This World Owes Me—It Will Repay Me with Its Life

Golden-red torrents of chakra, like a galaxy drawn by an invisible vortex, surged madly into Xuan's right eye.

That eye was no longer simply black. Deep within its pupil, a newborn universe seemed to be condensing and collapsing, releasing an ancient pressure that made one's heart tremble.

Even the air inside the stone hall became viscous, every speck of dust steeped in a scorching aura from the primordial dawn.

The system notifications rang out one after another in Xuan's mind, cold and efficient.

"Stripping in progress... Analyzing high-dimensional energy information..."

"Warning: A degraded template highly homologous with the host's genetic source has been detected..."

"Conducting reverse tracing... Associated entries locked: Kaguya Otsutsuki, Chakra Progenitor, Earth-Core Seal..."

"Tracing complete. Ancient genetic template [God Tree Symbiote Branch] discovered!"

In an instant, as though he had crossed hundreds of millions of years, countless fragmented memories flooded into Xuan's mind.

He saw a colossal tree spanning heaven and earth. It was no visitor from beyond the stars—it had sprouted from a drop of his lost blood, a malformed monster evolved from his out-of-control cells after they greedily devoured the life force of an entire planet.

He also saw how a white-haired woman, Kaguya, had plucked the fruit that had never belonged to her like a trembling thief, gaining what she believed to be the "power of a god."

Everything connected.

Xuan abruptly opened his eyes. Golden-red light shot from his right pupil, which had absorbed the "Eye of Origin," like sharpened blades, leaving two deep scorch marks on the stone wall opposite him!

The confusion and searching in his eyes vanished, replaced by a cold, mocking understanding of everything.

So that was it.

He was the source.

The so-called Chakra Progenitor and Rabbit Goddess were nothing more than parasites that had stolen his power.

And every ninja on this planet, every supposedly powerful bloodline limit, was merely an inferior imitation of his out-of-control power.

He was not Kaguya's creation. On the contrary, Kaguya and even the entire history of the ninja world had been built upon him—the forgotten "mistake."

In the corner, White Lotus had long since been crushed breathless by that terrifying aura. Curled up, her teeth chattering uncontrollably, she looked at Xuan with unprecedented terror in her eyes.

At last, she gathered her courage and revealed the secret she had buried deepest in her heart with a trembling voice. "Orochimaru... he... he knew long ago... He spent his entire life researching the root of this world and came to a conclusion... He said, 'If we can find that name deliberately erased from every historical record, we can bypass the shackles of rules set by the Sage of Six Paths and directly touch the most fundamental power of this world'... So he has been looking for you all along."

A grim, icy smile curled across Xuan's lips, his voice utterly devoid of warmth. "So, in the ruins of the Kaguya Clan, he used the lives of countless living people as experiments to test that ridiculous Dead Bone Pulse, all just to... awaken a key capable of resonating with 'Xuan Blood.'"

His gaze slowly turned toward Kaguya Chiori, lying on the ground with only a faint breath left in her.

A terrifying change was taking place in the girl's body. Beneath her skin, her bones seemed to be melting and breaking apart, producing faint cracking sounds.

She was like an exquisite statue built from sand, crumbling from within after losing its central support.

Without the "regeneration template" Xuan had provided to sustain her vitality, her forcibly ripened bloodline was devouring her in return. The price of awakening was death.

Just then, another system warning appeared.

"Warning: [Basic Cell Regeneration Template] energy is about to be exhausted. The target lifeform's vital functions are rapidly failing."

"Analysis report: To fully analyze [God Tree Symbiote Branch], an ultra-high-intensity homologous genetic impact is required as a catalyst to break the final shackle."

Xuan fell silent for a moment. No emotion showed on that handsome face.

He slowly rose to his feet, every step landing like a drumbeat upon the heart as he walked toward Kaguya Chiori.

"Y-you... what are you going to do?" White Lotus scrambled backward in terror, her voice choked with tears. "She's already dying! She became like this to help you!"

Xuan did not pause in the slightest. His voice was as indifferent as a divine decree. "Then let her death be useful."

The instant his words fell, he was already before the girl. Without hesitation, he pressed his right hand against Chiori's crown.

Within his right eye, that golden-red universe began to spin wildly. [Myriad Phenomena Return to the Eye] silently activated, and an incomparably tyrannical suction force locked onto Chiori's body, ready to forcibly extract the purest bloodline chakra that would erupt before death at the final moment her life flame went out!

