Greedy Yin Release Threads and the Theft of Leyline Energy

Inside the Hokage's Office, Baishi calmly watched the Water Mirror.

In the mirror, above the ruins of Kyoto, the smoke of battle had yet to disperse, but an even more terrifying silence had already descended.

The remains of the twelve "Heroic Spirits" lay scattered across the scorched earth like fallen ancient gods. Their bodies were covered in cracks and no longer moved, yet from those savage wounds, streams of earthy-yellow energy—so dense they were nearly liquid—were wildly leaking out of control.

The air warped beneath that energy, giving off a strained hum as though it could bear no more.

(The banquet is over. At last, it's time for dessert.)

Baishi's fingertips lightly tapped the cold tabletop, while a blatant mixture of greed and delight curled at the corners of his mouth.

This was his true purpose.

Hojo Tokugawa's revenge, the Hyuga Clan's tempering, the Daimyo Residence's submission... Everything had merely been an appetizer prepared for this sumptuous "feast."

The Land of Fire's Leyline Origin, that vast energy which had slumbered for centuries, had finally been awakened from beneath the earth by foolish mortals and laid bare before him without the slightest defense.

Kyoto.

Hyuga Hiashi propped himself up on one knee, breathing heavily.

The dazed feeling of having survived by a hair lasted less than three seconds before being replaced by a bone-deep chill.

As the head of the Hyuga Clan, his perception of Chakra far surpassed that of ordinary people. He could clearly "see" the energy surging from the monsters' remains becoming violent and uncontrollable at a terrifying rate.

They were like a flood bursting through a breached dam. Freed from the restraints of the "Heroic Spirits" that had contained them, they were about to drown and tear apart all of Kyoto—including the survivors—and erase it from the