Spacetime Talent

Toji seized the final moment of the one-eyed man's life as it neared its end:

"Reanimation!"

The Summoning seal spread slowly, covering the man's dying body.

"Using a living person as a vessel for the soul of the dead."

"A portion of the resurrected's flesh, a portion of their personal information, and a soul currently residing in the Pure Land..."

Toji's focus was absolute.

As the layers of the Summoning seal unfolded, his chakra drained away rapidly.

The Summoning Technique was, in essence, a form of space-time ninjutsu.

The distance of the target, its state of existence, and its nature all caused the required chakra to vary significantly.

And the Pure Land...

It did not exist within the known Ninja World.

In Toji's understanding, the Pure Land lay on the outer periphery of the world. Summoning a soul from there was an incredibly difficult feat, requiring a massive expenditure of chakra just to sense the path leading beyond the world.

His body was pushed to its limit by the activation of the technique, constantly drawing upon spiritual and physical energy to convert into chakra, while his long-dormant heart hammered violently against his ribs.

It had been a long time since he had consumed such a vast amount of chakra.

"At a time like this, shouldn't I recite a few incantations to set the mood?"

"Manifest from the Pure Land, Guardian of the Gospel!"

"Resurrect! Test Subject No. 1!"

He had been wearing a mask of pretense for too long.

This was Toji's way of venting his inner turmoil when alone, making the dry and cruel experiments feel less oppressive.

Only by doing this could he maintain his facade consistently in front of others.

Sweat soaked Toji's back.

As the incantation fell, he felt it—a faint, ethereal connection to the existence of the Pure Land outside the world.

Though it lasted only an instant, Toji confirmed that he possessed a talent for space-time ninjutsu and the aptitude to develop the Reanimation jutsu.

At that same moment, a piece of paper slowly drifted up from the surface of the one-eyed man's body, which was wrapped in the Summoning seal.

Toji recognized this Pure Land Paper Talisman.

When Kabuto had performed the Reanimation jutsu on Yamanaka Fu, hundreds of such talismans had wrapped the vessel; once the talismans peeled away, the dead would emerge into the world like a moth breaking from its cocoon.

This was a sign of success.

Pop!

In the end, Toji had only succeeded in summoning a single Pure Land Paper Talisman.

Immediately afterward, under the influence of an irresistible force, the one-eyed man's body became covered in cracks, began to disintegrate, and dissipated, turning into sand before his eyes.

As a vessel and sacrifice, whether the ritual succeeded or failed, the price was the total collapse of the physical body.

And the soul of the deceased that had been summoned, having failed to manifest, would return to the Pure Land.

Toji recorded this conclusion diligently in his experimental notes.

Then, he added at the end: Test Subject No. 2, survived 31 minutes.

Looking at the empty laboratory, Toji let out a long breath.

"Time flies. Once one batch of old test subjects is sent off, a new batch will be delivered soon enough."

He picked up a broom and swept the sand and dust that had once been a body into a pile, moving it outside with the intention of disposing of it tomorrow. After finishing the cleanup, Toji clapped his hands together, splitting off an Earth Grudge Fear clone, which headed toward the tree hollow in the Forest of Death.

Uchiha Yan always felt that the two genin subjects she had brought to Toji last month were simply insufficient to reflect her value.

She was a powerhouse possessing the Three-Tomoe Sharingan; how could her chosen prey be mere genin?

Thus, this month, after some careful screening, she locked her target onto a group of rogue ninja on the border of the Land of Rice Fields.

So-called rogue ninja groups were bands of defectors and underground ninja who lived by murder, arson, and robbery. At the same time, wiping out these groups was a source of income for many ninja villages.

If one were to drag everyone out and blow them up with explosive tags, there might be innocent ones among them, but if one blew them up one by one, there would certainly be those who slipped through the cracks.

Uchiha Yan was arrogant and held a strong sense of honor toward her clan; even after defecting, she would not do anything to tarnish her reputation.

Therefore, she only selected targets who deserved to die, rather than ordinary ninja.

After several days of observation, the rogue ninja group she had targeted had a fairly luxurious configuration—it possessed two full-fledged chunin, plus four or five genin.

Three days before the delivery date.

Under the cover of night, Uchiha Yan attacked them.

With a force equivalent to two standard ninja squads, Uchiha Yan did not underestimate them, immediately activating her Three-Tomoe Sharingan.

During the skirmish, she restrained herself, choosing not to use genjutsu to kill.

The village in the Ninja World most adept at genjutsu was Konoha, and the clan in Konoha most adept at genjutsu was the Uchiha.

Once a trace of a genjutsu-induced death was left behind, a pursuit squad could easily link it to her. Therefore, Uchiha Yan relied solely on highly versatile techniques like Fire Release, swordsmanship, and taijutsu to fight.

The power of the Three-Tomoe Sharingan was precisely reflected in this.

It not only granted the wielder a talent for genjutsu, but with the aid of enhanced dynamic vision, abilities relying on hand-eye coordination—such as shurikenjutsu, swordsmanship, and taijutsu—were all significantly strengthened, making her a natural-born weapon of war.

Inside the dark cave.

The malevolent Three-Tomoe Sharingan glowed with a chilling red light through her mask.

"Those eyes... it's someone from the Uchiha!"

"Damn it, how could an Uchiha monster appear in a place like this?"

"This isn't what we agreed upon with Shennong!"

Cries of agony and furious shouts rose one after another.

In just a moment, the group of rogue ninjas was slaughtered to the last man.

Uchiha Yan used genjutsu to control the two leading chunin, preparing to send them to the Forest of Death as test subjects for this month.

She casually stored the other corpses into a scroll, intending to take them to the underground Bounty Exchange later to collect the rewards.

At this moment, she noticed that deep within the dark cave, there seemed to be a merchant hostage with a withered aura being held captive.

Having vented her desire for battle through the Three-Tomoe Sharingan, Uchiha Yan was in a fairly good mood. She stepped forward, raised her hand, and used a kunai to sever the lock on the cage.

"You're lucky to have run into me."

"You're safe now."

"No need for thanks; I'm just a..."

Before she could finish her sentence, the merchant hostage instantly shed his previous wretched appearance. His expression twisted, and he began to curse Uchiha Yan:

"An Uchiha ninja, huh? Trash! Why didn't you come to save me sooner? Do you have any idea how much I've suffered these past few days..."

His words didn't get to be finished either.

A wheezing sound squeezed from his throat as a kunai pierced through his windpipe.

"Damnable rogue ninja group, daring to pose as a hostage."

Uchiha Yan pulled out the kunai with an expressionless face and turned to leave the cave, dragging the two controlled human subjects with her. Before departing, she swept the area with a Fire Release technique, burning away all traces.

Like a bounty hunter, Uchiha Yan escorted the two controlled ninjas toward the Forest of Death to deliver the subjects to Toji.

Not long after she left...

In the cave where the fierce battle had taken place, a group of ninjas wearing masks and purple armor appeared silently. The middle-aged man leading them looked at the chaotic scene inside the cave and the merchant's corpse, which had been burned to a crisp, and said furiously:

"The person is already dead..."

"They dared to touch our Sky Ninja Group's people and even killed the fat sheep. Find them for me!"