Begin... That Lost City

"Take a team to Cairo and fight your way through some training. Earn a few suitable side-quest rewards."

"There's a large group of Pharaoh's Royal Guard who've inherited their legacy into the present day gathering there. We can recruit them to our cause."

"As for the City of the Dead, Kaguya-hime and I will handle the beheading."

Coming back to himself, Uchiha Xiu's lips curled up. He didn't say, "I'm done talking. Who's for it? Who's against it?"

The East Sea Team was exactly the way he wanted it.

All he had to do was give the orders.

His tactical arrangements were as usual, after all. He still had an overwhelming advantage in this instance—

The concept of "blowing things out of proportion" aside, High Priest Imhotep really did possess country-destroying power, but the Main God had no reason to forcefully boost him to that level.

As he spoke, Uchiha Xiu lifted his hand from the sand and turned to Kobayashi Yoshito and Zhao Yingkong. His meaning was plain.

"The nuclear backpack theft is behind me. That was a mission assigned to me by my family... Now, surviving in the Main God Space, killing Zhao Zhui-Kong, and winning the final team battle take precedence over everything else."

The Black-Tech Chest Binder on him still hadn't been removed. At the moment, he still looked like a androgynous, petite, young beauty.

"I'll obey your will, Captain," said Kobayashi Yoshito, a Soul Bender, with a knowing, theatrically dramatic air.

Setting aside the little gang of ruffians who'd been abandoned, no one present was a fool.

Uchiha Xiu's favoritism toward Zhao Yingkong was almost completely undisguised.

And now, he'd even handed her a Flying Thunder God Kunai!

That was something only official members could possess.

Was it purely because she was beautiful? A hostess who considered herself a stunning beauty, famous in Tokyo Kabukicho for her figure, felt a flicker of suspicion, then deliberately dismissed it.

She wasn't stupid. You had to be sharp-eyed to become a top hostess in the service industry. She understood how to read people better than anyone.

In this place called the Main God Space, every other factor should be secondary to strength!

"I'll give you a speed boost."

"Earth Release: Light-Weight Rock Technique."

"Wind Style: Great Tornado Technique."

His fingers flashed through Hand Seals, and Uchiha Xiu performed two ninjutsu in a row. The first was just a basic application, reducing everyone and the camel caravan to one-tenth of their original weight.

The second was his own creation, developed while his brain domain was active. By sacrificing Wind Release's cutting power, it lifted the entire group, provided an outer layer of protection, and carried them toward Cairo at nearly the speed of sound.

"Ah~! Ah!"

The next moment, the camels cried out in the sky. They seemed a little agitated, but not frightened enough to die of fright.

Whoosh!

Whoosh!

Once everything was in place, Uchiha Xiu floated into the air, his body like a supersonic missile breaking free of its launch vehicle.

Beside him, Kaguya-hime, her robes fluttering, spared no chakra. She used the more effective Ultra-Light-Weight Rock Technique, soaring over the desert in close pursuit.

With the Rinnegan's repelling and attracting force, could flight speed reach the next level?

The wind roared past his ears.

Uchiha Xiu's body withstood the sound barrier without the slightest discomfort.

The sun blazed overhead, and circles of white light spilled across the landscape. Waves of scorching heat shimmered in his field of vision as the monotonous desert stretched endlessly into the distance.

The central temple of Hamunaptra.

Inside the vast hall that housed the Resurrection Altar.

After taking his time arranging the magic circle, Imhotep ran his fingers along the altar's edge, feeling the roughness of the stone and the dark power overflowing from within. His mood was wonderful.

"Anck-Su-Namun, I'm sorry I kept you waiting for three thousand years."

"We'll be reunited soon."

His fingers brushed over Evelyn's face as she lay unconscious on the altar. She was the reincarnation of Seti I's daughter.

Using a Pharaoh's daughter as the sacrifice for his resurrection would surely work even better... Besides, if she hadn't been standing above, witnessed everything, and immediately called the royal guards to rush in, you wouldn't have been forced to take your own life.

"BOOM—!!!"

Impact. Explosion.

Suddenly, the massive sand wall surrounding the City of the Dead shook violently.

A tremendous storm exploded outward!

A B-rank Fire Dragon Flame Bullet went out.

Imhotep hadn't been forcibly boosted by the Main God, but he wasn't especially weak either. He had the combat strength of a double-B-rank group-main-quest target.

With the Black Book of the Dead and the enhancements from the special city beneath his feet, the desert barrier he'd set up around the outer perimeter could withstand an ordinary attack from Uchiha Xiu.

"The Sand Wall Barrier is ten kilometers tall, Master. Should we try flying over it?" Seeing that their opening attack hadn't had much effect, Kaguya-hime couldn't help suggesting.

The Byakugan gazed at the towering tide of sand before them.

A roaring giant face was quickly taking shape. Feeling the dark power about to crash down on them, she frowned slightly.

Imhotep's classic move: becoming one with nature.

From hundreds of kilometers away, he could attach his will to sandstorms or floods and create massive changes in the weather.

Its destructive power was unknown. After all, in the two original-story plots she'd crammed into her head despite being created solely for the Ninja World, Imhotep's two big attacks had both missed, achieving nothing in the end.

The damage he could do to the environment was also difficult to determine, since the films had never depicted it directly.

At the same time,

Hamunaptra beneath their feet was called the City of the Dead. In ancient Egypt, it had served as the resting place of many Pharaohs and high-ranking nobles.

So it was vast enough to be the size of an ancient city.

Under the Byakugan's all-around scrutiny, the City of the Dead held an unprecedented energy signature. It was also connected to some unknown place, like a river flowing into the sea.

The underworld?

Clearly, this world had the resurrection mechanism that Reincarnators needed to traverse the infinite worlds!

"There's no time to waste. We can't miss a guaranteed side-quest reward like saving the heroine." Casting aside his stray thoughts, Uchiha Xiu formed Hand Seals. Chakra of unimaginable heat surged and roared.

Through their mental connection, he easily drew upon the Four-Tails' power sealed inside him. Its wild chakra spilled out in an instant, enveloping his entire body in a coat of scorching lava.

Lava Release Chakra Mode, activated!

His skin turned dark red, and magma-like patterns flowed across his body. The heat was fiercer than the desert sun.

"Scorching River Rock Technique!"

Within the sealed world inside him, the Four-Tails, who was gradually getting used to the nickname Xiao Sun, let out a furious roar and began pushing itself to the limit without needing any prompting.

In an instant, ten enormous balls of lava gathered in midair. Each was nearly a hundred meters in diameter, burning like a small volcano as it streaked through the air with a scarlet tail of flame.

BOOM!

BOOOM!

The lava balls rained down on the sand wall like meteors, unleashing deafening explosions.

The wall melted and collapsed under the intense heat. The protective incantation Imhotep had formed by combining scripture with the City of the Dead's special properties was forcibly shattered by sheer violence. The sand fused into glassy crystals and flew in every direction like raindrops.

Within a few breaths, the smoke and dust cleared. The towering sand wall had become a charred ruin, revealing the entrance to the City of the Dead.

"Could mere sand possibly stop the Uchiha's flames?"

"First-class love-struck simp of ancient Egypt, I'm coming for you."

Deep inside the City of the Dead,

Imhotep, now fully restored with flesh on his body, stiffened. His whole body went cold.

Why, in an age when the gods have vanished and left only a trace of divine power in designated statues, would a Pharaoh's guard of this caliber appear?

As a three-thousand-year-old veteran who crawled out of the underworld, shouldn't I be invincible beneath gods and demons?!