Konoha, underground.
The Root base was as cold and damp as ever.
The air was filled with a mixture of earth and disinfectant; in the silent stone room, there was only the faint sound of scrolls being flipped.
Danzo Shimura sat on a stone throne.
Before him, a masked Root Ninja knelt on one knee, giving a report.
"After Rasa of Sunagakure became the new Kazekage, he quickly stabilized the situation, but his recent frequent movements have unclear intentions."
"Iwagakure has deployed two more squads of troops to the border."
"Kumogakure is preparing provisions internally; it's highly likely they will send reinforcements again..."
"Kumogakure..." Danzo Shimura suddenly muttered.
He interrupted his subordinate's report and sat up straight: "What about the intelligence on Aokawa in Kumogakure?"
"It's at the bottom," the Root Ninja replied.
Danzo Shimura pulled out the bottom document from the pile of intelligence scrolls beside him.
On the cover of the file, the name "Aokawa" was written.
With his remaining eye, he scrutinized the contents.
"A massive Water Release technique covering the entire Training Ground."
"And a newly developed Bombing-type skill that combines Explosive Tags with his bow-and-arrow Bloodline Limit..."
Danzo Shimura's finger tapped lightly on the scroll.
This power... was exactly what he had been seeking all along.
A power that could carry his will and transform it into reality.
His gaze continued downward, but the content cut off abruptly.
And the time recorded at the end of the scroll was two months ago.
"Why is this from two months ago? Where is the latest intelligence?" Danzo Shimura asked.
The Root Ninja kneeling on the ground stiffened.
Lowering his head, his voice was dry: "Lord Danzo, all subsequent intelligence regarding Aokawa..."
"...has been classified as S-rank secret by Hokage-sama."
The Root Ninja added: "Hokage-sama personally gave the order."
"No department or individual is allowed to access it without his personal permission."
The air in the stone room seemed to freeze.
Danzo remained silent.
The candlelight on the desk before him flickered violently without any wind, nearly going out.
After a long time.
He slowly rolled up the scroll concerning Aokawa.
Then, he gripped it tightly in his hand.
"Sarutobi..."
Danzo whispered the name.
"Do you think you can protect him this way?"
He waved his hand at the Ninja before him.
"Dismissed."
"Yes."
The Ninja disappeared in a puff of smoke.
The stone room returned to a deathly silence.
Danzo stood up and walked step by step to the wall.
On the wall hung a massive map of Konoha Village.
His gaze moved away from the Hokage Building in the center of the map and finally settled on the northeastern region.
The Hyuga Clan's estate.
"This perfect 'tool'..."
His voice echoed in the cavernous stone room.
"Must be held in the hands of 'Root'."
...Land of Hot Springs Battlefield.
On the Battlefield, Aokawa, whom Danzo was so obsessed with, was now at his wit's end.
But in his eyes, a flame of madness ignited.
"If Chakra isn't enough to fight Tailed Beast Chakra, then I'll use another energy!"
So many people die in this world every year; I don't believe there isn't even a single bit of reishi in the air!
He extended his right hand, and the silver Spirit Dissolving Gloves instantly materialized on his skin.
He had no other choice; he had exhausted all his means, and the gap between him and the Eight-Tails was not small.
The Spirit Dissolving Gloves were his last hope.
As for the disappearance of his Quincy abilities, he couldn't worry about that; if he didn't use it, he would die here right now.
The next second, he gripped a protruding switch on the glove with his left hand.
Without hesitation, he used force and snapped it off!
Crack.
A crisp sound.
As the switch was destroyed, the entire noisy Battlefield seemed to be seized by the throat by an invisible giant hand.
The sound of wind, water, roars... all sounds were completely drained away in that instant.
A brand new perception exploded in his mind.
The world had changed.
It was no longer composed only of elements like Chakra and Natural Energy.
In his perception, hidden within these energies were countless blue-white spots of light.
They were tiny and thin, yet omnipresent.
Like subjects summoned by their king, these blue-white spots of light converged frantically toward him.
After the world fell into a second of absolute silence.
Suddenly!
Boom—!
An indescribable, violent blue-white energy erupted from Aokawa as the center, soaring into the sky!
The pillar of light pierced through heaven and earth, illuminating the dim sky into a deathly white!
A violent energy storm swept frantically in all directions.
Chirabi, the Seven-Tails, who was about to rush up and deliver the final blow to Aokawa, was hit head-on by the shockwave formed by this energy.
Its massive body was actually sent flying by this pure energy!
It tumbled for dozens of meters across the murky water surface before coming to a pathetic halt.
In the dense forest.
Nii Yugito's eyes widened as she looked in horror at the pillar of light connecting heaven and earth.
W-what is this?
She hurriedly asked in her mind: "Matatabi! Is this Natural Energy?!"
"No!" Matatabi was also observing the situation outside, her expression very grave: "Natural Energy isn't like this; it's even purer than Natural Energy. This is the first time I've seen this kind of energy."
"Even you haven't seen it?"
"No."
On the Battlefield.
The rampaging pillar of energy lasted for several seconds before suddenly shrinking inward.
All the light converged behind Aokawa.
On his right back, it formed a more solid and dazzling blue-white pillar of light.
Kakashi and the others watched this scene, falling into a daze once again.
They had never seen energy presented in this form.
"Is this... some kind of secret technique that releases Chakra from the back?" Suzuki Shinj muttered.
"It's not releasing Chakra!" Hinata Iruha's Byakugan was fixed on Aokawa: "He is... absorbing it!"
"Absorbing? With such a massive amount of energy behind him, you're telling me he's absorbing it? Where is the energy coming from?"
"Exactly!" Hinata Iruha nodded gravely: "The energy from the pillar is currently surging frantically into Aokawa's body."
"As for the source, it seems something from the outside world is being frantically sucked into that pillar of light, and then into his body!"
As if to confirm his words.
In the air around the Battlefield, blue-white specks of light began to appear out of thin air.
Like fireflies dancing on a summer night.
They merged into brilliant bands of light, scrambling to be sucked into the pillar behind Aokawa.
Aokawa closed his eyes, feeling the endless flow of new power within him.
That was the feeling of reishi.
For the first time, he felt the reishi of this world so clearly.
At the same time, he instantly understood where that sense of strangeness came from when he first put on the Spirit Dissolving Gloves.
Because reishi also exists within Chakra.
Once the Spirit Dissolving Gloves are worn, they disperse all the reishi around the wearer to train the Quincy's ability to absorb it.
Although he couldn't feel the reishi, the reishi within his Chakra was being dispersed, which was why after he obtained the new Spirit Bow, the power of his arrows remained the same as before, without any boost.
Now, after he removed the Spirit Dissolving Gloves, the frantically surging reishi allowed him to feel its existence in an instant.
"This..."
"...is the true power of the Quincy."
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