On the outskirts of Leaf Village, deep within a dense forest.
Within Hyuga Xiao's Byakugan vision, a sizable underground facility was hidden beneath the ground three hundred meters ahead. Its entrance was disguised as an abandoned mine shaft, surrounded by three layers of alert barriers—sensory, genjutsu, and physical trigger types.
"They really are cautious."
Xiao crouched in the shadows of the canopy, forming hand seals. Fragments of footage sent back by the Scout Beetles pieced together in his mind: two Root ninjas guarded the entrance, the internal passage spiraled downward, and there were at least five levels. Weak life signs came from the third level. There were not many, but their chakra fluctuations were abnormally chaotic.
He needed to get inside.
But not by forcing his way in.
Xiao took a small porcelain bottle from his ninja tool pouch and smeared several drops of transparent liquid onto his temples. This was the "Chakra Mimicry Potion" he had taken from Orochimaru's Laboratory. It could imitate specific chakra fluctuations for a short time—he chose the frequency of a standard Root member.
Then, he bit his finger and drew a complex jutsu formula on his palm.
"Summoning Jutsu: Mimic Shadow Clone."
White smoke dispersed, and a Shadow Clone with a build similar to Xiao's but a blurred face appeared. This jutsu combined the essence of the Shadow Clone Technique and the Transformation Technique. It could last longer, and its chakra fluctuations were exactly the same as the original body's—provided it consumed three times the chakra of an ordinary Shadow Clone.
"You go make some noise on the eastern side," Xiao instructed in a low voice. "Draw the guards away for thirty seconds. That will be enough for me to infiltrate."
The Shadow Clone nodded, turning into an afterimage as it vanished into the