The Hunter Appears

Xuan sank his consciousness into his body. Within that nearly depleted sea of chakra, a faint yet resilient energy flowed slowly. It was the life essence he had accumulated after devouring three White Zetsu. Though weak, it was like a spring in the desert, keeping him from collapsing completely.

He could wait no longer.

On this battlefield crawling with monsters, every moment of hesitation brought him one step closer to death.

"System, merge the bloodline template—[Inferno Illusion Realm]," Xuan commanded inwardly.

The instant the thought formed, a cold mechanical voice rang out in his mind.

Command confirmed. Beginning fusion of first bloodline template: [Inferno Illusion Realm]. Fusion requirement: 100 energy points. Current energy: 12 points. Insufficient energy. Unable to execute.

Xuan's heart sank, but the system was not finished.

Host detected in an extremely dangerous environment. Activating alternative solution. Recommendation: burn residual soul for catalytic sacrifice, which can replace energy consumption.

Immediately afterward, a blood-red dialog box appeared in his consciousness, carrying an oppressive force that allowed no doubt.

[Use the remaining soul of "Uchiha Kanku" for sacrificial fusion?]

[Yes/No]

Uchiha Kanku—the first sacrifice Xuan had devoured. A pitiful clansman who had died in internal strife before even awakening the Mangekyo.

A cold curve touched Xuan's lips. He did not hesitate in the slightest.

"Yes."

The word was like an imperial decree, instantly stirring the final obsession lingering in this space.

In an instant, an invisible force reached out from the void and forcibly tore out a wisp of barely perceptible resentment!

The resentment let out a silent, shrill scream, transforming into a mass of ink-black flames that frantically coiled around Xuan's tightly shut left eye!

"Ghhhhh—!"

Pain!

Indescribable pain!

It felt as if billions of red-hot steel needles had pierced his eyeball at once, boring through his skull and reaching deep into his soul!

Xuan's body arched violently. His nails sank deep into the flesh of his palms, while his teeth clenched so tightly that they made cracking sounds.

He forced himself not to pass out, but countless chaotic visions flooded his sight.

They were replays of Uchiha Kanku's deepest obsessions in life.

An age of raging war. Power struggles within the clan. Brothers drawing blades against one another for higher status. Scarlet Sharingan gleaming with madness and greed in the darkness.

Villages burning fiercely. The cries of clansmen. Three-tomoe Sharingan reflected in pools of blood. And finally, the cold blade of a loved one piercing his chest...

Despair, resentment, unwillingness!

These extreme negative emotions crashed against Xuan's mental barrier like a burst dam.

Just as he was about to be swallowed by the torrent, the system's voice rang out again. Like an icy chain, it forcibly suppressed the rampaging residual soul.

Residual soul energy extraction complete. Fusion beginning... 10%... 50%... 90%...

Fusion successful! Congratulations, host, for obtaining passive skill—[Inferno Perception].

[Inferno Perception]: On top of the Sharingan's basic insight, allows the user to additionally sense and identify minute fluctuations in a target's emotions and abnormalities in chakra flow. Genjutsu resistance increased by 30%.

The agony receded like the tide, replaced by an unprecedented sensation of clarity.

Xuan slowly opened his eyes. Deep within the two tomoe of his left eye, a molten dark-red gleam flashed and vanished, like a reflection of hellfire.

The world had changed.

In his vision, the battlefield was no longer merely flesh, blood, and earth.

Every strand of flowing chakra was as clear as a flame in the night, and even their colors and forms differed from one another.

In the distance, two Hidden Rock Village jonin were locked in fierce combat with a powerful warrior revived through Impure World Reincarnation.

One of the jonin had chakra flow that was clearly sluggish and chaotic, while his heartbeat was far faster than normal. Xuan saw through it at a glance: the man had fallen under his opponent's weak genjutsu without realizing it. His defeat was only a matter of time.

In a crater on the other side, three grotesquely twisted White Zetsu were besieging a Hidden Sand Village puppeteer.

Through [Inferno Perception], Xuan could see that the chakra threads connecting the puppeteer to his puppet's arms had grown dim and thin from overuse. They were about to snap.

