The Shadow over the Library

Lin Feng pushed open the wooden doors of the Konoha Ninja Academy library.

The stabbing pain deep in his left eye, like a fine needle, had not stopped since his return from the Forest of Death.

He did not rub his eye. He merely narrowed it, allowing the Sharingan's enhanced vision to naturally cover his pupil. A few genin students were scattered through the ordinary reading area, all bent over basic ninjutsu scrolls.

No one noticed him.

Lin Feng headed straight for the shelves related to Bloodline Limits. His fingers brushed across rows of scroll labels: Sharingan Basic Awakening Guide, Fundamentals of Eye Power Use, Uchiha Clan History Records... He pulled out the third one and flipped to the page on signs of evolution.

The official records were far too pristine.

The normal signs before awakening should have been accelerated chakra flow and the spontaneous activation of eye power during emotional fluctuations. But his symptoms did not match. The stabbing pain in his left eye came with blurred vision; it was not merely chakra disorder. It was closer to the clinical manifestation of some form of external interference.

A faint trace of chakra lingered between the shelves.

Lin Feng closed the scroll, and his eye power formed a faint red filter over his retinas. The chakra residue in his vision immediately became clearer. Pale violet traces, like dragged smoke, extended from the forbidden jutsu theory section, wound around two rows of shelves, and finally disappeared through an iron door at the end of the reading area.

The entrance to the forbidden books section.

That presence did not belong to a Konoha Academy instructor. It was cold and condensed, carrying the oppressive chakra quality distinctive to Root personnel.

Lin Feng returned the scroll to its place and walked toward the iron door.

The librarian was dozing at the front desk.

He slipped sideways through the gap in the door, his steps making no sound on the stone stairs. The lighting in the underground forbidden archive had long fallen into disrepair. Only the sealing formulas in the corners emitted a dim blue glow. Rows of iron bookshelves held every scroll Konoha had classified as forbidden since the village's founding.

The pale violet chakra traces were especially distinct here.

Lin Feng followed them through three rows of shelves. Every forbidden book related to Bloodline Limits along the way showed signs of having been read. The covers of Heresies on Byakugan Evolution, Inquiry into the Origin of Shikotsumyaku, and Forbidden Record of Uzumaki Clan Sealing Arts were covered in fresh fingerprints. Yet all those prints ultimately pointed in the same direction.

The deepest part of the forbidden archive.

A dust-covered scroll lay alone on the bottom level of an iron shelf. Its label read: <Experimental Summary of Sharingan Chakra and Neural Drug Catalysis>.

The fingerprints along the edge of its cover had not yet faded.

The scroll had been forcibly shoved back, leaving creases in it, with one corner of its pages caught in the gap of the shelf.

Lin Feng crouched and pulled out the scroll.

He did not use the Sharingan. The sealing formulas in the forbidden books section were extremely sensitive to eye-power scans. Reading it directly with the Sharingan would trigger an alarm. He could only use the most primitive method.

His fingers unfolded the scroll.

The ink had faded somewhat, but the content remained legible. The beginning contained classified experimental records from Konoha's early years, concerning the development of mental intervention drugs by using the chakra properties of Bloodline Limit holders. When he reached the third section, one line stopped Lin Feng's breathing for an instant.

"Using the blood of Sharingan holders as a solvent can stabilize the active period of mind-control drugs. Experiments show that the blood of clan members who have not awakened their eyes is less effective, while the blood of three-tomoe holders is the optimal catalyst."

There was more after that.

Just as Lin Feng was about to continue reading, a hand pressed down on his shoulder.

His entire body instantly stiffened.

It was not a delay in chakra perception. Rather, the newcomer's presence had completely merged with the forbidden archive's sealing formulas, only revealing chakra fluctuations a fraction of a second before contact.

"This is not a place you should be."

Uchiha Mikoto's voice was very low.

Lin Feng slowly closed the scroll and turned his head. Mikoto stood behind him, her brows tightly furrowed. A rare severity showed through her gentle eyes.

"The forbidden books section has been tampered with recently. Anyone who gets close may be watched." Mikoto released him, her gaze sweeping over the scroll in his hand. "How did you get in?"

"I was only looking up some information. Why is Senior Mikoto here?"

Lin Feng rose to his feet and returned the scroll to the bottom shelf exactly as it had been. His movements were steady, revealing no additional clue through the creases on its cover.

"I sensed Anbu chakra lingering nearby." Mikoto glanced into the shadows in the depths of the forbidden archive. "And whoever read that scroll... was probably not simply seeking knowledge."

Lin Feng's movements paused for an instant.

"Senior Mikoto knows what is written inside."

Mikoto fell silent for a moment.

The blue glow of the archive's seals fell across her face, making her expression seem especially complicated.

"Shisui is already worrying enough." She did not answer directly. Instead, she raised a hand and smoothed the collar that had been rumpled when Lin Feng brushed against the shelf. "Lin Feng, you need to be careful too. Do not walk alone into a storm after dark."

Lin Feng nodded.

"I understand. But some things must be uncovered in order to protect the clan."

Mikoto's fingertips lingered on his shoulder for a second. Then she sighed softly and turned toward the deeper part of the forbidden books section. There was another row of disturbed shelves there, and more than one forbidden Bloodline Limit book had been taken out.

Lin Feng followed Mikoto out.

When the iron door of the forbidden archive closed again, the light in the reading area made him squint. The librarian was still asleep. The genin students had left at some point, and the entire library was so quiet that he could hear leaves rubbing together outside the wall.

Mikoto stopped before the iron door, her back to him.

"The scroll said that the Sharingan's special chakra can activate a kind of mental intervention drug. Root's experiments were for this." Lin Feng's voice was extremely low. "They need the blood of Uchiha clan members."

Mikoto turned around.

The severity in her eyes had vanished, replaced by a deeper weariness.

"These matters should never have been yours to face."

Lin Feng did not reply.

He merely gave Mikoto a slight bow before turning toward the library exit. His pace was neither hurried nor slow, his posture steady, like any ordinary student who had just finished consulting some materials.

The instant he stepped outside, his left eye throbbed again.

Lin Feng raised a hand and pressed against his eye socket. When his fingertips touched the corner of his eye, he could feel the irregular fluctuations of chakra beneath his skin. This was not a sign of awakening. Awakening did not cause stabbing neural pain, much less blurred vision during the period of lingering drug effects.

There was still a second half of that forbidden scroll he had not had time to finish reading.

But this was already enough.

"Using the blood of Sharingan holders as a solvent."

Root did not merely need the eyes of Uchiha clan members. They needed living blood.

Lin Feng quickened his pace, heading not for the Uchiha Clan Grounds, but for the training ground Shisui often used. The "large-scale drug testing plan" mentioned by the hidden sentries in the Forest of Death under interrogation perfectly matched the contents of the forbidden scroll.

The intelligence chain was complete.

The Sharingan mutation was not an accident. The drug compounds lingering in Shisui and himself were not an accident. Root's recent frequent access to forbidden Bloodline Limit books was not an accident either.

A mind-control drug experiment using the Uchiha Sharingan as a catalyst was being set in motion.

Lin Feng's pace grew faster and faster.

The pain in his left eye stabbed like needles, but he did not stop. Before Root realized the information had leaked, he had to get the news to Shisui. Then he had to steal a sample of the drug.

Only physical evidence could nail this chain of conspiracy shut for good.

The lanterns lining Konoha's streets swayed in the evening wind, stretching his shadow long behind him.

Lin Feng turned onto the path leading to the training ground, and the sound of his footsteps was gradually swallowed by the shadows of the trees.