At a spot along Uchiha Ming's route.
Elder Spider lowered his head and looked sorrowfully at another member of his clan. Slowly, he said, "I'm counting on you! I'm so sorry that you have to make this contribution for the clan."
Before him stood a black-haired boy of around eight, his expression calm. He shook his head and said with a smile, "No, Clan Head. This is the duty our clan was born to fulfill. Without the sacrifices of clan members like us, our people would never have lived in peace. Like the other shinobi clans of the Ninja World, we would be doomed to wander from place to place, never knowing whether we would survive the next day!"
"And now, sacrificing just me will allow tens of thousands of people in the entire clan to live on. To me, this is precisely the fulfillment of my lifelong dream!"
"That dream is to protect everyone in the clan. So please, don't be sad for me. This is the path to realizing my dream!"
The boy showed an innocent smile, then undid the clothing on his back, revealing the grotesque shape of a ferocious spider.
As the boy formed hand seals, vast amounts of natural energy began gathering without end, and waves of invisible ripples emerged.
It was the forbidden technique of the Tsuchigumo Clan—Dohatsu-ten.
This forbidden technique, passed down through the Tsuchigumo Clan generation after generation, could awaken natural energy once activated, continuously draw it into the user's body, and release it all at once. It was a powerful forbidden technique capable of destroying an area hundreds, even thousands, of kilometers wide.
At the sight of this forbidden technique, Elder Spider, the Tsuchigumo Clan's leader, showed a complicated, indescribable mixture of approval, determination, satisfaction, pain, hatred, and reluctance in his