On the other side, Uchiha Ling's squad was rapidly closing in on Stone Burial Ravine.
Hyuga Tokuma's Byakugan swept across the path ahead, his brow furrowing slightly. "Captain Ling, something feels very wrong about that stretch of canyon ahead."
"What is it?" Namikaze Minato asked warily.
"I can't put my finger on it," Tokuma said, concentrating on what he sensed.
"The 'energy' in that area is murky. Natural Energy is flowing sluggishly, as if something is interfering with it.
And even though I can't see any obvious chakra signatures, it just feels far too quiet."
Uchiha Ling had already activated his Sharingan. The three tomoe in his eyes turned slowly—he didn't keep his Mangekyō active all the time—and he, too, sensed a faint, unsettling danger ahead.
"Stay alert. There may be a trap up ahead," Uchiha Ling said gravely. "Tokuma, focus on scouting the cliff faces on both sides and beneath the ground. Minato, be ready to respond to anything unexpected."
"Understood!"
"Got it!"
The three slowed down and grew more cautious. Like leopards melting into the shadows, they silently approached the seemingly gaping jaws of the death canyon—Stone Burial Ravine.
Hunter and prey were about to meet in this dark rift, as if fate had drawn them together.
The air was already thick with bloodlust and the stench of blood.
The Rift Corridor's silence was like the dead calm before a storm, so oppressive it was hard to breathe.
The narrow entrance to Stone Burial Ravine resembled the gaping maw of a monstrous beast, exuding an unsettling aura.
The three members of Uchiha Ling's squad entered the dead end slowly, maintaining a guarded formation.
The veins around Hyuga Tokuma's Byakugan bulged as his gaze pierced through rock and soil, missing nothing unusual.
Though Namikaze Minato hadn't yet learned the