Yet just as his power was about to enter her, Kaguya Chiori suddenly opened her eyes!

There was no focus left in her pupils. In its place, stark white bones flowed within them, as though reflecting an abyss of death.

Using the last of her strength, she rasped out a few words. "Don't... waste... me... I... awakened... for you..."

The next second, she bit through her tongue of her own accord!

The sweet, metallic scent of blood filled her mouth. At the cost of her life, she unleashed the Kaguya Clan's long-lost forbidden secret art—Bloodline Reversal!

Rumble—!

An incomparably pure Dead Bone Pulse chakra, far stronger than before, erupted from within her like a volcano that had lain dormant for a thousand years!

It was not a trickling stream, but a world-destroying flood!

Phantom white bones danced wildly around her. The floor of the entire stone hall began to crack, and a dense aura of death instantly filled every inch of the space!

Xuan's right pupil abruptly contracted. Without the slightest hesitation, he pushed [Myriad Phenomena Return to the Eye]'s absorption power to its maximum!

That violent torrent of chakra seemed to find an outlet and poured frantically into his right eye!

The system notifications flooded his vision at an unprecedented rate!

"High-activity ancestral gene fragment ×1 captured!"

"Warning! Energy impact overload! Forcing fusion..."

"Fusion successful! Generating new template... [Pseudo Bone Pulse Manipulation Template] generated!"

At the same time, a violent rejection reaction erupted within his body!

Two completely different yet fundamentally identical powers clashed fiercely like fire and water.

The skin on Xuan's left arm split apart inch by inch. Strange black-and-white cracks spread like a spiderweb, as though his entire arm would explode into dust the next moment!

Pain surged over him like a tidal wave, enough to make any Kage-level powerhouse collapse instantly.

Yet there was only a trace of icy resolve on Xuan's face.

"Suppress!"

He shouted inwardly and instantly activated the system's newly unlocked function—[Bloodline Suppression Module]!

A visible black mist-like chakra poured from his heart, forcing its way into his chaotic meridians like chains.

That black mist carried an unquestionable, absolute majesty from the pinnacle of bloodlines. Wherever it passed, the violent Dead Bone Pulse power seemed like subjects meeting their king, instantly soothed, subdued, and assimilated.

Amid the indescribable agony, Xuan felt unprecedented power flooding into every limb and bone.

Not only had he gained the ability to control the growth of his own bones at will, but more importantly, on a spiritual level, he had established an absolute, sovereign suppression over all Kaguya Clan bloodlines!

From this day forward, any member of the Kaguya Clan standing before him would not even be able to activate their bloodline limit.

He slowly lowered his head and looked at the girl's corpse beneath him, now entirely devoid of life and gradually turning cold. There was not the slightest ripple in his eyes.

He raised the hand that had already fully recovered and gently brushed across her still-open eyes.

"You are not a sacrifice," he murmured, as if speaking to a departed soul, yet also as if declaring it to himself. "You are an offering. And offerings should feel honored to give themselves."

With that, he slowly raised his hand. Magnet Release activated, and the scattered iron sand around him rapidly gathered, forming an incomparably sharp carving blade in his palm.

He turned and walked toward a massive stone pillar. His wrist flickered as he carved a new symbol into it: a vertical eye gazing down upon all living things, and beneath it, the character "Xuan," blazing like flames.

After finishing all this, he formed hand seals.

"Sand-Iron Tornado!"

The countless grains of iron sand planted at the entrance to the stone hall detonated in an instant. A violent tornado swept up enormous boulders, sealing the entire entrance completely and permanently.

This place would become Kaguya Chiori's grave, and the burial ground of his past.

In the dim light, he gave the trembling White Lotus one last look and left her with his final words.

"Tell everyone who knows that name—I did not come to seek my roots. I came to collect a debt."

"This world owes me lives. I will collect every last one, principal and interest."

Before his words had even faded, his figure had vanished into the depths of the dark passage.

Far beneath the distant sea, a submarine silently cut through the water. On its hull, one could vaguely make out the remnants of a crossed-out red cloud emblem—the symbol of Akatsuki.

Inside the dim cabin, before flickering instrument screens, a masked ninja abruptly raised his head. His voice twisted slightly from shock.

"The special signal source in the southern region... has disappeared... But just now, we detected an energy fluctuation approaching Six Paths level... Report to Lord Pain immediately."

At the other end of the world, the gears of fate began to groan under unbearable strain at the return of one who had been forgotten.

A storm no one had foreseen was beginning to take shape.