Wind Hidden Within Fire

A chilling coldness spread through the entire medical camp with the morning mist, as though the air itself had frozen solid.

Morikawa Raiga's order was crisp and decisive, without a trace of warmth. "Seal every exit. Not even a fly is allowed to get out!"

The intelligence report in his hand had only just been deciphered. A faint glow from the encryption formula still lingered along the paper's edges, yet every word written on it seemed drenched in blood: "New chakra reaction confirmed at the Naka River Ruins. Displays characteristics of 'devouring ripples,' suspected to be a prototype vessel of Kekkei Mōra. Final contact target locked: code name 'Wounded.' Identity unknown. Physical traits: extensive burn scars on left shoulder, signs of healed fractures on the finger joints of the right hand."

Raiga's gaze was as sharp as a hawk's as it slowly swept over the frightened and bewildered faces throughout the camp. In the end, his eyes, like two poisoned kunai, fixed firmly on the tent where Xuan was.

It was him!

The "survivor" whom Oda Kaori had personally brought back yesterday, claiming he had barely survived an encounter!

Every trait matched perfectly!

"Second and Third Squads, surround that tent!" Raiga kept his voice low, but barely restrained fury seeped through it. "Prepare a binding barrier. If the target makes any suspicious move, kill him without mercy!"

The two Hidden Cloud Village guards responsible for the outer perimeter exchanged glances and gripped the ninja swords at their waists. Their muscles tensed as they prepared to pounce like leopards.

However, at that moment, a hand lifted the tent flap from within.

Xuan appeared before everyone. His face was as pale as paper, and his body swayed as though a gust of wind could knock him down.

He did not resist. He did not even show the slightest vigilance. He merely staggered forward two steps before dropping to his knees with a thud.

He lowered his head deeply, his shoulders shaking violently. His voice was hoarse and filled with the terror of someone who had narrowly escaped death. "I... I saw it... that monster... that 'Devourer'..."

He suddenly raised his head. His bloodshot eyes stared fixedly at Raiga as though he had grasped his final lifeline. "Last night... it was him! He infiltrated the camp and killed... killed the Hidden Stone Village brother in the tent next door! I heard the screams... I saw it..."

The performance was flawless. From his trembling fingertips to the terror in his eyes, there was not a single crack to be found.

Even Oda Kaori, who had sympathized with him, unconsciously clenched her fists. Disbelieving horror filled her eyes.

Raiga's expression did not waver in the slightest. He was as cold and merciless as ancient black ice.

He stepped forward and scrutinized Xuan from above. His voice was icy enough to pierce bone. "Then how did you survive?"

The question was like a sword aimed directly at the heart of every lie.

Xuan's body trembled even harder. It was as though the question had frightened him out of his wits, and he instinctively shrank his neck.

That movement exposed a mark on the right side of his neck to Raiga's gaze at just the right moment.

It was a strange "claw mark." It was not deep, yet it glowed with an ominous dark purple hue, as though some kind of energy entity had forcibly torn at his skin and left behind a scar.

"He... he found me..." Xuan said in a tearful, halting voice. "He grabbed me... I felt... felt the power in my body... my chakra... being drained away like a flood... I thought I was dead for sure..."

He paused, and lingering fear and confusion surfaced in his eyes. "But... but for some reason, when he had drained about half of it, he suddenly stopped. It was like... like my body rejected him... then he disappeared... I... I didn't die... could it be... could it be that my constitution... is special?"

His words were like an uncut jade stone polished to perfection, gleaming seductively from every angle.

They perfectly explained the "chakra disturbance" described in the intelligence report—after having half of his chakra forcibly drained, how could it not be disrupted?

At the same time, they cleverly presented an incredibly tempting possibility—a special constitution capable of resisting "devouring ripples."

To the major ninja villages, an unidentified threat was certainly terrifying, but a living "test subject" with research value was beyond measure.

If they could unravel the secrets of this new Kekkei Mōra from him, perhaps even find a way to counter it, that would be an achievement capable of changing the entire course of the war.

Raiga's pupils abruptly contracted.

Killing him would merely eliminate a potential threat.

Taking him back, however, might uncover an enormous secret.

As one of Hidden Cloud Village's upper echelon, he instantly weighed the gains and losses.

The killing intent in his heart slowly receded, replaced by a colder greed.

He slowly raised a hand, stopping his restless subordinates. His tone softened slightly, though it still carried the authority of an unquestionable command. "Take him to Interrogation Zone Three and guard him closely. Remember, monitor him without a single blind spot. Report anything unusual to me immediately."

