Disappointment

Under Jigumi's control, the three samurai corpse puppets charged fearlessly at Uchiha Gen with swords in hand, bolstered by the onmyoji's Curse Power.

Their blades, wreathed in a dense aura of the dead, slashed at Uchiha Gen's Susanoo armor.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Three heavy slashes landed on the pitch-black armor, scattering only a few sparks. Against a defense reinforced with Armament Haki, attacks of this strength could not leave even a scratch.

Uchiha Gen stood utterly motionless, his scarlet Sharingan indifferent beneath the crow tengu mask.

"If these pathetic tricks are all you've got, I'm going to be disappointed."

Before his words had faded, lightning exploded around Uchiha Gen!

Bzzzt-

Countless azure arcs spread out in an instant, covering the entire mountain stronghold.

In a flash, the lightning engulfed all three corpse puppets.

Within moments, all three corpse puppets were utterly destroyed, reduced to charcoal.

Watching Uchiha Gen spread his lightning field, Jigumi suddenly sneered and made a pinching gesture. Several talismans flew out and began circling him, forming a defensive barrier.

"So this is the chakra of ninja. What a miraculous power. Unfortunately, we who are cursed are born unable to master it. However..."

After blocking the encroaching lightning, Jigumi looked at Uchiha Gen with a mocking expression. Beneath that mockery, however, lay a trace of barely perceptible envy.

In this Shinobi World, chakra was not something everyone could master.

As his words fell, Jigumi raised a hand to cover his right eye. In an instant, pitch-black Curse Power surged explosively.

"Demonic Marionette Calamity Eye!"

Hum!

An eerie Curse Power instantly spread across a small area along Jigumi's line of sight. Within that area, the rules governing energy seemed to have changed completely.

The lightning field began to collapse and dissipate, and countless wisps of strange black vapor began to spread.

"Hahahahaha! It really works!! Although we're born unable to master a power like chakra and can only pursue Curse Power...

"From what I understand, you ninja have to link spell formulas to unleash ninjutsu, just as we do. And my Demonic Marionette Calamity Eye can naturally obstruct onmyoji from casting curses. Now, this eye has proven that it works just as well on you ninja!"

The instant he unleashed his Dōjutsu, Jigumi saw the surrounding lightning field dissipate and could not help bursting into unrestrained laughter.

As the black vapor spread around him, the fear-derived Curse Power Jigumi had absorbed also began to seethe and churn.

For a time, the atmosphere throughout the mountain stronghold grew increasingly sinister and violent.

"Heh. How conceited."

Watching Jigumi laugh out loud, Uchiha Gen curled his lip. His lightning field had indeed been affected by a very unusual Eye Power.

But... wasn't playing with Eye Power in front of an Uchiha a little too ridiculous?

His Three-Tomoe Sharingan gleamed with an eerie red light, and Eye Power erupted.

"Don't think you can interfere with my curse! Ghost Fang Heaven-Crushing!"

Sensing an Eye Power far beyond his own prying at the small domain of Curse Power formed by the Demonic Marionette Calamity Eye, Jigumi's gaze turned cold, and he immediately charged straight at Uchiha Gen.

In his palm, a massive, pitch-black, hideous spectral fang of Curse Power condensed in an instant.

The fang tore through the air, hurtling straight at Uchiha Gen's body with the terrifying force to rip apart everything before it.

"What is that?! Gen! Dodge! Damn it! Kurenai, I'll help that guy. You deal with the bandits closing in."

Asuma and Kurenai Yuhi had just landed when they saw Jigumi attacking Uchiha Gen, and their pupils abruptly contracted. At the sight, a trace of fear involuntarily rose in their hearts.

The instant that fear arose, wisps of black vapor began to coil around their backs.

"What? I thought an onmyoji like you would summon shikigami or something to fight. Turns out it's still the same old fighting style."

Watching the spectral fang charge straight at him, Uchiha Gen's eyes held a trace of disappointment. He had thought the onmyoji before him would fight using shikigami, as he understood them to. Now it seemed he had simply been imagining too much.

As he murmured, the fierce wind whipped his black hair wildly about. In an instant, deep, pitch-black patterns faintly emerged across his Susanoo armor.

Full-body Armament Haki!

Uchiha Gen neither dodged nor evaded. He raised his right hand, fully coated in Armament Haki, and curled all five fingers into a fist.

He punched straight ahead!

Boom!!!

The instant the force of his punch collided with the spectral fang, a shock wave swept through the entire mountain stronghold, scattering the swirling black mist in an instant!

Feeling the force coming from his opponent, Jigumi's pupils abruptly contracted, his face filled with disbelief.

The Demonic Marionette Calamity Eye could seal off a ninja's power to use techniques, but it could not restrain a person's physical strength. Weren't ninja supposed to be fragile in the legends??

Wait... why wasn't this guy's Chakra Armor affected by the Demonic Marionette Calamity Eye??!!!

Before Jigumi could recover, an intense pain surged from the depths of his soul.

The Yin Release Chakra inherent in the Sharingan was burning Jigumi's soul.

The instant that agony struck, Uchiha Gen had already used the Body Flicker Technique to close in right before him.

"You put a curse on me!! When?!"

Clutching his forehead, Jigumi endured the excruciating pain and could not help roaring in fury.

He did not understand why a ninja possessed a means such as curses. Could it be... that chakra really was as all-powerful as the rumors claimed?!

As Jigumi understood it, this kind of stabbing pain in the soul could only be a curse.

"There's no explaining it to trash like you who doesn't have a Sharingan. You... should die now."

He raised his hand, and the arm guard of his Susanoo armor instantly transformed into a sharp arm blade.

He slashed straight down!

Crack-

As the arm blade fell, blood sprayed. The warm droplets landing on Uchiha Gen's face caused him no discomfort at all.

In contrast to Uchiha Gen's composure, Jigumi's entire body stiffened after being struck by the arm blade. He seemed... to be dying. For a moment, the eyes of this onmyoji who had fled to a distant foreign land filled with absolute terror.

Yet the instant that terror arose, his own Curse Power instinctively devoured it.

This time, however, devouring fear was no longer a boon, but a backlash!

How could someone who devoured fear feel fear himself?

A man who had relied on fear to grow stronger all his life had never personally experienced such life-crushing despair. Overwhelming terror shattered the balance of his Curse Power, instantly ravaging his meridians and internal organs!

Black vapor churned, and Jigumi's body immediately began to mutate.

Curse Power was, after all, merely the most inferior form of emotional power.

Uchiha Gen watched indifferently as Jigumi began to mutate.

The next instant.

The pitch-black Susanoo arm blade violently pierced the chest of the mutating onmyoji.

He had no intention of fighting a monster's second phase.

"Mission... complete."

Beneath the crow tengu mask, his scarlet eyes with their black tomoe brimmed with savagery and excitement.

"Killing... I had to face it eventually."

Standing before Jigumi's corpse and looking at the bright red blood on his arm blade, his Three-Tomoe Sharingan began to turn slowly and unconsciously in his eye sockets.