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Ch. 133: The Night of Genocide: Darkness
🕑 Added 2024-10-05 16:07:13 +0000 UTCIzumi became a signer through the Book of Azathoth, thereby gaining power and becoming the first witch in this world. The first spell unleashed by this first witch was naturally the first magic in this world.
From a certain perspective, Obito, as the one to experience this first spell, had earned a place in history. The world shifted in that moment, though few would realize it.
However, he himself didn't realize this was magic and continued searching for a way to break it within the dark world.
"Damn it, how do I break this illusion!" Obito growled. What kind of genjutsu is this?
Although his ability to phase through objects made Izumi's attacks ineffective, prolonging this stalemate was clearly not in his favor. Not only would the Uchiha massacre plan fail, but when dawn broke and Konoha's ninja arrived, his identity could be exposed, and there was even a chance of being captured.
In complete darkness, he had no way to predict when Izumi's attack would come. His escape ability, which involved teleporting using his kamui, required a few seconds of preparation. During those few seconds, he couldn't phase through objects.
Standing silently in the darkness, he reflected on his abilities, for the second time realizing that phasing wasn't as invincible as he thought. Not only did it lack infinite duration, but he was also forced to cancel it when attacking or using jutsu.
Yet ever since becoming the masked man, he had grown reliant on the kamui. Phasing allowed him to remain unharmed, enjoying the shocked expressions of enemies whose attacks missed, and savoring the sense of superiority after showing off.
With time, he began to fear injury, automatically phasing his body whenever he faced any attack. But in the world of ninja combat, some injuries were unavoidable, as they often led to victory. Such was the case now for him. Whenever Izumi's attacks landed, his body would phase automatically, causing his hands to pass through her body as he tried to grab her.
If he couldn't catch Izumi, he would never break the illusion. Realizing this, he loosened his tightly clenched fists, his body standing naturally as he waited silently for Izumi's next attack. Pain is temporary. Failure is forever. I must endure.
Izumi's attack came, and he felt a piece of his skin being transported to a different dimension. In that instant, fully concentrated, Obito forced himself to cancel his kamui.
Instantly, intense pain from his abdomen surged through his brain, causing his face to contort in agony beneath the mask. But there was no time to dwell on the pain. He immediately reached out to grab the figure before him.
"Got you!"
His hands grabbed onto something solid, and without hesitation, he delivered a kick into the invisible darkness. He felt a solid impact, followed by the sound of something hitting the ground in the distance.
Seizing this momentary opportunity when he couldn't be attacked, he quickly formed a hand sign.
From where the sound of something landing came, there followed the sound of rapidly growing plants and the noise of flesh being pierced. The darkness in Obito's vision began to fade, and light returned to his eyes.
Finally! I can see again. But the relief was short-lived as he became aware of his injury. However, there was no time to check his injuries.
He immediately looked toward the open ground in the distance. There, he saw Izumi's body on the ground, twitching slightly. Sharp branches had pierced through her abdomen, contorting her body into an almost unrecognizable state.
The kick he had landed earlier had planted spores of a plant into her body. The technique involved attaching plant branches or spores to the opponent during an attack, then using Wood Release to accelerate the plant's growth, causing the plants to rapidly grow through the target's body and pierce them.
Now that the technique had taken effect, Izumi's body was doomed. A normal person would have been dead, but he wasn't careless. Clutching his wounded abdomen, he walked over to check.
Izumi's irises, once pure black, returned to their normal color. Blood trickled from her mouth and wounds, spreading across the ground. Her body lay broken, limbs bent at odd angles. Though they still twitched faintly due to lingering nerve signals, it was clear Izumi would not survive.
Obito approached cautiously. Then, he knelt beside her, checking for any signs of life. She's done.
Seeing Izumi's tragic death, he instinctively tried to snort in disdain, but the pain in his abdomen made him stop halfway. Looking down, he saw a medium-sized wound on his abdomen.
It was the result of Izumi's punch during the brief moment when he canceled his kamui. Her punch had effectively replaced a chunk of his abdomen with her fist, leaving a hole the size of her hand.
This wasn't just skin, fat, and muscle; it had also taken out a quarter of his stomach. His stomach acid leaked out, corroding nearby organs.
I need to retreat.
