The Mangekyo

"Is this the power of myth?!"

As he watched the illusory dragon rampage through the air, Guo Wang's right eye, hidden beneath his bandages, spun its tomoe wildly. To his surprise, it transformed on its own into the Mangekyo pattern.

In the canyon below stood a gigantic Demonic Statue. Several branches extended from a Black Receiver embedded in its body, piercing the spine of a red-haired boy. They continuously drained his vast life force, transforming it into a pale-purple Phantom Dragon that slaughtered everyone in its path.

"Lord Danzo, what should we do now?"

A Root shinobi in a white cloak asked in a trembling voice. He was an Elite Jonin who had fought his way through the mountains of corpses and seas of blood during the Shinobi World War, but the terrifying sight before him, like a demon god, still chilled him to the bone. Amegakure's most elite forces fell one after another as if they had lost their souls, their bodies showing no injuries as they let out deathly wails.

Even Hanzo, the leader of Amegakure known as the "Demi-God," and a contender for the title of strongest in the Shinobi World, could only dodge left and right with the Body Flicker Technique as the translucent dragon pursued him. He couldn't get anywhere near the red-haired boy protected beneath the Demonic Statue.

"Erase all traces of our presence and leave."

Guo Wang gauged the strength of this body, then compared it to the red-haired boy's seemingly inexhaustible life force. He couldn't help shaking his head.

Even if he and Hanzo joined forces, their odds of winning were less than fifty percent.

He had only just arrived in this world. He knew everything about it only through Danzo's memories, and he still needed time to get familiar with and adapt to this energy called Chakra.

"But that's the Rinnegan..."

The Anbu beside him was still terrified by the Demonic Statue, but instinctively didn't want to give up those legendary eyes.

"Ryoma, without that boy's life force, you'd be drained of all your Chakra the instant you touched the Rinnegan."

As a cultivator who had moved among all Three Branches of the Dao Realm, Guo Wang had encountered thousands of secret arts and techniques. He knew that only power under one's control was truly power. Anything beyond one's limits was just a death sentence.

"Besides, there's someone nearby with the same power as my right eye, yet you haven't noticed them at all. For now, I don't want to attract too much attention."

During his decades inside the Five-Colored Stone, Guo Wang had only been able to temper his spiritual power. That made him especially wary of the two strange yet profound presences.

He sensed two souls as bright as torches, but all he saw was emptiness.

"Looks like, unlike the power dwelling in my right eye, this is the most obscure and profound kind of Space-Time!"

After awakening the Mangekyo in his right eye, Guo Wang had already tested the so-called Dojutsu. It was a fairly common Sharingan ability, but after its evolution, it had become a forbidden power capable of breaking the limits of the body.

Unfortunately, he had only one Mangekyo, so its power was incomplete. It also required a special process of accumulation before it could be used to its full potential.

Before leaving, Guo Wang glanced back at the red-haired boy, who was gradually withering away. As he watched the boy's Rinnegan turn an ever-deeper shade of purple, a thought came to him.

"We'll meet again someday, with power that's no weaker than the power in your eyes."

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The masked Anbu vanished like shadows.

"Yes, Lord Danzo."

Left behind to clean up the battlefield, Aburame Torune used his insects to expand the search area once more. When he finally found something suspicious on the mountainside, he realized for the first time just how deep the waters of the Shinobi World ran.

When his insects reached that area, it was as though they had turned to amber. They were still alive, yet no longer in this world.

A rustling, hair-raising sound rang out again. But the tremendous tremors from the clash between the "myth" and the "Demi-God" drew no one's attention.

Clusters of black insects burrowed up from the ground and into the Root shinobi's corpses, silently devouring the bodies of their comrades.

Meanwhile, Guo Wang had already led the dozen or so remaining members of Root away from the battlefield.

"They got away fast."

Elsewhere, an onlooker sneered. A being who looked less than human focused all his attention on the Demonic Statue, his eyes filled with feverish excitement.

"The Ten-Tails' husk!"

In the canyon, his subordinates' casualties continued to mount, and his poison gas couldn't get past the giant statue's protection to kill the red-haired boy. Hanzo began to consider retreating. After dodging another Phantom Dragon attack with the Body Flicker Technique, the Demi-God of the Shinobi World retreated for the first time since making his name.

On the now-empty battlefield, the red-haired boy, gaunt and grotesque after losing weight, stared blankly ahead with vacant eyes. His Rinnegan was dull as he looked at his companions, who had lost every last trace of life.

"Nagato, Yahiko, Konan—I'll reunite you in the world of dreams."

Beyond the battlefield, Obito knew he had guided the Rinnegan's bearer onto the "right" path. Yet he couldn't help recalling the moment Yahiko had thrown himself onto the Kunai and taken his own life.

He thought of the girl he had cherished in his heart all his life.

The boy gradually came to understand. Perhaps this, too, was her choice.

But none of it mattered anymore!

For people from Konoha, the weather in the Land of Rain could only be described as miserable.

Guo Wang walked through the misty drizzle. Even with an oil-paper umbrella, the rain carried on the wind gradually soaked him.

A day or two of weather like this was bearable, but much longer would certainly sour anyone's mood.

What made him feel even worse, though, were the corpses of several subordinates beside him, their breathing stilled forever.

"Are you human?"

After leaving that terrifying battlefield, Guo Wang had led his Root shinobi toward their base. After all, he had only just taken over this body. He could barely control it, and he still needed to study the energy of this world, Chakra, in depth.

He also had to return to Konoha before he could unleash the true power of the Mangekyo Dojutsu.

Just as they were about to leave the Land of Rain and enter a forest, several strange white life-forms whose presence blended completely with the trees suddenly appeared behind Root. They launched a surprise attack, killing the few subordinates he had left.

"I'm White Zetsu, a human clone."

At those words, Guo Wang saw clusters of black insects appear on White Zetsu's body. Aburame Torune, who had somehow caught up with them, had concealed his presence and used a surprise attack to kill another opponent.

But just then, a warning flashed through Guo Wang's mind.

Without a sound, three White Zetsu appeared out of thin air beneath his feet. Their hands turned into Wooden Spears and stabbed toward Guo Wang, who had nowhere to escape.

"As Danzo, what would I do here? Use Chakra, form Hand Seals, cast Ninjutsu, use the Substitution Technique, or Wind Release?"

Even now, Guo Wang hadn't forgotten that he was Danzo. He wanted to use the methods most familiar to Root to deal with the ambush.

He reached out with both hands and was about to form Hand Seals, but his body suddenly stiffened. The Ninjutsu that should have flowed smoothly stalled at the very first step.

"Damn it, my spirit can't connect with my body. I can't refine Chakra?!"

Just as Aburame Torune thought Danzo had used the Substitution Technique and frozen in place, the bandages covering Danzo's right eye suddenly came loose. His Three Tomoe Sharingan spun, forming a mysterious pattern like a shattered mirror, divided into six equal sides—a Rhombus Mirror.

"Forget it. I'll use this instead!"