abandoned the idea of recruiting helpers.

Now that he knew recruiting attendants was one of the Junior Lantern Bearer's permissions, his thoughts immediately became active again.

After familiarizing himself with all his upgraded permissions, Shinji began cleaning up the battlefield.

The ravine was a complete mess. Almost nothing remained intact wherever he looked. The rocks and trees had either been sliced into fragments by Rui's blood web when he went berserk or smashed into debris by Shinji's Susanoo.

However, since Rui had been reduced to ashes beneath Amaterasu, every trace of his existence had been thoroughly erased. Not even his scent remained.

The only thing that could be considered a remnant was the small bundle of threads that had fallen into Shinji's hands.

Thus, although the surroundings looked chaotic, there was nothing worth cleaning up.

"Oh, right. There are also those Konoha Ninjas."

Remembering the Konoha Ninjas who had previously been controlled by Mother Spider Demon, Shinji found himself in a difficult position.

Those Konoha Ninjas had all seen demons and had even been controlled by them. Information about demons had already been left in their memories.

According to the "lantern."

They had all been polluted. In the future, they would slowly become beacons anchoring the two worlds together and push the entire Shinobi World into the abyss.

When he hurried to the place where the Konoha Ninjas had collapsed, Shinji's expression changed.

The Konoha Ninjas who should have been there were all gone. Only pools of blood and scraps of flesh remained on the ground.

Clearly, before pursuing him, those four demons had not spared any of the Konoha Ninjas. They had cruelly devoured them all.

Shinji let out a faint sigh. Then, with a whoosh, he vanished from the spot.

Whoosh.

Whoosh.

Not long after Shinji left, two figures landed in the forest amid the sound of air splitting.

Both were dressed as Konoha Anbu. The one wearing a fox mask and possessing silver hair was Kakashi, who had been ordered to investigate.

His team had four members, divided into two groups.

Since his group had entered the mountain from the opposite end, they had arrived somewhat later than the group that had already died at Rui's hands.

The accompanying Anbu landed beside the bloodstains. "Captain, we've found something here!"

Kakashi, who had been keeping watch nearby, immediately hurried over. Seeing the ground covered in blood like a slaughterhouse, he instantly frowned.

The Anbu touched the blood on the ground and immediately lowered his voice. "It's still warm. It was left here just now."

Kakashi immediately bit his finger, rapidly formed Hand Seals, and pressed his hand to the ground. "Summoning Jutsu!"

Bang.

A cloud of white smoke billowed up!

When the smoke dispersed, eight Ninja Dogs of various sizes appeared before Kakashi.

Kakashi immediately pointed at the bloodstains on the ground and said, "This should be a battlefield. Smell it. Can you lock onto them?"

The eight Ninja Dogs sniffed around, then all looked in the same direction.

"Pursue!"

Without the slightest hesitation, Kakashi ordered the Ninja Dogs to chase after them.

Soon, Kakashi, the accompanying Anbu, and the eight Ninja Dogs arrived at the place where the two Anbu had previously encountered Rui.

Looking at their companions' gruesome deaths.

Kakashi and the accompanying Anbu wore solemn expressions.

The brutal deaths of their two companions made them realize that the enemy who had attacked the Kikyo Mountain stronghold was probably no ordinary foe. However, death was not something extraordinary to ninjas; they had long since grown accustomed to it. Thus, they felt no sorrow and immediately followed the scent onward.

Before long, they arrived at the ravine where Shinji and Rui had fought.

"What happened here?"

The Anbu's face was full of shock.

The ravine looked as though hundreds or thousands of ninja troops had fought a great battle there. The trees and rocks alike were all in ruins.

Yet, astonishingly, there were no corpses, no bloodstains, and not even a single leftover ninja tool.

In a sense, it was practically spotless!

Kakashi was equally shocked, so he turned to the Ninja Dogs beside him.

The eight Ninja Dogs immediately spread out and began searching the ravine.

A moment later, the eight Ninja Dogs regrouped. Pakkun, the lead Ninja Dog, said to Kakashi, "We can still smell only that one scent."

Kakashi hurriedly asked, "There's only one source of the scent?"

Pakkun nodded. "Apart from the dead and injured, there's only one source of the scent!"

The accompanying Anbu was somewhat puzzled. "There was only one attacker?"

Pakkun, sitting on the ground, spread his forepaws. "In any case, we smelled only one source of the scent on the battlefield."

Kakashi thought for a moment. "Then where did he go?"

Pakkun pointed toward the path they had come from. "His scent kept moving back and forth between the battlefield in the forest and this ravine."

Kakashi knitted his brows. "And then?"

Pakkun spread his paws again. "It disappeared!"

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