Now is the time!
At the very moment when all the Uchiha Clan members in the underground secret chamber were shouting in a frenzy and their mental defenses were at their weakest, Naoki moved.
His entire body seemed to transform into a weightless black shadow, gliding across the damp and somewhat slimy stone floor.
He didn’t make a sound, and even his accelerated heartbeat and breathing from nervousness were forcibly suppressed to the minimum using a secret technique.
The “Silent Step” and Breath Suppression Methods from the Uchiha Fluidity Art were utilized by him to a level that exceeded even the most perfect textbook examples.
His goal was crystal clear—that massive stone tablet emanating an ominous and ancient aura.
As long as he could touch it and complete the sign-in, he would immediately flee along the route in his memory!
The oil lamps in the secret chamber were dim, shadows flickered, and with the layers of people blocking the view, along with everyone’s attention being drawn by Uchiha Setsuna’s highly provocative speech, Naoki’s infiltration was as perfect as a miracle.
Fifty meters…
forty meters…
thirty meters…
He got closer and closer to the stone tablet.
His heart felt as if it were being squeezed by an invisible giant hand, thumping uncontrollably as if it would shatter his ribs.
He could even clearly smell the unique scent permeating the air—a mixture of sweat, blood, and intense killing intent catalyzed by the fanatical emotions of the Uchiha Clan members, which made him gag.
Just a bit closer…
just a bit closer…
as long as he passed through the gap between those two fanatics ahead, he could touch the stone tablet!
However, just as his fingertips were about to touch the cold, rough surface of the stone tablet, an accident occurred.
An Uchiha youth who was shouting “Welcome back the Holy Son” arched his body backward in excitement and took a heavy step back.
The thick sole of his boot landed squarely and firmly on the back of Naoki’s outstretched hand!
“Huh?”
Pain!
A sharp, bone-piercing pain!
Naoki felt as if his hand bones were groaning under the foot, nearly being crushed.
A chill shot from the soles of his feet straight to the top of his head.
His mind went blank for a moment; all his plans and composure were nearly shattered by this sudden pain and horror.
It’s over.
This thought exploded in his mind like a thunderclap.
The Uchiha youth felt something soft yet bony under his foot.
He frowned in confusion and instinctively looked down.
At that moment, Naoki’s heart sank completely into a bottomless abyss.
He wanted to pull his hand back immediately, but the other’s full weight was pressing down on it.
It was too late!
Their gazes met.
The Uchiha youth saw him.
He saw this brat with conspicuous silver hair, wearing clothes with the Senju clan emblem, crawling on the ground where he shouldn’t be.
His mouth, which had been shouting, widened to its limit, and a terrified scream was already building up in his throat, ready to burst out.
Can’t let him make a sound!
Absolutely not!
Survival instinct overrode everything.
This was the only thought left in Naoki’s mind.
His physical reaction even surpassed the speed of his thoughts!
In the 0.01 seconds before the youth could make a sound, Naoki’s trapped hand flipped over, his fingers clamping onto the other’s ankle like iron claws to prevent him from lifting his foot.
Simultaneously, his other hand shot out like a venomous snake, covering the youth’s mouth with lightning speed.
A weak but extremely pure stream of Chakra surged through his arm, instantly paralyzing the vocal muscles in the youth’s throat.
“Mmph—!”
A muffled groan, forcibly suppressed deep in the throat, was drowned out by the boisterous shouting.
Then, Naoki’s body wound up the youth’s calf like a bone-less python.
His shoulder slammed into the youth’s chest, and using an extremely standard, even ruthless, Uchiha Fluidity Grappling Art, he instantly locked the youth’s joints.
He dragged the youth in a bizarre posture into the deeper shadows formed by the crowd and the walls, without a sound.
The entire process happened in a flash, incredibly fast.
The surrounding Uchiha Clan members, still raising their fists with ferocious expressions, didn’t even notice that one of their companions right next to them had been instantly subdued and dragged away by an eight-year-old boy.
The subdued Uchiha youth was now scared out of his wits.
He widened those eyes Three-Tomoe Sharingan, the fanaticism in them long replaced by boundless fear.
He looked at the silver-haired boy right in front of him; the boy’s body seemed small, but his strength was astonishing.
Every joint was locked tight, as if cast in steel, rendering him unable to move.
He wanted to call for help, but found his throat blocked as if by cement, unable to make a single sound.
What made his soul tremble the most was the boy’s gaze.
What kind of eyes were those!
Calm, cold, without a single trace of human emotion.
It was as if the person he had just subdued wasn’t a living human being or an Uchiha elite, but merely a bothersome stone or an ant that could be crushed at will.
Is…
is this really the Holy Son they were going to “rescue”?
This was clearly a devil in a child’s skin!
Naoki ignored the “hostage” in his arms who was on the verge of a mental breakdown.
Using him as a human shield, he continued to control him with one hand while the other finally…
touched that cold, rough stone tablet that seemed to be etched with a thousand years of resentment without any further hindrance.
[Ding!]
[Detected that the host has made contact with the sign-in target: Uchiha Stone Tablet.]
[Sign-in successful!] This chapter was copied from g.com without permission.
[Congratulations to the host for obtaining the God-level reward: “Three-Tomoe Sharingan (Passive effect: Permanent enhancement of dynamic vision, ability to freely hide ocular power)” has been distributed!]
A mysterious current, entirely different from Chakra—intensely cold yet burning hot—surged from the stone tablet into his arm, flowed up his meridians, and finally poured violently into his eyes!
“Ugh!”
Naoki couldn’t help but let out a muffled groan.
He felt as if his eyeballs were being scorched in lava and then frozen in extreme ice.
Countless fine nerves seemed to be snapping and reorganizing.
An unprecedented pain nearly made him lose consciousness.
A second later, the pain receded like a tide.
The world before his eyes changed instantly.
If the world before was in standard definition, now it was 8K ultra-high definition, with every detail visible!
Every speck of dust flying in the air, its trajectory and rotation, was clearly visible.
On the distant wall, the flickering flame of the oil lamp was no longer just a blur, but thousands of tiny sparks leaping at a specific frequency.
He could even see the faint traces of blood rushing through the veins bulging on Uchiha Setsuna’s face due to excitement!
The entire world seemed to have been put on 0.1x slow motion.
Not only that, he could also “see” the blue flames of varying intensity burning on every Uchiha Clan member present—that was Chakra!
Is this…
the world of the Three-Tomoe Sharingan?
A surge of indescribable joy rose in Naoki’s heart.
The task was complete, the reward was in hand, it was time to get out of here!
He was about to knock the hostage in his arms unconscious and stuff him into a corner before heading back the way he came.
But at that moment, an ice-cold gaze, like two poisoned steel needles, suddenly pierced through the noisy crowd and pinned itself precisely onto him!
Another change occurred!
Standing at the very front, Uchiha Setsuna seemed tired of speaking.
He stopped his speech and picked up a cup of water nearby, preparing to drink.
However, as his Three-Tomoe Sharingan, flashing with an eerie red light, habitually scanned the room, they suddenly froze.
His gaze pierced through the darkness, bypassed the shadows of the people, and locked onto the corner with pinpoint accuracy—onto the terrified expression on the face of that clan member, and…
onto the faint silhouette with silver hair in front of him.
“Huh?”
Uchiha Setsuna’s brow slowly furrowed.
The fanaticism in his eyes instantly vanished, replaced by extreme coldness and vigilance.
He felt something was wrong.
What was going on in that corner?
Why was that clan member’s expression…
full of fear?
And…
what was that black shadow next to him?!