Despair

To Naoki, killing them was no different than crushing six ants.

But he did not move.

"Anu." Aikawa Yumi's voice turned cold, the smile on her face vanishing completely. "Did you not hear what I said?"

Naoki remained silent for a moment before finally stepping out from the shadows.

His footsteps were light, so light they were almost inaudible, and his ink-black eyes seemed capable of swallowing all light...

Hasegawa Kenichi's laughter came to an abrupt halt.

He had seen his fair share of ruthless characters, but the aura radiating from the young man before him made him instinctively take a step back.

"Who... who are you?" His voice began to tremble.

Naoki did not answer.

He walked up to Hasegawa Kenichi and stopped.

The two were so close that Hasegawa Kenichi could see his own reflection in those eyes.

"Get lost."

Naoki spat out only a single word.

The voice was not loud, yet it struck everyone's heart like a heavy hammer.

Hasegawa Kenichi's Adam's apple bobbed as he tried to say something tough, only to find his lips trembling. The men behind him didn't even dare to breathe, and some had already begun inching toward the door.

As the killing intent radiating from Naoki grew increasingly dense, Hasegawa Kenichi finally broke, turning and fleeing.

The group scrambled and crawled out of the tavern, disappearing into the end of the alleyway.

The tavern fell silent once more.

Aikawa Yumi walked behind Naoki, her face as cold as frost.

"Anu is truly disobedient. It seems I must make you suffer a little."

Naoki frowned and spun around, only to see the gesture made by the sinister Buddha statue from his dreams, along with Aikawa Yumi's lips moving in rhythm.

The blood-red vision descended upon him once more, and he collapsed to the ground with a thud.

Perhaps due to the merging of two souls, Naoki's soul power was far stronger than an ordinary person's, allowing him to better perceive the changes within himself.

When he woke from the dream for the third time, he felt that he was not quite the same as before...

"Soul erosion..." he muttered to himself.

He rose and walked to the window, pushing it open.

Kannazuki Town in the night was as quiet as a sleeping child. The sea breeze brushed against his face, carrying a salty, damp scent, and the sound of the waves drifted from afar, gentle and lingering.

Naoki raised his hand, looking at his palm.

Under the moonlight, the hand was fair and slender, looking no different than usual, but he knew that something had quietly changed.

He closed his eyes, attempting to sense the source of that strange feeling.

At first, he felt nothing, but as he calmed his mind and focused his attention deep within his consciousness, he saw...

A patch of blood-red mist.

The mist permeated the edges of his consciousness, writhing slowly like a living creature, eroding the clarity that belonged to him.

"Is this... the source of that dream?"

Naoki opened his eyes, his Two-Tomoe Sharingan glowing with an eerie red light under the moonlight.

He tried to dispel the layer of red mist, only to find that when his chakra touched it, it was like a clay ox entering the sea—there was no reaction at all.

"It's useless."

"You're awake."

Aikawa Yumi's voice came from behind him.

Naoki did not turn around, continuing to gaze out the window.

"What did you do to me?"

Aikawa Yumi walked to his side, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with him. The moonlight fell upon her face, adding a touch of brilliance to her already stunning features.

"Just a small punishment, that's all."

Naoki shook his head.

"If the punishment is just taking a nap, then I have nothing to fear."

"Do you remember what I said?" Aikawa Yumi pressed her body against Naoki, looking up at him. "The dream will devour your soul, and eventually, your dream will play out in reality."

"It won't!" Naoki never believed he would kill Sakurai Hideko with his own hands.

"You will. Those devoured by the dream eventually lose their humanity and memories... becoming nothing more than walking corpses..."

The woman snuggled against him, appearing as a soft, fragrant temptation, yet Naoki felt despair to the extreme.

If he had been half-skeptical before, then upon seeing that red mist in his mind, all his doubts had completely vanished.

Naoki stood before the window, the moonlight carving a cold, sharp silhouette against his profile.

Aikawa Yumi nestled against his side, her red skirt fluttering in the night breeze like a flickering flame.

She looked up at Naoki, her languid eyes reflecting the moonlight and his silence.

"Are you afraid?" she whispered, her fingers tracing circles on the skin of his chest. "My Anu, can you actually feel fear?"

Naoki did not answer.

