"So this is the Bone-Eater's Well?"
Uchiha Retsu stood beside a square, dried-up well deep in the forest, peering down.
The well walls were built from dark bluish-black stone blocks. Green vines hung along the edges, trailing downward. Following them with his gaze, he saw only darkness at the bottom—no water, just thick mud and scattered dead leaves.
"Let's take a look."
He leapt down lightly, landing at the bottom with ease. The well was much shallower than he had expected—only a few meters deep.
He stood there quietly for a moment and looked up.
The opening still framed a patch of blue sky. There was no sign of any spatial distortion or time-travel phenomenon.
"So even with the Shikon Jewel, I can't cross over…"
Although he had been mentally prepared, Retsu still felt a trace of disappointment.
He took out a shard and placed it on the ground at the bottom of the well.
In the dim light, the fragment emitted a faint glow, yet nothing happened.
No spatial ripples.
No pulling sensation.
Nothing at all.
"Forget it. If I can't cross, I can't cross."
With a soft sigh, he put the shard back into its bamboo container.
The mechanics of the Bone-Eater's Well had always been vague in the original story.
From its name alone, demon remains thrown into it would disappear after some time, suggesting that even without the Shikon Jewel, things could pass through it.
Yet in the story, after Inuyasha took Kagome's Jewel, she could still return to the modern era but could no longer come back.
And Shippo, even when carrying shards, couldn't travel through it at all.
These contradictions made the key factor hard to pin down.
However, Kagome and Inuyasha shared two common traits.
First, both had a deep connection to the Shikon Jewel.
Second, both were closely linked to the Sacred Tree of Ages.
In the modern era, the Sacred Tree grew in Kagome's family shrine, and she had grown up beside it.
As for Inuyasha, he had been sealed to that tree for fifty years.
More importantly, in the setting, the Sacred Tree functioned as a temporal anchor.
The structure of the Bone-Eater's Well itself was made from its trunk.
That was the true source of its power to cross time.
With that thought, Retsu bent slightly and leapt out of the well.
He scanned his surroundings.
Soon, deep within the forest, he spotted an extraordinary tree—the Sacred Tree.
It towered far above the others, thick and majestic, its branches strong and ancient. Its lush canopy covered the sky, making it unmistakable.
Retsu walked over and circled the trunk.
He quickly found the mark left from when Inuyasha had been sealed—a depression in the wood grain.
Reaching out, he gently touched the rough bark.
It felt no different from any other ancient tree.
"Let's try sensing natural energy."
He closed his eyes and focused.
A few minutes later, he opened them abruptly, surprise flashing through his gaze.
"As expected… it's different. This feels very similar to the Dragon Veins in the ninja world!"
In Sage Mode, the Sacred Tree was filled with vast, surging natural energy.
But unlike ordinary nature energy, this power resembled the Dragon Veins he had once seen—clearly infused with spatial and temporal attributes.
It was eerily similar to the space-time forces involved in the Flying Thunder God Technique.
Familiar, yet alien.
"But this energy is far too dangerous."
Retsu shook his head and withdrew his hand.
"Unless someone stays beside this tree for decades like Inuyasha, slowly absorbing its aura, recklessly using this power would be asking for trouble. If I got dragged into another timeline, that would be a nightmare."
He stopped lingering and turned away, preparing to search for Kikyo.
According to the story, after Kikyo's revival and learning the truth of her death, she returned to Kaede's village that very night.
That meant she must have been active nearby at the time.
"Next, I'll try a wide-range search with Sage Mode."
Retsu landed on the branch of a large tree outside Kaede's village, sat cross-legged, and entered Sage Mode again.
His perception spread outward like ripples in water.
He quickly detected Inuyasha, Miroku, and Shippo in the village.
But there was no sign of Kikyo.
Even Kagome's aura was gone—she had likely returned to the modern era through the well.
"I'll check the next village."
He exited Sage Mode and vanished into the forest.
Over the following hours, Retsu searched village after village around Kaede's settlement.
After investigating three places, aside from casually eliminating a few troublesome minor demons, he found nothing.
Just as he was about to give up—thinking Kikyo had already left the area—he moved on to a fourth location.
Then, suddenly, a unique aura entered his perception.
It was filled with dense deathly energy and deep-seated resentment.
Yet mixed within it was a trace of pure, holy spiritual power.
Contradictory.
Unnatural.
"Let's check it out."
Retsu's heart stirred. Chakra surged beneath his feet as he shot toward the source.
He had sensed similar strange auras before, only to find unusual demons.
But this time, the presence of priestess power made him confident.
As he drew closer, a smile slowly formed on his lips.
"Looks like I've finally found her."
In the distance, the source of the aura was a village built against the mountains.
Even more convincing was the fact that the aura had noticed him.
It was moving out of the village—heading straight toward him.
Retsu kept advancing.
Just as he was about to enter the forest at the village's edge, a sharp whistling sound tore through the air.
An arrow infused with pure spiritual power shot through the gaps between branches, flying straight at him.
At that moment, he had just leapt from a tree and was suspended in midair, unable to change direction.
The arrow was already within arm's reach.
He could have easily caught it.
But suddenly, an idea crossed his mind.
A mischievous grin appeared on his face.
He pretended he couldn't react in time and allowed the arrow to pass straight through his head.
"Boom!"
The spiritual energy detonated.
His head was blown apart in an instant.
The headless body fell from the air, rolled several times on the ground, and collapsed in the grass, completely motionless.
Moments later, a slender figure slowly emerged from the forest.
She wore red-and-white shrine maiden robes.
Her long black hair flowed down her back like a waterfall.
Her face was breathtakingly beautiful yet cold and distant.
Deathly aura and sacred spiritual power coexisted around her, contradictory yet perfectly balanced.
She was Kikyo—the legendary priestess who once guarded the Shikon Jewel, resurrected by Urasue's forbidden magic.
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