"Girls, you have too little knowledge in your minds. Don't waste your time; learn more! I'll give you another riddle."
Despite knowing it wouldn't be very effective, Ino still offered a few words of advice during the riddle-solving process. If even one girl gave up on Erzhuzi and returned to a normal life, her advice wouldn't be wasted.
The riddle-solving session had been going on for about half an hour. Ino still had riddles, but the Chakra brought over by Mind Body Switch had been largely depleted, so she was preparing to retreat.
Just as she was about to release the Mind Body Switch Technique, an extremely faint yet distinct mental energy fluctuation, different from Sasuke's own, came from deep within Sasuke's soul. Was it Indra's Chakra? Was it because she had occupied this body for too long, triggering some kind of resistance mechanism from this Chakra? Filled with curiosity, she couldn't help but "look" over.
The mental energies of both sides collided, and she felt an earth-shattering thunderclap in her consciousness, as if a giant purple Tengu giant, wielding a great sword, was powerfully cleaving down at her!
The clash of mental energies made Ino feel like she was riding a bicycle into a train.
Sasuke didn't know what had happened. He only heard a muffled grunt from Ino's side, and the control of the Mind Body Switch Technique noticeably decreased.
Without thinking, he immediately seized partial control of his body. Outwardly, this meant he reversed his grip on a Kunai and fiercely stabbed his own shoulder. He was trying to resist the Mind Body Switch Technique with methods used to counter genjutsu.
"Release!" Ino's consciousness was injured by the purple giant, and her mental energy was damaged. Not wanting to worsen the injury, she immediately abandoned a portion of Chakra, released the Secret Technique, and returned to her own body.
"Damn it… What the hell was that? What kind of move did you use?" Ino slowly stood up, leaning against a large tree.
She wiped her mouth, and crimson blood flowed down her delicate chin.
The first thing she did upon regaining control of her body was to activate her "blame-shifting" skill: It was you, Sasuke, who injured me!
She estimated that the purple giant was the Chakra imbued with Indra's will. This thing could be described as a peculiar mental energy; its total quantity was minuscule, but its quality was incredibly high.
If Ino's mental energy strength at this moment was 1, and Inoichi's was 1.5, then the strength of this mental energy was around 7 or 8. Considering that he had reincarnated countless times and expended enormous energy, Indra's original mental energy must have been even higher.
Indra, at Six Paths Sage's sickbed, said he would destroy Ninshu, and even if he died, he would return through reincarnation to cause trouble. He just wanted to prove that he was stronger than Ashura, the successor chosen by Six Paths Sage.
Ashura, in turn, said he would stop his elder brother, Indra, and even if his body died, his soul would reincarnate to stop his elder brother.
The brothers made reincarnation sound as easy as going downstairs to buy cigarettes, but what was the reality? Even though they had Six Paths Sage's bloodline and were born with mental energy so powerful that it surpassed many deities, such repeated reincarnations still incurred a considerable cost.
Naruto and Sasuke forming the "Reconciliation Seal" in the Valley of the End marked the end of Indra and Ashura's fated battle, and their last remaining consciousnesses returned to the heavens and earth.
Ino's attainments in the realm of souls were very low. Could Six Paths Sage still bring his two sons back from the other side of the Yellow Springs? She didn't know. At any rate, Ino hadn't seen Indra's personality-based will in the previous collision. If she had to say, what remained now was, at most, a small program.
Find Ashura's reincarnation, then mess with him! Based on that momentary collision, she roughly understood this meaning.
This small program was incredibly tenacious, and its attack power was unbelievably high. Ino was almost caught by this energy, and her hurried "cutting off the tail to survive" caused some loss of her mental energy.
The damage to her mental energy left Ino's face pale and her forehead covered in cold sweat. This scene broke Inoichi's heart. Unconsciously, the intelligence chief pulled out a Kunai. Shikaku quickly held him back, saying, "Old friend, it's not that serious, it's not that serious!"
"You tricked me? You used my complacency to make me drop my guard, and then activated some counter-Secret Technique when my Chakra was mostly depleted? Impressive, impressive, Uchiha Sasuke, I underestimated you!" Ino pointed at Sasuke, expertly shifting the blame.
Sasuke felt bitter, but he couldn't voice it.
He was still confused. Who was it that had knocked Ino out of his body just now? Did he do that? Nonsense! If he had that kind of ability, why would he stab himself with a Kunai again? He wasn't stupid, was he?
This clearly wasn't his doing, but he couldn't explain it. To say that a stranger helped him from afar? No one would believe it, so he simply didn't explain. "Think whatever you want."
"Our duel isn't over yet. Are you surrendering?" He pulled the Kunai from his shoulder, letting the blood stain half of his body, and looked coldly at Ino.
Among the Jonin, there was a flurry of speculation, some reliable, some not. Third Hokage pondered for a moment and stated his deduction: "It should be a contingency plan set up by Uchiha Itachi in advance. He was worried about his younger brother being ambushed, so he sealed a certain jutsu to resist mental energy intrusion."
The Jonin nodded repeatedly. Hokage-sama was right! It was Uchiha Itachi who did it!
"Eh? What's going on? Why is Ino standing up again? Are you injured?! Oh, Sasuke… are you injured too?" So much had happened in a flash, and Sakura was completely bewildered. She first saw the extremely weak Ino, then turned to see Sasuke's body, half-stained with blood.
What exactly was going on? Wasn't Sasuke supposed to have defeated Ino and been leading everyone in riddles? She felt that what was happening now completely exceeded the limits of her understanding.
"Don't fight anymore… You're both injured, please stop fighting!" Sakura tried to make them stop, but neither of them looked at her.
Ino said with great spirit, "Hmph, I didn't expect you to have such a trump card. Before, I thought this was just a game, but it seems I was too naive… I won't surrender. Come on, continue!"
"Who's playing games with you? I'm not like you idiots who play house at the Ninja Academy!!" Blood gushed from Sasuke's shoulder as if it were free. He gritted his teeth, overcoming many physical discomforts through sheer willpower, and delivered a flying kick directly to Ino's face.