After the setback at Annihilation Valley and the intimidation of the "Sacred Lord's" will, the atmosphere at the Allied Forces headquarters in the Land of Iron grew increasingly somber and pragmatic. Large-scale military operations were put on hold, replaced by more efficient intelligence networks, targeted defensive reinforcements, and, most crucially, research into the nature of the "Sacred Lord's" power and the development of countermeasures.
Once his body had mostly recovered, Ling threw himself into the Allied Forces' newly established Research Division. He shared everything he understood about the structure of the "Sacred Lord's" power nodes, its corrosive properties, and his newly developed "Water Mirror Insight into Principle," discussing them with experts from the various villages in sealing jutsu, medical ninjutsu, and natural energy research.
"Based on the information Master Ling has provided, along with the scattered accounts we found in ancient texts," an elderly scholar from the Konoha Research Institute said, adjusting his glasses beneath his graying hair, "the way this dark power manifests resembles the 'negative emotion aggregate' said to have ravaged the land in ancient times. But it is more orderly and more aggressive, as though governed by some supreme will."
"And Master Ling's 'Water Mirror Insight into Principle' gives us an unprecedented means of observation," a genjutsu expert from Kirigakure added, eyes gleaming with excitement. "If we can precisely discern the fundamental structure of its energy flow, we might be able to devise a targeted sealing formula, or... find a way to disrupt its connection to that will."
The research did not go smoothly. The lack of sufficient samples-apart from the fleeting glimpse of the structure in Ling's memory-and the strange, ever-changing nature of the "Sacred Lord's" power made progress painfully slow. Ling repeatedly tried to analyze the extremely faint traces of darkness lingering in the air