Right as he finished his sentence, Sora's eyes shot open wide and he immediately turned to the right.
Looking into the distance, he saw a well of chakra on par with Lord Shuen's, but not as much as the tailed beasts.
But still, seeing such a large reserve of chakra could only mean one thing…
Someone very strong.
Sora grinned and immediately started moving in that direction until… his gaze narrowed.
"This… how?" He muttered in confusion, his golden eyes shifting and focusing as he tried to understand what he was seeing.
In Sora's vision, he could see a strange amalgamation of four chakra signatures.
Two were somehow familiar, one was ancient and terrifying while the last was gentle and balanced.
The two that were familiar…
"The voice of the Lord? The woman that was guarding Shuen's temple with Takeo?" He muttered, then his eyes shot open even wider. "My… ancestor?"
At that moment, Sora's blood ran cold as the mass of chakra seemed to pinpoint him too.
Sora's eyes shifted once again as he placed a hand on his sword, sand slowly rising from the desert floor to float around him defensively.
"My descendant! You are still alive!" A booming, aggressive voice came from the distance as the entire world seemed to change.
Sora turned around to look at the town he was just at, knowing that if he were to get into a battle, he'd most likely cause a stir and have people get in his way.
His eyes flickered brighter briefly before he vanished.
Now that he was invisible, he quickly ran in the opposite direction.
Sora was strong, but if his ancestor was powerful enough to hold him back for so long and have such a high chakra reserve… This was not a battle that he could win.
"Where are you running off to?" A chilling voice suddenly came from behind Sora, making him turn to face the source of the voice.
However, there was nothing there.
Sora's gaze narrowed as the figure slowly came into existence.
It was a tall man with three different hair colours… one side was light blue, one grey and the middle was black.
He had six eyes, all of them the exact same as Sora's Tenrigan. On either side of his face he had an extra mouth and protruding from his head was a pair of antlers.
He was wearing a long black robe with an elegant pattern of red clouds that covered his body.
Sora's gaze narrowed, the body that was being covered was made of a different type of chakra than the rest. The amount of natural energy infused into it was far superior to the rest of his body.
"Why are we running, my dear descendant?" He asked with a grin as his gaze shifted to Sora's stomach and then turned a little disappointed. "Why isn't he here…? Where the hell could he be hiding?" He then muttered as he looked around.
Sora quickly became visible again, his eyes also narrowing. "I am running because I want to live." He said, his body extremely tense and ready to defend at any given opportunity.
Oroshiki laughed and studied Sora again. "Hm? Has your chakra been depleted so much from just that? Disappointing…" he then got closer and studied Sora's face. "Tch… you don't look much like me. In fact… you resemble… her." He grit his teeth.
Sora's eyes widened and sand suddenly rushed up and formed a barrier between him and Oroshiki. "H-her? Who?" He asked, hoping to maybe prolong his life.
"My wife."
Sora's expression turned a little stunned and the sand faltered for a moment.
"I don't recall ever having control over the sand, this is not a trait of mine…" Oroshiki said, his eyes flashing for a moment, causing all of the sand to fall uselessly to the ground. "And it certainly wasn't a trait of hers. How?"
Sora gulped. "I… used an ability on a tailed beast." He whispered, not wanting to anger the man.
"Linkstride I assume?" He asked.
"Yes." Sora replied.
"Must've been Shukaku, interesting you managed to survive that encounter. Tell me, after regaining control, what other abilities have you discovered about these eyes of mine?" He asked, sparks of curiosity dancing in all six of his eyes.
"I've only learned about linkstride, I have to actually use the ability to then gain understanding of what it can do and how to use it again." Sora said, using this as an opportunity to have a conversation and hopefully get a better relationship with his ancestor so that he won't die.
Oroshiki hummed in thought, resting his hand on his chin. "Curious… well, before I take back my eyes I suppose I could grant you the blessing of knowing what you could have been capable of." He said, grinning at Sora.
Sora's eyes widened in horror.
'Take back his eyes? What the hell does that even mean?! Is he gonna kill me? Fuck! I should've known!' Sora grit his teeth, unwilling to let it all end here.
"Since you know of Linkstride, I'll go ahead and show you the second main ability. Spectral Warrior." He said, one pair of his Tenrigan flickering brighter as a figure began manifesting beside him. "And then, I'll continue looking for whoever the hell that bird is hiding inside of."
