The market was up and still running. A few noticed the newcomers but the next instant, they turned back to their business, like nothing unusual happened.
'Genjutsu still is the most useful in infiltrations.'
Indra nodded to himself and continued walking.
Ehra had her eyes darting up to the large mountain behind the town that's been casting its shadow. "That's where the spell lines lead," she murmured. "The Old man you saw in their memories might be up there."
She started walking straight through the thickest part of the market square, ignoring the sidelong looks and the murmurs.
Indra followed, his eyes shone as he walked just behind. Every step made someone on the side fall into daze briefly.
The moment they stepped past the well in the center of the square, Indra noticed something unusual from the corner of his eyes.
"You've got to be kidding me?" He muttered with a sweat.
"Don't touch anything. Especially those stones with Jahad's crest."
'Which crazy guy installed this many Shinsu Bombs?'
Indra clicked his tongue.
At the far end of the village, just before the main path split into a stairway leading up the mountain, a little girl of no more than ten years old stood near a pair of Stone statues. She has vibrant blue hair and eyes, wearing a ragged old white robe. In her hands was a plushie of an odd snake-like creature.
"Are you the guests from afar?"
Indra paused and stared at the statues without answering. He turned his attention back to the little girl.
He frowned. "She is not bound by that rope?"
The first thing that came into his mind was trouble.
Ehra tilted her head, scanning the girl carefully.
'Is she the one Captain said? She looks too normal to be the Soul fragment of…'
The girl blinked slowly, unbothered. "Grandpa said to greet the visitors if they made it this far. He said one of them would have eyes like the ocean in a storm."
Indra's eyes twitched. 'Seriously? Is that how my Rinnegan looks to her?' He sighed, stepping a bit closer, lowering his voice. "Tell your grandpa he's not funny."
The girl tilted her head. "He's not trying to be funny."
That froze Indra for a second.
Behind them, the Shinsu around the Village flowed in a reversed manner. The entire Village becomes still, frozen.
Indra let out a whistle, "Using Reverse Flow Control on the entire Village… Your Grandpa seems like a bigshot. But there was no need for that. I'm not interested in hurting the innocent."
Ehra's hand moved subtly, fingers twitching in a strange rhythm.
"Huh…" Indra muttered, noticing his partner's weird behaviour.
The girl held up the plush, its button eyes mismatched and frayed. "Grandpa said if you still came, even knowing, then maybe you're not the one he thought. But if you turn back now, he'll keep sleeping."
"Well, I'm sorry to say this, but I definitely need to go there." Indra muttered, scratching his head. "Old men in mountains and their theatrics."
The little girl lowered the plushie slightly, her expression unreadable. "You still want to go up?"
She gave a soft nod, then turned and began walking toward the staircase leading up the mountain not waiting for a response.
Indra looked at Ehra sideways and started following behind the girl.
Halfway up, Ehra spoke in a low voice, "The one guarding this Seal is a Warrior who followed the Ancient once. You need to be careful. Our only advantage here is, he does not know who you are, Indra."
"You don't have to worry about me, rather..."
With that said, he grumbled in an indistinct manner, "It's a bit surprising getting a warning from a Guide, Looks like you do know a lot about this place…"
As they reached a plateau carved into the mountainside, There was an entrance to a Cave: ancient, cracked, like the mouth of a giant Shinneuh.
At the side, an old, half-sunken Fleeting Carrier rested at the mountain's edge, its metal hull blotched with rust and age. The plating along the sides was cracked, patched in places with mismatched panels. What remained of its parts hung like torn curtains, swaying gently even without wind. It looked more like a relic dragged out of a forgotten war than anything worthy of an Ancient Carrier.
Indra glanced at the carrier one last time, then walked toward the cave. The entrance was wide but low, forcing him to duck slightly as he stepped inside.
Ehra followed without a word, While, The little girl didn't enter. She just stood at the entrance, watching.
Murals stretched along the walls, some shaped like symbols, others more like a Ten Year Old's scribbling in the name of painting.
Indra couldn't understand what was written in the walls.
'It's most likely a language from those ancient times. I really miss the Pocket right now. Most wouldn't be able to read something like this without the Pocket, but, this is a piece of cake for me. hehe'
Standing in the shadows, Indra's Rinnegan shone as the Six Tomoes inside it spun.
After his Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan was upgraded into the Rinnegan on the Floor of Test, the first reward he got from the Guardian, the eye became more complete. Each of his tomoe awakened its own ability aside from the original one like Amenotejikara. The reason for that was the Synthesis ability, which acted on its own and pulled the rest of his powers into the Rinnegan. While he hasn't found what triggered it yet, It still is a boon to him that it happened on that day.
Especially the thing that could help him in the current situation,The Fifth Tomoe, which holds all his Sealing skills and Jutsu, formed a unique ability called Sealing Runes. One of its traits is that it lets him interpret anything his Shinsu touches.
Indra placed his hand on the wall. Shinsu gathered and wrapped around his arm like a second skin.
The letters began to shift. Rearranging themselves in his vision. Lines rearranged, forming words he could finally understand:
"When the King cast down the rebels, the land itself wept. The Pair of Resistance united the Darkness under the banner of 'F.U.G' fought with blades and beasts alike. Among them stood the last of the Native Ones; A Serpent of the old world, who ruled the Seas, before the Tower's light chained them."
Indra's breath caught in his throat, "Native One?!"
The text continued, rearranging itself into his vision:
"It fought not for loyalty, but for vengeance. Its fangs filled with the Venom of its slaughtered kin. The Darkness called it 'Basilisk'; A beast that can freeze the flow of 'Water' itself."
A chill ran down his spine. So it wasn't just some Ancient Creature…
The final lines burned brighter, as if the mural had waited millennia to be read:
"The Magician, First Disciple of the Workshop, the Opera's Bearer - Flux, one of the Three Lords - did not kill it. He bound it within the belly of this false island, where traitors' descendants would feed its prison with their blood. Remember this truth: When the seal breaks... So Shall You."
Silence.