Tsukuyomi

"Human, you have a death wish!"

The Saber-toothed Thunder Tiger growled, and dazzling lightning suddenly erupted around him. Countless arcs leaped from his body, charring the surrounding trees.

He lunged at Lin Jin with astonishing speed, slamming an enormous paw down with the power of lightning.

Lin Jin shifted his feet, and his figure vanished from the spot.

The tiger's paw struck the ground with a thunderous crash, leaving a large crater and sending shattered stones flying.

"Hmm?" The Saber-toothed Thunder Tiger froze, then sensed movement behind him and spun around.

At some point, Lin Jin had appeared ten meters behind him, his hands in his pockets and his expression calm.

"Decent speed," he remarked mildly.

A trace of wariness flashed through the Saber-toothed Thunder Tiger's eyes.

He had used eighty percent of his speed in that pounce. Even a Domain-level awakener would have found it difficult to dodge.

Yet this man had not only dodged it, but done so with such ease.

"Are you a Domain Realm expert?" he asked gravely.

Lin Jin did not answer. He merely said, "Got any other tricks? Show me all of them."

That attitude utterly enraged the Saber-toothed Thunder Tiger.

He was a king among beasts and had never been treated with such contempt.

"Roar!"

With an earthshaking roar, the lightning around the Saber-toothed Thunder Tiger surged.

He opened his enormous jaws and spat a thick pillar of lightning straight at Lin Jin.

The lightning was so fast that it reached Lin Jin almost instantly.

Lin Jin still did not move. Only at the instant the lightning reached him did he turn slightly sideways.

The lightning pillar skimmed past his body and blasted into the cliff behind him, blowing a massive hole in it.

"Not bad power. Your aim's a little off," Lin Jin said.

The Saber-toothed Thunder Tiger's eyes widened.

How was that possible?

His lightning traveled at close to the speed of light. Even a Domain Realm awakener would struggle to evade it completely.

Yet this man had dodged it effortlessly, as though he had known it was coming.

Refusing to believe it, he spat lightning again, this time firing three bolts in succession. They interwove into a net, sealing off every avenue of escape for Lin Jin.

Lin Jin finally moved.

He stamped down and shot into the air, leaping over ten meters high and easily clearing the lightning net.

In midair, he clapped his hands together.

"Fire Release: Dragon Flame Song Technique."

Several enormous dragon-headed fireballs rained down from the sky toward the Saber-toothed Thunder Tiger.

The Saber-toothed Thunder Tiger's pupils contracted. Pushing off with all four legs, he darted dozens of meters away in an instant, evading the fireballs.

The fireballs struck his former position one after another, blasting out a deep crater and burning even the soil into a glassy substance.

"Human, you've made me angry!"

The Saber-toothed Thunder Tiger flew into an utter rage, the lightning around him growing even more violent.

His body actually swelled again, reaching over four meters in length, and the single horn on his forehead shone with blinding light.

"Thunder Domain: Ten Thousand Thunder Heavenly Prison!"

Countless bolts of lightning erupted from his body, forming a lightning domain a hundred meters in diameter around him.

Within the domain, countless lightning serpents writhed wildly, reducing every tree and rock to dust.

Standing at the edge of the domain, Lin Jin watched the raging lightning, and a flicker of interest finally crossed his eyes.

"You've already touched upon a domain? Interesting."

He raised his hand, and the chakra within him erupted.

"Lightning Release: Lightning Armor."

Blue lightning poured from his body, instantly covering him from head to toe and forming a layer of flowing lightning armor.

This was the secret Lightning Release technique he had requested from the Fourth Raikage. It stimulated the body with Lightning Release, greatly enhancing speed and defense.

He stepped into the lightning domain.

The raging lightning serpents struck him, only to be absorbed and assimilated by his Lightning Armor, unable to inflict any damage.

The Saber-toothed Thunder Tiger's eyes widened.

"You're... you're a lightning controller too?!"

Lin Jin did not answer, walking toward him step by step.

The lightning grew denser and more powerful, yet it could never breach that layer of blue Lightning Armor.

