Leaving This Battle for Later

Looking at the smiling Kurama Yakumo before him, Narak narrowed his eyes slightly.

"What's wrong, Narak-kun? Why are you looking at me like that? You're making me shy..." Facing Narak's gaze, Yakumo lowered her head slightly, looking a little embarrassed.

"Oh, nothing. I was just wondering, Miss Yakumo, when did you grow such a long pair of fangs?"

"What? Fangs? Impossible! I clearly transformed my appearance, so how could I still have fangs?"

The flustered "Yakumo" hurriedly reached up to touch her face, only to find that there were no fangs at all.

"Damn it, you actually tricked me..."

Realizing she had been exposed, Ido flew into a rage and simply discarded her disguise, transforming directly into a blue-faced, fanged monster with a pair of large horns growing sideways from its head!

"Tch, with intelligence like that, how do you expect to be a villain? Hey, demon, I could tell at a glance that you weren't human!"

Narak roared at the Ido before him!

"Damn you, human! I'll kill you first, then go kill Kurenai Yuhi!"

"Ever since Yakumo met you yesterday, her heart has begun to grow brighter. It's only a little, but I can already feel a trace of my power slipping away. I'll take this chance to kill you first, then wait until that little girl turns dark and devour her. After that, no one will be able to restrain me!"

With that, Ido lunged at Narak.

Facing the ferocious Ido, Narak showed no sign of panic.

His hand closed around the hilt of his Zanpakuto. Finding the right moment, he swung it in a single stroke!

"Aaargh... How is this possible...? I'm a manifestation of consciousness. How can your blade hurt me?!"

The aggressive Ido was sent flying backward by Narak's slash. When a wave of intense pain struck, Ido looked down and saw a massive wound carved across its chest!

Ido's face was filled with disbelief. After all, it was a manifestation of consciousness, Yakumo's inner demon. Other than Yakumo, who had given birth to it, nothing and no one else could hurt it. At most, they could seal it away.

Yet now it had actually been wounded. This filled it with terror!

"What gave you the confidence to clash with me head-on? Do I look weak to you?" Narak curled his lip disdainfully.

Though Narak looked disdainful on the surface, he was secretly delighted inside!

As expected, it works. Manifestations of consciousness and inner demons are similar to Hollows. My Soul Reaper power completely counters them. This is as good as settled!

Just as Narak was secretly rejoicing, Ido, seeing that it was no match for him, hurriedly sank into the ground and fled.

This was Yakumo's mental space, but it was also Ido's mental space. Since they shared the same origin and body, Ido could instantly reach any location within it. Because Narak had been distracted, he missed his chance to stop it.

"Hey, demon, don't run! Stay and fight me! Fight me!"

"Damn it, what a blunder! I missed such a good opportunity and let it get away!"

Narak was secretly annoyed.

"But did you really think you could escape? Binding Spell 58—Summoning of the Tracking Sparrows!"

Narak gathered a trace of the aura Ido had left behind and cast the binding spell.

In an instant, a visible ribbon-like beam of light formed before Narak, pointing toward a place on the second floor.

Holding his Zanpakuto, Narak sprinted toward the direction indicated by the beam.

The ribbon of light led Narak to a tightly shut door. He did not need to confirm it carefully to know that Ido had to be inside.

Thin wisps of black aura seeped out from beneath the door, practically shouting, "I'm here! Come chase me! Catch me and I'll let you—"

Narak took a deep breath, then kicked out!

"Bang—crash!"

The door shattered on impact!

"Demon, where do you think you're running? Hurry up and accept your death!"

Holding his Zanpakuto, Narak deliberately transformed it into Zangetsu to make himself look more imposing.

At that moment, he stood in the doorway with the enormous Zanpakuto resting on his shoulder, his entire body radiating an unstoppable momentum.

"Narak-kun, you finally came!"

"Hmm? What happened? You got captured already?"

Looking at Kurenai Yuhi, who had been suspended in midair in a crucifixion pose, Narak was speechless.

You're someone else's teacher, at least put up a little resistance. How long has it been? You've already been captured by your own student? If I'd arrived any later, you'd probably have been done for!

Clearly, Kurenai Yuhi was a little embarrassed as well. She stammered, "I... I didn't expect Yakumo to ambush me!"

Narak looked at Yakumo, who was standing to one side. "Miss Yakumo, why did you do this? Miss Kurenai is your teacher!"

Kurama Yakumo was pressing a Kunai against Kurenai Yuhi's neck, her small face filled with conflict. She did not want to leave Narak with the impression that she was a teacher-killer, but this opportunity was rare. She had endured for so long and had finally gotten her chance.

"Narak-kun, please don't stop me. I have to kill Kurenai Yuhi."

"Yakumo, put down your weapon first. Isn't there some misunderstanding here? Miss Kurenai has always treated you like family. Whatever happened, sit down and talk it through!"

"No! What family? She's my enemy. She and the Third Hokage plotted together to kill my parents!" Yakumo was extremely agitated.

"Yakumo, what are you saying? How could the Third Hokage and I possibly have killed your parents?" Kurenai Yuhi, suspended in midair, was utterly confused by Yakumo's words.

"Stop lying to me! It wasn't only my parents—you wanted to kill me too! I heard everything you and the Third Hokage said on the rooftop of the Hokage Mansion that day. You said you'd kill me if you got the chance. Did you think I never knew?"

Agitated, Yakumo pushed the Kunai in her hand forward another inch. Its sharp edge pierced Kurenai Yuhi's snow-white neck, and a thread of bright-red blood ran down along the blade!

"Yakumo, don't get worked up. I'm sure there must be some misunderstanding here. About the day your parents were burned to death in the fire, do you really not remember anything?"

At such close range, Narak was fully capable of snatching the weapon from Yakumo's hand. However, Ido was still hiding somewhere. To draw out Ido and eliminate this threat, Narak could only stay to the side and patiently persuade her.

"Don't listen to them. They're only jealous of your talent. You were born with an extremely powerful aptitude for genjutsu. They're afraid—afraid that one day you'll surpass them. That's why they sealed away your innate talent!"

"They're afraid of you, so they killed your parents. They wanted you to die here in this mountain villa, all alone!"

"Kill them! Kill the woman in front of you, and you'll have your revenge!"

Just as Yakumo's emotions reached their peak, a cloud of black mist surged forth. Ido appeared behind Yakumo and began to whisper temptations into her ear!

"Ugh... You thing, you're seriously annoying!"

Seeing that Ido had finally revealed itself, Narak used Flash Step to appear beside Yakumo. He snatched the Kunai from her hand and kicked Ido into the wall at the same time.

"Go sit over there and stay put. Triple Fang Flash!"

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh..."

Three enormous, fang-shaped beams of light pinned Ido to the wall, leaving it unable to escape.

Narak had used this move against Kai before, but Kai had broken free on his own not long afterward. Ido, however, did not possess Kai's strength. Besides, Kido happened to counter Ido perfectly, leaving it nailed to the wall and unable to move.

"All right. Now it's time for us to have a proper talk!" Narak said to Yakumo and Kurenai.