15
Time slipped quietly by, and a year and a half passed in the blink of an eye. Counting the earlier six months, his journey through time and space had lasted two full years. Bird's feat of migrating from the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean to America still seemed beyond reach, even with the internal force granted by his current intermediate fifth level of the God King Vajra Technique. To find his way home-and to test a certain possibility-Xun Uchiha decided to set out the next day and attempt to cross the ocean. Before leaving, he took one last look at his training ground. In those dark waters a thousand meters deep, he had spent two long stretches of six months. Now that he was leaving, an indescribable trace of reluctance stirred in his heart.
When he dove to his old training spot five hundred meters below the surface, the sight before him made him gasp.
The once-dormant black-hole vortex had begun spinning again, sweeping up the surrounding seawater like a winding black dragon as it stretched toward the depths of the seabed. The previous two openings had each required a six-month wait. Why had it appeared this time without warning? What point in time had he been swept into?
As he wrestled with shock and uncertainty, a gentle voice came from behind him. "Xun Uchiha, that's an ocean-current vortex. Be careful, and don't go near it."
That call struck like thunder, draining the color from Xun Uchiha's face. The shock nearly knocked him off balance. He slowly turned and saw Boren Lee standing quietly behind him in a well-tailored suit, looking as refined as a scholar at a lectern.
"Boren Lee!" Xun Uchiha's voice came out hoarse with overwhelming emotion.
"I sensed unusual disturbances in the currents here and