The air was filled with a sweet smell of rust and decay. It was not blood, but it was more heart-stopping than blood.
Baba Tesshin This experienced warrior, who had experienced countless life and death fights, had an almost frightened solemn look on his face at this moment.
He grasped the handle of the knife tightly with one hand, his muscles as stiff as rocks, and shouted in a deep voice, "Master Xuan, this is not a natural phenomenon, it is a precursor to the expansion of the illusion field! The scope is too large, we must break out immediately!"
However, Zhongxuan's thunderous counterattack he expected did not appear.
Xuan just slowly raised his hand, a gesture of restraint. The movement was light and understated, but it carried an unquestionable majesty.
He raised his head and let the sticky blood-colored drizzle fall on his cheeks, cold and smooth.
The surrounding air seemed to freeze, and even the wind stopped.
In his field of vision, the whole world took on a different look.
His slowly rotating right eye seemed to hide a black hole swallowing all things deep in the pupil, reflecting the reality that ordinary people could not see.
Countless light points that are smaller than dust, like plankton in the deep sea, are gathering from all directions. They emit weak chakra fluctuations, and each light point is wrapped in a small fragment of a fragmented, high-speed flashing picture.
"Memory spores..." The corner of Xuan's mouth raised a cold arc, "The 'Shadow Erosion Technique' left behind by Akatsuki is really a nostalgic handiwork."
This forbidden technique is not used for direct attacks, but like tarsal maggots, it attaches to the target and silently records all its whereabouts and conversations. It is a top-level tracking technique designed for long-term monitoring of high-risk targets.
Saori was nervously Hand Seals on the side, ready to release Sensory Ninjutsu, but was shocked to stop by Xuan's next movement.
Instead of being defensive, Xuan Fei opened his arms as if welcoming a long-awaited hug.
He completely let go of his chakra suppression and turned himself into a burning torch in the darkness, the most perfect and alluring host for these "spores".
"Come on," he thought silently, "Let me see whose eyes are hidden behind you."
Buzz--!
Countless memory spores rushed toward Xuan like a swarm of sharks smelling blood.
The moment they were about to touch his skin, an indescribable terrifying aura suddenly erupted from Xuan's body!
Black mist, purer than the deepest night, spurted out from the pores of his body like a bursting tide, instantly forming a huge Uzumaki Clan.
Those memory spores that rushed towards us couldn't even resist at all, they were all involved and swallowed up by the black Uzumaki Clan!
The prompt tone of [Myriad Phenomena Devouring System] sounded coldly in Xuan's mind.
"Capture high-density memory encoding... Number: 17,482 units."
"Parsing..."
"The analysis is completed. The traceability path has been established: southeast of Moonshadow Forest, three hundred miles away."
Xuan slowly lowered his arm. The rain of blood around him had stopped at some point, and the sky returned to its original gray color.
The sneer in his eyes grew stronger.
This is not a random spell left after the Shinobi World war. These spores have clear guidance beacons. They are like a group of sheep being driven by a shepherd, and their destination is themselves.
This is not a temptation, but an invitation.
Setting up a trap? Or... recruiting?
That night, the three of them camped in a hidden mountain col.
The crackling of the bonfire dispelled the chill in the forest, but it could not dispel the weird atmosphere.
Saori frowned, quietly came to Xuan's side, and lowered his voice and said, "Sir, there is something wrong with Mr. Tiexin's appearance."
Xuan's eyes turned to the other side of the bonfire.
Baba Tesshin is sitting there, repeatedly wiping his long knife that he regards as life.
His movements were mechanical and persistent, his eyes were hollow and fanatical, and he was still mumbling words, intermittently reciting some place names and battle scenes that no one had ever heard of.
"...Hidden Mist Village's raid... the third line of defense must hold...Ice Release of the Yuki Clan..."
Xuan stood up, walked slowly to Baba Tesshin, put his fingers together, and tapped his eyebrows like lightning.
A stream of pure chakra penetrated his meridians, and after traveling around in a circle, Xuan's face darkened.
In the chakra cycle of Baba Tesshin, he captured an extremely weak but extremely cold alien chakra. It was like a tiny poisonous snake, entrenched near the central nervous system, constantly releasing false memory fragments.
"It's the 'Thought Projection' of Silver Crow." Xuan retracted his finger, and there was no wave in his voice. "It can not only transmit information over long distances, but also implant specific memory fragments into the brains of those with weak minds, using it as coordinates and media."
Saori's face instantly turned pale. "Then aren't we already completely exposed to his surveillance?"
