In that instant, the Glacial Mine Tunnel lost all sound.
It was not silence, but something more terrifying—the air had been sucked dry, the light devoured, even the faint sound of chakra flowing gone.
Hiei Hyuga stood there, leaning slightly forward, his hands hanging at his sides as pale golden liquid began to drip from his fingertips.
That was not blood.
The liquid fell onto the ice with a sizzling corrosion sound, instantly melting fist-sized pits into the frozen ground.
"Xiao..." Kurenai Yuhi's voice caught in her throat.
She watched Hiei Hyuga slowly raise his head. Dense golden patterns surfaced in his once-empty Byakugan, like some ancient sealing formula—or living parasites writhing deep within his eyeballs. Every flicker of the patterns sent Hiei Hyuga's chakra surging higher.
First second: Elite Ninja level.
Second second: Elite High Ninja.
Third second—
Shadow Level.
A pure, untainted pressure crashed toward them like a tangible wall. The ice coating the tunnel walls began to crack. Fine ice crystals floated through the air, held aloft by an invisible chakra field as they slowly revolved.
Hyuga Xiao's Tenseigan spun wildly in their sockets.
Data streams.
Nothing but data streams.
[Target: Hiei Hyuga (Watcher Seed Parasite)] [Chakra intensity: Early Shadow Level (continuing to rise)] [Threat level: Fatal] [Recommendation: Evacuate immediately]
Evacuate?
A cold curve tugged at Xiao's lips. His fingers formed seals within his sleeve—not for attack, not for defense, but for connection—connecting to the technique he had planted deep within Hiei Hyuga's soul earlier.
The technique was still there.
But what came back was not fragments of memory. It was a blinding golden radiance.
"Warning: Soul technique has encountered backlash," the system's voice rang out in his mind. "The Watcher Seed has fully awakened and is overwriting the host's consciousness."
Overwriting.
That word made