Fugaku has gone mad; he's going to create a new Uchiha clan in Kirigakure.

"Damn Konoha, they're planning a surprise attack!"

Mei Terumi narrowed her eyes, glancing at the female medical ninja bound by paper jutsu on the ground, and then at the unconscious Uchiha Fugaku on the bed.

"The core purpose of poisoning Fugaku was to prepare for the subsequent surprise attack. Otherwise, there would be no need for them to provoke Kirigakure and Fugaku at this critical juncture."

Then, she looked at Xiao Nan.

A hint of trust appeared in her emerald green eyes. After all, everything here revolved around her future husband, and Xiao Nan's prevention of the poisoning was the strongest evidence.

"Do you know how to conduct interrogations?"

Konan nodded. For her, who had struggled to survive in the mud and bloodshed of the Land of Rain and later took charge of the Akatsuki's intelligence and assassinations, interrogation was a basic skill.

Mei Terumi took a deep breath and turned to Mikoto Uchiha.

"I'm leaving this place to you. I'll go outside and organize the defenses. Since the enemy dared to send people to infiltrate, a surprise attack could come at any time."

Be careful.

Mikoto whispered her words of advice, her eyes filled with worry.

"rest assured!"

The paper house fell silent again, and Konan's gaze returned to the female medical ninja.

She raised her hand, and the white paper, like a living tentacle, slowly tightened, pressing down on the other person's breath and creating enough psychological pressure. However, before she could actually start asking questions...

"I...I'll tell you! I'll tell you everything!"

Konan paused slightly, the tightening of the paper stopped. She didn't think much of how easily this female ninja surrendered, because that's how people are most of the time.

"Your identity."

"I am a spy for Konoha."

The woman was panting and speaking very quickly.

"I've taken the place of the real Hidden Mist Medical Ninja and am lurking here."

"But this isn't a transformation technique."

Beside her, Uchiha Mikoto suddenly spoke up. Before anyone knew it, her originally gentle black eyes had transformed into scarlet Sharingan with three tomoe.

"It's my bloodline limit; my body can become anyone."

"This...you're a 'walking witch'!"

Uchiha Mikoto was slightly taken aback, then suddenly spoke.

"Do you know her?"

Xiao Nan asked.

"I don't know her, but I've heard Fugaku mention that Konoha has a very special spy, codenamed 'The Walking Witch,' who is the director of an orphanage. Her orphanage is located in the 'empty zone' of Konoha and has no stable source of funding. She was coerced by that old guy Danzo Shimura to work for Root and carry out all sorts of dangerous missions for the sake of the orphanage's funding and the safety of the children."

Upon hearing this, Konan looked at Yakushi Nonou again, her eyes filled with not only scrutiny but also a hint of respect. Although they were enemies, she was still a respectable opponent.

After a moment of silence, he continued to ask.

"Your purpose."

"Check Lord Fugaku's physical condition to see if he's faking it or if he's really unconscious."

Just then, the paper curtain was suddenly flung open again, and Mei Terumi returned, her expression even more solemn than before, even showing a hint of anxiety.

"The outside is now on level one defense. All traps have been set, and the perimeter has been expanded to its limit. However, Qing's white eyes have repeatedly scanned the entire surrounding area, but he hasn't found any trace of the enemy! Not a single one! And none of the traps have been triggered!"

"And you're lying!"

Mei Terumi looked at the bound Yakushi Nono.

"Fugaku only fell unconscious after all our Kirigakure ninjas arrived! Since then, this area has been under complete lockdown, and radio waves are being heavily jammed! How could a replaced medical ninja possibly transmit the test results? How could you contact Konoha?"

"During the previous camp battle, when the Hidden Mist Technique covered the entire area and created chaos, I took the opportunity to replace this medical ninja and then remained in hiding. Later, when I was stationed here, the people of Konoha used some kind of secret technique to directly engrave characters on my eyes. The price was damage to my eyesight, but since I am a medical ninja, I can slowly heal it afterward."

"Damn Konoha!"

Terumi Mei spat angrily.

"You've got all sorts of bizarre ninjutsu! How do you even send messages?"

"No need to pass it on."

The female spy's voice was calm, yet carried a chilling undertone.

"My instructions to them were to examine Fugaku Uchiha's body. If they confirmed that he was truly unconscious, they would inject him with a drug to make him 'sleep more soundly.' If they discovered that he was faking it, they would leave immediately without making any unnecessary movements. They would judge the situation based on whether I 'left' or 'did not leave.'"

"not good!"

Upon hearing this, Mei Terumi suddenly looked outside; she had finally realized what was happening.

"She's just a pebble!"

"The other side has a barrier that can block out the Byakugan, and with their own Byakugan, they can observe the general situation here from a distance. However, Konan's paper house can also prevent eyes from peeping in, so they can't see inside. That's why they sent this woman to test the waters."

"You were deliberately stalling for time, weren't you? So that's why the 'walking witch' spoke so easily—she was waiting for us here!"

