Inside the room, as Muta spoke, a long silence fell over everyone.
Shinji stroked his chin, looking at the insects on the ground. Chakra appeared in his palm and enveloped the frenzied insects.
As Shinji's Chakra gradually came into contact with these insects, they seemed to encounter a natural enemy, bumping even more frantically against Muta's insect encirclement.
Shinji raised his eyebrows and increased his Chakra output.
The next moment, a gas emanated from the insects covered by the Chakra. Then, they stopped their frantic movements.
Yushu looked at Shinji in surprise and said, "Yang Chakra?"
"Mm." Shinji nodded, looking at the dead insects.
"They can already be said to have completely lost their function, and..." Muta finished speaking and raised a finger.
A few of the previously encircling insects crawled out and moved towards the dead insects.
Zzz—
With a subtle, piercing sound, the dead insects were split apart.
Shinji's eyes narrowed slightly. "An empty shell... As the gas just now dissipated, the insides of these insects completely melted away."
Muta explained, "Rather than being contagious, it should be said that they came into contact with some residual debris, causing it to enter the insects' insides and infect them."
"That's why this happened." Yushu concluded after observing for a while.
"Can you confirm that?" Shinji asked, as the difference between contagion and residual infection was too great in such a matter.
Yushu shook her head. "More materials are needed for specifics, and no experiments have been conducted yet."
Based solely on what was before them, drawing a direct conclusion would be too rash.
"Tonight, let's go investigate." Shinji said, standing up.
With the Yugakure elder missing, they could only actively search based on this information.
Muta and the others exchanged glances, realizing this was their only option.
—
Night.
Even though there were still tourists moving about, their numbers had significantly decreased compared to the morning.
Shinji and his group, dressed in black, evaded some patrolling Yugakure ninjas. Then, they headed straight for the place Yushu and her group had visited that morning.
Shinji stood on a tree trunk nearby, using the dense foliage to conceal himself, his gaze fixed on a spot not far away. This area was close to Yugakure's most luxurious hot spring, but at this moment, it was unusually quiet.
Shinji turned his head to Muta, who nodded. Muta closed his eyes, raised his hand, and extended a finger.
"Scatter!"
Insects flew out from Muta's clothes, spreading in all directions, while Shinji leaned against the tree trunk, closing his eyes and waiting.
After a while, Muta finally opened his eyes and said, "Confirmed, there are no ninjas in the vicinity for now."
Shinji straightened up and gave the order, "Thoroughly search this place, and be careful."
"Yes." The three standing nearby responded in unison, then immediately dispersed.
Shinji lightly leaped and stopped at the location where his perception had been confused. This was where the residual abnormal Chakra in the vicinity was densest.
"What kind of Chakra can confuse perception?" Shinji circled the area, seeing almost no suspicious points.
After another careful search, he shook his head with some disappointment.
If Mimi were here, he might have been able to explore with his powerful sense of smell.
Eh—
Shinji helplessly patted his head, feeling muddled.
The next second, he formed hand signs and slammed his hands onto the ground.
Boom!
A puff of smoke dispersed, and Mimi, in the center, appeared on the ground, holding a red bean bun and looking bewildered.
"Meow?"
Mimi, who was about to feast, looked around and saw Shinji standing in front of him.
He angrily exclaimed, "Shinji—!"
Before he could finish, Shinji put a hand over his mouth, then leaped away from the spot.
After a while, a patrol team of Yugakure ninjas arrived at the location where Shinji and his group had just been.
The leader waved his hand, instructing his subordinates to search around.
Shinji raised his index finger to Mimi, signaling him to be quiet. He then observed the Yugakure ninjas who were searching the area.
After a while, the searchers returned, and one of them approached the leading Yugakure ninja, saying, "Sir, we didn't find any suspicious people or places."
"Was it just an illusion?"
The leading Yugakure ninja was not satisfied with this answer, walking around and checking the surroundings as he spoke.
"What about elder Haru? Has she still not been found?" The Yugakure ninja, having found nothing, asked his subordinate.
"No, we've searched almost every corner of the village these past few days, and there's still no trace." The subordinate shook his head.
"Let's go and check other locations."
Shinji's eyes in the shadows were dark and unreadable. The 'Elder Haru' they spoke of was the elder who had sent information to Konoha.
So, even their own village people couldn't find her?
Suddenly, Shinji felt movement beneath his feet.
Looking down, he saw Mimi pulling at his pant, while pointing in the direction where the Yugakure ninja had been.
Shinji looked up. The Yugakure ninja who had just arrived had already left.
Without immediately moving out, he crouched down and whispered to Mimi, "Did you sense that strange Chakra here?"
Mimi scratched his neck and replied, "Are you talking about that Chakra that looks evil?"
"Looks?" Shinji blinked.
If that strange Chakra could be seen, he wouldn't have needed to summon Mimi.
"Ah, at the spot where those people were just standing, there's a large mass of energy similar to Chakra but it's about to dissipate." Mimi's front paw pointed to a spot not far away.
Then he pointed to his own pupils and said, "As long as you activate the Symbiotic Jutsu, you'll be able to see it."
Without hesitation, Shinji stood up and clapped his hands together.
As his eyes opened, his irises displayed cat-eye patterns, red demonic markings appeared at the corners of his eyes, his hair turned white, and the ends became slightly elongated and fluffy. His black clothes also transformed into crescent white due to the use of Sage Mode.
Shinji looked at the scene with shock, at the place he had almost completely searched.
At the very center now, a mysterious Chakra formed a pattern composed of circles and triangles.
In Shinji's current eyes, this pattern emitted a repulsive aura, as well as blood-colored Chakra that seemed intertwined with the air. As Mimi said, it indeed looked very evil.
"What's going on with this Chakra?" Shinji murmured.
"An aura even more repulsive than that of a malevolent daiyōkai." Mimi moved slowly to the center on all fours, twitching his nose.
(End of Chapter)
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