Yuan picked up a new wine jug beside him, bit off the stopper, tilted his head back, and took a huge gulp.
The wine ran down his chin and into his black collar. He wiped his mouth casually, his gaze turning as cold and sharp as a blade.
"What's the rush?" Yuan set the wine jug down hard on the table. "That old dog with one foot in the grave is hiding deeper than anyone right now. But before I dig him out, there are a few rats hiding in the gutter and peeking everywhere that need to be cleaned up first. I don't like people spying from behind while I work."
A few rats? Sasuke frowned, not knowing what Yuan meant.
Just then, an extremely rapid sound of something slicing through the air came from outside the great hall. An Uchiha Shadow Guard wearing a cat-faced mask knelt on one knee outside the main doors. "Lord Yuan! The intelligence network just sent back news. In the forests of northern Land of Fire, we found the 'abnormal targets' you were looking for. They don't belong to any ninja village, and their chakra fluctuations are extremely bizarre, almost like... plants."
"They finally showed themselves." Yuan stood and stretched his broad shoulders. His joints let out a series of sharp cracks. "You stay in the village and keep practicing that lousy Chidori of yours."
Yuan left those words behind, and his body instantly turned into a streak of lightning that shot out through the dome of the great hall. He was so fast that even Sasuke's Sharingan could only catch an afterimage.
Northern Land of Fire, in a vast, ancient primeval forest. The trees here blotted out the sky, and sunlight could barely reach the ground.
Five pallid, strangely shaped humanoid creatures