Ghost Fire on Hokage Rock

Night had just fallen. Viewed from above, Konoha already seemed peaceful and tranquil. Kato Osamu stood on the hill of Hokage Rock, letting the cool wind slowly brush against his cheeks.

He silently removed his hood, folded his cloak neatly, and set it aside. Sitting at the edge of the cliff, Kato Osamu watched the lights of countless homes, a trace of complexity flashing through his eyes.

A deep blue glow gradually welled up in his eyes, like two clusters of ghostly blue flames in the darkness.

The barrier hidden within the space was like a vast net, shrouding all unrest and silence. Mixed with joy and blessings, it gradually melded into a complete dead stillness, neither sorrowful nor joyful.

Every blade of grass and every tree seemed less real than they had in daylight. They carried vague, illusory hues, each seeming to conceal its own secret within the finest details.

Silver moonlight spilled over him. After sitting quietly for a long while, Kato Osamu sighed softly and pushed off with his feet, leaping from the cliff. His black cloak, which he had donned again in an instant, fluttered loudly in the air.

Kato Osamu's hair danced in the wind, revealing a face that still carried a hint of youthful immaturity. Perhaps because it had long been hidden beneath his hood, the skin exposed beneath the moonlight appeared especially pale.

His figure drifted like a phantom as he landed in a dark alley.

The entire alley was dim. Only faint light from afar revealed blurred silhouettes. Kato Osamu's gaze settled on a somewhat unfamiliar building. It was not far away, yet he found himself unable to move his feet.

Through the window, he could vaguely see a red-haired woman and a blond man bustling about. Kushina Uzumaki was wildly shouting something at Minato Namikaze, while Minato merely scratched his hair and smiled at her.

Obito Uchiha, bruised and battered, had paid the price for his prank. Sitting at the dining table, he propped up his head and pouted as he stared at deadpan Kakashi Hatake.

Rin Nohara, dressed casually and wearing rabbit-ear accessories, radiated the youthful energy of a young girl. She simply sat smiling on the sofa, watching Obito and Kakashi from afar.

For some reason, her brows were faintly furrowed. From time to time, she turned to look outside the door, as if waiting for someone to arrive.

"Minato! Hurry, hurry! My tempura is about to burn!"

"Ah! I forgot to make the sushi!"

Kushina rushed back and forth between the kitchen and living room, looking a little flustered.

"Hey, why isn't Osamu here yet? Did I scare him today?"

Looking at the mess in the kitchen, Kushina could not help smacking her forehead. She sat down in the living room in irritation, leaving Minato alone in the kitchen, busy in an apron.

Kneading Rin's rabbit ears, Kushina vented her frustration. She had already decided she would never cook for herself again.

"Mm... that is indeed possible..."

Obito, whose tongue seemed too thick for him to speak clearly, nodded thoughtfully. Then pain suddenly shot through his head, and another large bump swelled up.

"Obito... what did you say?"

Kushina stood behind Obito with her fist raised. Her scarlet hair seemed to rise without wind, and the sound of her bared teeth made Obito hurriedly clutch his head and bury his face in the table, rattling off words he had long memorized.

"Teacher's wife, teacher's wife, unmatched in grace and beauty. The most dependable in Konoha, Obito will never forget..."

After finishing his lines, Obito secretly glanced at Kushina behind him. Seeing her cover her mouth and snicker, he immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

"Hahaha..."

Rin looked at Obito as if she wanted to say something, but she laughed herself into a mess and could not get the words out. The trace of worry between her brows also seemed to gradually dissolve because of Obito's antics.

"Idiot..."

Kakashi's cold voice came over. Though his back still faintly ached, the corners of his mouth beneath his mask could not help lifting slightly. Obito glanced at Kakashi, gave a disdainful snort, and provocatively looked at him again.

Kushina, one hand gently resting on Rin's shoulder, calmed her laughter. Amid the merriment, she seemed to inexplicably sense a familiar fluctuation of Chakra and looked out the window in confusion.

The stars filling the sky had vanished without a trace. Only a crescent moon hung overhead, half hidden behind dark clouds, hazy and dim.

Light and shadow intertwined among the rows of buildings. A few faint fireflies drifted through the air, then a light breeze swept past and they vanished again. The empty streets and alleys remained silent beneath the dim moonlight.

"Osamu... isn't coming... is he..."

For no reason, Kushina seemed to suddenly understand something. Looking out at the scene beyond the window, she murmured under her breath...

There had been no surprise. While on Hokage Rock, Kato Osamu had already sensed Root ninjas carrying a somewhat chilling Chakra presence slowly approaching his location.

Following behind the Root ninja, Kato Osamu felt the urge for the first time to kill him outright and flee this place.

