Despite everyone's desperate attempts to resuscitate the lord, his vital signs inevitably weakened.
After checking the lord's pupils and pulse once more, Yamanaka Takuma shook his head helplessly at the others, indicating that the lord's heartbeat and breathing had stopped.
At this moment, the physician from the lord's mansion finally arrived, but he clearly couldn't do anything.
With his ability, it was impossible to revive someone whose heart and breathing had already ceased.
Let alone him, even Tsunade, with her extremely high medical skills in Konoha Village, probably couldn't immediately save him.
At most, she could use an extension of the Living Corpse Reincarnation technique to maintain the lord's heartbeat, but whether she could actually save him during that period was uncertain.
Currently, no one understood why the lord had died.
Everyone had clearly seen that no one had attacked; the lord had just suddenly collapsed, and then his vital signs began to decline.
It was as if the lord's life had been abruptly cut short, creating an indescribable sense of eeriness.
"What… what exactly happened?" Mizuki looked at this scene, somewhat unable to comprehend.
In her ninja career, she had never witnessed such a situation.
"Generally speaking, it might be the result of a certain curse technique erupting within the body, but I haven't found any similar traces," Yamanaka Takuma said.
What Yamanaka Takuma was referring to was a sealing jutsu specifically designed to protect important information.
Anyone who knew such information would have this sealing jutsu set up in their minds.
For example, important members of Konoha's high command, Anbu, Intelligence Division, and Medical Division all had such sealing jutsu applied to themselves, to prevent enemies from using secret techniques to extract information if they were unexpectedly captured.
This sealing jutsu would undergo slight subtle changes depending on one's strength, so even the same sealing jutsu would have varying degrees of difficulty to break when facing different people.
For chunin-level ninjas, even with high-level sealing jutsu applied, they were relatively easier to break.
Of course, if the sealing jutsu's level was too high, even the Yamanaka clan, skilled in deciphering the secrets of the mental world, would face high risks.
A slight misstep could trigger the sealing jutsu's restriction, not only ending the target's life but also dragging the Yamanaka clan member's mind into it, leading to their death.
Each time the Yamanaka clan faced such individuals, the process of deciphering information was like walking on thin ice, every step extremely dangerous.
However, conversely, having such a high-level sealing jutsu also meant that the other party possessed important information; risk and reward are often equal.
However,
Yamanaka Takuma concluded that the lord's death was not due to this internal sealing jutsu, but for other reasons.
"Then it must be a long-distance curse-killing secret technique.
Who would dare to lay hands on the lord?" The experienced Inuzuka Shigeru immediately suggested another possibility, exclaiming in shock and anger.
"Perhaps his companions knew he was about to be imprisoned, and to prevent further interrogation, they cursed him to death, leaving no evidence," Tobi said from the side.
"You!" Hatake Sakumo was grieving over the lord's death.
He had just guaranteed to protect the lord, and now hearing Tobi's words, he couldn't help but glare at him.
"That's very possible, Mr. Hatake," Tobi looked at Hatake Sakumo silently.
"And you'd best not look for me.
No matter how powerful a curse technique is, it can't cover too great a distance.
Those people might be nearby."
Hatake Sakumo understood that Tobi was correct.
No matter what kind of curse technique, there would be distance limitations.
This was essentially because a person's power has limits, unless they possessed an unimaginably vast amount of chakra, only then might they be able to project the range of their technique across the entire world.
And humans absolutely did not possess such power.
Even Hashirama Senju, known as the God of Shinobi, could not possess such a level of power.
The strongest of the Jashinists were at most jonin-level within the Five Great Shinobi Villages.
Even experts of this strength could not make the distance too great.
"Sakumo-san, he's right.
Our top priority now is to find them.
I'm leaving first." Asuna said to Hatake Sakumo at this moment, and without waiting for a response, she rushed outside.
After exiting the hall, Asuna leaped onto the roof of the lord's mansion, formed a hand seal, and incorporated the senjutsu chakra from her chakra storage block into her body.