"Yes!"

Two ninja stepped forward and supported the "utterly weakened" Xuan between them as they headed toward the isolation area at the rear of the camp.

The moment he was lifted up, an unnoticed gleam flashed through Xuan's lowered eyes.

Within his mind, a cold system panel clearly displayed a line of data:

[Energy Reserve: 198/200]

He only needed the final 2 points to unlock one of the system's core functions—[Ninjutsu Simulation].

And that function was the key to whether he could carve his way out of this den of dragons and tigers.

He needed an opportunity, one that would let him gain energy in an instant and create enough chaos.

And he had personally planted that opportunity last night.

Just as the transfer party reached the edge of the camp, near the outer forest—

Boom—!

A violent, pure surge of Lightning Release chakra erupted from the distant forest like an erupting volcano and shot into the sky!

Immediately afterward, shrill alarms rang across the camp. Several patrol squads were instantly torn apart by the lightning, reduced to charred corpses!

A sensory ninja stationed on lookout screamed himself hoarse. "Enemy attack! Northeast direction, A-rank chakra signature! It's 'Thunder Demon' Otsu from the rogue ninja list! He's broken through the first line of defense!"

Chaos erupted in an instant.

"Thunder Demon" Otsu, an S-rank rogue ninja who had once betrayed Hidden Cloud Village and was famed for his masterful Lightning Release ambushes, was now a chess piece of Yakushi Kabuto's Impure World Reincarnation. Following the chakra mark Xuan had left behind last night with perfect precision, he cut into the weakest junction of the Allied Forces' patrol lines like a red-hot blade.

Raiga's face turned livid, and his furious roar rang through the sky. "Protect the wounded and medical ninja! Everyone else, come with me and intercept the intruder! Do not let him enter the camp!"

Most of the camp's fighting force was drawn away in an instant, and the sudden attack tore a massive hole in the camp's defensive formation.

The opportunity Xuan had been waiting for had arrived!

Just as the two guards escorting him were distracted by the distant explosions and turned their heads, Xuan's body suddenly went limp, and he fell forward as though he lacked the strength to stand.

The movement was utterly natural, without the slightest flaw.

The instant he hit the ground, he spread the fingers of his right hand and pressed them tightly against the damp earth.

The last trace of energy hidden deep within his chakra pathways flowed down his arm and into the ground, merging with the black mist that had already been lying in wait. It silently spread toward the Impure World Reincarnation body on the distant battlefield.

[Soul Beacon mark complete... Energy extraction channel established...]

[Energy Reserve: 199/200...]

[Energy Reserve: 200/200!]

[Unlock condition fulfilled. [Ninjutsu Simulation] function activated!]

Xuan's heart jolted, and then the guards roughly pulled him back up.

He raised his head and murmured to the ninja beside him in a voice mixed with fear and certainty, "That person... the aura around that intruder... is exactly the same as the 'Devourer' from last night..."

The words were like a stone thrown into a tranquil lake, instantly stirring towering waves.

The guard's expression changed drastically, and he immediately shouted the information to Raiga nearby.

Raiga, who had been directing the battle, suddenly froze. In that flash of realization, every clue connected in his mind—the strange wounded man, the perfectly timed intelligence leak, and the attack that had come neither early nor late, but precisely when he was about to transfer the "Wounded"!

It was a trap! A trap aimed at him, perhaps even at the entire medical camp!

That so-called "Wounded" was not a survivor at all. He was bait!

He was the fuse that had ignited all of this!

"We've been fooled!" Astonishing killing intent burst from Raiga's eyes. He no longer paid attention to the resurrected rogue ninja rampaging in the distance. He spun around, pointed at Xuan, and roared, "Forget that rogue ninja! Everyone, no matter the cost, restrain that man!"

However, it was already too late.

At the same moment Raiga shouted those words, Xuan used the force of the guards pulling him upright. His feet shifted seemingly at random across the ground, and an exceptionally subtle hand seal had already been completed.

[Ninjutsu Simulation · Activate!]

The system interface exploded open within the sea of his consciousness. Three completely different chakra energies, forcibly devoured and fused by him, surged through his chakra pathways like three violent dragons converging into one!

One came from the residual fire-attribute essence within Uchiha Kanku's Mangekyō Sharingan, blazing and tyrannical!

