Cross-Referencing Deciphers the Secret Scroll, a Three-Day Deadline Hangs Overhead

Time, at this moment, stretched out infinitely.

That pale mask hidden behind the ventilation duct grate collided with Mizuki Han's cold gaze in mid-air, sparking silent lightning.

The other party's shock, greed, and a trace of self-righteous glee were transmitted with absolute clarity through that single visible eye.

He saw it.

He had seen the entire process of him utilizing the system to extract chakra.

This secret was ten thousand times more lethal than the Ice Release bloodline limit itself.

In Mizuki Han's mind, there was not a shred of panic; only a cold, extreme kill command generated in an instant.

Must silence him!

Before he can tell a second person!

"Click."

Almost the moment he sensed the other party, Mizuki Han's uninjured right hand had already drawn an Explosive Tag from his ninja tool pouch, the movement as fluid as if he had practiced it a thousand times.

Haku, tucked within the rock crevice, hadn't even realized what was happening; she only saw Han's back tense up instantly, like a bow pulled to its limit.

"Stay here, cover your ears."

The cold command fell, devoid of any explanation.

The Anbu ninja behind the ventilation duct felt his heart pounding wildly.

He was merely a Genin responsible for perimeter security who had snuck into this abandoned area to relieve himself, never expecting to stumble upon such an earth-shattering scene.

A youth from the Mizuki Clan had actually counter-killed Wildcat's elite squad!

What made his scalp tingle even more was the bizarre method the youth used at the end, pressing his hand against the corpses as if "devouring" their chakra!

What kind of bloodline limit was this? Or was it some forbidden jutsu?

Regardless of what it was, this was a monumental achievement! If he could bring this intelligence back, he would surely ascend to the top in one leap!

Greed overcame fear. He watched as the youth appeared to be severely wounded as well, especially the left arm covered in ice crystals, which was clearly ruined.

He was nothing but a spent force at the end of his rope!

He retreated quietly, preparing to leave immediately to report to his superiors.

However, he was fast, but Mizuki Han was faster!

The moment the Anbu ninja retreated, Mizuki Han moved. He chose not to sprint, nor did he perform any ninjutsu.

He simply threw the Explosive Tag in his hand with extreme precision toward the rock wall about three meters above the Anbu's head!

"Swish—"

The Explosive Tag cut through the air with a faint whistling sound, sticking precisely onto the damp rock wall.

The Anbu in the duct froze for a second, completely failing to understand the meaning of this move.

Did he miss?

The moment this thought arose, a sense of extreme crisis completely engulfed him.

Mizuki Han's hands had already completed three hand seals with lightning speed.

Rat-Boar-Dog!

"Ice Release: Ice Spike Jutsu!"

This time, he did not aim the ice spike at the Anbu, but rather at a pool of stagnant water at his own feet.

"Pfft!"

An incredibly sharp ice spike shot out from the water instantly, but its target was not any person; it flew straight toward the Explosive Tag stuck to the rock wall!

Oh no!

The Anbu instantly understood Mizuki Han's intent!

This was a combo technique! Using the ice spike to detonate the Explosive Tag, then using the shockwave of the explosion to indiscriminately attack the fragile area where he was hiding!

He wanted to flee, but there was nowhere to hide in the narrow ventilation duct!

"BOOM—!!!"

A violent explosion erupted!

Fire and shockwaves instantly swallowed the area, the massive force blowing the fragile ventilation duct into pieces. Countless shards of metal and scorching rock fragments poured down like a torrential rain.

"Ah—!"

A short, shrill scream came from the center of the explosion, then cut off abruptly.

A charred corpse, riddled with countless metal fragments, fell from the blown-open gap and hit the ground with a heavy thud, splashing up mud mixed with blood.

Mizuki Han stood where he was, the shockwave of the explosion ruffling his black hair. The bloodstains on his face appeared particularly eerie under the reflection of the flames.

He looked at the corpse indifferently, and only after confirming that the other party had completely breathed his last did he slowly release his hand seals.

From discovering the enemy to formulating the plan, and finally completing the kill, the entire process took less than ten seconds.

This was his way of fighting—before the enemy could even react, he had already laid out a dozen ways for them to die.

Only after finishing all this did he feel a wave of intense dizziness wash over him. The forced mobilization of his chakra just moments ago had sent even more violent stabs of pain through his crystallizing meridians.

With an expressionless face, he pulled another analgesic from his medical kit and jammed it deep into his thigh, using the numbness of the drug to combat his body's collapse.

"Come here," he said to Haku, who was huddled in a crevice of the rock.

Haku trotted over. Seeing yet another corpse, her small face turned deathly pale, but she bit her lip and forced herself to remain silent.

"Search him," Mizuki Han commanded coldly, pointing at the body that had just fallen.

