In that absolute darkness and dead silence, the baby's eyes, which were made of countless bone powder, did not open.
It just exists, like a silent declaration, an ironclad proof that it violates the boundary between life and death.
The next moment, the ground suddenly opened.
A slender and powerful hand, wrapped in purple-black Susanoo chakra, like the claws of a god, accurately tore apart the layers of seal foundations and penetrated directly into the core of the ruins affected by the puppet's self-destruction.
Without any hesitation, that hand grasped the skull fragment that was constantly attracting bone powder and trying to reshape itself.
"Boom!"
The figure of Uchiha Xuan rose into the sky from the deep pit underground and landed in the middle of the empty Flame Master Ruins.
He spread his hands expressionlessly, and the strange skull fragment lay quietly in his palm, surrounded by countless tiny bone powder suspended in the air, like subjects chasing the king, unwilling to leave.
The figure of Chiyo Saori appeared silently behind him, looking at the skull with complex eyes.
She knew that this thing was the source of all changes.
However, Uchiha Xuan neither incinerated it with Amaterasu nor annihilated it with Truth-Seeking Orb.
He turned around and walked towards the Punishment Hall deeper inside the shrine.
There, thirty-six skulls with ominous luster were placed in an ancient formation.
Each one once belonged to an Kage Level or a Impure World Reincarnation strongman who was close to Kage Level. Before their souls were devoured, their obsession and power were forcibly imprinted on their skulls by Xuan Qiang.
Here is his "trophy showroom" and a "soul-suppressing array" to suppress the souls of the dead.
Uchiha Xuan casually threw the fragment of the baby's skull to the stone platform in the center of the formation.
"Buzz--"
The thirty-six strong man's skulls seemed to sense something, and they all trembled, and the empty eye sockets lit up with various lights, which was the remaining glow of their lifetime Kekkei Genkai.
A majestic resentment and murderous intent soared into the sky, trying to tear the small skull in the center into pieces.
But the skull fragments just floated quietly, remaining motionless despite the energy impact.
Uchiha Xuan slowly closed his eyes, and those purple Nine-Tomoe Rinne Sharingan opened them again.
This time, he didn't look at any enemies, but at himself.
"Rinne Sharingan·Threads of Fate!"
He shouted low, and countless dark purple energy lines that were thinner than spider silk shot out from his fingertips.
These lines did not shoot towards any object, but strangely pierced his own temples, chest, and limbs!
Scenes of distorted images were forcibly dragged out from the depths of his soul, transformed into energy runes, and wrapped around those purple threads.
There are afterimages of his right arm uncontrollably mirroring the enemy's movements; there are the syllables of the ancient last words he unconsciously whispered in meditation; there are ripples of emotional fluctuations that flashed through his heart when he faced Chiyo Saori...
All traces of "abnormality", all behavioral patterns contaminated by the "door", all "noises" that do not belong to his absolute will, at this moment, are woven into a visible "Guilt Chain" that shines with an unknown light!
"Go!"
Following his command, the Guilt Chain roared out, like a poisonous snake that came to life, tightly wrapped around the fragment of the baby's skull.
"Zi la la -"
Like a red-hot iron immersed in ice water, the harsh sound resounded throughout the punishment hall.
The skull fragments trembled violently, as if they were suffering great pain, and the resentment of the thirty-six strong man's skulls found an outlet and rushed towards the skull crazily along Guilt Chain.
Suppress, but not destroy.
He wants this "source of pollution" to bear everything it imposes on him!
After doing all this, Uchiha Xuan turned around, and the cold voice spread throughout Naka River Shrine's secret area.
"Pass my order, in three days' time, 'Self-Immolation Rite' will be held at the martial arts arena!"
Chiyo Saori and the twelve "seed" students who came after hearing the news were shocked at the same time.
Sacrifice?
Lord Xuan never believed in this.
"In this sacrifice, no enemies will be burned, no sacrifices will be burned." Uchiha Xuan's gaze swept over everyone, and the look in his eyes made them feel like their souls were being seen through. "What I want to publicly burn are all traces of 'another mystery'!"
He paused and his voice became colder.
"The first sacrifice is the black robe I once wore, which still retains the obsession of the demon sword Ghost Cleaver."
"The second sacrifice is all the log scrolls recording the progress of the emotional simulation of 'Myriad Phenomena Devouring System'."
"The third item..." He slowly raised his right arm, and saw a palm-sized piece of skin on his arm, showing an incurable, diamond-like crystallized state, "That's it."
He wants to personally destroy his weaknesses and cut off his past in front of all the core members and even all Shinobi World senior executives who are watching all this through the broadcast!
He wants to declare in the most extreme way: The ruler of this world not only has the power to define peace, but also has the absolute will to define "self"!
He does not allow any form of corruption and erosion!
Three days later, it's noon.
In the martial arts arena, an altar is built high.
Uchiha Xuan was dressed in a brand new black robe, with a face as cold as ice, standing in front of the altar.
The old robe and a pile of scrolls have been placed in the center of the altar.
Just when the ceremony was about to begin, Chiyo Saori suddenly stepped forward, holding a black bone dagger with a simple shape in both hands, and handed it to Uchiha Xuan.
