Slave Konan

"Ugh!"

A mouthful of blood sprayed out. Yūhi Kurenai's vision went black, her limbs went weak, and she dropped to one knee.

White scraps of paper instantly covered her body. A moment later, they had completely enveloped her, sealing her away inside the paper.

After doing all that, Konan's clone instantly turned back into white paper and vanished. Meanwhile, the Konan fighting Uchiha Shūichi paused slightly and raised her eyes to meet his.

In an instant, the three black tomoe in his red eyes began to spin, and Konan found herself inside a red space.

Creating a genjutsu space wasn't Tsukuyomi's exclusive ability. Tsukuyomi's space was simply almost impossible to escape from, and that was what made it truly terrifying.

Ordinary genjutsu spaces weren't all that difficult to create. Generally, Uchiha with the Three Tomoe Sharingan could make one if their genjutsu skills were strong enough.

Given Konan's abilities, she wouldn't be trapped in a genjutsu space of this level for long. But after entering it, she looked dazed and made no attempt to break free.

Inside the genjutsu space, Uchiha Shūichi wasn't surprised. He slowly walked toward Konan. When she looked at him, the hostility that should have filled her eyes had strangely given way to reverence and obedience.

"Master... Please, give me whatever orders you wish!"

Hearing Konan's words, Uchiha Shūichi smiled with satisfaction. He had used Kotoamatsukami to control her right at the start of the fight, but hadn't wanted the other Konoha shinobi to find out.

It seemed the plan had gone quite well. Nagato, with his Rinnegan, might be able to resist Kotoamatsukami's power. Obito, who was with Black Zetsu and White Zetsu, would also be easy to expose if he fell under Kotoamatsukami. But Konan could be controlled without difficulty.

The Rinnegan didn't belong to Nagato in the first place. Having it implanted in his eyes might let him resist Kotoamatsukami, but that was the limit. It wouldn't let him realize that Konan had fallen under its genjutsu.

Uchiha Shūichi now had Hatake Kakashi's Kamui, giving him a surefire way to kill Obito. The only one who would be difficult to deal with was Nagato.

But with Konan as an insider, Nagato would never be able to hide anything from Uchiha Shūichi. In an extreme situation, he could even have Konan attack Nagato directly and easily kill his real body.

The Six Paths of Pain were powerful, but Nagato himself was a cripple who needed a wheelchair even to move. No matter how powerful his jutsu were, his frail body couldn't withstand a kunai thrust into his back.

Uchiha Shūichi slowly reached out and gently stroked Konan's smooth, tender cheek. Then he lightly pinched her chin. Konan lifted her head slightly, making it easier for him.

Uchiha Shūichi's hand moved lower again. After giving her a couple of squeezes, he withdrew it. Even though they were inside a genjutsu space, the feel of their skin against each other was no different from reality.

Konan blushed, but didn't struggle. Instead, she stood tall and proud. Only after Uchiha Shūichi withdrew his hand did she let out a soft breath.

"Kotoamatsukami's power really is terrifying. No wonder everyone in the original story feared it so much."

The thought flashed through his mind. Looking at Konan, who was now at his beck and call, Uchiha Shūichi wasn't about to do anything to her in the genjutsu space.

"For now, stay by Nagato's side and keep an eye on him. If you get any information, you can pass it to me through Orochimaru."

Orochimaru hadn't betrayed the Akatsuki Organization yet, so Konan could still contact him. It made for a convenient information network.

"Understood, Master... Also, could you tell me your name?"

Only then did Uchiha Shūichi realize he hadn't told Konan his name.

"My name is Uchiha Shūichi. If I need anything from you in the future, I'll contact you through Orochimaru. For now, besides Nagato, keep a close eye on Black Zetsu and Uchiha Obito, too."

"Uchiha Obito? Who is that?"

"The masked man in your Akatsuki Organization who calls himself Uchiha Madara! His name is Uchiha Obito."

"Also, I can tell you a few things about Uchiha Obito."

"Uchiha Obito has been modified with White Zetsu Cells, so he can use some Wood Release abilities. His Sharingan lets him use the Kamui Dimension and stay intangible for five minutes. His other eye is an implanted Three Tomoe Sharingan, which can be used to perform the forbidden technique Izanagi once."

The battle between Konan and Uchiha Obito in the original story was a clear case of the plot forcing a victory. Six hundred billion Explosive Tags—if they'd really been set off gradually, there was no way they would have taken only five minutes to explode. Even five hours would have been easy.

Just think: at ten million Explosive Tags exploding per second, they would have lasted for more than ten hours! Uchiha Obito wasn't immortal. Without Kamui to protect him, a thousand Explosive Tags would have been enough to blow him to pieces, let alone ten million.

Konan's attack had been complete overkill. She thought she'd already figured out how Uchiha Obito's Kamui worked, so she never considered holding back.

What she hadn't anticipated was that Uchiha Obito had Izanagi in addition to Kamui. As a result, after using her ultimate move, she had no options left.

In a shinobi battle, information was extremely important. At the very least, shinobi of equal strength who knew their enemy's secrets had an overwhelming advantage.

In the original story, Konan had died at Uchiha Obito's hands because she didn't know about Izanagi. Now, if she tried to kill Uchiha Obito again, her chances of success would be as high as seventy or eighty percent.

Of course, Uchiha Shūichi had told Konan all this just in case. With the other Kamui Mangekyo in his possession, he could easily kill Uchiha Obito if he wanted to.

The only reason he wasn't killing Uchiha Obito now was that doing so offered him no benefit. Besides, keeping him alive might prove useful in the future.

"Uchiha Madara... I see. He's just an impostor?"

Konan understood. She and Nagato had long suspected that the mysterious masked man probably wasn't Uchiha Madara at all. Now she finally knew who he really was.

And with such detailed information, much of her fear of Uchiha Obito immediately faded.

"Don't worry, Master. I'll keep a close eye on him!"

"Is there a plan you want me to carry out?"

Uchiha Shūichi shook his head.

"That's all for now. If I need you later, I'll contact you directly!"