Tanzaku Street was always livelier at night than during the day.
The neon signs of the casinos blurred into hazy halos through the rain. Drunken roars and women's coquettish laughter spilled from taverns, while figures cast twisted shadows beneath dim streetlamps deep within the black market alleys. This was the most chaotic gray zone along the border of the Land of Fire, where rogue ninja, bounty hunters, intelligence dealers, and spies from every nation mingled together. Everyone wore a mask, and every word could be a trap.
Hyuga Xiao moved through the crowd by the casino's back entrance with the unconscious Kurenai Yuhi on his back.
Rain dripped from his bangs, soaking the black cloak he had bought on the way. Hong's breathing was faint, so faint it seemed as though it could stop at any moment—the Curse Mark and parasitic poison within her had been temporarily isolated by the third force, but the Surveillance Mark left behind by that force was slowly eroding her chakra pathways. Through the Tenseigan's perception, Xiao could clearly see a complex pale-gold pattern slowly writhing over Hong's chest like a living thing. Every wriggle drained a trace of her life force.
Three days.
Samui's secret origin-tracing technique had only bought them a three-day reprieve. The third Covenant Stone Fragment was their only hope.
"Move! Don't block the way!"
Several drunken rōnin shoved their way through the crowd. Xiao stepped aside, pulling his hood lower. The Tenseigan's vision silently spread through the rainy night—within a five-hundred-meter radius, everyone's chakra flow, muscle tension, and the points where their gazes landed all became a torrent of data flooding into his mind.
No one from Root.
At least, not for now.
Xiao carried Hong into a narrower alley. Mountains of trash bins lined both sides, and the stench