"Excuse me, both of you, please wait a moment."
At that moment, an older person suddenly stopped them.
Sakura and Sasuke paused for a moment, but politely stopped and looked at the middle-aged man who had blocked their way.
The man looked to be around fifty years old. White whiskers grew along his temples and jawline, and his hair hung loosely. His eyes were a rare golden color.
"May I ask your name?"
The man looked at Uchiha Sasuke, his gaze showing a hint of urgency.
"Is there something you need?"
His eyes made Sasuke feel uncomfortable, as if she was being treated like an object.
"Sorry, I was being reckless."
The middle-aged man seemed to realize his behavior might have been frightening, so he spoke seriously: "You can call me Shinnō. I run a clinic in the mountains. Many people here know me. If you don't believe me, you can ask others. I mean no harm."
Shinnō? A doctor?
Sakura and Sasuke exchanged a glance, feeling a bit puzzled. Why would a doctor seek them out?
"It's like this. I can tell both of you have studied medical ninjutsu," Shinnō said with a kind smile.
"Recently, the two great nations have had frequent conflicts, so many villagers are wounded. I'm overwhelmed working alone, so I sincerely hope you two can help me. Would that be possible?"
Sasuke frowned slightly but said nothing.
Sakura, however, didn't hesitate: "Sure. I'm a medical ninja, but this girl next to me doesn't know medical ninjutsu."
"Wait," Sasuke suddenly interrupted, eyeing Shinnō warily. "We just arrived in the Land of Rivers. We aren't wearing headbands or showing any special signs. How did you know we've learned medical ninjutsu?"
"Though I'm not as skilled as Tsunade, my eyes are sharp."
Shinnō chuckled and pointed to his forehead. "The mark on your forehead—I've seen that on Tsunade before. As for this girl, it's a bit harder. But luckily, I'm good at sensing ninjutsu. I can feel her chakra control is very precise. Few can do that except medical ninjas."
After speaking, he looked at them and slowly smiled. "Now, can I put your doubts to rest?"
Sasuke's wary expression softened slightly, but she still kept a cautious feeling inside.
Just now, in Shinnō's gaze toward her, there was a strange, hard-to-explain feeling—not as simple as he said.
"What should we do? Should we go?" After Sasuke's questioning, Sakura hesitated a little.
"Let's go check it out."
Sasuke stared at Shinnō, knowing that if they didn't figure things out, this guy probably wouldn't let it go easily.
Of course, when she said this, she deliberately avoided Shinnō's attention and quietly scratched Sakura's palm, signaling her to be careful.
Sakura paused slightly and immediately understood her meaning, subtly nodding.
"Thank you both very much."
Shinnō smiled humbly, then turned to lead them toward his clinic.
As night deepened, the two girls followed Shinnō to the back mountain of the town. From afar, they saw a lonely house nestled in the forest.
"Mr. Shinnō, why open a clinic in a place like this?" Sakura asked. "Since it's a clinic, wouldn't it be more convenient to have it inside the town?"
"The rent in town is too expensive, I can't afford it."
Shinnō smiled and shook his head, explaining, "Though it's farther, it's close to the forest, making it easier for me to collect herbs. Besides, I don't like dealing with strangers too much."
As they chatted casually, they finally arrived at the courtyard.
Shinnō stepped forward and pushed open the gate. Inside, the rooms were brightly lit, and muffled groans could be heard.
Sakura breathed a little easier; it really was as Shinnō said—there were many injured people.
Sasuke still felt suspicious. For some reason, she sensed an indescribable strangeness about this courtyard.
"Come in, sorry to trouble you both," Shinnō wiped sweat from his face and sincerely invited them in.
Seeing no obvious flaws, Sasuke and Sakura stepped into the courtyard. Fortunately, on the way here, Sasuke quietly used her summoning technique to inform Kakashi.
That way, even if something went wrong, they wouldn't have to worry too much.
"The patients are inside, please come in."
Shinnō made a welcoming gesture, his face breaking into a bright smile.
Sakura didn't think much and went straight to open the door. But what she saw immediately made her and Sasuke's expressions change drastically.
Inside the room, there were indeed many patients lying down. Shinnō hadn't lied about that.
The problem was, all those so-called 'patients' were actually 'pregnant.'
Sasuke glanced around and noticed that among the pregnant people, there were even some males.
What on earth was going on?
How could men possibly be pregnant?
At that exact moment, far away on the island drifting in the Sea of Collective Subconscious, Uchiha Sogetsu was fishing, a cold glint flashing deep in his eyes.
"Did you sense it?"
A shadowy figure of Adam suddenly appeared beside him, his expression serious.
Sogetsu continued fishing without change, his pale gold vertical pupils staring at the turbulent, deep ocean. In its depths seemed to be reflected a vague figure.
"Strange. This power doesn't belong to this planet. Is it from the Cosmos?" He seemed puzzled, furrowing his brow slightly, his tone somewhat heavy.
Cosmos?
In the world of Lord of Mysteries, that word symbolized something ominous.
Adam's pupils contracted, shock clear in his voice: "Even you didn't notice when they invaded?"
Sogetsu kept fishing calmly and said lightly, "I am not Sequence Zero, just a regular Sequence One. How could I detect their invasion?"
"An ordinary King of Angels?" Adam twisted the corner of his mouth, speechless.
Now he even has to pretend in front of his own people?
Uchiha Sogetsu glanced at him and sighed helplessly. "What I said is all true. Even the King of Angels is nothing more than an ant with some self-preservation ability in front of those beings."
"So what do you plan to do? Just let it be?"
Adam frowned and spoke in a low voice, "We have invested so much effort into Sasuke. Are we really going to give up?"
"Who said we're giving up?"
Uchiha Sogetsu held his fishing rod calmly and said, "If the real body shows up, I won't hesitate to turn and leave. But a mere summoning ritual won't scare us off."
"So, you're going to take action?"
Adam felt a bit hopeful. Since ascending to the 'King of Angels,' the real body had never acted personally.
"More or less," Uchiha Sogetsu put away his fishing rod and stepped into the turbulent Sea of Collective Subconscious.
"Hopefully, this newcomer knows when to retreat, or else it will be troublesome."
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