He was indeed afraid, but not of death, nor of being controlled; he was afraid that the dream would truly become reality, afraid that he would kill Sakurai Hideko with his own hands.

That gentle face, those eyes as clear as spring water, the girl who had blushed when he took her arm on that rainy night... if he were truly to end her life one day, what meaning would his own existence hold?

Despair spread through his heart.

He closed his eyes, the image of Sakurai Hideko flashing through his mind. When he opened them again, a pair of Three-Tomoe Sharingan had manifested.

But at this point, what use were the Three-Tomoe Sharingan?

Aikawa Yumi's gaze fell upon the three tomoe in Naoki's eyes; her pupils contracted slightly, but she immediately returned to her playful smile.

"Oh? You awakened the Three-Tomoe under such circumstances?" She reached out to stroke his cheek. "My Anu really is a genius."

Standing by the window, Naoki's black hair was slightly tousled by the sea breeze, a few stray locks falling over his brow and eyes, making his handsome face appear even paler.

Aikawa Yumi caressed Naoki's face.

His brow bone was well-defined, and his expression carried a sense of distance, as if he were separated from everything around him by a thin veil—cold and detached.

She loved this feeling of a flower on a high peak.

"Have you touched enough?" Naoki spoke suddenly.

Aikawa Yumi giggled. "No, of course not."

As she spoke, she stepped in front of Naoki, wrapped her arms around his waist, and stood on tiptoe...

Unexpectedly, Naoki pushed her away, muttering a low, "Bitch."

Aikawa Yumi bit her lip, suppressing the strange surge of emotion in her heart, and forced a smile.

"The more you resist, Anu, the more excited I get. You must keep that up."

With that, Aikawa Yumi flicked her red skirt and walked out of the room.

Naoki sat cross-legged on the bed, his back against the wall.

Outside the window, the moonlight was like water, spilling into the simple room.

He did not sleep, nor did he dare to.

Ever since that dream began to erode his soul, every time he fell asleep felt like a gamble—a gamble that he would remember who he was when he woke up, and that he could still distinguish between dream and reality.

Closing his eyes, he could feel the blood-red mist deep within his consciousness thickening, slowly writhing like a living creature, encroaching upon his clarity.

"It's getting closer..." he whispered. "If I can't find a way, maybe it really will..."

"Will it really?" he asked himself.

He found it impossible to imagine the scene of the dream becoming reality.

Was Aikawa Yumi lying to him?

Naoki shook his head slowly, beginning to analyze.

The red mist in his mind could not be fake, and the changes he had undergone these past few days could not be fake either...

If the red mist took over his mind, his changes would only grow more profound, until eventually, he might not even recognize himself. At that point, the reality of the dream might truly come to pass.

Perhaps when he finally returned to Konoha and saw the real Hideko, the Hideko in his eyes would have already overlapped with the eerie figure from his dreams. At that moment, it was entirely possible that he might lash out at her, lost in hallucinations or a loss of control.

"The person I want to protect most—will I be the one to destroy her?"

Naoki clenched his fists, searching for a solution.

Perhaps a ninja from the Yamanaka Clan, skilled in Yin Release, could help him with this, but... Naoki was a transmigrator. What if they saw something they weren't supposed to see?

This can only be a last resort... he thought.

Should he ask the Ninja Cat for help?

Naoki considered it, then shook his head.

The Ninja Cat might be good at gathering intelligence, but they would be powerless to solve a problem like this.

Then who else?

Naoki thought of Uchiha Fugaku and Shisui.

In his view, both of them should have already awakened the Mangekyou Sharingan by this time. If he had their help...

He shook his head again.

Even if he didn't possess the Mangekyou Sharingan, he was familiar with it. Perhaps Shisui's "Kotoamatsukami" could help him, but to root out the problem, the key likely still lay with Aikawa Yumi.

The fruit she had planted in him required her to resolve it.

Naoki gradually realized that leaving was probably not a good choice...

In the days that followed, Naoki began living in the tavern.

Aikawa Yumi did not seem in any hurry to have him do anything, merely asking him to help with chores like cleaning the tavern, organizing shelves, and wiping down glasses.

The tavern reopened.

Business was slow for the first few days, and the occasional regular who stopped in for a drink would curiously ask about the taciturn young man behind the bar.

"Yumi, who is this kid? A new hire?"

