Stealing Kotoamatsukami

As he chanted the words, the long sword in Uchiha Arashi's hand snapped, and a thin mist spread out.

Danzo's side went on high alert, afraid Uchiha Arashi would launch a surprise attack. No one knew what unique ability he possessed. Although Root had more people, they still had to protect Danzo.

They waited and waited. By the time the mist had completely dispersed, the attack they'd expected still hadn't come.

Uchiha Arashi spread his hands with an amused look.

"What are you waiting for?"

"Attack!"

Someone shouted, and at last the Root shinobi moved. They shot toward Uchiha Arashi like lightning, raising their swords to stab him.

"Uchiha Arashi" naturally didn't just stand there and take it. He immediately began fighting the Root shinobi.

"Illusion is such a useful ability."

Watching the Root shinobi fight tooth and nail against thin air from more than ten meters away, Uchiha Arashi knew that bringing Illusion into existence ahead of time had been absolutely the right move.

Illusion had the power of Complete Hypnosis. It could easily control a person's perception of the outside world, including appearance, form, mass, touch, and even smell.

Just like now, Uchiha Arashi had performed Shikai in front of everyone, then conjured a fake version of himself out of thin air.

In the eyes of Danzo and the other Root shinobi, "Uchiha Arashi" was real. He even had a chakra signature. In truth, though, there was nothing there but air. The real Uchiha Arashi had long since moved elsewhere.

As for where the sword had come from, that had to do with Uchiha Arashi's unique ability.

It had officially awakened only last year, and its origin lay in a setting for a novel he'd come up with before being transported to this world.

That's right. Before he'd crossed over, Arashi had been a shut-in who wrote novels. At the time, he'd been planning a new book and designing a cheat ability for his protagonist. Somehow, he'd ended up crossing over, bringing that cheat ability with him.

The cheat ability had just one function: it collected the power of "recognition" and then replicated it.

Put simply, he'd written a novel about Bleach and let the children in his clan read it. After reading enough, they learned about "Bleach," "Zanpakuto," "Aizen," and "Illusion." Uchiha Arashi could then collect the power of "recognition" from them and replicate Illusion.

Of course, a perfect replication wasn't so simple. He'd only awakened his cheat ability recently, and the power he'd collected was too limited. So he could only replicate a cut-down version of Illusion, one he could use twice before it was permanently ruined.

Tonight was its second use. In other words, Illusion was gone.

Fortunately, that wasn't a problem. His plan was already complete.

Ignoring the "battle" in the distance, Uchiha Arashi took a small detour and made his way step by step to Danzo.

Danzo didn't notice him at all, still staring intently at the enemy in the distance.

Uchiha Arashi took a close look at Danzo's right eye. Beneath the bandages was the Kotoamatsukami he'd been coveting for so long.

"Thank you for personally placing your eye in my hands. Don't worry. My revenge is only just beginning. We'll have plenty of time to play this game."

Uchiha Arashi whispered in Danzo's ear. Unfortunately, Danzo was under hypnosis and couldn't hear him.

In the distance, "Uchiha Arashi" suddenly broke through the group of shinobi surrounding him and charged toward Danzo.

He moved faster than anyone had ever seen.

Danzo was shocked. From his observations, he'd already confirmed that his opponent had some ability to make himself intangible. As long as he wanted, no attack could hurt him.

In other words, physical attacks and ninjutsu were both useless. That left only one way to restrain him.

Danzo gritted his teeth and abruptly pulled off the bandages, revealing his red right eye.

I still have Hashirama's cells. Once my research is complete, I'll be able to use Kotoamatsukami again soon. That intangibility of yours will be mine!

Danzo was secretly delighted.

But just as he was about to use Kotoamatsukami, his opponent accelerated again, moving toward him at a speed he couldn't comprehend. The man reached out and lightly brushed Danzo's right eye.

"Ah—!"

The next second, Danzo's scream rang through the night sky.

Like a startled rabbit, he leaped backward, retreating dozens of meters in one breath. His right hand covered his face as blood streamed between his fingers.

Looking across at his opponent, he saw an eyeball in "Uchiha Arashi's" hand.

"You... How did you...?"

"Shisui's eye is important. You shouldn't be the one controlling it. I'll be taking it."

"Uchiha Arashi" placed the eyeball in a test tube filled with nutrient solution and spoke with a smile.

"Who are you?"

Danzo clenched his teeth and asked coldly.

"You still don't know who I am? The Darkness of Konoha is nothing special, if you can't even recognize your own partner."

As "Uchiha Arashi" spoke, his body suddenly warped. Soon, he had taken on a different appearance—a Spiral Mask now covered his face.

"It's you?!"

Danzo's left eye widened.

Of course, he didn't recognize Obito or the spiral mask. But he knew that, aside from himself and Itachi, there was a third faction involved that night.

He simply hadn't expected them to dare attack him—and to target Shisui's eye, no less.

"That's right, it's me, Lord Danzo. It's been a pleasure working with you tonight. If we get the chance again, be sure to contact me. You can ask Itachi for my contact information. He knows."

The Masked Man smiled. His body warped little by little until he finally slipped into a black hole and disappeared.

Throughout the whole process, neither Danzo nor any of the other Root shinobi made a move to stop him.

It wasn't that they didn't want to. They simply couldn't. That intangible state had left a deep impression on them all, and everyone knew they wouldn't be able to stop him tonight.

"My lord."

The others had now returned to Danzo's side, looking at him with anxious expressions.

"After him! You must not let him leave Konoha."

Danzo panted heavily and gave the order through gritted teeth.

Before long, the Root shinobi sprang into action, searching everywhere for the Masked Man.

Meanwhile, the real "culprit," Uchiha Arashi, had already returned to Shadow Space. Facing a sea of questioning, concerned gazes, he broke into a cheerful smile.

"The plan worked."

He took out the test tube and showed everyone the eyeball inside.

Of course, he'd never told anyone else about his plan. But that didn't matter; everyone there could recognize the Mangekyo in the tube.

"Arashi, I want you to tell me the truth. What exactly happened tonight?"

Izumi glanced at the test tube, then looked away. She stared straight at Uchiha Arashi, waiting for his answer.