章節 34: Genjutsu

Kaiden screamed with a mix of rage and resignation:

"Just end this already! Kill me!"

Chen tilted his head slightly, a cold smile curling his lips. "Kill you? No. That would be a waste. I hoped you'd be useful for perfecting my skills, but it turns out you've been... disappointingly useless."

A shiver ran down Kaiden's spine at those words. The calm in this boy's voice was terrifying.

"However," Chen continued, "I've created an illusion and I'd like you to test it." His eyes with golden patterns began to glow. "I call it 'Reincarnation of Horror.' I hope you'll try it out and tell me how it is…"

Before Kaiden could react, the world around him vanished.

Suddenly, he found himself in a completely different space. His body, previously ravaged by battle, seemed intact.

However, an overwhelming sense of weakness invaded him, as if all his strength had been permanently drained.

'What is this?' Kaiden thought, trying to focus. 'This must be a genjutsu.' But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't feel his chakra or break the genjutsu.

A chilling presence suddenly materialized behind him.

Kaiden spun around abruptly, his heart pounding in his chest. What he saw made his blood freeze.

Floating before him was a disembodied head, its face twisted into a grotesque grimace. Its eyes, completely black, seemed to absorb all light. The mouth opened into a grin too wide to be human, and a demonic laugh emerged, echoing in the surrounding void.

Kaiden tried to scream, but the sound got caught in his throat.

The floating head spoke, its voice a whisper: "This, dear Kaiden, is just the beginning. The true reincarnation of horror… is about to start."

And so began Kaiden's torment. He found himself thrown from one horror scene to another, each more disturbing than the last. Chen had drawn these images from various horror movies he'd seen, but for Kaiden, each experience was horrifyingly real.

In one scene, he was in an abandoned house, pursued by nightmarish creatures that defied all logic.

In another, he was trapped in an underground maze, surrounded by beings crawling in the dark, always on the edge of his vision.

Then, he saw himself in the midst of a zombie apocalypse, feeling the excruciating pain of being devoured alive again and again.

Each scene ended with his death, only for him to be immediately reborn in the same situation. Ten deaths in each scenario before moving to the next.

The cycle repeated incessantly, each reincarnation bringing the knowledge and terror of the previous deaths.

Kaiden screamed, begged, and fought, but nothing changed his fate. Time lost all meaning. Had it been hours? Days? Years? He couldn't tell.

In the real world, however, only a second had passed since Chen activated the illusion.

Chen watched with satisfaction. "Fascinating," he murmured. "It seems everything is working even better than I expected."

He closely observed Kaiden's Sharingan spinning frenetically in its sockets.

This situation wasn't mere cruelty; Chen had orchestrated it with a specific purpose: to awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan in Kaiden.

"A Jōnin at twenty," Chen murmured to himself. "His talent is undeniable. Gambare, gambare, Kaiden."

Suddenly, something changed in Kaiden's eyes.

The tomoes began to merge, forming a familiar pattern. Chen recognized the shape: it was similar to Shisui's Mangekyō Sharingan.

"Fascinating," Chen whispered, a slight smile of satisfaction curling his lips.

Despite this evolution, Kaiden remained trapped in the illusion. The new power flowing through his eyes wasn't enough to break Chen's genjutsu.

Recognizing the opportune moment, Chen acted swiftly. In an instant, his hands moved, extracting Kaiden's eyes with surgical precision.

The eyes, still vibrant with newly awakened malevolent Chakra, were carefully stored.

Without losing a second, a wave of flames enveloped Kaiden's body, quickly consuming it until it was reduced to ashes.

Throughout the entire process, Chen's face remained impassive.

For him, this act was no different from hunting for food.

Since his arrival in this world, he had quickly adapted to the violence and the occasional necessity to kill.

Survival and power were the only constants in this ninja universe, and he had accepted them as fundamental truths.

Aware that the chaos caused by the battle wouldn't go unnoticed for long, Chen activated his observation haki.

His perception expanded, covering the entire village, sensing every movement, every fluctuation of chakra.

"We have to be quick," he thought. With a fluid movement of his leg, Chen executed the Rankyaku, sending wind slashes that swept the area, erasing all traces of the battle. Fallen trees disintegrated, marks on the ground vanished, and Kaiden's ashes dispersed in the wind.

Satisfied with the cleanup, Chen transformed into a flash of pure light.

In an instant, he reappeared next to Mikoto, who waited with a mix of anxiety.

"It's all taken care of," Chen said with a calm that contrasted with the intensity of what had just occurred. "It's time to go, Mikoto."

Mikoto nodded without a word, a silent display of her unwavering trust and support. She didn't need to ask what had happened; her faith in Chen was absolute.

With his clean hand, Chen took Mikoto's. In a blink, the landscape around them changed completely.

They had teleported ten kilometers away, near a crystal-clear stream winding through the trees.

Chen approached the water and began washing his hands meticulously, the clear water momentarily turning reddish before returning to its original purity.

Mikoto, watching this with growing concern, approached Chen. "Are you hurt?" she asked, her voice tinged with anxiety.

Chen offered her a reassuring smile. "I'm fine, Mikoto. Don't worry."

However, these words didn't seem to calm Mikoto.

With determination born of worry, she began to physically inspect Chen, her hands running over his arms and torso in search of hidden wounds. Only after touching and closely observing him, ensuring there wasn't a scratch, did Mikoto seem to relax.

But moments later, realizing the intimacy of her actions, Mikoto blushed deeply. Embarrassment overwhelmed her, and she quickly looked away, unable to face Chen's eyes.

Still with her cheeks flushed, Mikoto hurried to busy herself, starting to prepare the food they had brought for their picnic. Her movements were somewhat clumsy, evidence of her turmoil.

Chen, observing all this with a mix of amusement and curiosity, decided to change the subject. "Mikoto," he began casually, "do you know if Kaiden had any relatives? Does he have siblings?"

Mikoto, grateful for the distraction, responded while continuing her preparations. "No, Kaiden doesn't have any living relatives. His parents died years ago."

Then, with a tone of curiosity, she added, "Why do you ask, Chen?"

Chen shrugged with apparent nonchalance. "Just curious," he replied. However, internally, he couldn't help but feel a pang of disappointment. The absence of Kaiden's blood relatives meant his plan to obtain a pair of Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan had become complicated.

'What a pity,' Chen thought, as he watched Mikoto finish preparing the meal. 'I'll have to look for other options.'

________

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