With Asuna's current level of senjutsu, she could quickly absorb natural energy, but no matter how fast, it wasn't as quick as absorbing the already condensed senjutsu chakra from a chakra storage block.
Asuna carried chakra storage blocks containing senjutsu chakra specifically to be able to immediately enter Sage Mode at critical moments.
Rose-shaped sage markings appeared on Asuna's body, though they were hidden by her clothes, only slightly visible on her neck.
Her eyes turned golden, shining brightly.
After entering Sage Mode, Asuna could perceive things through natural energy.
Although she didn't have the sensory talent like those of the Uzumaki clan, her unique senjutsu aptitude gave her a distinctive edge in sensory perception.
In Asuna's perception, natural energy was like an extension of her body; her senses could follow natural energy into perception.
And with natural energy being ubiquitous in the world, theoretically, as long as her power was sufficient, she could perceive every blade of grass and tree in the entire world, unlike traditional sensory ninjas who were limited to sensing chakra.
Asuna paused, then immediately located her target in a certain forest outside the city.
The golden glow in her eyes was like cold lightning as she whispered, "Found them."
As she spoke, Asuna's figure streaked away.
Under the amplification of Sage Mode, she departed like a whirlwind.
If anyone who had witnessed Minato Namikaze's combat was present, they would realize that in short-distance movement, Asuna's speed was not too far off from Minato's use of the Flying Thunder God—of course, there was a difference, but such a short time difference was not something ordinary people could perceive.
Perhaps only Minato himself could feel that time difference and utilize it.
When Hatake Sakumo and the others chased out, they could only see Asuna's fleeting figure in the distance, faintly glowing with chakra, like a flash of light.
"Follow her!" Hatake Sakumo decisively commanded, immediately using Lightning Release Chakra to enhance his body, leaping out and chasing after her.
The others followed suit.
However, Asuna's speed in Sage Mode was astonishing.
During her time in the capital, she had not ceased her training.
Her failure in the battle with Tobi had pushed her even harder.
Besides sparring with her companions and resting, she also sought advice from her father to further refine herself.
Although Hatake Sakumo had occasionally seen Asuna, he had never witnessed her fighting.
Now, seeing her in action for the first time in many years, he felt that Asuna might be using her senjutsu again to amplify herself.
He just hadn't expected that with Asuna's current base strength, after senjutsu amplification, she would become this powerful.
Even using Lightning Release Chakra to enhance his physical abilities, Hatake Sakumo couldn't keep up, let alone the others, who were all left behind.
Everyone left in a hurry, not noticing that Tobi hadn't followed.
Tobi raised his hand to his forehead, as if watching Asuna's retreating figure, but his Sharingan didn't have the observation range of the Byakugan, so he naturally couldn't see Asuna.
He murmured, "Even faster than our first battle.
Truly amazing, as expected of the Flash."
Then, he lowered his hand, and a faint crimson glow emanated from the holes in his mask as he whispered, "But charging too fast often means you can't stop."
With that, Tobi's figure vanished, as if he too had given chase.
At this moment, in a forest just outside the town, two figures stood there.
One was Black Zetsu, and the other was one of the three immortal Jashinists.
This Jashinist was positioned in the center of a blood-drawn pattern, holding a black spear that pierced his own heart.
Not only his heart, but the Jashinist's throat was also covered in blood, as if his vocal cords had been destroyed, rendering him unable to speak.
Of course, for the current Jashinist, whether he could speak or not was no longer important.
Their entire bodies had been eroded by Tobi—Uchiha Kuroko's—peculiar chakra, completely losing their sanity and becoming puppets that only obeyed orders.
In this state, they wouldn't object to any self-inflicted torment.
However, shortly after piercing his heart, the Jashinist's body trembled slightly, and he opened his mouth as if to emit some sound, but due to his destroyed vocal cords, no sound came out.
Yet, his expression seemed somewhat satisfied.
Black Zetsu had long been accustomed to this.
