Deep within the Glacial Mine Tunnel, time seemed to have frozen.
Hyuga Xiao sat cross-legged before the Covenant Stone Fragments, an azure chakra aura flowing around him, brightening and dimming like breathing. The Tenseigan Prototype slowly rotated deep within his eye sockets. Every turn brought an immense torrent of information—the flood of knowledge projected across 380,000 kilometers by the Giant Lunar Tenseigan.
"The thirty-seventh chakra meridian circulation route... error. It will cause organ failure."
"Lunar gravity field simulation formula... requires at least three Covenant Stone Fragments for complete construction."
"Soul resonance frequency..."
Xiao's mind worked like a precision instrument, categorizing, analyzing, and storing the incoming information. His expression was frighteningly calm. Those eyes that had once trembled with anger and softened with warmth now held only the coldness of data.
Kurenai Yuhi leaned against the rock wall, holding heated Soldier Provision Pills in her hands, yet she could not swallow a single bite.
She watched Xiao's back.
It had been three days.
Ever since he had fused with the Covenant Stone Fragments deep in the mine tunnel and awakened the Tenseigan Prototype, Xiao had become like this. Training, analysis, then more training. Aside from necessary conversations, he barely spoke. Even the occasional looks he gave her no longer belonged to the young man who would drape his coat over her on cold nights, but to something... assessing.
Like a hunter judging the value of prey.
"Xiao." Hong finally could not hold back any longer. Her voice rang especially clearly through the empty tunnel. "You didn't sleep last night."
"Sleep efficiency is low." Xiao did not turn around. The glow of his Tenseigan outlined his profile in the darkness. "In the Tenseigan Prototype state, four hours of deep meditation can replace eight hours of sleep while simultaneously analyzing the lunar knowledge