"It's already too late!"
Watching several Root shinobi hold their breath and stop breathing, Narak mocked them softly.
"Damn it, when did this fragrance appear? It seems to have been after... his sword changed forms..."
Several Root shinobi began checking their own conditions.
"What is this fragrance? Poison? No, there's nothing wrong with my body, and my Chakra isn't being restricted either, so... what exactly is this?"
The Root shinobi secretly examined their physical conditions and found nothing unusual.
Narak stood to the side without attacking, looking at them with a half-smile.
"Kid, I think you're just bluffing. Whatever you did, it won't save you. Come with us quietly!"
"Oh? Since you think I'm bluffing, then so be it. In that case, who should I start with?"
Narak calmly faced the Root shinobi. Even before releasing his Zanpakuto, he hadn't been nervous, as he believed he was more than capable of dealing with these Root shinobi. After releasing it, there was even less to say. In Narak's eyes, these Root shinobi were nothing more than lambs waiting to be slaughtered!
Narak's gaze locked onto one of the Root shinobi preparing to unleash a ninjutsu, and he said, "Let's start with you!"
The Root shinobi under Narak's gaze was startled. He quickly formed hand seals and struck first, launching a Great Fireball Technique at Narak.
Narak dodged it with Flash Step, then shot toward that Root shinobi. The others were shocked by his speed and had no time to assist, so they could only shout a warning.
"Look out! Move!"
Seeing Narak charging at him with his sword raised, the Root shinobi knew it was too late to dodge. He quickly drew his Kunai and blocked the sword coming straight at him.
As Narak's sword drew closer and closer, the Root shinobi raised his Kunai to block the blade.
I can stop it! That was what he thought at that moment.
But in the next instant, he felt the world spin. Then his own eyes saw a headless body standing there, blood spraying continuously from its neck.
This body... feels so familiar... That was his final thought.
"How could this happen? He clearly could have blocked it! Why did this happen?" The other Root shinobi stared at the scene in utter horror.
In their eyes, their dead comrade's Kunai had clearly blocked Narak's long sword. Yet in the next instant, Narak had passed by him, and their comrade's head had been cut off.
They couldn't understand it at all!
"First one. Who's next?" Narak turned to look at the others.
"Gulp..." Under Narak's gaze, the remaining Root shinobi swallowed involuntarily.
"No one answering? Then I'll choose one myself again."
Narak pointed his long sword at the Root shinobi.
"Be careful. He's very fast. Everyone, form a circle!"
The leading Root shinobi quickly came up with a countermeasure. Then, the remaining three formed a circle.
"It's useless!" Narak shook his head at their reaction.
Forming a circle could indeed allow them to provide rapid support when facing a shinobi who relied on speed. But Narak in the state of Sakashima Yokoso was not merely fast.
With his long sword angled toward the ground, Narak attacked the three men surrounding one another.
As Narak attacked, the Root shinobi facing him released several Shuriken. He had assumed Narak would dodge as he had before, and they had already prepared their follow-up attack.
But the several Shuriken passed through Narak's body as if they had pierced an illusion.
In the next moment, the comrade with his back to that Root shinobi suddenly let out a scream. Narak had already appeared in front of him, and his long sword came down at an angle, cleaving his comrade in two.
"What? What is going on? Are we caught in a genjutsu?"
The remaining two were even more terrified.
Just as before, Narak had clearly attacked from the front, and they had seen it and retaliated. Yet their comrade had somehow died again.
If an invisible attack caused fear in people's hearts, then an attack that could clearly be seen but could not be touched was enough to drive them to the brink of collapse.
The two remaining Root shinobi thought they had fallen under a genjutsu. They hurriedly disrupted the circulation of their Chakra, trying to break free.
However, it was useless. Narak's release ability did not act on Chakra. It directly affected the visual sensory nerves.
To dispel this ability, they would have to stop using their eyes to see. But if they did that, they would only die faster!
The two remaining Root shinobi thought they had dispelled the genjutsu and defended themselves with their backs against each other.
"Well, well, well. Why have you started defending yourselves? You told me earlier that Jonin varied in strength. So you think you're one of the stronger Jonin, huh? Then why are you cowering against a weaker Jonin like me instead of daring to attack?"
Seeing the fear on the two Root shinobi's faces, Narak mocked them.
"Damn it, Hyuga Naraku! If you dare kill us, aren't you afraid Danzo will come after you?"
Seeing that they were outmatched, the Root squad leader brought up Shimura Danzō, hoping to make Narak afraid.
"Tch. Don't try to scare me with Shimura Danzō. If that old schemer stays obediently hidden in a corner, then fine—we can leave each other alone. But if he dares provoke me, then let's see whether the blade in my hand is sharper or his neck is harder!"
Narak showed no regard for the Root shinobi invoking Shimura Danzō's name.
Give me a break. My confidence is through the roof right now. Why would I be afraid of one Shimura Danzō?
"Enough. The two of you should hurry on your way. Your companions are waiting for you on the road to the underworld!"
"Damn it, we have to escape! Hyuga Naraku's ability is too strange. We must report this to Danzo. Since we can't recruit him, we have to kill him as soon as possible. Otherwise, he'll definitely become Danzo's greatest threat in the future!" The Root squad leader made his decision.
"Earth Release—Yellow Spring Swamp Technique!"
The other Root shinobi unleashed a ninjutsu, turning the area around the two of them into a swamp. That way, Narak would be unable to launch close-range attacks against them.
"Oh? Do you think this will protect you from me? How naive!"
In the next instant, Narak used Flash Step and stood in midair.
"What? How is that possible? How can you stand in midair without using anything for leverage? What kind of ninjutsu is this?"
Clearly, the sight of Narak standing in the air had deeply shaken their worldview. After all, in the shinobi world, apart from the Third Tsuchikage of the Land of Earth, whose Dust Release was known to let him fly without external support, there was no other ninjutsu that could make someone stand in midair.
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