The secret technique used by the Jashinist was a result of gaining immortality.
It possessed extremely powerful abilities, but also certain limitations.
The immortality possessed by the Jashinists was miraculous, but this experiment had a relatively severe side effect: their internal chakra pathways would be severely stimulated, leading to the loss of their ability to perform chakra nature transformation, and even shape transformation would be severely affected.
To give a vivid example, every Jashinist modified with immortality would have their chakra control abilities become akin to Rock Lee's, making it impossible for them to master any ninjutsu.
In this world, to gain something, one always had to pay a price.
Even the Rinnegan, possessing god-like power, required sacrificing one's own life to defy life and death and completely resurrect someone.
Immortality was already astonishing, and even losing the ability to use ninjutsu and advanced secret techniques might not necessarily be a huge loss when carefully considered.
At most, they could focus all their energy on practicing taijutsu, becoming taijutsu masters.
Combined with the advantages of immortality, they would still be extremely powerful.
Moreover, while immortality prevented the use of other ninjutsu and secret techniques, it came with a powerful cursed secret technique called Death Controlling Possessing Blood.
Using the opponent's blood as a medium, and drawing a specific jutsu formula with one's own blood, entering the formula would establish a connection between oneself and the opponent.
This connection was one-way; any damage inflicted on the caster would be synchronized to the opponent's body.
Generally, this was a technique for mutual destruction, but for the Jashinists' immortality, it became a powerful forbidden jutsu that could curse others to death.
This forbidden jutsu was terrifying to a certain extent, but its limitations were also very obvious.
Firstly, it required the blood of the other person.
Secondly, it could only be effective within the jutsu formula drawn with one's own blood.
Then, the caster must possess immortality, otherwise, it would be a mutually destructive curse.
This was perhaps the most suitable powerful curse technique for Jashinists.
Although it had strict conditions, besides the aforementioned, there were also distance limitations that all secret techniques had, but it was still extremely powerful, terrifying, and bizarre.
A single mistake could lead to a crisis.
The lord's recent death was due to the Jashinist using this forbidden jutsu, linking their lives.
Because the Jashinist possessed immortality, piercing his own heart would not kill him, but the lord, who had the damage synchronized, would die.
And to others, it appeared as if the lord's heart had inexplicably stopped.
The synchronized damage of Death Controlling Possessing Blood was not entirely identical in its manifestation.
For example, if both were pierced through the heart, the synchronized party's heart would not appear pierced in the same way, but rather the damage would be synchronized in a special manner, thus not being very apparent on the surface.
Because of this, the synchronized person might even live for a while longer.
The blood medium used to curse the lord was the blood he accidentally spilled when he broke a vase that day.
That was Black Zetsu's doing, done stealthily.
He deliberately made the vase fall, causing the lord to lose his balance and press his hand onto the vase shards, cutting himself and bleeding.
Then, Black Zetsu secretly took the blood.
As for why such a convoluted method was used to curse the lord from a distance, one goal was to cause the lord's sudden death, preventing him from speaking further, allowing Uchiha Kuroko to freely slander him.
The other goal was for strategic planning.
"Someone's coming," Black Zetsu muttered to himself.
Although he didn't have very strong combat abilities, he possessed some special ones.
For example, he could control others' bodies like the Nara clan's Shadow Imitation Jutsu.
Combined with Black Zetsu's pitch-black appearance, it truly resembled the Nara clan's Shadow Imitation Jutsu being able to move independently.
In addition, Black Zetsu could merge with the earth; the earth was his eyes, his hands.
This was very similar to the sensory method of Sage Mode.
Thanks to Kaguya Otsutsuki's connection with natural energy, Black Zetsu possessed such abilities, and it was precisely because of this that he could execute stealth that ordinary sensory ninjas could not detect.
However, users of senjutsu might be able to detect his presence, but only those with extremely high control over natural energy.
Black Zetsu had already sensed someone rapidly approaching.
He quickly sank into the ground.
It was not his time to appear; it was time for the Jashinist to perform well.