"Yes."

Yakushi Nono readily admitted it.

"So, my mission is complete. Please... kill me."

"You think I wouldn't dare?"

Enraged, Terumi Mei stepped forward and kicked Yakushi Nono hard in the side. The force sent Nono flying, crashing to the ground. Then, she spat a mouthful of viscous liquid onto Nono's body, which immediately made a sizzling, corrosive sound.

Faced with such pain, Yakushi Nonou neither resisted nor struggled; she simply stared blankly at the ceiling of the paper house, which was made of pure white paper, her eyes empty.

"Regardless of success or failure, permanent funding, Yan."

She stared silently at the line of text on her forehead...

...

"Buzz!!!"

Just then, a deep yet majestic hum, seemingly emanating from the depths of the earth, resounded throughout the entire battlefield area without warning!

Immediately afterwards, four massive, crimson light walls, composed purely of chakra, rose up from the ground, centered on the paper house where Fugaku Uchiha was located. The light walls shot into the sky and converged at a height of several meters, forming a huge, crimson, semi-transparent cubic barrier!

It was a Konoha ninja who descended from the sky, landing around the paper house and activating the barrier!

"Enemy attack!!!"

"It's a protective barrier! Protect Lord Fugaku!"

"Attack the barrier! Quickly!"

The Hidden Mist ninja on the outer perimeter reacted instantly, but that was all they reacted to. Almost simultaneously, four more walls of light rose up, nested within the first layer, trapping the Konoha ninja between the first and second layers. The Hidden Mist ninja's attacks could only cause slight ripples on the outermost wall of light...

Looking at the ripples, Mitomon Homura, who was in charge of the formation, smiled slightly.

Knowing that the enemy possessed the Four Red Sun Formation, they would not allow their troops to shrink their formation when setting up their defenses, for fear of being wiped out by a single barrier.

However, this gave him the opportunity to behead him.

The key is to catch the scattered enemies as fast as they can get back, because they can't keep up with his speed in activating the second layer of the barrier!

"Maintain the second layer of defense, shrink the first layer of defense, and simultaneously absorb internal chakra!"

Turning back, Mitokado Homura wasted no time and immediately gave the order: from this moment on, every minute and every second is precious. With his command, the crimson light barrier of the Four Red Sun Array, which imprisoned the paper house, began to slowly but firmly contract and squeeze inward!

At the same time, an invisible suction force came from the light barrier, greedily drawing in the chakra of all living things inside the barrier!

"Damn it!"

Mei Terumi rushed out of the paper house, looking at the crimson light wall that was slowly pressing down on her, without hesitation.

"Lava Release: Melting Monster Technique!"

Her hands moved rapidly, forming hand seals, and her chest heaved violently, like a volcanic eruption, as a torrent of thick, yellowish-brown liquid poured wildly from her mouth!

Under Mei Terumi's control, these lava-released slimes quickly filled and adhered to the interior of the Four Red Yang Formation barrier, blocking the shrinking barrier from all sides and preventing it from forcibly extracting chakra from within.

Unfortunately, facing the pressure of the Four Red Yang Formation, after only a brief contact, fine cracks began to appear on the surface of the Lava Escape Wall, and it was pushed by the light wall, slowly moving inward.

Just then, Xiao Nan floated out of the paper house.

She glanced around, then suddenly raised her hand and gently tossed a clean white piece of paper into the flowing molten slime beside her.

"laugh..."

A single sheet of paper, facing a massive amount of solution, was instantly corroded away, leaving not even ashes.

A knowing glint flashed in Konan's purple eyes. She looked at Terumi Mei, who was desperately trying to maintain her Lava Release technique, and asked.

"What chakra nature is the fusion of your Lava Release?"

"Water and soil."

Mei Terumi didn't know why the other party asked that question, but with life and death at stake, she naturally wouldn't hide anything.

Xiao Nan said no more. She formed a simple hand seal, and countless pieces of paper flew out from her body, with the character "雷" (thunder) slowly appearing on them!

Immediately afterwards, these papers imbued with lightning chakra did not attack the barrier. Instead, like bees returning to their hive, they swarmed into the interior of the Lava Release wall constructed by Mei Terumi. Under Konan's skillful manipulation, they were rolled into solid paper tubes and interlocked with each other!

A miraculous change occurred.

When these "paper bones" with lightning attributes were integrated into the lava wall, which was mainly composed of water and earth attributes, the slime wall, which was constantly cracking under the pressure of the barrier, stabilized at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"This is..."

Mei Terumi was both surprised and delighted.

"The Land of Rain is humid all year round, and the moisture is too heavy. Ordinary earthen and wooden houses will soon become damp, rot and collapse without special moisture-proof and reinforcement designs. Therefore, we have long ago developed the method of using specially treated materials as 'skeleton' and implanting them into the key structures of buildings, which can greatly enhance the strength, durability and resistance to external erosion of buildings."

Xiao Nan explained.

