"I'd advise you not to touch her. Otherwise, the consequences may be more than all of Iwagakure can bear."
A calm voice rang out. Everyone was startled at once and instinctively looked in its direction. Not far away, a figure stood silently. Wrapped from head to toe in a black robe, he blended perfectly into the nighttime forest.
"Who goes there?" Iwagakure's Elite Jonin immediately stepped forward, his face full of vigilance. To have someone get this close before noticing them only after they spoke was already an extremely dangerous thing.
What was more, their squad had a sensory-type Jonin. He discreetly glanced to the side, only to see the sensory-type Jonin subtly shake his head. His heart immediately sank.
"Who, you ask?" the Black-Robed Man said softly, as though deep in thought. After a moment, he said, "I have many names. For now, you may call me 'Owl.' Of course, I prefer the name Lu Xuan."
He raised his head slightly. With a ninja's eyesight, at such a close distance, they should have been able to see his face even in complete darkness.
Yet something bizarre happened. They were less than five meters apart, but when he raised his head, all they could see was his smooth chin, smooth in a way almost like a woman's. Yet as their gazes traveled upward, they could not make out his features.
That was not quite right, either. Even the Iwagakure ninja could not describe what they were feeling. They had clearly seen him, yet they could not remember him. It was as if they could see his face clearly while looking at him, but the moment they looked away, it became blurred. They had never encountered anything so strange.
The Black-Robed Man clearly had no intention of considering their feelings. He