The figure of Chiyo Saori did not hesitate at all. The moment it received the order, it turned into an afterimage and disappeared into the night of Valley of the End.
Her hands, tempered by the puppet strings and made extremely stable, were executing the first oracle issued by the new god with a cold precision.
Land of Wind, Sunagakure Old capital.
The iron hooves of war have long since reduced this place to ruins. The huge ring-shaped buildings that were once the pride of Land of Wind are now left with only broken walls and ruins, standing silently in the whining wind and sand.
However, beneath the ruins, the resilience of life continues.
The surviving sand ninjas are struggling to survive in makeshift shelters and partially repaired underground passages, and order is slowly being reestablished.
The arrival of Chiyo Saori did not cause any waves.
As the "reconstruction technical consultant" sent by Hidden Leaf Village, she quietly entered this land of yellow sand with three hundred puppets that looked like ordinary construction workers.
No one doubts this woman with a cold face and capable temperament, and no one will explore what kind of terrifying killing mechanism is hidden in those puppets.
Her work efficiency is amazing.
During the day, the puppet army cleared ruins, repaired buildings, and dug new water sources at a speed that exceeded the limits of human power.
When night falls, the real "construction" begins quietly.
Each puppet sneaks into every key node like a ghost.
Their fingertips popped out metal probes that were thinner than hair, and the "Fire Seal" device, which was invisible to the naked eye and was highly concentrated from Divine Erosion Flame, was silently integrated into every dripping pipe, every bag of food to be distributed, and even every stone brick used to reinforce the underground passage.
These "Fire Seal" are the extension of authority and the filter for screening.
They have no effect on ordinary people, but are like poison, waiting for those who have specific "keys" hidden deep in their blood.
Chiyo Saori stood on a temporary high tower, looking down at a newly cleared training ground with cold eyes.
A group of ragged Sunagakure teenagers were undergoing the most basic physical training under the leadership of a surviving Chunin.
They are the future of the village and the primary goal of Saori's trip.
"Enable wide-area vital sign monitoring." She whispered to an inconspicuous communication device on her wrist.
In an instant, rows of tiny data streams flashed across her pupils.
For every running and jumping boy, their heart rate, Chuck ripple, and body surface temperature are all recorded and analyzed with millisecond accuracy.
"Screening criteria: In an environment without chakra confrontation, due to emotional or physiological stimulation, the heart rate instantly exceeds 150% of the baseline value, and is accompanied by abnormal secretion of adrenaline."
The cold voice fell, and in the data stream, the images of several teenagers were quickly marked in red.
While they were running, they either felt unwilling because their partners were surpassing them, or they felt hatred rising from recalling the horrors of the war.
These violent emotional fluctuations happened to be the catalyst for activating the thin blood vessels in their bodies.
"Fire Seal" lurking in food and drinking water seemed to be a shark that smelled the smell of blood at this moment, quietly awakening, and had a weak resonance with some ancient factor in their bodies.
"Record all targets that meet the threshold and establish a first-level watch list." Chiyo Saori's voice was smooth, as if he was counting a batch of goods.
That night, the moon was as cool as water, and the wind and sand stopped temporarily.
In a crowded underground shelter, a twelve-year-old boy named "Baki" suddenly sat up from his nightmare, covered in cold sweat.
He dreamed of a black stone monument standing high in the sky. The two words burning with dark golden flames on the stone monument were like irons, fiercely imprinted into his mind, causing a kind of severe pain that his soul was being burned.
He subconsciously reached out to touch his forehead, which was frighteningly hot.
Through the dim light of the oil lamp, he saw his companions pointing at his forehead in horror.
Trembling, he touched a broken mirror. In the mirror, in the center of his forehead, a faint red mark like a burn mark loomed, like a budding flame.
Just when he was terrified, a black shadow slid in silently at the entrance of the shelter.
A puppet keeping watch at night, with a red light flashing in its eyeballs made of crystal stones, reported the boy's abnormal situation.
Within ten minutes, Chiyo Saori, wearing a black windbreaker, appeared in person in front of the boy.
She ignored all the vigilant and fearful looks around her, walked straight to Baki's bed, and looked down at the mark on his forehead.
"You have been chosen." Her cold voice seemed to be without any emotion, but it contained unquestionable majesty.
She opened her palms, and a completely black and well-made Forehead Protector lay quietly in her palms.
Different from the ordinary Forehead Protector, the central metal plate does not have any Ninja Village logo engraved on it, but is instead inlaid with a small irregular piece of crystal that emits a faint red light.
"Tomorrow morning, go to North City No. 2 Campus to report." Qianá Saori handed Forehead Protector to him, "Those who refuse... will lose the ability to sense chakra."
These words were like the most vicious curse, making the boy who originally wanted to resist freeze up.
For a child who longs to become a ninja, this is more terrifying than death.
He stretched out his hand tremblingly and took the heavy Forehead Protector, which represented an unknown destiny.
He didn't know that inside the seemingly glorious fire crystal, there was a miniature "relic" made of the ashes of the God of Death.
Once he has any rebellious thoughts, Chiyo Saori can detonate them with just one thought, destroying his entire chakra circulation system in an instant.
Meanwhile, Valley of the End.
Uchiha Xuan is not in retreat under the stone monument to heal his injuries, as the outside world spreads.