These fatal details, which he would never have noticed before, were now as clear as the lines on his palm.

He was no longer a survivor passively waiting for death to descend.

From this moment onward, he was the hunter!

Xuan's gaze slowly swept across the chaotic battlefield. Like a hungry lone wolf, he calmly selected his next prey.

Soon, his eyes settled on a ninja who had strayed from the main battlefield.

It was a Hidden Mist Village jonin. Taking advantage of the chaos, he was alone, rifling through the ninja tool pouch of an Allied Shinobi Forces ninja who had just died.

The man possessed a considerable amount of chakra, and his aura was steady. He was clearly no weakling.

But he had just finished an intense battle, killing several White Zetsu. At the moment, he was in his most mentally exhausted state, with his guard at its lowest.

He'll do!

Xuan lowered his body and used the battlefield's ravines and corpses as cover, silently sneaking toward the man.

When he was still over ten meters away, he deliberately stumbled, disguising himself as a severely wounded Allied Shinobi Forces member. He crashed heavily to the ground and let out a muffled groan of pain.

"Hey! You're still alive?"

The Hidden Mist ninja was indeed startled. He turned around warily, the hand holding his kunai lifting slightly as he approached step by step.

Xuan lay on the ground with half his face buried in the dirt, watching the approaching footsteps through the corner of his eye.

Five meters, three meters, one meter...

The Hidden Mist ninja crouched beside him. He still did not lower his kunai as he leaned forward to inspect Xuan's injuries.

Now!

The instant the man bent down, his gaze and attention fully focused on Xuan's "wounds," Xuan's dangling right hand suddenly shot up!

A dense mass of black mist erupted from his palm. Fast as lightning, it gave the man no chance to react before pressing directly against his forehead!

"Urgh..."

The Hidden Mist jonin's eyes widened instantly, his pupils contracting sharply. Every sound, every trace of resistance, was swallowed completely by that strange black mist.

He could not even let out a scream before his body went limp and collapsed. Thin streams of black blood seeped from his seven orifices.

Devouring complete. Chakra gained: +60.

Soul fragment acquired. Analyzing... Successfully extracted the basic composition model of the secret technique [Water Release: Hidden Mist Technique].

The cold notification sounded in his mind. Xuan felt the strength within him fill once more, but his expression did not change in the slightest.

He quickly dragged the corpse into a nearby shell crater, roughly buried it with rubble and dirt, then skillfully claimed the man's forehead protector and ninja tool pouch for himself.

This time, there was not the slightest hesitation or discomfort in his heart.

Kill one person, gain one portion of strength.

Kill a hundred people, and he could accumulate the foundation needed to stand above all living things.

On this hellish battlefield, this was the only law by which he could survive and grow stronger!

Night finally fell.

In the distance, the Ten-Tails' roars grew increasingly frenzied. Every howl made the earth tremble, and even the blood moon in the sky seemed to dim a little.

Xuan stood atop a sheared-off cliff, cold wind tugging at the ragged hem of his clothes.

Within his eyes, two scarlet tomoe slowly turned as he coldly watched the fires burning everywhere below, along with the countless figures struggling in the flames.

Deep in his mind, the voice of the guardian of Naka-gawa Mamoru whom he had devoured surfaced once more like a curse:

"...True power... has never existed in the light... It lies in the hands of... those who dare to devour the darkness..."

A faint sneer touched Xuan's lips.

He muttered softly, his voice so light it seemed ready to scatter in the wind. "I'm not some savior, nor did I come here for revenge."

"I am the Terminator."

As the words fell, the wind carried away the last trace of his humanity. A black shadow silently leaped from the cliff and completely merged into the battlefield's profound darkness.

The hunt had only just begun.

The night wind swept over the cliff, carrying the stench of scorched earth and blood, along with distant shrieks and the thunderous roar of explosions.

Within a gap formed by the collapse of a massive boulder below, Xuan crouched silently, like a statue fused with the shadows.

His scarlet Sharingan stared through the narrow crack at an area not far away, as though waiting for something.