"I see..."

Upon hearing this, Mei Terumi's blue eyes flashed with light. Her gaze swept over the huge barrier, and suddenly, a bold idea flashed through her mind like lightning!

So she immediately stopped supplying the slime that was clinging to the inside of the barrier, and instead turned around and used her own dissolving ability to construct a viscous, bowl-shaped structure around the paper house.

Minami immediately understood Mei Terumi's intention.

This structure is small in scope, easy to maintain, and saves chakra. Moreover, the arched structure is more resistant to pressure, so she immediately sent countless sheets of paper flying into it to reinforce it.

Thus, with the cooperation of the two.

In the blink of an eye, a thick, solid, hemispherical shell, shimmering with a yellowish-brown viscous sheen and white paper-like patterns, completely encased the entire paper house inside!

Then, Mei Terumi manipulated her Lava Release technique to create a small opening, and she pressed her mouth against that opening.

"Boiling Release: Skillful Mist Technique!"

Extremely concentrated, high-temperature, high-pressure milky-white acid mist sprayed and spread wildly from the opening!

Instantly filled the narrow space between the inner shell and the first layer of the Four Red Sun Array light wall, while the outermost layer, the Lava Release wall that had been constructed to resist the shrinking of the barrier but had now lost the continuous chakra support of Mei Terumi, finally collapsed and fell off under the continuous pressure of the barrier light wall.

This, in turn, allowed the raging Boiling Acid Mist to act directly and completely on the crimson barrier light wall without any hindrance!

"Squeak!!!"

A sound ten times sharper and a hundred times more ear-piercing than the previous molten corrosion suddenly erupted!

On the surface of the barrier's light wall, wisps of white smoke were rising at a speed visible to the naked eye. The Four Red Yang Formation, a top-tier barrier hailed as "absolute defense," was actually beginning to be shaken under the full force of Mei Terumi's Boil Release, which she had no reservations about!

"As expected of a genius that Kirigakure sees only once in a century..."

On the open ground between the two layers of barriers, Mitomon Homura, who had been quietly observing the situation while maintaining the barriers, finally couldn't help but let out a heartfelt sigh.

"Given time, this will undoubtedly become a top-tier powerhouse capable of standing at the Kage level..."

As the leader and core maintainer of the entire nested barrier system, Mitokado Homura possesses a perception of the situation inside the barrier that far surpasses that of others, especially of those active individuals who are using chakra.

At this moment, in his perception, inside the first layer of the barrier, the Hidden Mist ninja who was frantically spewing Boiling Release had a chakra level that was like that of a Tailed Beast that had just awakened!

Surging, surging, seemingly without end!

Coupled with her bizarre bloodline limit that combines high temperature, high pressure, and strong corrosion, if this "struggle" continues, Mitokado Homura has to admit that this young woman might actually be able to use chakra and elemental advantage to corrode and penetrate the first layer of his carefully set up Four Red Yang Formation!

"but..."

Mitomon Homura's gaze slowly swept across the area outside the second layer of the barrier.

Isolated by the second barrier, the Hidden Mist ninjas, after their initial panic and fruitless attacks, began to launch an organized offensive. The light of various ninjutsu flashed continuously, bombarding the crimson light barrier and creating violent ripples.

Although the second layer of barrier could not be broken in a short time, the continuous attacks were also consuming the chakra and energy of the sealing team ninjas who were maintaining the barrier.

But the price is that they have to get close to the Four Red Sun Formation!

so...

Mitokado En formed hand seals again!

"Four Red Yang Formation - Three-Phase Nesting!"

In the blink of an eye, outside the second layer of the Four Red Suns Formation barrier, behind the Hidden Mist ninjas who were frantically attacking the second layer of the barrier, a third crimson, more solid and thick light barrier rose up rapidly without warning!

"What?!"

"Behind! There are some behind too!"

"We're surrounded!"

"What the hell is this thing?!"

"Damn it, we've been tricked!!"

...

Hearing the roars of the Hidden Mist ninjas, Mitokado Homura smiled again and breathed a sigh of relief. The plan had now been perfectly executed.

The third layer of nesting is for preparing for additional unforeseen circumstances, which is Mei Terumi.

By absorbing the chakra of the ninjas within, it's a perfect opportunity to contend with Mei Terumi on the first level. Whether it's her Boil Release or Lava Release, their essence is ultimately chakra, and they will also be slowly devoured by the Four Red Yang Formation.

Although it cannot compare to Fugaku Uchiha's Mangekyou Sharingan left eye, Konoha's Four Red Yang Formation is not a bloodline limit either. Its strength lies in the fact that it can be learned and copied.

Of course, Mitokado Yan also knew that Kirigakure was actually happy to see this delay, and they might even mock him.

We're waiting for Fugaku Uchiha to wake up, what are you waiting for?

In response, Mitokado Homura sensed that beneath his feet, the core of the Four Red Yang Formation was continuously gathering chakra.

"I'm waiting too..."