Shisui was just about to lead his elite squad out when an urgent report came through his earpiece, causing him to freeze.

Without a moment's hesitation, he turned around, reappearing in front of Qi in a few flashes, and recounted the situation at lightning speed.

"An unknown Chakra signal has been detected beneath the ruins in the East Third District."

"Stand by, seal off the scene, and do not take any rash actions." Qi's reaction was even faster than Shisui had imagined, his instructions clear and calm. "I'm heading over now."

Before his words had even faded, his figure vanished from the spot, accompanied by a slight distortion of space.

When Qi reappeared, he was already atop the mountain of ruins in the East Third District. The reconnaissance squad led by Uchiha Isamu had formed a defensive formation, tightly surrounding an area, with vigilance written on everyone's faces.

"Lord Qi!" Seeing Qi arrive in person, the squad members were visibly relieved.

Qi raised a hand to signal for silence, walked slowly to the center of the ruins, crouched down, and gently placed his palm on a huge, moss-covered broken stone slab.

He closed his eyes, but the Three-Tomoe Sharingan slowly rotated deep within his consciousness.

Boundless mental energy flowed from his palm, like the most precise radar waves, silently permeating the layers of rock and soil. The underground world was peeled away layer by layer in his perception, becoming incredibly clear.

Soon, he "saw" the source of that Chakra signal.

It was a small chamber hidden deep underground, more like a small shelter. Inside the shelter, there was only one living being.

The individual's total Chakra was extremely weak, like a candle in the wind, as if it could be extinguished at any moment. But the quality of that Chakra was exceptionally pure, filled with vigorous vitality, without any trace of malice, resentment, or killing intent mixed in.

This life force was like a firefly in the darkness; although faint, it was incredibly clear.

"There is a shelter below, with only one person inside. There is no threat." Qi opened his eyes and delivered his judgment to everyone.

He stood up and said to Fugaku, who had just arrived, "Minister of the Department of Internal Affairs, call in a team to carefully clear the ruins above. Be careful not to cause a secondary collapse."

Fugaku nodded and immediately issued the order through his communicator. Soon, a team specializing in construction arrived, and under the command of experienced craftsmen, they began to move the giant stones pressing down from above, one by one, in the safest way possible.

As the excavation deepened, a square entrance, sealed by a huge stone slab and only wide enough for one person to pass through, appeared before them. On the edges of the slab were complex and ancient spiral runes.

"It's a Sealing Technique." Nohara Kaede had also arrived at the scene, and she recognized the origin of those runes at a glance. "The level is very high; it's used to isolate Chakra detection."

Qi did not let her attempt to break it; he simply extended his finger and tapped a few times on the key nodes of the stone slab. Accompanied by a subtle energy fluctuation, the heavy stone slab emitted a soft "click," and the Sealing Technique was automatically dispelled.

Two members of the Police Force worked together to slowly push the stone slab open.

A gust of long-trapped air, mixed with the scent of dust and mildew, surged out from the pitch-black opening, causing those standing at the very front to involuntarily frown.

"I'll go in first." Shisui volunteered. He activated his Sharingan, his figure flashed, and he landed silently into the darkness.

Qi followed closely behind, while the others remained outside to keep guard.

The interior of the shelter was even smaller than imagined, less than ten square meters, with hard rock walls all around and no extra furnishings.

Shisui's gaze instantly locked onto the figure in the corner.

It was a young girl who looked to be only eleven or twelve years old, so thin that it seemed a gust of wind could blow her over. She had long red hair, the signature of the Uzumaki Clan, though it appeared somewhat withered due to long-term malnutrition. She was curled up in the darkest corner, wearing ragged clothes whose original color was indistinguishable.

Most shocking of all was that her wrists and ankles were wrapped in thick, rusty iron chains. The other ends of the chains were deeply embedded into the rock walls, locking her firmly in place.

Hearing the commotion, the girl slowly raised her head.

It was a small, dust-covered face, and her pair of purple eyes were filled with the vigilance of a frightened bird and fear that had seeped into her very bones.

The moment her gaze met Shisui's crimson Sharingan, with its three rotating Tomoe, her pupils suddenly contracted to the size of pinpricks.

That fear was instantly replaced by a more intense emotion—a despair mixed with monstrous hatred.

"Ah——!"

A shrill scream, one that almost tore her throat apart, erupted from her mouth.

"It's you... it's you again... those eyes that took everything away!"

Accompanying this scream, a massive and violent surge of Chakra erupted from her frail body! This amount of Chakra completely exceeded the limits that someone of her age and physical condition should possess!

This out-of-control Chakra seemed to have triggered some ancient mechanism closely linked to her life.

"Hum——!"

The walls of the entire underground shelter instantly lit up.

On the rock walls, countless dense, spiral runes that had been completely invisible before suddenly burst forth with blinding golden light, like circuits being injected with energy.

The light flowed and coalesced. Golden chains made of pure energy shot out from the walls in all directions, weaving in the air into an airtight Omni-Directional Defense System.

"Clang!"

Accompanied by a loud crash, the shelter entrance that had just been opened was instantly sealed shut by several intersecting golden chains, completely cutting off their connection to the outside world.

Not only that, but those golden runic chains were also constantly contracting, emitting a powerful suppressive force, as if they were going to completely crush everything within this space.