A Dog's Nose Can't Smell Blood Underground

He had turned this hunt into a reverse massacre.

Three meters underground, Xuan's consciousness spread like an invisible giant net, taking in every movement on the surface.

His body had merged with the earth, every heartbeat seeming to synchronize with the pulse of the ley lines.

Within Inferno Perception, Kento Inuzuka's vigilant, hound-like figure, along with the low growls of the ninja dog Akamaru beside him, were as clear as lines on his palm.

Seven people, seven sources of chakra, flickering like candles in the night within his sensory world.

"The scent's gone... but there's a slight anomaly in moisture evaporation here." Kento's voice was low and sharp, carrying the unique instinct of one who had tracked prey for years.

He crouched down, his slender fingers brushing across the cracks in the dry ground as though deciphering the secret messages left behind by the earth.

"Not natural seepage. It's like... there's a hollow space underground."

Xuan sneered inwardly. As expected of an elite personally trained by the Third Hokage.

Ordinary sensory ninja would only track the flow of chakra, but Kento Inuzuka could smell danger from the slightest changes in the environment.

Even more troublesome were the four sealing specialists. Their positions appeared loose, but they secretly followed a pattern. Their diamond formation vaguely enveloped the core area of this abandoned granary.

That was the opening stance of the Four Symbols Sealing Formation, a powerful barrier capable of suppressing tailed beast-level power.

Once they pinpointed his exact location, an inescapable net would take shape in an instant.

He could not wait.

With a slight shift of Xuan's consciousness, the black mist chakra hidden in the deeper ley lines moved like venomous snakes with lives of their own, silently extending through the ancient underground water channels toward an abandoned old well on the western side of the granary.

It had once been a kitchen waste outlet during the war. The bottom of the well was filled with thick grease and stagnant water, giving off a nauseating stench. It was a natural blind spot for sensory abilities.

He took a White Zetsu corpse, long since corroded beyond recognition, from his storage space. Like a rotten log, he silently pushed it deep into the filthy water through the well opening with black mist.

Immediately after, a thread of chakra so weak it was nearly imperceptible entered the corpse's neural center.

The next second, the "corpse's" limbs suddenly convulsed, churning the viscous sewage and producing dull splashing sounds, perfectly imitating the final struggles of a severely injured person at death's door.

After doing all this, Xuan transferred his main consciousness like a ghost to the bottom of a long-dried irrigation canal on the eastern side of the granary.

He suppressed ninety-nine percent of the chakra in his body, releasing only an extremely faint signal with obvious traces of "tailed beast contamination."

It was like dropping a single drop of blood into waters teeming with sharks.

To the Allied Shinobi Forces, who were constantly on guard against tailed beast power, the priority of such a signal outweighed everything else.

"Woof! Woof woof!"

Aboveground, Akamaru abruptly turned his head and began barking frantically toward the east, sharp and urgent.

Kento's gaze sharpened as he instantly locked onto the direction Akamaru was warning about.

"East! There's a contamination source!" He made his decision without hesitation, his voice decisive and loud. "Setsu Hyuga, Torune Aburame, Inoichi Yamanaka, you three investigate the anomaly at the western well! The rest of you, with me!"

The corners of Xuan's lips curled slightly deep underground. The fish had taken the bait.

The three ninja swiftly acknowledged the order, their figures flashing as they raced toward the old well to the west.

They formed a standard combat triangle. The veins around the Hyuga ninja's eyes had already bulged as his Byakugan's all-around surveillance activated. The Aburame clansman silently released nanoscale venomous insects to probe the surroundings, while the Yamanaka Clan's Mind Body Transmission Technique stood ready to seize control of minds at any moment.

However, what they faced was a monster that had turned the earth into its hunting ground.

As Setsu Hyuga, who led the group, bent toward the well opening and attempted to use his Byakugan to see through the murky sewage, a sudden change erupted!

"Splash!"

Countless black tendrils, like arms reaching out from hell, shot from cracks in the well wall without warning and instantly wrapped around his ankles.

An irresistible force pulled him. Setsu Hyuga did not even have time to cry out before he was dragged headfirst into the foul-smelling sewage!

"Setsu!"

Torune Aburame and Inoichi Yamanaka were horrified. Just as they were about to form hand seals to rescue him, the earth beneath their feet suddenly softened like a swamp.

Earth Style: Swamp of the Underworld? No!

The thought had barely crossed their minds when two hands made of high-density wood fibers burst from the ground like black stakes. One struck Torune Aburame precisely in the chest, while the other clamped tightly over Inoichi Yamanaka's back!

That was not ninjutsu. It was a pure, tyrannical, horrifying power that turned the earth itself into part of its body!

"Urgh..."

Their bodies shuddered violently, and their pupils instantly dilated.