But his tightly clenched fist seemed frostbitten by the cold aura of a dark forest, and slowly loosened again. Kato Osamu pursed his lips, the root of his tongue seeming to itch.

"Xu... Lord Danzo is waiting for you..."

Kato Osamu had never seen the Root ninja before him, but the familiar yet unfamiliar name from his mouth caused the killing intent surging within him to completely dissipate. What remained hidden in his pounding heart was hot blood utterly frozen by severe cold.

"I understand..."

The Root ninja stared at Kato Osamu through the cold gaze of his mask. When they reached a patch of woodland, he stopped, stepped aside, and watched him with a measure of vigilance.

Kato Osamu swiftly formed hand seals. A special Root hand sign caused a hidden black hole to emerge in an empty corner of the woods. As Kato Osamu slowly stepped inside, the Root ninja watching him seemed to breathe a sigh of relief and turned to leave.

"You're afraid!"

"Afraid of me..."

Within the dark forest, light and shadow flickered. Kato Osamu's ghostly voice seemed to come from every direction, making the Root ninja's eyes widen in disbelief.

"You used genjutsu on me! Xu! Are you planning to betray the organization?!"

The Root ninja rapidly formed hand seals, trying to manipulate his Chakra and disrupt his senses to break the illusion. Yet he suddenly discovered that the method he had always used to dispel genjutsu seemed completely useless.

"I'm asking you! What are you afraid of?!"

Kato Osamu's voice exploded beside his ears like a sonic boom. A massive blade of light descended from above, instantly slicing the Root ninja trapped in Kato Osamu's illusion in half from head to toe.

The pain that reached into his soul made the Root ninja shriek like a stray beast.

His body had been split in two, yet there was not a single drop of blood. On the mirror-smooth cross-sections, the Root ninja saw fresh red flesh, while his heart continued to beat slowly.

Kato Osamu thrust one hand through the Root ninja's chest. The Root ninja could even feel the indescribable sensation of his heart being touched. At some point, his forehead had become covered in dense cold sweat, and his trembling body had completely lost the ability to move.

"How... how can there be such genjutsu..."

The two halves of his body seemed to possess separate fields of vision. The strange visual distortion left him momentarily dazed.

"I'm asking you! What are you afraid of?!"

Kato Osamu clenched his hand. The Root ninja felt as if his heart, like a ripe red tomato, had been struck by an iron hammer carrying thousands upon thousands of tons of force. It instantly burst into a red pulp, and thick sludge mixed with blood and chunks of flesh gushed from the gaping hole in his chest.

"You... just kill... me..."

As though the pain had nearly numbed him, the Root ninja's eyes were filled with gloom and venom as he stared fixedly at Kato Osamu.

"I hate people who put on airs..."

The Soul-Extinguishing Blade gathered in Kato Osamu's hand. As though it had scented prey, greed and hunger continuously radiated from it. Instinctive terror rose uncontrollably within the Root ninja, as if he had seen a natural predator—an irresistible illusion.

"No!"

The Soul-Extinguishing Blade slowly neared his body. Its sharp blade light made the Root ninja's body twitch involuntarily.

With a single slash, it chewed away the severed fragment as though a rodent gnawing on food.

As his body gradually disappeared bit by bit, the torment of death seemed to stretch on endlessly. The Root ninja's mental defenses appeared to have completely shattered. His eyes had rolled white, and he was about to lose consciousness within his mental world.

"Really tough to chew through..."

Kato Osamu waved his hand lightly, and the Root ninja's body suddenly returned to normal. Before he could feel the joy of having his body back, the Soul-Extinguishing Blade moved without wind and began the cycle once more.

"You'll die! You will definitely die! The leader won't spare you!"

Miserable screams echoed through the empty illusion. The endlessly repeated pain seemed to torment the Root ninja's soul without change since time immemorial.

"I'll talk! I'll talk... please... I'll tell you everything I know..."

The blade slowly stopped. The Root ninja let out a breath, looking at Kato Osamu as he floated out of the illusion. There was no venom left in his eyes, only endless fear.

"So... Root ninjas can submit too..."

Kato Osamu slowly walked before him, but his gaze never fell on the miserable Root ninja. Looking around, he murmured as though merely speaking to himself.

Yet his ghostly words made the Root ninja crawling on the ground lower his head. Betraying the organization would mean death, but it certainly would not be more painful than this. No matter how strong one's will, it could not withstand endless pain.

At the very least, Root, which suppressed pain and emotion, did not seem to have anyone like this...

"You gave me the slightest bit of happiness..."

"Since that's the case, good luck..."

The Soul-Extinguishing Blade expanded countless times in an instant. With one light slash, it completely swept the Root ninja's soul inside, crushing and refining it into pure soul energy.

"In your next life..."