Helper, Accelerate Expansion of Shadow Space

Konoha and Obito both accelerated their pace simultaneously.

On Uchiha Arashi's side, he had already realized where the problem lay after a brief period of rest.

"You've activated the Eye of God, haven't you?"

"Mm, it's activated."

Izumi reached out to take the Eye of God off and held it in her hand, looking at him with a face full of astonishment. "Is this thing actually real? I always thought it was just something from stories..."

Uchiha Arashi smiled and shook his head. "It is both story and reality. Genjutsu—isn't it magical?"

Izumi rolled her eyes at him. "Don't lie to me. Genjutsu isn't this powerful, and that golden light you used earlier clearly had nothing to do with Genjutsu either. Wearing this actually gave me the ability to control lightning directly; it's truly miraculous... Here!"

As she finished speaking, she reached her hand out toward Uchiha Arashi.

"What are you doing?"

Arashi paused, not understanding what Izumi was doing.

"What do you mean 'what'? I'm giving it back to you, of course. This is too precious; I can't keep it."

Izumi said as if it were only natural.

Arashi stared at her with wide eyes, and it took several seconds before he burst into laughter.

"Don't joke around. If I gave this to you, it's yours. Besides, I can't take it back. The Eye of God binds to one person for life. Unless you die and it reverts to its original form, it can't be used by anyone else. Even if you gave it to me now, I couldn't use it."

"Ah?"

Izumi was stunned. "How could it be like that? Then you shouldn't have given it to me even more; it's clearly more useful in your hands..."

"No, no, no, that's where you're wrong."

Before she could finish, Arashi interrupted her. "It's more useful in your hands. Now that you've put it on, you can already sense natural energy, right?"

"I can, but..."

Izumi nodded, answering subconsciously.

"Then that's it. Once natural energy is integrated, your original chakra will become much stronger. Furthermore, from now on, you can try to learn how to expand the Shadow Space. Relying on me alone, the speed of expanding the Shadow Space is too slow. Whether it's Konoha or that masked man, it's only a matter of time before they find the Shadow Space. So, in the meantime, we must open up new Shadow Spaces as quickly as possible. Time is tight and the task is heavy; working together is the only logical path.

Besides, did you really think there was only one Eye of God?"

Arashi explained his thoughts, and at the end, he looked at Izumi with a hint of amusement.

Izumi nodded. "Yeah, I always thought there was only one... No way? You can make many of these?"

Uchiha Arashi braced his body to stand up from the ground and brushed off the non-existent dust.

"It's not that simple, but it's not that difficult either. I'll be blunt: I can turn things from stories into reality, but I need more people to hear my stories. The more readers and listeners I have, the more power I gain, the faster I can create, and I can even create stronger existences. However, each reader only provides the most power when they first hear the story; afterward, it becomes less and less, until eventually, they provide no power at all."

"So that's why you opened the bookstore..."

Izumi muttered to herself.

She understood. Everything was clear now. So this was the true purpose behind Arashi opening the bookstore.

"Very smart. That is the real reason. Alright, come with me. I'll teach you how to expand the Shadow Space. This time, we're going to change our approach."

Uchiha Arashi said as he began to walk forward.

"Wait, aren't you going to rest? You overused your Mangekyo just now, your body..."

Izumi's expression turned anxious.

"It's fine. I've recovered enough, and now is not the time for rest. It won't be too late to rest slowly once we're safe."

Arashi said without looking back.

He led Izumi to the northeast side of the Shadow Space, the direction toward the center of Konoha.

Uchiha Arashi pressed his hand against the air wall and began to mobilize his ocular power while absorbing natural energy from the surrounding air, fusing the two together. Then, the air wall, which was firmer than steel, began to soften. Uchiha Arashi's hand slowly pierced into it, and after his entire arm was submerged, he exerted force and tore outward to both sides.

Ripples appeared in the air, and they began to spread slightly.

This was the process of expanding the Shadow Space, though usually, doing this would expand the entire area of the Shadow Space, meaning all directions would expand simultaneously.

This time, he intended to change the method.

"Izumi, try to fuse the natural energy!"

Arashi said without looking back.

"The fusion is successful!"

Uchiha Izumi's eyes widened. Her eyes were redder than usual, and the immense power made her feel uncomfortable, with veins bulging on her forehead.

"Do you see those spreading ripples? Reinforce them where they are about to vanish!"

"H-how do I do that..."

"Imagine your ocular power is an iron rod and thrust it hard into the invisible wall!"

"Okay, I'll try... I did it!"

Izumi was overjoyed.

"Very good. Now the range of the spread is contained. Next, stay close to me. I'll take a step, and you reinforce it. Let's open a passage as quickly as possible!"

Uchiha Arashi spoke as he followed the same procedure, beginning to forge a passage invisible to the naked eye.

This passage was only as tall as a person, just wide enough to accommodate his frame.

Uchiha Izumi was a head shorter than him, and his younger siblings were even smaller, so as long as he could pass through, the others would have no trouble at all.

Large swathes of land and the remnants of what looked like buildings were visible all around; this was the Shadow Space, which, in plain terms, was a reflection of the real world. However, the two were not entirely identical, and changing one would not affect the other. Thus, the Shadow Space they saw now was actually the real world as it had existed an unknown number of years ago.

Today, the real world was home to the largest village in the Ninja World, and the two sides had long since become worlds apart. Those places visible to the naked eye were impassable unless the Shadow Space could be opened to reach them.

The two continued in this manner, one responsible for clearing the path and the other for reinforcing it, quickly covering a distance of nearly one hundred meters.

Then, Arashi collapsed limply to the ground.

"How are you holding up?"

Izumi did not forget to reinforce the surrounding area before rushing over to check on Arashi's condition.

Uchiha Arashi smiled. "I'm fine, just a bit tired. Let's call it a day; starting tomorrow, we go all out on clearing the path."

"Alright, I'll listen to you!"

Uchiha Izumi nodded, reaching out to help Arashi up and supporting him as they returned to the side of his younger siblings.

During the meal, Uchiha Arashi did not forget to continue telling stories, continuing to accumulate the Power of Recognition.

One Eye of God was not enough; it would be best if he and all his younger siblings each had one. Even though he already had a comprehensive plan in place, he could not afford to give up these gains accumulated day by day.