Haku hesitated, but seeing the unquestionable look in Mizuki Han's eyes, she gritted her teeth and walked over.

This was the first rule of survival he had taught her: any enemy, once dead, was merely a resource to be utilized.

Mizuki Han ignored the rest. He walked to a relatively clean corner, sat down against the rock wall, and finally took out the black leather scroll he had scavenged from Wildcat.

The scroll felt ice-cold to the touch. The metal wire binding it had no visible seam, and the miniature seal at the junction was composed of three different, interlocking runes, emitting an ominous energy fluctuation.

It was a deadbolt.

Mizuki Han stared at the seal.

His brain, like the most sophisticated supercomputer, began to run at high speed.

The original owner's memory bank was accessed. As a member of the Mist Anbu, he had received basic training in cryptography. He recognized one of the runes as the standard Mist "Triple Wave Seal," typically used to encrypt intelligence above B-rank.

However, the other two runes were completely beyond his scope of knowledge; they looked more like ancient sacrificial symbols, filled with chaos and ill omens.

If he tried to force it open with chakra, it would only trigger a counter-attack trap.

Mizuki Han closed his eyes.

He began to draw upon another set of memories—memories belonging to his past life, to the Blue Star of the information explosion era.

Logic, algorithms, data structures...

Countless pieces of knowledge, completely incompatible with this ninja world, flowed through his mind.

He broke down the structure of the three runes and rearranged them in his mind.

The Mist's "Triple Wave Seal" was based on ternary encryption logic. So, what about the other two?

Mizuki Han's thinking jumped out of the inertia of a ninja. He no longer viewed them as symbols containing energy, but as pure logic gates.

One represented "AND," the other represented "NOT."

A positive variable, a negative variable, plus a ternary algorithm.

This... this was a hybrid encryption model!

Using two fundamental logical judgments to scramble the complex ternary ninjutsu code.

For a ninja accustomed to thinking in terms of chakra and energy, this method of encryption was nothing short of a fantasy. They would never imagine that the simplest logic was the true key to picking this lock.

A cold curve tugged at the corner of Mizuki Han's mouth.

He opened his eyes, extended the index finger of his uninjured right hand, and condensed a trace of chakra at the tip, so faint it was almost invisible.

He did not touch the seal. Instead, following the sequence he had deduced, he tapped rapidly at the air in front of the seal.

Every tap represented the input of a logical judgment.

"AND," "NOT," "Triple Wave one," "NOT," "AND," "Triple Wave two"...

His movements were as fast as a phantom, and that faint trace of chakra left fleeting trajectories in the air.

When the final tap was completed.

Click.

A faint, barely audible snap came from the scroll.

The tough metal wire sprang open automatically.

The complex seal composed of the three runes dimmed and lost all effect.

It was done.

Mizuki Han took a deep breath and slowly unfolded the black scroll that radiated the scent of death.

The leather interior of the scroll was empty.

But the moment his chakra touched the surface of the leather, lines of blood-red text seeped out from the grain like living things, twisting and combining into segments of chilling intelligence.

[Final Purification Protocol · Phase Three]

[Target Area: Entire underground sewage system, zones A-G.]

[Execution Plan: Injection of high-concentration neuro-corrosive gas "Blood Banyan Mist."]

[Execution Unit: Elder Gen's direct unit "Sharp Tooth."]

[Lockdown Level: Maximum. All surface exits have been physically sealed and barrier-enforced; no living creature is permitted to enter or exit.]

Mizuki Han's gaze locked onto the final line, the countdown marked in the most glaring blood-red.

[Protocol initiation countdown: Seventy-two hours.]

Three days.

Three days from now, the entire underground world would be completely submerged by a toxic gas known as the Blood Banyan Mist.

This was not a purge; it was an extermination.

It was a physical erasure of this filth-ridden underworld, along with all the "trash" that had no business existing within it—be they rebels, fugitives, or "remnants" like him, merely clinging to life.

Mizuki Han slowly raised his head, his left hand, encased in ice crystals, clenching unconsciously.

His crystal-like fingers emitted the sound of cracking under unbearable strain.

He finally understood why Kisame had appeared at the drainage outlet, and why the Wildcat squad had fought to the death to protect this scroll.

Because from the very beginning, there had never been a "way out."

Every one of them had been sentenced to death the moment they were thrown into the underground.

The only difference was the time of execution.

And now, the Sword of Damocles hanging over his head had only seventy-two hours left on its countdown.

Just then, Haku, who had been searching through the corpses nearby, suddenly let out a stifled cry of surprise.

"Brother Han... look at this..."

Mizuki Han followed her gaze and saw Haku pull a tattered, blood-soaked parchment map from the chest of the Genin who had been blown to bits. In one corner of the map, a large, ominous red skull was marked in cinnabar, with three crooked characters scrawled beside it.

--Armory.