For an ordinary ninja, this would be a fatal injury, even with a medical ninja nearby. But Obito's body contained the cells of Hashirama, which gave him tremendous vitality. Not only was he not dead, but he could still move for a while.
He couldn't believe that an ordinary girl had caused him so much trouble, forcing him to abandon the Uchiha massacre plan due to his injury. With survival as his priority, he decided to retreat and heal.
"Sorry, Itachi," he said with an insincere apology. Looks like you're on your own tonight.
Before leaving, he had a few things to take care of. Forcing himself to form a hand sign, he launched a small fireball from his mouth toward Izumi's body.
Flames erupted, adding a bonfire-like atmosphere to the otherwise quiet night. Though Izumi was already dead, he had been forced to use Wood Release, and he didn't want to leave any evidence, so he burned her corpse. Since becoming the masked man, he primarily fought with a sword and his kamui to avoid exposing any identifiable jutsu.
After confirming that she was completely dead, he used kamui to leave Konoha. Once the space vortex disappeared, the open ground in front of the police headquarters returned to peace, with only the occasional crackling of burning branches and bones.
At that moment, a blue light floated up from the fire. This blue light drifted slowly through the night sky, eventually entering a heavy book held by a figure in the shadows.
The figure stood at the edge of the Uchiha clan's streets, where demonic cats were rampaging, chasing ordinary Uchiha clan members without restraint.
"Ahh!"
"What kind of monster is that!"
"Demon Cat!"
"Run!"
"Help! Please help me!"
As they fled in terror, they were caught one by one by the cats.
"What are these monsters?" an Uchiha man cried out,.
"Run! Don't look at their eyes!" another shouted, pushing past a group of stunned onlookers.
"Where are our shinobi? We need help!" a woman screamed, clutching her child close to her chest.
Some were struck by the demon cats' massive black wings, sent flying into walls in an explosion of blood. Others were forced to stare into the fiery red, nine-lobed eyes on the cat-like head of the demons.
In that gaze, Uchiha clan members' faces would suddenly burst into flames, their screams filling the night. Once the screaming stopped, the flames had reduced the heads of the Uchiha members to charred remains.
Seemingly losing interest, the demon cats would release the charred bodies, dropping them to the ground. Witnessing this, the nearby Uchiha clan members scattered in fear. But the demon cats were already searching for their next targets.
On the other side of the street, the man walked leisurely as if taking a stroll. Yet with each step he took, the surrounding light yielded to the darkness.
Inside the houses along the street, some Uchiha clan members cautiously peeked out from their windows, observing the man wrapped in darkness—the only figure visible in the black void.
Dressed in black suit, with black skin, black hair, black eyes, and black teeth. The sheer blackness of the man stirred both fear and curiosity in the Uchiha clan members.
"Who is that man?" one Uchiha whispered.
"Why is he so... black?" another murmured, unable to look away.
"I've never seen anyone like him before."
Seeing that the man didn't seem hostile, more and more Uchiha clan members began peeking from their windows. But the more they focused their attention on him, the more they overlooked the changes in their surroundings.
They didn't notice the darkness that slowly approached their bodies, touched their backs, and brushed their throats. It wasn't until the first person screamed in terror, that the others became aware.
By then, the darkness had already consumed them, black ink-like shadows spreading over their arms, seeping into their bones. No matter how hard they struggled or shook, they couldn't escape.
"Is he a Nara? It's on me! Get it off!" a man yelled, clawing at his skin in panic.
"I can't move! Someone help!" a woman cried out, her body slowly turning rigid.
"What is this? What's happening to us?"
Their screams only seemed to delight the man, who smiled faintly, enjoying the terror. The screams didn't last long. Soon, they were completely consumed by the darkness, their bodies transformed into near-human black statues.
As the man approached, the sea of darkness around him closed in. The black statues began to sink slowly into the shadows, disappearing like ships swallowed by the ocean, leaving no trace.
This was the most direct method for the Dark One to gain terror: making those who dared to gaze upon him unwittingly fall into the darkness.
When you stare into the abyss, the darkness in the abyss also quietly stares back at you. Once tainted by this darkness and fully covered by it, a person becomes part of the darkness itself. As darkness, there are only two possible outcomes.
One is to be completely eradicated by its opposite—light—leaving no trace behind. The other is to be absorbed into an even greater darkness.