He sat cross-legged in the dark cave with his eyes closed, but his consciousness extended to the entire Shinobi World with unprecedented breadth.
In his sea of consciousness, a huge three-dimensional star map composed of light points and streams of light was slowly rotating.
This is the "Shinobi World Sensor Map" built through the leyline network with twelve Fire Altar as nodes.
In the picture, the twelve most dazzling scarlet main stars are the twelve altars.
And all over the continent, there are countless small light spots that are being lit, either bright or dark.
Each light point represents an individual who has successfully activated "Fire Seal".
His gaze "looked" toward the area representing Land of Wind. The light spots there grew much faster than other areas and had converged into a sparse light cloud.
"The branches of Warring States Era and Uchiha Clan have indeed established secret strongholds here, and they competed with the puppet masters of Hidden Sand Village for the secret of Magnet Release." Uchiha Xuan's lips curved with a cold arc, "The remnants of the bloodline are thicker than expected. Very good, the chess pieces in the sand are enough."
However, not everyone is willing to become a pawn.
In the deepest underground waterway of the old capital of Hidden Sand Village, an old consultant with white hair and beard is secretly connecting several highly respected retired jounin.
They are all survivors of the war and are extremely wary of Chiyo Saori, a group of "reconstruction aiders" of unknown origin.
"There's something wrong with those puppets! Their action patterns are too unified, and they are beyond the scope of human control!" The old consultant lowered his voice and looked solemn, "And the woman named Chiyo, her eyes... reminded me of a scorpion, no, even more inhumane than a scorpion!"
"We must take action and drive them out before they completely control the water and food sources!" A jonin with a broken arm agreed.
They thought that the meeting place they chose was secret enough to avoid all patrol routes of the puppets.
Little do they know that every cold stone brick under their feet and every breath they take are reporting their disloyalty to the gods in the darkness.
On the communicator of Chiyo Saori, the vital sign signals representing seven light points are gathering into a group, emitting a red light representing "hostility".
"Dispose of it." She gave the order coldly.
The next second, in the secret room of the assembly, the walls, dome, and water-filled floor exploded at the same time!
Three ferocious puppets broke out of the wall from three directions!
Their entire bodies are cast from pitch-black Chakra Metal, with eight spider-like sharp-edged limbs extending from their backs. They are exactly the "Burial Shadow-class" puppets that Xuan transformed based on Kakuzu's Earth Grudge Fear technology!
Poof--!
A thick purple poisonous mist spurted out from the puppet's mouth, instantly filling the entire secret room.
Before the old consultant and others could reach Hand Seals, they felt paralysis in their limbs, and Chuck was instantly stagnant.
Before losing consciousness, they only saw countless puppet strings flashing with cold light pouring out from the ceiling, walls and ground, binding them tightly and dragging them into deeper darkness.
What awaits them is "memory stripping" that is more cruel than death.
Divine Erosion Flame will accurately burn their cerebral cortex, erasing emotions, memories and self-awareness, leaving only absolute obedience to "Fire Seal".
Three days later, these seven "highly respected" elders and jonin reappeared in public view.
Their eyes were empty and their expressions were dull, but they became the first members of the newly established "Flame Mark Order Committee".
Chiyo Saori stood on a high platform, with seven committee members like dolls behind him.
She faced the thousands of surviving Sunagakure people below and announced the first decree:
"In the joint name of Hokage and Kazekage, we declare: In order to integrate post-war resources and optimize the ninja training system, from now on, only those wearing Flame Mark Forehead Protector are qualified to practice and use all ninjutsu."
The audience was in an uproar.
A young ninja with a hot temper immediately roared, "Why! This is our village! What qualifications do you outsiders have..."
Before he could finish speaking, his voice suddenly stopped.
The next second, he fell to his knees in pain, clutching his neck with both hands, and veins popped out on his face.
He felt as if there were countless red-hot steel needles piercing his meridians in his body, and the pain was so severe that he couldn't even scream.
Chiyo Saori looked at him indifferently. It was she who detonated the newly activated but undetected trace amount of Fire Seal in the young man's body through the wide-area monitoring system.
The square fell silent for an instant. Everyone looked at the queen-like woman on the stage with horrified eyes, and no longer dared to complain.
Late at night, Chiyo Saori reported all this to Uchiha Xuan through the spiritual link.
In the dark cave, Uchiha Xuan is playing with a sphere made of compressed bone powder from Kaguya Otsutsuki and exuding a pale halo.
"Very good." After listening to the report, his voice was calm, "Tell everyone that in three months, Flame Mark Forehead Protector will become the only pass on this land. As for those 'lucky ones' who have not yet awakened..."
He paused and flicked his fingertips on the pale orb.
"... let them have a few more sweet dreams."
The moment the words fell, the ball of bone powder turned into an almost invisible stream of light, flew out of the cave quietly, cut through the night sky, and fell towards the depths of the endless desert.
It accurately fell into an abandoned temple that had long been buried by yellow sand in Land of Wind. Like a stone thrown into the lake, it was quietly buried under the ruined foundation of the temple.
After that night, many ninjas who had survived on the battlefield began to hear whispers from the depths of the boundless sand sea in their dreams.
At first it was just a murmur, but then it turned into an inescapable... wailing.