The air was thick with the acrid stench of scorched chemicals and the oppressive sense of impending destruction.
Danzo stood on the stone steps at the entrance to the secret passage, his tall figure looking especially sinister amid the flickering shadows. His single eye swept over this den of sin that was about to be completely buried. The tension in his nerves seemed to ease for an instant, and he slowly exhaled the breath he had been holding deep inside.
However, at the very instant that breath left him—
Bzzzz—!
An extraordinarily subtle yet immensely powerful spatial fluctuation swept through the entire underground complex like a boulder cast into a still lake!
Invisible ripples swept across the walls, floor, and ceiling, even penetrating the concealment membrane formed by Neji's Shadow Release Talisman! Neji's eyes abruptly narrowed—this was no ordinary barrier!
The spatial structure of the entire base was instantly locked down, reinforced, and isolated by an overwhelmingly tyrannical Sealing Jutsu formula! It was as though an invisible giant hand had forcibly "dug" this enormous underground cavity out of reality and sealed it inside an independent dimensional bubble, cut off from the outside world! Forget escaping—any form of chakra communication would be completely severed!
"They found the rat." Danzo's icy voice echoed clearly through the deathly silent space like a snake flicking its tongue. There was not a trace of surprise on his face, only the cruel mockery of a cat toying with a mouse. He slowly turned around, and his single eye precisely "looked" toward the corner of the ceiling where Neji was hiding, as if it had pierced through layer upon layer of shadow!
At the same time, his right hand rapidly formed seals in an incredibly bizarre pattern filled with twisted rhythm—nothing like any known Konoha hand seal