One came from the Hidden Rain Village jonin he had devoured, pure and sharp—the attribute of wind!

Finally, his own Two-Tomoe Sharingan served as the central control, using its precise insight to forcibly regulate, compress, and fuse them!

In an instant, a terrifying and unprecedented energy gathered in Xuan's palm.

He thrust both hands forward. What erupted was not any known Fire Release ninjutsu.

It was not a Great Fireball, nor was it Dragon Flame!

It was a crimson tornado formed from intertwining flames and raging winds, spiraling with devastating force!

[Fire Release: Flame-Wind Spiral Dragon!]

Scorching flames mixed with countless blade-sharp wind blades, forming a tornado of death. Trees, rocks, and even the air along its path were instantly shredded apart and ignited upon contact!

This sudden attack, defying all reason, was aimed directly at Morikawa Raiga, whose turned body had exposed an opening along his flank!

Raiga was utterly horrified. He had never seen such a bizarre combined ninjutsu!

Caught off guard, he could only erupt all the Lightning Release chakra in his body to its limit. Forming hand seals, he roared, "Lightning Release: Lightning Armor!"

Crackle—!

Violent blue arcs of electricity formed a thick layer of armor over his body. This was one of Hidden Cloud Village's highest-level defensive ninjutsu.

Yet before the Spiral Flame Dragon, the supposedly indestructible Lightning Armor was like paper. It held for less than half a second before the violent flames and wind blades instantly tore through it!

Splat!

Blood sprayed into the air. Raiga let out a muffled groan as the Flame Dragon grazed his right shoulder. His flesh was mangled, and his entire arm immediately went numb, blackened and charred.

Agony and shock struck his mind at once. He stared fixedly at the figure slowly emerging from the smoke and dust, his voice twisting with rage. "You... you're not Wounded! Who exactly are you? Are you a pawn sent by Madara Uchiha?!"

Xuan walked forward step by step. The weakness he had feigned had already vanished without a trace, replaced by an unfathomable coldness and indifference.

Within his scarlet eyes, two tomoe slowly rotated, radiating an eerie glow.

"I am no one's pawn."

He declared it coldly, no longer concealing anything.

His left hand slowly rose. A mass of deep black mist began to gather and spin in his palm, radiating a devouring aura that made souls tremble.

Right here, before everyone's eyes, he was preparing to completely devour Morikawa Raiga's soul.

However, at that critical moment, a dazzling golden flash tore through the morning mist at the edge of the sky. Like a falling meteor, it rushed closer at an unimaginable speed!

What followed was a vast, warm chakra pulse brimming with life—the chakra of the Nine-Tails jinchuriki, Naruto Uzumaki!

Xuan's pupils suddenly shrank.

Naruto was here!

That meant the main force of the Fourth Shinobi World War was not far away.

If he continued to fight Raiga here, then once Naruto—or even the main army arriving afterward—surrounded him, he would have no chance of escape.

In that split second, Xuan made the most decisive choice.

He instantly abandoned the plan to devour Raiga. The black mist he had gathered dissipated, and he slammed a completely different hand seal onto the ground!

"Explode!"

With his low shout, three inconspicuous patches of ground around the battlefield exploded at once!

Three White Zetsu clones that he had buried in advance the night before detonated under the force of explosive tags. Towering smoke and explosive flames instantly engulfed the entire area, completely blocking everyone's view.

Amid the chaos, Xuan's icy voice seemed to skim across the ground as it reached the gravely injured, immobile Raiga's ears.

"If Raiga lives, troubles will never end."

Before the words had faded, he dragged one leg, "injured" by the explosion, and staggered into the sea of flames and smoke he had created with his own hands.

The next moment, when the smoke and dust thinned slightly and the Allied Forces' ninja rushed forward, they found only a corpse at the center of the blast, burned beyond recognition and nearly reduced to charcoal.

Beside the corpse lay several charred scraps from a Hidden Cloud Village jonin vest.

Amid the massive confusion and obstructed vision, everyone instinctively assumed that Hidden Cloud Village's commander, Morikawa Raiga, had died in that terrifying self-destruction.

The clamor of the battlefield seemed to gradually fade away. The fall of a hero added another stroke of tragic grandeur to this blood-soaked land.

Yet no one knew that at the far edge of the chaotic battlefield, amid the boundless fog and the shadows of the mountains, a pair of cold scarlet eyes was watching it all without emotion.

Mist was the finest curtain. It could conceal not only one's tracks, but the truth itself.