"No." Xuan shook his head, looking deeply into the depths of the dark forest sea, as if he could penetrate all obstacles, "Its current targets are those 'dead souls' who are addicted to the glory and obsession of the past. And I..."
He paused, with a tone of absolute confidence and indifference.
"It is the 'arbiter of the future' that it must face."
As soon as he finished speaking, a soft sound of flapping wings broke the silence.
At Zi hour, the moon is at the middle of the sky.
A scarlet crow landed silently on a bare dead branch next to the camp.
Its eyes are actually two slowly rotating wheels of Three-Tomoe Sharingan, emitting an ominous red light.
The most terrifying thing is what it holds in its mouth - a crystal clear eyeball. The familiar Mangekyō Sharingan pattern is clearly a perfect replica of the Shisui Uchiha left eye!
A hoarse, dry human voice, like metal friction, came from the mouth of the crow. "Uchiha Xuan... You broke the taboo and awakened the taboo sleeping deep in the blood... But did you know that every awakened person who breaks free from the shackles of fate must accept the trial from 'Watchers'?"
Xuan looked at it with a mocking sneer on his face, "I never accept trials from anyone. Because I can only do one thing - swallow the rules themselves."
After saying that, the pupil of his right eye suddenly shrank!
[Void Devour·Return to Ruins]!
In an instant, the space around the Silver Crow seemed to be grasped by an invisible big hand and began to twist and fold violently!
The air let out an overwhelming scream, and Silver Crow tried to flap its wings to escape, but found that he was like a bug nailed in amber, unable to move.
The spatial anchor point around it was forcibly locked by Xuan's pupil technique, and then it was roughly dragged into a semi-virtual state between reality and nothingness!
In the distorted light and shadow, Xuan's figure stepped into this alien space and stood opposite Silver Crow.
Here, the scarlet body of the crow began to swell and change, its feathers turned into black robes, and its body lengthened, finally revealing a translucent and blurry outline of a young man - that face was exactly what Shisui Uchiha looked like when he was young!
"I am the last Watchers." The phantom spoke, with an ethereal and ancient voice, "My existence is only to ensure that Uchiha Clan will not fall into the abyss of self-destruction again."
Xuan ignored the oppressive feeling coming from the depths of his bloodline and approached it step by step, causing ripples in the void beneath his feet.
"Then you should understand that real destruction is never caused by too much power." His voice was as cold as a knife, "But because the weak gather together and use their so-called morals and traditions as chains to strangle all possibilities for change."
Before he finished speaking, he was already in front of the virtual shadow.
He stretched out his hand, his five fingers like iron claws, and pressed precisely on the phantom head that was transformed into a crow.
The power of devouring suddenly activates!
But this time, Xuan's goal is not to completely destroy.
The black mist surged, but like the most delicate scalpel, it accurately peeled off a contract brand flashing with complex runes from the core of the shadow.
That's the root of the "Watchers" contract!
Strip it, parse it, and... reverse it!
At dawn, when the first ray of light pierces the darkness, the alien space dissipates.
The crow flew up again and landed on a dead branch.
Its feathers, which were originally as scarlet as blood, have now become as dark and deep as ink.
The Three-Tomoe Sharingan in its eyes have also disappeared, replaced by two circles of patterns that resemble the broken rings when [Void Devour: Return to Ruins] is activated.
It let out a low chirp, flapped its wings and swooped down, landing meekly on Xuan's shoulder.
The system prompt sounds at the right time:
"Successfully captured the 'watch-level' intelligence unit: Silver Crow·Remnant Fire."
"Unlock [Web of Ten Thousand Eyes] primary permissions: can remotely receive some visual information and strong emotional fluctuations from all Sharingan holders throughout the territory."
Xuan raised his head, looked far away in the direction of Land of Lightning, and raised the corners of his mouth slightly.
Countless broken and chaotic visual images flooded into his mind. After systematic screening and reorganization, a clear coordinate was locked.
"The location of Two-Tails Jinchūriki Yugito Nii has been found."
However, the moment he finished speaking, Silver Crow on his shoulder suddenly stiffened, as if his throat was being strangled by an invisible force.
It suddenly opened its beak and uttered an ancient and unpronounceable syllable that did not belong to any known language Shinobi World.
That voice was full of awe and... fear.
Then, in the dim light of dawn, Silver Crow's right eye exploded without warning!
A viscous liquid that looked like molten gold flowed out from the broken eye socket, dripped on Xuan's shoulder, then quickly slipped down, seeped into the soil under his feet, and disappeared without a trace.