From the astonished look in Shion's eyes, Shinji knew she had definitely witnessed his battle with the Hand Demon.
In other words, his Susanoo had already been exposed, and the secret of his Mangekyo Sharingan would be hard to keep.
Shion, however, was completely unaware of the turmoil in Shinji's heart. She looked him up and down, her eyes filled with admiration.
Should I silence her?
Shinji couldn't bring himself to make a decision.
Whoosh.
As if sensing the faint killing intent from Shinji, the small bell hanging on Shion's chest suddenly emitted a dazzling light.
What's this?
Feeling the threat, Shinji took a step back.
Others might not know, but he was well aware of the Miko of the Land of Demons' background.
The small bell on Shion's chest was a powerful artifact.
It appeared to be protecting Shion, but in reality, its true function was to seal her Miko powers, preventing the young Shion from recklessly using them and potentially harming those around her.
To put it simply, that thing was a restraint disguised as a protective charm!
If he wanted to kill Shion, he would first need to destroy that bell.
But once the bell was destroyed, he would have to face the unsealed Miko of the Land of Demons.
Shinji dismissed the thought of silencing her.
Shion might be a novice Miko, but wasn't he just a novice shinobi?
He wasn't confident that his Susanoo could withstand Shion's sealing techniques. After all, the Miko of the Land of Demons had the power to seal even tailed-beast-level monsters.
But letting her go unchecked was also not an option.
He then thought of using genjutsu. Locking eyes with Shion, he activated the Mangekyo Sharingan, using its ocular power to implant a suggestion into Shion's mind: You have never seen me...
Instantly.
Shion's expression became blank, and she unconsciously repeated after Shinji: "Never seen... never seen..."
Did it work?
Shinji observed her for a moment and then breathed a sigh of relief.
Luckily, Shion's Miko powers were sealed, and she had little experience using them. Otherwise, with his half-baked Mangekyo Sharingan genjutsu, it would have been difficult to successfully implant this suggestion.
Even so, he didn't feel entirely secure.
If they were to meet again in the future, there was still a chance that Shion could recall this memory.
Fortunately, as the Miko of the Land of Demons, Shion was unlikely to leave the Land of Demons easily, so the chances of them crossing paths again in the near future were slim.
At that moment, in the distance, a glow of firelight appeared in the night, indicating that a large group of people, carrying torches, were rushing toward the palace.
It was clear that these were the Land of Demons' guards coming as reinforcements from elsewhere.
Just as Shinji was pondering how to return to Hidden Leaf Village, whoosh, he suddenly vanished from where he stood.
Looking at the familiar room, Shinji realized he had returned.
The clock on the wall showed that he had been gone for about thirty minutes.
This time matched exactly the duration during which he witnessed the Hand Demon massacre the guards and subsequently killed it.
In other words, he had been instantly transported to the area where the Hand Demon had invaded, which was the Miko's palace in the Land of Demons, and then instantly transported back after it was over.
It was somewhat similar to the Flying Thunder God Technique.
Ah!
A sudden, sharp pain pierced his eyes.
Enduring the intense pain, Shinji quickly deactivated the Mangekyo Sharingan, and the crimson color in his eyes faded back to black.
It took quite a while for the pain to gradually subside.
Phew.
He exhaled a breath of impure air, his expression somewhat grim.
Although he had successfully repelled the invasion and received the Shinobi World's gift, doubling the amount of chakra in his body, chakra and Mangekyo Sharingan's ocular power were two different things.
To put it simply.
Chakra is synthesized from physical energy and mental energy and can be replenished through rest.
It is renewable!
The Mangekyo Sharingan's ocular power, however, is a type of high-quality Yin Release chakra.
Its total amount is fixed at the time of awakening the Mangekyo Sharingan—use it, and it decreases.
Until one has the ability to convert ordinary chakra into high-quality Yin Release chakra, the ocular power consumed by the Mangekyo Sharingan cannot be replenished.
Activating Susanoo this time consumed too much. If this keeps up, my Mangekyo Sharingan will be ruined!
In the life-and-death moment earlier, he hadn't given much thought to the activation of Susanoo.
But the intense pain in his eyes just now made him deeply realize the harsh truth that "the Mangekyo Sharingan is a consumable."
Holding his head in his hands, Shinji sat down on the bed.
This time, the invader in the Shinobi World was a demon from Demon Slayer. The likelihood of encountering another demon in the future was high.
But he wasn't a professional at dealing with demons!
The method he used to defeat the Hand Demon just now was the simplest and crudest.
After smashing the Hand Demon with Susanoo the first time, he used the Mangekyo Sharingan's detailed perception to confirm that the Hand Demon's body was slightly smaller after it regenerated.