They could clearly feel a cold, bizarre force madly pouring from those hands. It was not destroying their flesh. It was... stripping away their souls!

Vitality, chakra, even memories, were being extracted at an unstoppable speed.

The entire process was incomparably swift and utterly silent.

In less than five seconds, by the time the last ripples vanished from the water's surface, silence had returned around the well. Only three rapidly cooling corpses remained, along with the sealing scrolls scattered from their waists.

Meanwhile, Kento was leading the remaining three teammates as they raced toward the eastern irrigation canal at breakneck speed.

However, the sight before him struck him like a thunderbolt.

The so-called "contamination source" was merely a torn scrap of cloth stained with a trace of tailed beast chakra that was almost gone.

"This is... bait!" Kento's mind instantly went blank, and a freezing chill shot from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.

He spun around and roared with all his strength, "No! A diversion! Everyone, fall ba—"

Before he could finish, black flames surged into the sky from the western well, emitting an eerie, pale-green phosphorescence in the morning light.

That was the distinct sign of White Zetsu cells burning!

"Bastard!"

Kento's eyes nearly split apart. His speed exploded to its limit as he turned into an afterimage and rushed back to the granary.

But all he saw were the cold corpses of his three companions and empty scroll pouches.

The Four Symbols Sealing Formation had collapsed without being attacked.

Just as his body trembled with utter fury, a faint vibration came from the ground beneath his feet.

A low voice, as though it had risen from the depths of the underworld, pierced through the thick layers of soil and rang clearly beside his ear.

"Next time... bring stronger dogs."

What unbearable humiliation!

Kento clenched his fists so hard that his nails dug deep into his palms, blood dripping through his fingers.

He knew the enemy had already gone far away.

Meanwhile, within the deeper network of ley lines, Xuan moved through them like a fish in water.

Three brand-new sealing scrolls had appeared in his hand.

He casually unfurled one of them. Complex and precise formulas were drawn across the scroll, with ancient writing beside them that read—[Sealing Technique: Dance of the Shikigami].

This was actually the core secret art of the legendary "Apostle of God," now improved by the upper ranks of the Allied Shinobi Forces and used as one of their trump cards for suppressing tailed beasts.

"Since you want to use a cage to imprison me," Xuan's

Aboveground, Kento, kneeling beside his companions' corpses, finally raised his head from his endless regret and fury.

He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and sent the first A-rank wanted order of his career to the Allied Shinobi Forces' supreme command through an encrypted channel. His voice was hoarse as sandpaper.

"Target confirmed, codename 'Earth Eater.' Nonhuman intelligent entity. Ability suspected to be a Wood Style variant. Can alter its form and absorb souls... Recommended threat level: quasi-Kage level. I repeat, quasi-Kage level! Abandon capture. Order... kill on sight!"

The message returned to the rear camp at the fastest possible speed, like a bomb dropped among them. Everyone was shocked by the unfamiliar codename "Earth Eater" and the terrifying combat power it had displayed, while an uneasy panic quietly began to spread.

Night fell, yet the lights of Allied Forces headquarters remained lit throughout the night.

The intelligence Kento had brought back, along with the three corpses whose souls had been drained away, made every high-ranking official feel unprecedented pressure.

An emergency intelligence analysis report was delivered to the decision-making table.

In the report, a sealing consultant from the Uzumaki Clan had circled the names of the three scrolls stolen by Earth Eater in red ink. His face was pale as paper.

"Something's wrong..." the consultant said, his voice trembling slightly. "These three scrolls: Dance of the Shikigami is for large-scale physical lockdown, Adamantine Sealing Chains is for binding chakra entities, and Mirror Water Prison can create a barrier that isolates space... Individually, they are all top-tier sealing techniques. But when combined, they point to a forgotten, forbidden purpose..."

"Get to the point!" A Hidden Cloud Village official slapped the table impatiently.

The consultant took a deep breath and pointed to the enormous map of the shinobi world on the wall. His finger finally landed on an area marked with the highest danger level. At the center of that region lay a river that had been silent for far too long.

"He isn't learning how to break a cage," the consultant said with immense difficulty. "According to ancient records, if these three powers are used in reverse, combined with a massive source of life energy... he's going to a place to open a 'door'! A door leading to... the source of power and calamity!"

Kento's bloodshot eyes stared fixedly at the name on the map. It had once been the Uchiha Clan's most sacred ritual ground, as well as a forbidden ruin where countless secrets and vengeful souls were buried.

He abruptly rose to his feet. The killing intent he had suppressed all day completely erupted, his voice icy and piercing as it echoed through the command center. "Highest alert! Immediately seal off the entire Naka River basin! All Anbu, barrier units, sensory units, and first combat echelon, move out with me! We cannot let him get even one step closer to that place!"