"My pet." Aikawa Yumi would answer with a smile every time, then watch the regulars' surprised expressions with even greater delight.

Naoki said nothing to this, simply continuing his work in silence.

He gradually figured out Aikawa Yumi's daily routine.

The woman would sleep until the sun was high in the sky, sit in the tavern for a while in the afternoon, and often disappear at night, sometimes returning late or not at all.

Where she went and what she did, Naoki never asked.

He was simply waiting.

Waiting for his wounds to heal completely, waiting for his chakra to fully recover, and waiting to find a way to break the soul erosion...

Two months passed in the blink of an eye.

Night always fell quickly in Kannazuki Town.

After the sun sank into the sea, the salty, humid sea breeze carried a chill into the tavern's open doors.

Naoki stood behind the bar, wiping a glass that was already gleaming, his gaze fixed on the darkening street outside.

Ever since Hasegawa Kenichi had scrambled out of those doors, no one in Kannazuki Town dared to cause trouble at the tavern. Even the regulars, usually tipsy, would lower their voices upon entering, casting occasional glances at the silent young man behind the bar before hurriedly finishing their drinks and leaving.

"Anu, what are you daydreaming about?"

Aikawa Yumi's voice came from behind him.

She had come downstairs at some point, dressed in a deep purple outfit with her belt tied loosely, revealing a patch of fair skin at her neckline.

Naoki did not turn around, continuing to wipe the glass.

Aikawa Yumi walked closer and suddenly kissed him on the cheek.

The woman had become increasingly bold lately. Naoki moved to the side, but she followed him.

Just then, the surroundings suddenly went quiet, and the light in the room dimmed.

Naoki looked up to see Hasegawa Kenichi walking in.

"Hahaha." Hasegawa Kenichi walked in.

"This is just perfect."

He pulled a stack of bills from his pocket.

"Here, take this money, and the two of you put on a show for me right here..."

As he spoke, he clapped his hands rapidly, and his henchmen behind him joined in the commotion, some whistling and others pounding on the tables.

"Put on a show!" a man who looked like a skinny monkey shrieked, "Let us see something worth watching!"

The smile on Aikawa Yumi's face stiffened for a moment before she returned to her lazy demeanor. She let go of Naoki, turned around, and began to adjust her collar in a leisurely manner.

"Hasegawa Kenichi, you ran off with your tail between your legs last time, so why are you back?" Her voice still carried a smile, but there was no warmth in her eyes. "Are you tired of living?"

Hasegawa Kenichi's laughter stopped abruptly.

He instinctively took a step back, but then remembered something, puffed out his chest, and shouted with feigned toughness: "Miss Yumi, stop trying to scare me! I was careless last time, but this time... this time I brought tools!"

As he spoke, he drew a short blade from his waist, the steel glinting coldly in the dim light.

His henchmen behind him also drew weapons—short blades and clubs—all looking eager to jump into the fray.

Naoki remained behind the bar, watching the scene with a blank expression.

His gaze swept over the men and finally landed on the short blade in Hasegawa Kenichi's hand.

"Well?" Hasegawa Kenichi saw Naoki looking at his weapon and, assuming he was afraid, grew bolder. "Kid, if you're smart, you'll do as you're told and get lost. Don't get in my way."

Naoki lowered his eyes, his cloth continuing to wipe the already gleaming glass.

Aikawa Yumi glanced back at him, a playful smile curling her lips: "Anu, they've already said as much, why are you still just standing there?"

Naoki did not respond.

He set down the glass and walked out from behind the bar.

Hasegawa Kenichi's laughter caught in his throat once more as he recalled the suffocating aura that this young man radiated.

"What... what are you doing?" His voice trembled, and he unconsciously thrust the short blade forward. "Don't come any closer! I'm telling you, I have a knife!"

Naoki stopped.

Just then, Hasegawa Kenichi suddenly lunged, stabbing at Naoki with the blade, and his henchmen swarmed forward behind him.

Hasegawa Kenichi's men rushed in, the flash of blades and the swing of clubs flickering in the dim tavern.

Attacks that would have been fatal to an ordinary person appeared as slow as a still image in Naoki's eyes.

He sidestepped the thrusting blade, his right hand instinctively gripping the man's wrist, and gave it a light twist.