The temporary base in Tanzaku Street was filled with the mixed scent of medicinal herbs and old paper.
Kurenai Yuhi ground the last herb into powder and poured it into the boiling medicine pot. Steam rose, gathering into fine droplets on her forehead. Samui leaned against the window, wiping a kunai in her hand while her gaze occasionally swept toward the door. Clone Shisui sat cross-legged in the corner with his eyes closed, regulating his breathing as chakra circulated steadily within him—this was the "product" Xiao had brought out of Orochimaru's Laboratory, and he had now become a reliable fighting force.
When the door was pushed open, all three looked up at once.
Hyuga Xiao appeared in the doorway, his robes still speckled with fragments of the pale blue moss unique to Shikkotsu Forest. His face was paler than when he had left, but those eyes—Hong keenly noticed that the deep blue radiance of his Tenseigan seemed even more profound, as if it held some indescribable weight.
"You're back." Hong set down the pestle and hurried over. "How did it go?"
Xiao did not answer immediately. He walked to the table, picked up the kettle, poured himself a cup of water, and drained it in one swallow. His Adam's apple bobbed, and when he set down the cup, his knuckles lightly tapped twice against its ceramic rim—a habitual gesture whenever he was thinking.
"I can't practice the Senjutsu of Shikkotsu Forest for now." Xiao's voice was calm, betraying no emotion. "Bloodline conflict. At the level of rules."
Samui's brows furrowed slightly. "Then the erosion—"
"Three months." Xiao cut her off, his eyes sweeping over the three of them. "The Slug Sage gave me a Sage Art Seed. It can delay the Divine Erosion for three months. After that, if I