The moment the slice realized the headquarters had been infiltrated; he triggered the alarm almost instantly.
As the blaring siren echoed throughout the Exaltists' base, all its members were stunned for a brief second.
But they quickly regrouped and began converging on the location of the intruder.
Elsewhere in the Exaltists' headquarters, at three separate corners, three members of Akatsuki were creating as much noise as possible per Zhong Yan's orders. Only by drawing greater attention could they hope to lure out the true body of the Exaltist leader.
As for Zhong Yan himself, he wasn't idle either. The moment the alarm went off, he had already located the slice's position—and teleported there using Kamui.
"Uchiha..." the boy muttered as Zhong Yan appeared. His brow furrowed, and his mind raced as he tried to figure out how Zhong Yan had discovered this place.
Only core members knew the location of headquarters, and all of them had been thoroughly brainwashed. There should have been no chance of a leak.
While the boy was still caught in his confusion, Zhong Yan slowly extended a hand.
"Banshō Ten'in!"
With that command, the slice suddenly felt an invisible force dragging him toward Zhong Yan. No matter how he struggled, he couldn't break free, and was ultimately yanked helplessly into Zhong Yan's grip, a hand tightening around his throat.
"You're just a slice, right? Tell me—where's that bastard's real body?" Zhong Yan asked coldly, showing no mercy despite the boy's appearance. In an organization like the Exaltists, there was no place for pity.
Even if there was pity, it should never stand in the way of action.
"Looks like you're hoping to pry some intel out of me," the slice responded evenly, his tone unshaken despite the hand crushing his throat.
Locking eyes with Zhong Yan's steely glare, he said nothing further—but began silently gathering energy within his body for a counterattack.
Unfortunately for him, such a move was meaningless against someone wielding the Rinnegan.
Just as his internal power was about to peak, he felt a sudden reversal—an opposing force began violently repelling him.
The next moment, a tremendous shockwave burst outward from Zhong Yan's location, hurling the boy backward.
The solid ground shattered beneath him, and he flew like a derailed train, slamming brutally into the wall.
The power he had painstakingly gathered vanished in an instant.
"If you're not going to talk, there's no point keeping you alive."
...
While Zhong Yan and his team executed their plan smoothly, deep within Hollow Zero—
"I sensed an unusual aura earlier. Was that the human you mentioned?" Inside a temporary Exaltist outpost, a towering, muscular man spoke to an elderly man with white hair who was adjusting some equipment.
"Most likely him," the elder replied without turning his head. "There's no one else who could reach this place unharmed."
That elder was the true body of the Exaltist leader. The burly man beside him—was the humanoid form of the Ethereal Overlord.
It had been the leader's idea to come here, driven by a concern that Zhong Yan might try to approach the Overlord directly.
Though the Overlord was immensely powerful, Uchiha was far from ordinary. There was a very real chance he might defeat even him.
If the Overlord fell, it would spell disaster for the Exaltists. During their planned invasion of New Eridu, he was a key piece on the board.
Only through his unmatched power could they break New Eridu's resistance—and keep Uchiha occupied.
"If you can sense the peculiarity of his aura, then you should also understand how dangerous he is," the leader said calmly. He had already learned of the attack on headquarters.
He wasn't panicked—but admittedly surprised that Zhong Yan had discovered the base's location. It made no sense.
Unfortunately, the one slice capable of probing truths had been eliminated long ago by Zhong Yan, so the answer would remain unknown.
"You said his power doesn't belong to this world. So... do you come from that world too?" the Overlord suddenly asked, recalling something the leader once said.
Zhong Yan did not belong to this world. The power he wielded surpassed anything this world had ever known.
"You're joking. I'm a born-and-raised citizen of Old Eridu. My hometown... is right under our feet. The difference is simply that my understanding of the world far surpasses others'. That's how I've made it this far," the leader chuckled.
"Well then, that's enough talk. There are matters I need to send someone to take care of."
...
Shortly after, back inside the Exaltists' headquarters—
Under the unrestrained assault of the three Akatsuki members and Zhong Yan, nearly 80 to 90 percent of the Exaltists had already been wiped out.
Even the mighty Twelve Shields were overwhelmed by the four.
Only the remaining slices of the Exaltist leader could still pose a serious threat.
Upon learning of the invasion, those slices rushed back to the base immediately—but they were too late.
Years of the Exaltists' effort and buildup had been reduced to rubble in a single day. Even rebuilding would take years.
But Zhong Yan's group wasn't satisfied with just this victory. Their true goal was to completely annihilate the Exaltists.
If they couldn't wipe them all out, then at the very least, they had to destroy the leader's true body.
However, based on current observations, it seemed the true body wasn't here. Still, the mission hadn't been fruitless.
If they could eliminate all the slices that had returned, it would still be a major blow.
And notably, from beginning to end, Zhong Yan had not let Zhong Ling take action.
He was their hidden trump card.
The Exaltists were surely still wracking their brains, trying to figure out how the enemy found this place.
There was no way they could imagine that future Zhong Ling had traveled back in time and passed along the information.
That's why keeping Zhong Ling hidden until the right moment would prove decisive.