The air at the edge of the Forest of Death was thick with the raw scent of soil and vegetation.
Neji's figure stumbled out of the void and crashed down on one knee. He spat a mouthful of blood onto the dead leaves, where it glimmered dark red beneath the moonlight. The agony of space tearing spread from his organs through every limb, as if countless steel needles were traveling through his meridians.
Trembling, he pulled an emerald-green Medical Talisman from his ninja tool pouch. The meridian diagram traced across the paper in gold thread glowed faintly in the darkness.
"Activate!"
As chakra flowed into it, the Medical Talisman instantly transformed into countless firefly-like motes of green light, seeping into his skin like spring rain. The wounds on his body healed at a visible rate, but the damage within still throbbed faintly.
Neji closed his eyes and regulated his breathing. Innate True Qi slowly circulated through his eight extraordinary meridians, soothing the hidden injuries caused by the spatial turbulence bit by bit. A Night Owl cried in the distance, its call carrying a bleak edge, as though foretelling something.
When the first ray of dawn pierced through the treetops, Neji finally opened his eyes. He took out the crystalline Recording Talisman from his robes and lightly touched its surface. The horrific scene from last night's underground laboratory immediately appeared as a holographic image—Danzo's twisted face as he burned the scrolls, the Sharingan floating inside cultivation tanks, the severed limbs dissolving in the melting pool... Every frame was clear enough to make one sick.
"Not enough," Neji murmured. He took five blank talismans from his ninja tool pouch. Biting open his index finger, he used blood as ink to draw intricate Copy Formulas on each talisman. When he completed the final