Snatching Kotoamatsukami

As the spiritual incantation was chanted, the long sword in Uchiha Arashi's hand shattered into pieces, and a thin mist immediately dispersed.

Danzo's side faced a formidable enemy, terrified that Uchiha Arashi would launch a surprise attack. No one knew what unique abilities he possessed; although Root had the numerical advantage, they still had to guard Danzo's safety.

However, they waited and waited, but until the mist completely dissipated, the imagined attack never came.

Uchiha Arashi spread his hands with an amused expression.

"What are you all waiting for?"

"Attack!"

It was unclear who shouted, but the Root ninja finally moved, flashing like lightning before Uchiha Arashi and thrusting their blades toward his body.

"Uchiha Arashi" naturally would not sit still and wait for death, immediately engaging the Root ninja in a chaotic brawl.

Kyōka Suigetsu is truly a useful ability.

Ten meters away, Uchiha Arashi watched the Root ninja fight wits and courage against thin air, knowing that he had been entirely correct to bring out Kyōka Suigetsu ahead of time.

Kyōka Suigetsu possessed the power of complete hypnosis, capable of easily controlling a person's perception of the outside world; appearance, shape, form, mass, sensation, and even scent could all be manipulated.

Just like now, Uchiha Arashi had performed the Shikai in front of everyone, and then he could simply fabricate a false version of himself out of thin air.

In the eyes of Danzo and the other Root ninja, "Uchiha Arashi" was real, even possessing chakra fluctuations, yet in reality, there was only a mass of air there, and the true Uchiha Arashi had long since slipped to the side.

As for where this sword came from, that brought up Uchiha Arashi's unique ability.

This ability had only officially awakened last year, stemming from a novel setting he had created before he transmigrated.

That's right, Arashi before his transmigration was just a guy who stayed home writing novels. He had been conceptualizing a new book and designing a cheat for his protagonist when, somehow, he transmigrated here, bringing the cheat along with him.

The only power of this cheat was to collect the power of "cognition" and then replicate it.

Simply put, he had written a novel about Bleach and circulated it among the children of his clan. As the children read more and learned about "Soul Reapers," "Zanpakuto," "Aizen," and "Kyōka Suigetsu," Uchiha Arashi was able to collect the power of "cognition" from them and replicate Kyōka Suigetsu.

Of course, a perfect replication was not such a simple matter. Because the time since his cheat awakened was short and the power collected was too little, he could only replicate a castrated version of Kyōka Suigetsu, meaning it could only be used twice before it would be completely destroyed.

Tonight was the second time using it; in other words, Kyōka Suigetsu was gone.

Fortunately, it was not a big problem, because his layout was already complete.

Ignoring the "battlefield" not far away, Uchiha Arashi took a small detour and stepped, one by one, in front of Danzo.

Danzo was completely unaware of this, still staring intently at the enemy in the distance.

Uchiha Arashi carefully looked at his right eye; beneath the bandages lay the Kotoamatsukami he had been plotting for so long.

"Thank you for personally delivering the eye into my hands. Don't worry, the revenge has only just begun; we will have plenty of time to play slowly in the future."

Uchiha Arashi whispered into Danzo's ear, though unfortunately, because Danzo was hypnotized, he could not hear the voice at all.

In the distance, "Uchiha Arashi" suddenly broke through the encirclement of a group of ninja and charged toward Danzo.

The speed was unprecedented.

Danzo was greatly alarmed. Through observation, he had already determined that the opponent possessed an ability to turn himself intangible; as long as he wished, no attack could harm him.

In other words, physical attacks and ninjutsu were ineffective, so only one method remained to control the opponent.

Danzo gritted his teeth and violently tore off his bandages, revealing his red right eye.

I still have Hashirama's cells. As long as the research is completed, Kotoamatsukami can be used again soon. Your intangibility ability will be mine!

Danzo rejoiced inwardly.

However, just as he prepared to use Kotoamatsukami, the opponent accelerated again, arriving before him at a speed he could not comprehend, and reached out to gently brush across his right eye.

"Ah--"

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

He jumped back rapidly like a startled rabbit, retreating dozens of meters in one breath, his right hand covering his cheek as blood flowed continuously through his fingers.

Looking at the opposite side, a eyeball had appeared in the hand of "Uchiha Arashi."

"You... how did you..."

"Shisui's eye is very important; it should not be controlled by you. I will take this eye."

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

"Who exactly are you?"

Danzo gritted his teeth and asked coldly.

"You still don't know my identity? The Darkness of Konoha is nothing more than this; you can't even recognize your own collaborator."

As "Uchiha Arashi" spoke, his body suddenly twisted, and he quickly changed into another appearance—a Spiral Mask appeared on his face.

"It's you?!"

Danzo widened his left eye.

He certainly did not recognize Obito, nor did he recognize the Spiral Mask, but he knew that besides himself and Itachi, there was a third party involved tonight.

He just hadn't expected that the other party would dare to attack him, and that the target would happen to be Shisui's eye.

"That's right, it's me, Danzo-sama. The collaboration tonight was very pleasant. If there is a chance next time, remember to contact me. You can ask Itachi for the contact method; he knows."

The "Masked Man" chuckled, his body twisting bit by bit until he finally burrowed into a black hole and vanished.

Throughout this process, neither Danzo nor the other Root ninja made a single move to stop him.

It was not that they did not want to, but rather that they were fundamentally incapable of doing so; that state of intangibility had left a profound impression on everyone, and each of them knew they could not stop their opponent tonight.

"My lord."

The others returned to Danzo's side at this moment, looking at him with tense expressions.

"Pursue him! He must not be allowed to leave Konoha."

Danzo gasped for air, gritting his teeth as he issued the order.

Soon, the Root ninja sprang into action, beginning to scour the world for the Masked Man's trail.

Meanwhile, the true "culprit," Uchiha Arashi, had already returned to the Shadow Space, where he met the gazes filled with inquiry and concern and broke into a happy smile.

"The plan was a success."

He pulled out a test tube and showed everyone the eyeball inside.

Of course, he had never told the others about his plan, but that did not matter, as everyone here could recognize that this eyeball was a Mangekyo.

"Little brother Arashi, I want you to tell me the truth—what exactly happened tonight!"

Izumi only glanced at the test tube before shifting her gaze away, her eyes fixed intently on Uchiha Arashi as she awaited his answer.