This dagger was made from the first rib of the Uchiha Xuan body that was originally excavated from the ruins, mixed with the shattered fragments of the Newborn Skull, and melted with her hard work and the secret art of puppetry.
"Master Xuan." She lowered her head, her voice soft but extremely firm, "You once said that swords should not have faith."
"But this knife only wants to cut through lies."
Uchiha Xuan's eyes moved from the dagger to her face, and those bottomless Rinne Sharingan eyes stared at her for three full seconds.
He slowly stretched out his hand and took the bone dagger.
Without any extra words, under everyone's shocked eyes, he suddenly stabbed the bone dagger into his intact left shoulder!
"Pfft!"
The dagger penetrated the flesh, but no blood splattered.
There was no movement in his eyes. He turned his wrist and forcibly dug out a piece of tissue that glowed with a faint blue light and resembled a nerve cluster from the flesh.
That is the most primitive core interface that the system implanted into his body in order to better integrate with this body!
It is responsible for simulating emotions and analyzing behaviors, and is a breeding ground for "pollution" to be parasitic!
He threw the piece of blue tissue on the altar as the last sacrifice.
Immediately, he flicked his finger, and a drop of bright red blood fell on the center of the altar.
"Boom--!!"
The flames suddenly burst into flames!
But the flame did not burn upward, but formed a strange spiral, rolling backwards and rushing towards the sky, as if it was going to burn a hole in the sky!
At the moment when the fire reached its highest intensity, two overlapping figures suddenly appeared in the flames!
One is Ghost Cleaver, a young man wearing an ancient warrior uniform with unruly eyes.
The other one's face is 70% similar to Uchiha Xuan, but
Two phantoms, or two "possibilities", opened their mouths at the same time, speaking the final judgment in an overlapping voice that seemed to come from the other side of time and space:
"You... will become us after all."
Facing this ultimate curse and prophecy, Uchiha Xuan's face evoked an extremely contemptuous sneer.
"Don't teach me how to behave."
He raised the pitch-black bone dagger in his hand.
"Your bones are not even whole."
The moment he finished speaking, he did not attack the phantom, but slashed at the spiral pillar of fire rising into the sky!
This sword did not create any buzz, nor did it contain any chakra.
But it was this knife that made the whole world seem to have pressed the pause button.
In an instant, time and space stopped.
That violent, rewinding spiral pillar of fire was split open from the middle!
The fire waves suddenly separated to both sides, retreating, just like the miracle of Moses parting the sea in the legend!
A road composed of absolute vacuum leads directly from the feet of Uchiha Xuan to the core of the flame.
He walked into the heart of the fire step by step with a steady pace.
There, he closed his eyes and gave the final instructions in his heart.
"Initiate the final hidden protocol - [Gene Overwriting·Unique True Name]!"
Myriad Phenomena Devouring System, activate!
But this time, the devoured target was not the skull, not the phantom, or any external energy.
But... it has been recorded by the system since its birth, and belongs to the soul-traveling... initial personality template of "Uchiha Xuan"!
He wants to erase the "origin"! He wants to devour "himself"!
From today on, there is no so-called standard answer, no "prototype" that can be imitated and polluted.
Only his Uchiha Xuan choice at this moment is the only reality!
"Boom!!!"
The split sea of fire suddenly collapsed inward, completely engulfing his figure.
The flame burned for a full minute before quietly extinguishing.
The ashes scatter.
A figure slowly walked out from the ruins of the altar.
The robes on his body were intact, but his eyes had undergone earth-shaking changes.
That is no longer the purple Rinne Sharingan, nor the scarlet Mangekyō Sharingan.
It was a pair of pure silver-white eyes without any Tomoe or ripples.
They are brighter than the purest diamonds in the world, but more indifferent than the deepest void.
When these eyes swept across the entire scene, Chiyo Saori and the twelve "seeds" felt a tremor originating from their life instincts, and involuntarily knelt on the ground on one knee, not even daring to raise their heads.
Uchiha Xuan picked up the charred blue tissue that he had dug out from the ashes of the altar, pinched it gently, crushed it into powder, and let it dissipate in the wind.
"From now on," he declared to the whole world in a voice without any emotion, "whoever tells me what to do, I will make him understand--"
"I am no one's heir."
"I am the Terminator."
After the words fell, no one dared to respond.
And on the distant and cold backside of the moon that no one noticed, on an ancient altar of the Otsutsuki Clan that had been sealed in dust for thousands of years, a line of ancient inscriptions that no one had ever seen quietly shimmered.
That line of inscription translated into modern language, there is only one sentence:
"First Devourer, return to position."
The ceremony was over, and everyone in the martial arts arena had already dispersed, leaving only the ruins of the altar that had been split apart, silently telling the story of the miracle that had just happened.
Uchiha Xuan did not leave, he returned to the center of the Flame Master Ruins that he had dug up with his own hands, and sat cross-legged on top of the mess.
He did not close his eyes, his pair of brand new, pure silver Byakugan pupils, just staring at the empty darkness in front of him, motionless, as if he had turned into an eternal statue.