"What exactly did you do to me?!" Akahane Yui's pupils shrank. This time she was genuinely panicking. What on earth was happening? Her body was moving entirely on its own according to his commands! She had never heard of a situation so bizarre, nor did it feel like she was under a Genjutsu.
"Come here," Xuan chuckled lightly, beginning to test various commands to see the exact effects of the contract.
Yui obediently walked toward him, her eyes filled with anxiety and unease.
"Crouch down... stick out your tongue."
Performing such a humiliating action, a layer of mist clouded Yui's obsidian-like eyes. Crystal-clear teardrops slid down her jade-like cheeks. In this situation, she would rather die.
Xuan nodded in satisfaction. He tested a few more commands, and she executed all of them with absolute naturalness.
"Alright, you can move freely now."
Following Xuan's words, Yui was shocked to discover that she had regained control of her body. She made a few movements, perfectly fluid, as if the scene just now had been nothing but a nightmare.
"Bastard!"
She gritted her teeth inwardly, fury surging in her heart. She wanted to rush up and slap him across the face, only to find her body suddenly disobeying her again! Shocked, she cancelled the thought, and immediately regained control of her body.
"I can't do anything that would harm him?" After a few attempts, Yui spoke in shock, despair gradually welling up from the bottom of her heart. Didn't that mean she would never have any hope for revenge?
Through his experiments, Xuan found the Divine Maiden Contract's effects to be quite excellent. It was somewhat similar to Kotoamatsukami—it didn't alter the person's fundamental personality. For instance, right now Akahane Yui was still Akahane Yui. She wouldn't suddenly turn into his most devoted, blindly loving maid just because she signed the contract.
She still hated him, but she wouldn't betray him. Or rather, she couldn't betray him. Because she would unconditionally obey his commands and was physically incapable of doing anything that would harm him.
"Alright, Yui. Listen closely now. Lead the Akahane clan's shinobi and resist for ten minutes. In ten minutes, I will arrive with the elites of the Uchiha clan. After we kill Hoshino Ren and Kimei Takuya, you will announce that you are voluntarily becoming my maidservant. Following that, I will announce that the Akahane clan has become my subordinate clan. Do you understand?" Xuan calmly delivered his instructions.
"In your dreams!" Yui opened her mouth, wanting to retort, but her body automatically dropped to one knee, and her voice rang out: "Please rest assured, Master."
Xuan smiled. Activating the intangibility of his right eye, his entire figure vanished into a spatial vortex.
The instant Xuan vanished, she once again regained control of her body. Standing up, she felt incredibly agitated and violently kicked the nearby table to splinters. After a bout of venting, she barely managed to stabilize her emotions.
"He just said he would bring the elites of the Uchiha clan... Is he an Uchiha?" After calming down, she recalled Xuan's instructions and gasped in surprise, then smiled bitterly. Even if she knew his true identity now, what could she do? Even her body was no longer her own.
On the other side, within the Ghost Fire Alliance's compound, Uchiha Shinji was leading his men to hunt down the alliance's fleeing shinobi.
When he had first arrived with the Uchiha elites, everyone in the Ghost Fire Alliance was completely stunned. Their garrison forces weren't exactly weak—they had the Shokuka Clan Head, a Peak Jōnin, as well as one Elite Jōnin, eight standard Jōnin, and hundreds of Chūnin and Genin.
However, compared to the elite strike force Uchiha Shinji brought, these forces were still far too weak. Thus, a one-sided slaughter naturally commenced.
Once the Shokuka Clan Head fell under the combined siege of Uchiha Shinji and two Elite Jōnin, the outcome was absolutely sealed.
Under the bright moonlight, Uchiha Shinji stood amidst a sea of corpses. The three tomoe in his eyes were a bloody crimson. The cries of battle were growing more distant—those were the fleeing Chūnin and Genin, whom he had ordered the Uchiha Jōnin to hunt down. As for the Elite Jōnin, they were currently ransacking the Ghost Fire Alliance's armory, treasury, and hidden Ninjutsu vaults. Unless their hands were full of plunder, they wouldn't be coming out anytime soon.
Suddenly, a flash of golden light flickered, and Uchiha Xuan materialized in front of him. Shinji's gaze focused, but he wasn't surprised to see Xuan; he knew Xuan possessed a space-time Ninjutsu.
"My Lord, you have returned. How did it go?"
Shinji asked softly. He didn't dare speak too loudly, for fear of the Elite Jōnin hearing him.
Xuan had already discarded his black cloak, revealing his true appearance. He immediately ordered, "Assemble everyone right now. Follow me to strike the Akahane clan's compound and slaughter the Three-Clan Alliance and Kimei Takuya. Tonight, we will pacify the entire north!"
Shinji's heart jolted with shock, but he complied without hesitation. He launched a Fire Style Jutsu into the sky, which then exploded into countless fireballs like a firework. This was their pre-arranged assembly signal.
Upon seeing the signal, whether it was the Elite Jōnin lining their pockets or the regular Jōnin hunting down survivors, everyone stopped simultaneously. Like streaks of black shadows, they gathered at the signal's location.
Shortly after, the five Elite Jōnin and twenty-three regular Jōnin all returned. Naturally, the very first thing the Elite Jōnin noticed was Uchiha Xuan.
Their expressions varied wildly. Uchiha Ran asked cautiously, "L-Lord Xuan... we heard you went to assassinate the Akahane clan's Great Elder. May I ask... what was the result?"
Xuan glanced at him, relatively satisfied with his respectful attitude. He stated flatly, "That old man? Dead."
"D-D-Dead?!"
The expressions of the Elite Jōnin changed drastically. It wasn't that they hadn't considered this possibility, but the chances were so infinitesimally small that they deemed it practically impossible. They had genuinely believed the absolute best-case scenario was Xuan using his space-time Ninjutsu to escape back alive.
Now, abruptly hearing the news of the Akahane Great Elder's death, every single one of them was struck dumb like wooden chickens. The gazes they fixed on Xuan were overflowing with absolute awe and terror. What kind of monstrous existence was this?! He was only twelve years old, yet he could solo-infiltrate an enemy base and assassinate a Peak Jōnin! Give him a few more years, and would anyone in the entire Warring States Era be able to stop him?!
"Enough about that. Follow me to the Akahane compound immediately. Tonight, we are finishing everything," Xuan ordered coldly. His blood-red three-tomoe Sharingan swept over them briefly before he took the lead, bounding off into the distance.
The crowd unanimously shuddered and hastily kept up, instinctively obeying his command. Not a single person realized that for him to issue orders right in front of Uchiha Shinji was actually a complete overstep of his authority.
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