The Osmanthus Forest faded from Kou's sight, its colors draining away until everything turned scarlet beneath his Mangekyō Sharingan.
"This power... There's no doubt about it! It can only be the ocular power of the Mangekyō Sharingan!!"
Staring at the scarlet world before him, Kou murmured in shock.
His pupils contracted slightly. The eerie Mangekyō pattern slowly spun in his eyes, reflecting the illusory forest built from ocular power.
The trees, branches, leaves, and drifting petals... In his eyes, they were no longer plants, but strands of scarlet chakra, condensed into visible form.
Kou took a deep breath, as if trying to press down the emotions surging within him, one by one.
He forced himself to calm down and clear his thoughts. Glancing at Mei Terumi behind him from the corner of his eye, he murmured to himself:
"Now's no time to panic."
Kou calmly studied the Osmanthus Forest before him, built from scarlet chakra, while his mind raced.
"Physical objects constructed from ocular power... Is this an ability of the Mangekyō Sharingan?"
"Did it turn genjutsu into reality...?
No, physical objects created by genjutsu couldn't possibly remain for so many years after the caster's death."
He carefully examined the "forest," his brow furrowing slightly as the Mangekyō pattern in his eyes spun faster.
Kou's gaze pierced the surface of the scarlet chakra and settled on the structure beneath it.
There, he saw fine patterns that didn't look like anything a tree should have.
"'Lines' that transmit chakra... I see. The caster used ocular power to bring the memories and imaginings in their mind into reality?"
Kou silently confirmed his conclusion, but his doubts remained.
After all, the thing that surprised him most wasn't the Osmanthus Forest itself.
"Why is this Osmanthus Forest, made from the ocular power of the