…
…
"We're here." Asuma said as the five of them all found themselves standing at the entrance of a town.
Yukio's wings were tucked neatly inside of his hoodie and he looked around with a curious gaze. "Thank you for guiding me." He said with a polite bow.
"What a drag… are we going to be staying here for long?" Shikamaru asked Asuma with a deep sigh.
The older man clicked his tongue and stared into the town. "Perhaps we'd be able to find clues about Hikaru Ōtsutsuki while we're here." He said.
Ino suddenly smacked the back of Shikamaru's head and balled a fist. "Don't be so lazy! This is a perfect opportunity to find that man!" She said with determination.
"Man? Isn't he our age?" Choji chimed in, making Ino remember that their target was around the same age as them.
She sighed.
Yukio hummed in thought at the mention of that name again, starting to get even more curious about the mysterious Hikaru Ōtsutsuki.
"Oh well." He sighed, suddenly rummaging through his hoodie.
Asuma looked at him curiously.
Yukio then pulled out four pale pink feathers from his back and handed them all to each member of the squad. "This is your payment for bringing me here, thank you."
All four of their eyes widened.
After spending a day with Yukio, they all knew very well that these feathers had incredible abilities that could determine their lives or deaths.
"Seriously? All we did was walk you over here?" Ino exclaimed, holding the precious feather tight.
Yukio rubbed the back of his head. "I guess it's also payment for the attack… and the food! Thank you again!" He said with a somber smile before quickly running off into the crowd.
Asuma shook his head, looking at the white quill that faintly faded into pink towards the top. "Clever kid, he knew I would've forced him to stay with us during our stay here so he ran away as soon as he could." He chuckled.
Choji looked up at him. "We got lucky! To think we'd get such a valuable treasure from a task so simple!" He grinned, eyes sparkling at the small quill in his chubby hands. "Maybe… I'd even be able to use the red one…" he muttered beneath his breath, imagining the opportunities this feather would bring him.
For a change, Shikamaru actually looked bewildered. "This…" he muttered, feeling the barbs and the well of chakra within.
As for Yukio, he only had one goal.
He needed to learn more about the world he was in.
From being with Asuma and his team all day, Yukio had learned quite a few things about the ninja world he lived in.
He learned about the ninja villages, ninja ranks, the three types of jutsu and was quite surprised that he managed to learn Genjutsu completely accidentally.
He also learned about the tailed beasts, which he imagined Shuen had somehow artificially become, that being why he was currently sealed within Yukio's soul.
But most importantly, he had learned about the ones who had attacked his village and killed his family.
The Village Hidden in the Sand, also known as Sunagakure's crest, matched perfectly with the one that Yukio had seen and described to Asuma.
Now, he just needed to figure out why exactly they had attacked his village and where the village was located so that he could pay them a visit to understand their point of view.
He was also on the lookout for Fuko Hino, Sora's older sister.
He knew that Fuko had left the village shortly after Sora had run away, which could only mean that she was still alive and wasn't killed during the invasion.
If he could meet up with her… just someone from his village, someone he knew… that would help his mental state greatly.
And finally, he was looking to find any information about Hikaru Ōtsutuki and his relation to the race that Shuen had mentioned.
There was so much going on for Yukio right now, the two months he had spent in that cave mourning the loss of his loved ones wasn't enough.
Losing so many people close to you can destroy the mental health of anyone, but the effects on someone so young can be devastating.
But nonetheless, Yukio's iron will and Shuen's subtle mental healing allowed Yukio to persevere and get out of that cave, even if he wasn't fully recovered, he was able to push forward.
…
…
"Hmm… that was quite the large chakra reserve." Fuko Hino said as she placed her hand flat above her brow ridge to block out the sun as she looked off into the distance.
Her eyes narrowed, trying to focus on the ridiculously large chakra signature she could sense. "Could that be you, Sora? I doubt your reserves got so high in such a short time…" she sighed.
But that didn't mean she wasn't curious.
"Suppose I'll go check it out." She said dejectedly as she stepped off the large stone structure, landing gracefully on the sandy floor without any pain or discomfort despite the drop. "Even if it ain't Sora… a spike of chakra that ridiculous could be quite an interesting time."
Fuko sucked on her teeth before forming a hand sign and vanishing into the distance.
"Let's go check this out, shall we?"