In the Valley of Clouds and Lightning, thunder pounded endlessly like war drums.
When Killer B discovered the ruins three months earlier, he had tried to venture deeper, only to be driven back by a powerful, malevolent surge of chakra. He immediately sent word to Konoha and personally stood guard at the entrance, forbidding anyone from approaching.
When Lin Ye's squad-Lin Ye, Sasuke, Karin, and Naruto, who had insisted on coming along-arrived, Killer B was sitting cross-legged on a lightning-scorched boulder, rapping his observation log.
"Yo~ fools, you tools~ these ruins spell danger~ Lord Killer B~ your gatekeeper ranger~"
"Master Killer B!" Naruto waved.
"Little Naruto~ and the Uchiha brother~ red-haired sister~" Killer B jumped down from the rock, his expression unusually serious. "The ruins are in the deepest part of the canyon, where lightning strikes most often. But the problem isn't the lightning. It's the 'thing' inside."
"What did you see?" Lin Ye asked. His Rinnegan had already switched to its "Jōgan" observation mode, allowing him to see chakra flows invisible to ordinary people. All the natural energy in the Valley of Clouds and Lightning was converging on the ruins, but once it entered, it vanished mysteriously, as though something had devoured it.
"A shadow," Killer B said. "No physical body, but it could talk. It said... 'I am the Kāma Monitor. I await the vessel's maturation.'"
The Kāma Monitor? Lin Ye felt a chill. Ōtsutsuki Isshiki had already been purified, but that title clearly pointed to the Kāma system. Could there be someone monitoring the process besides Isshiki, who selected the vessels?
"It also said..." Killer B lowered his voice. "'Uchiha anomaly, thy system, too, is under observation.'"
Everyone's expression changed at those words. The Wish System was Lin Ye's greatest secret, and the source of his power. This "Monitor" not only knew the system existed, but had openly spoken of "observation." What did that mean?
"We have to go in," Lin Ye said. "If it knows the truth about the system, it might also know where the other members of the Ōtsutsuki Clan are, or even the system's true purpose."
"But it's dangerous," Karin said. Her Uzumaki Rinnegan could see through seals and barriers. "There's a Sevenfold Composite Sealing at the entrance, combining Yin-Yang Release and natural energy. Forcing our way through would trigger a cascading collapse. And the feeling that 'Monitor' gives me... it's neither a living being nor a departed spirit. It's more like the manifestation of a 'rule.'"
"A rule?"
"As if the laws governing the world had taken physical form," Karin struggled to explain. "Like 'gravity' gaining consciousness, or 'time' gaining a body. It has no sense of good or evil. It simply executes some predetermined program."
"A program... a program monitoring Kāma selection..." Lin Ye looked thoughtful. "In other words, it might be a system administrator created by the Ōtsutsuki Clan, responsible for ensuring that Kāma functions normally. But Isshiki's death and the appearance of an 'anomaly' like me caused a bug in the program, so it revealed itself?"
"That's possible," Sasuke said. Though blind, his Mind's Eye perception was keener than sight. "In the direction of the ruins, I can sense something like the 'restrictions' Father left behind. It isn't offensive. It's triggered by conditions. It's waiting for someone who meets certain conditions to enter."
"What conditions?"
"Possessing an embryonic Jōgan, or... having Counter-Kāma within their body." Sasuke turned toward Lin Ye. "Brother Ye, it's waiting for you."
That conclusion cast a pall over the group. If this was a trap, it was far too obvious. But if it was a truth they had to face, avoiding it would accomplish nothing.
"I'll go in. You stay outside and back me up," Lin Ye decided.
"No!" Naruto was the first to object. "If we're going, we're going together!"
"The Sealing on the ruins only allows people who meet specific conditions to enter. I have an embryonic Jōgan, and Karin has a Counter-Kāma Fragment, so the two of us will go in. Sasuke, your Mind's Eye can penetrate some of the seals. Support us from outside through a mental link. Naruto, Master Killer B, guard the entrance and prevent any outside interference."
"But..."
"This is the best plan," Lin Ye said. "Karin, are you ready?"
"Yes." Karin formed hand seals, and a pale golden film of sealing light enveloped their bodies. "This is an enhanced version of the Mind's Eye of the Kagura. It can resist mental corrosion and assimilation by rules. But it will only last an hour."
"An hour is enough."
The two approached the entrance to the ruins. It was a fissure in the mountainside split open by lightning, pitch-black inside. But through his Jōgan, Lin Ye could see rhythmic chakra pulses deep within the fissure, like a heartbeat.
The instant they stepped into the fissure, the world changed.
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