Thus, he concluded that while demons could continuously regenerate, they still needed to consume a certain amount of flesh and blood to do so.
As long as one delivered multiple destructive blows to a demon in a short time, and the demon couldn't replenish its flesh and blood, it would lose its ability to regenerate due to excessive consumption.
But this method worked for the bloated Hand Demon; it might not work for other demons.
If he were to encounter a more agile and tactically adept demon next time, repeating this victory would be much harder.
I must find a way to truly counter demons!
Using a Nichirin Blade to decapitate them was undoubtedly the simplest method, but Shinji wasn't sure if the special ores used to forge Nichirin Blades existed in the Shinobi World.
As for Wisteria flowers, he hadn't seen any in Hidden Leaf.
And regarding sunlight, it was clear that demons wouldn't invade the Shinobi World during the day.
If demons fear sunlight, would 'Amaterasu,' the Flame of the Sun, work against them?
Shinji suddenly thought of Amaterasu, one of the Mangekyo Sharingan's dojutsu.
Amaterasu's black flames were said to burn anything and never extinguish.
So even if it couldn't have the special effect on demons like a Nichirin Blade, it could attach to a demon and incinerate it to ashes through endless burning.
Unfortunately.
Shinji's Mangekyō Sharingan didn't possess the Amaterasu ability.
Whenever he thought of his Mangekyo Sharingan's abilities, he couldn't help but scratch his head in frustration.
Both of his eyes had the same ability, called "Susanoo Tomoshibi" (Susanoo Lantern).
As the name implies, this ability was built on top of Susanoo. To activate Susanoo Tomoshibi, he first had to activate Susanoo.
And unlike common Mangekyo Sharingan techniques like Amaterasu or Tsukuyomi, which are ninjutsu or genjutsu, Susanoo Tomoshibi is a relatively rare functional dojutsu.
When both Susanoo and Susanoo Tomoshibi are activated simultaneously, an additional pair of eye sockets will appear on the face of his Susanoo, a pair of empty sockets that can hold another pair of eyes!
That's right!
The ability of Susanoo Tomoshibi is to allow his Susanoo to wield a second pair of eyes!
From a certain perspective, the birth of this dojutsu might reflect the combined psyche of the original owner and Shinji, the transmigrator.
In Shinji's view, this ability was incredibly powerful.
The only problem was that he didn't have a second pair of eyes to use, so currently, his Mangekyo Sharingan was just a blank slate, with only Susanoo as its usable technique.
And compared to single-eye techniques like Amaterasu or Tsukuyomi, Susanoo puts a much heavier burden on the body and consumes far more ocular power.
If he had to use Susanoo in every battle, he wouldn't last many fights.
Shinji sorted through his thoughts, pondering solutions.
There were indeed solutions.
The simplest and most direct was to find another pair of Mangekyo Sharingan from a close relative and evolve his own Mangekyo Sharingan into the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan.
At the very least, he needed to acquire a second pair of Mangekyo Sharingan that could be controlled by Susanoo Tomoshibi to have more dojutsus at his disposal.
Following this line of thought, he began to consider the current pairs of Mangekyō Sharingan in the Shinobi World: Excluding mine, there should be four pairs of Mangekyo Sharingan in the Shinobi World right now.
Obito's Mangekyo Sharingan—one eye with Obito, the other with Kakashi.
Shisui's Mangekyo Sharingan—one eye taken by Danzo, the other kept by Itachi.
Itachi's Mangekyo Sharingan, which he still possessed.
These three pairs of Mangekyo Sharingan were all in the hands of powerful individuals, so Shinji knew better than to even think about them for now.
The only pair he could consider was the Mangekyō Sharingan of the late Uchiha Clan leader, Uchiha Fugaku.
The reason this pair was worth considering was that Fugaku had never revealed that he possessed the Mangekyō Sharingan before his death.
So, although the village had confiscated Fugaku's Sharingan, they likely didn't know it was a pair of Mangekyō Sharingan.
As a result, the security level guarding those eyes wouldn't be too high.
After all, Shinji had seen with his own eyes in the morgue how the medical team had removed the Sharingan from the bodies of the Uchiha clansmen and stored them in nutrient jars.
With so many Sharingan harvested at once, their value would inevitably be diluted.
Therefore, among the four pairs of Mangekyō Sharingan in the Shinobi World, Fugaku's pair had the lowest acquisition difficulty and was the most likely pair Shinji could obtain.
But first, I need to find out where the village has stored the Sharingan...
Although he was eager, Shinji knew this wasn't something he could rush. It required careful planning, as one wrong move could cost him everything, including the Mangekyō Sharingan.
Moreover, improving his taijutsu and ninjutsu skills was also an urgent priority.
As he thought about these things, he gradually became drowsy. The adrenaline from the battle faded, and fatigue set in...