The Saber-toothed Thunder Tiger was finally afraid.

In all his decades of life, he had never seen a human like this. Not only was the man immune to his lightning, but his unhurried bearing made it seem as though everything was under his control.

"Who exactly are you?!" He backed away two steps, a tremor in his voice.

Lin Jin stopped ten meters in front of him.

"I'll give you two choices," he said mildly. "First, submit to me and become my summoning beast."

The Saber-toothed Thunder Tiger's pupils contracted sharply.

A summoning beast?

What was that? He had never heard of it.

But he understood what "submit" meant: becoming this human's servant.

"Impossible!" he roared. "I'm a king among beasts! How could I submit to a human!"

Lin Jin did not get angry. He simply watched him quietly.

"Second," he continued, "I'll beat you into submission."

Those few simple words sent a chill through the Saber-toothed Thunder Tiger.

He had lived so many years and faced countless enemies, yet never had he felt the threat of death as clearly as he did now.

The human before him truly had the ability to kill him.

And he did not dare gamble on it.

"I..."

The Saber-toothed Thunder Tiger hesitated.

But his pride as a king among beasts would not let him bow his head so easily.

A ruthless glint flashed through his eyes. Suddenly, he erupted again, gathering an unprecedentedly thick pillar of lightning on his horn. Over a meter in diameter, it blasted straight at Lin Jin.

This was his strongest attack, a strike that exhausted all his energy.

Lin Jin still did not dodge.

He merely raised his hand, spreading his fingers to meet the lightning pillar head-on.

"Lightning Blade: Purple Electricity."

A streak of purple lightning covered his right hand, then rapidly expanded and collided with the incoming lightning pillar.

The instant the two forces of lightning collided, they unleashed a blinding flash and a deafening roar.

Every tree within a hundred meters turned to ash, and an enormous, deep crater was blasted into the ground.

The light faded.

Lin Jin stood where he was, completely unscathed. The purple lightning in his hand had already vanished.

The Saber-toothed Thunder Tiger, meanwhile, stood with his limbs trembling, panting heavily. The light on his horn had dimmed considerably.

He stared at Lin Jin, his eyes filled with disbelief.

That man had blocked his strongest attack with one hand.

"Are you... are you a monster...?" he murmured.

Lin Jin did not answer.

His eyes suddenly turned scarlet.

Three tomoe slowly revolved within his pupils, then spun faster and faster until they merged into a unique Straight-Bar Tomoe Pinwheel pattern.

The Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan.

Tsukuyomi!

The instant the Saber-toothed Thunder Tiger met those eyes, his entire body went rigid.

He felt an irresistible force dragging at his consciousness, and the world before his eyes began to warp and distort.

A second later, he found himself in an unfamiliar space.

Endless darkness surrounded him, with only a single rock beneath his feet barely large enough to stand on.

Before him stood countless versions of himself.

No, they were him, but each was suffering the most horrific death.

Struck dead by lightning, burned to death by flames, torn apart by giant beasts, devoured by eldritch horrors...

The scenes were incredibly real, as though they were happening right then.

"No... no!"

He wanted to close his eyes, but they would not obey him.

He wanted to run, but his feet seemed rooted in place. He could not take a single step.

Those dead versions of himself turned toward him one after another, reaching out with rotting claws to grab him.

"Aaaaah!!!"

The Saber-toothed Thunder Tiger screamed in terror.

He had no idea how much time passed.

Perhaps it was only an instant. Perhaps it was an eternity.

The world before his eyes suddenly shattered.

He snapped his eyes open and found himself still standing in the same spot, with the human opposite him watching him quietly.

He was drenched in cold sweat, his limbs so weak that he nearly collapsed to the ground.

"What... was that?" His voice was hoarse and filled with profound terror.

"Tsukuyomi," Lin Jin said mildly. "In my world, I control all time, space, and mass. In those three seconds just now, you spent three days there."

Three days.

He had endured three days of horrific torment within the illusion.

The Saber-toothed Thunder Tiger broke down completely.

He lowered his proud head, bent his forelegs, and prostrated himself on the ground.

"I... submit."