The Otsutsuki Clan Main Family were too few in number. Their strength was inferior to the battle hardened elites of the Branch Family Members, and they were now strictly forbidden from using the Caged Bird curse mark. The struggle in Lingren Rixiang's heart was intense, his expression constantly shifting.
Fugaku Uchiha watched him remain silent for a long time. The burning expectation in his eyes slowly cooled, turning into a faint, hidden malice.
Unable to make a decision after all, he sneered inwardly. Without Lingren Rixiang's cooperation, his plans against the Branch Family Members would be hard to carry out.
Then, in the midst of the suffocating silence, a scream rang out. It was shrill and filled with agony, coming from deep within the residence. The sound came from the direction of Ryoma's room.
"What happened?" Lingren Rixiang's face changed instantly. His hunched body burst into motion as he rushed toward the scream.
Fugaku Uchiha followed closely behind.
With a loud crash, Lingren Rixiang slammed open Ryoma's door. The sight before him hit him like lightning, his eyes nearly splitting with rage.
Ryoma was curled up on the floor in the corner of the room. His hands were clamped tightly over his face, yet bright red blood poured endlessly through his fingers, soaking his face and chest.
"Enemy attack?" Lingren Rixiang whipped his head toward the shattered window. Veins bulged around his eyes as he saw only a figure fleeing beyond his sensing range.
"Damn it, I…"
"Lingren!" As Lingren Rixiang was about to give chase, Fugaku Uchiha stopped him. He instinctively turned back.
Fugaku Uchiha pried open Ryoma's hands. What appeared were two mangled, bottomless holes, a sight of torn flesh and blood.
Ryoma's eyes were gone. Half of one ear had also been cut off, leaving a bloody groove and arc on the wall.
"Ah!" Ryoma screamed even more miserably. "Fugaku Uchiha, my eyes. My eyes. It hurts so much. I…"
Lingren Rixiang's whole body shook as he stared at the horrific wounds. Bone chilling cold and raging fury surged through him.
The strike had clearly been meant to kill Ryoma first and then take his eyes. He had dodged at the last moment, losing only half an ear.
Another eye gouging. Another attempt on a life.
"Who did it?" The hoarse, icy words were forced out through clenched teeth. "Ryoma, who did this to you?"
"Takao Hyuga! It was Takao Hyuga!" Ryoma howled in pain. "Wind Release Chakra! Only him. It had to be him."
"Fugaku Uchiha, kill him. Kill him. My eyes… ahhh!"
Lingren Rixiang held his wailing son tightly, his body trembling as veins stood out on his face. Wrath and doubt arose together, but the warmth of blood soaking into his sleeves swallowed the doubt completely.
Before Hiruzen Sarutobi and the other two stepped into Land of Demons, they were already inside a narrow canyon within its borders. Towering rock walls rose straight up on both sides, bare and jagged, reflecting a cold black-blue tone in the near lightless night. Looking up, one could only see a thin, uneven strip of black sky, cut apart and stingy with any trace of starlight, as if the canyon had been forgotten by the world.
On the right side of the canyon, pressed close to the icy stone wall of Root, stood an ancient structure built directly into the cliff. Its strange outline was barely visible in the darkness. Two lamps hung on either side of its low entrance, their flickering flames casting small patches of orange light that seemed ready to be swallowed by the dark.
Whoosh. Three figures wrapped in wide hooded cloaks drifted down silently from above the canyon. Their movements were light and unnatural, and they made no sound when they touched the ground.
"Who goes there?" The four Land of Demons guards stationed outside the building reacted at once, gripping their long swords with alert and tense expressions. The leader shouted sharply, "This place is forbidden. Leave at once!"
The three figures acted as if they had not heard a thing and continued walking toward them at an unhurried pace. The captain's eyes flashed cold as he pointed his sword forward. "Kill!"
"Kill!" The other three guards shouted together, drawing their blades as the steel glinted under the dim light. They charged like arrows loosed from a bow, murderous intent surging toward the three cloaked figures.
The instant they took their first steps, a dull and sickening sound rang out. Four thick stone spears burst from the solid ground beneath their feet without warning, sharp and heavy like stalagmites, piercing straight through the guards' abdomens. The guards managed only brief screams as hot blood spilled over the cold stone and pooled on the ground.
The three figures did not slow down, nor did they spare the guards a glance, and walked straight to the low and heavy stone door. As they approached, the weak light from the lamps slowly revealed the shapes beneath their hoods. The man in the center had a grim face with black hair and beard, his eyes burning with fanatic ambition. He was Huang Quan, a worshiper of the demon Moryo.
The man on the right wore an orange spiral mask, exposing only a single blood-red Three-Tomoe Sharingan that looked calm and deep. He was Obito. The man on the left had a pale white face, golden slit pupils gleaming coldly in the firelight, and a faint smile that made the skin crawl. He was Naruto Uzumaki.
As Naruto Uzumaki passed the dying guards, he casually extended his pale right hand and lightly brushed it across their bodies. A horrifying change followed at once. Bones cracked as their bodies twisted and compressed, flesh squirming as if forced together by an invisible press.
In only a few breaths, the four bodies vanished. In Naruto Uzumaki's hand were four thumb-sized, jet-black objects, hard and smooth. Each one bore a twisted, hollow face frozen in pain, eerily resembling the famous painting The Scream.
This was a new ability Naruto Uzumaki had developed through Root research using the Zanpakuto known as Shaji. Through touch, he could reshape a human body into whatever form he required. If he wished, he could release these creations and turn them into four Guai beings.
Naruto Uzumaki opened his mouth and swallowed the four altered objects one by one. The faint sound of gulping echoed clearly through the silent canyon. Beneath the mask, Obito's exposed eye contracted slightly, a trace of caution flashing through it, though he still sneered aloud.
"Hmph. You really will eat anything now."
"Heh. It is always good to have more options," Naruto Uzumaki replied with a low, hoarse chuckle as he glanced sideways. "So you do not end up like someone else, alone and helpless."
Obito's face darkened beneath the mask, anger surging before he forced it back down. He recalled what had happened not long ago, when he, Obito, and Itachi Uchiha were gathering traces of Crimson giant in the Shinobi World. By chance, they had run into Naruto Uzumaki doing the same.
They had come to blows almost immediately, and during the time Naruto Uzumaki had been absent, he had somehow gained a power that was both strange and terrifying. Obito's own Crimson giant abilities kept him from defeat, yet Naruto Uzumaki's endless and unpredictable methods left him unable to act. Neither could kill the other.