Konoha, a secret research facility.
Ling, Kakashi, Tsunade, and Tobirama, manifested as a spectral soul, gathered in the Analysis Room. Sealed on the central Jutsu Platform was the faint sample of dark energy recovered from the site of Deidara's self-detonation. Its ominous fluctuations seemed to make even the air grow stagnant.
"The energy's nature is confirmed. It shares the Sacred Lord's origin and is of a very high order, but it's extremely unstable, full of resistance and violence. It seems to have been forcibly extracted rather than freely controlled," Ling reported his sensory findings, his brow tightly furrowed.
"The traces of Space-Time Ninjutsu are crude and chaotic, unlike any known system. It's more like space was forcibly torn open through brute force, at an enormous cost," Kakashi added, his Sharingan full of concern. "Within the Akatsuki, the only one with space-time abilities is that mysterious Masked Man who calls himself 'Tobi,' but his Formula is far stranger and more unpredictable. This doesn't match his style."
Tsunade slammed her fist onto the table. "It's not one of the Akatsuki's usual methods, yet it can draw on the Sacred Lord's power... Who could it be?"
Tobirama's spectral soul, silent until then, flickered. His cold, rational voice sounded in everyone's minds:
[The key is not 'who,' but 'how.' Such forbidden power is beyond the reach of ordinary shinobi, let alone something they could forcibly invoke in a life-or-death crisis. There must be a 'medium' behind it, or a 'source of knowledge.']
His analysis stripped away appearances like a precise surgical blade.
[This power is full of corruption and distortion, running counter to every chakra cultivation system we know. It is more like something foreign that requires a particular 'vessel' or 'qualification' to bear it. Considering its demonstrated ability to tear space apart, along