"Power like that… how is it even possible?"
The more Samui pictured the scene, the paler her face grew.
No wonder Atsui and the others had mistaken the location at first. The devastated zone was simply vast—every direction they looked offered nothing but flat, empty wasteland.
Yet if seen from high above, the entire region resembled the inside of a colossal meat grinder. The ground was soaked in a shocking dark red, as though countless living things had just been pulverized into a bloody pulp.
Everything within dozens of kilometers had been erased.
Dozens of kilometers had been reduced to barren earth where not even a blade of grass remained.
The surface of the land itself had been gouged out several meters deep.
How could any human possess such power?
How could any human accomplish something like this?
Samui could not imagine how it had been done.
She had seen far more brutal and bloody scenes in her life.
But never had she witnessed anything that left such a thick, lingering aura of terror and carnage hanging in the air.
It was as if she could still smell the blood sprayed outward as the hurricane tore bodies apart, and hear the final screams of the Kumogakure shinobi in their last moments of horror.
This kind of landscape-altering force was not something a human should be capable of wielding.
Even the Third Tsuchikage Ōnoki's Dust Release did not possess such a horrifying range.
Someone with this level of terrifying strength could not possibly have remained unknown until now.
Samui stared at the deep, pitch-black crater in the distance as a bold theory took shape in her mind.
Unless… that being had appeared out of nowhere.
"Sis, what do we do?" Atsui asked, his voice uncertain. The other two chūnin looked equally lost.
They had found plenty of Kumogakure forehead protectors—and even one or two from Konoha.
But there were no bodies. Not a single corpse, whether from Kumogakure or Konoha.
Only that thick, choking stench of blood refused to dissipate. The soil beneath their feet was soaked a deep crimson.
Even without being told, the three of them knew exactly where the bodies had gone.
"…"
Samui gazed silently at the bottomless crater for a long moment before looking away. She exhaled and said calmly, "We do nothing extra. We return and report everything to Lord Raikage."
Her instincts screamed that the truth lay inside that crater, yet she made the most rational decision.
A "monster" wielding such terrifying power—if it was still there—was far beyond anything four of them could handle.
The four figures vanished into the night. Even after they left, no living creature dared approach the area.
It was like travelers walking through the jungle who stumble upon the remains of prey torn apart by a predator. Even after the beast has eaten its fill and moved on, the lingering aura of savagery keeps even the greediest wild dogs and wolves at bay.
Only when complete silence had returned did something push its way out of the blood-red soil.
A pitcher plant-like figure slowly emerged, revealing a face split black and white.
White Zetsu—with Black Zetsu attached to his body.
"What a terrifying human," White Zetsu remarked. "Good thing I held you back and didn't jump out too soon, or we would've become fertilizer too."
Black Zetsu said nothing. He stared at the devastation before him and fell silent.
The sudden appearance of this individual had caught him completely off guard.
Even while hiding underground with the Mayfly Technique, he had still felt the horrifying aura of that single attack.
While it probably wasn't as strong as the Super Shinra Tensei, Black Zetsu could tell the person had been in a weakened state.
If that being could recover to his peak condition, he might truly rival Madara at the height of his power.
And those eyes…
Recalling the blue eyes he had glimpsed from afar, Black Zetsu felt a surge of anxiety—almost fear.
For a being like him, who lacked raw strength and relied on schemes and manipulation, the unknown was the most terrifying thing of all.
In his thousand years of memories, the Rinnegan should have been the absolute pinnacle that these inferior humans could reach. Even that bastard Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo had only possessed that much power while alive. The stronger Rinne-Sharingan had belonged only to his mother, Ōtsutsuki Kaguya.
So why… how could eyes that rivaled the Rinnegan—and that he had never heard of before—suddenly appear?
There was only one possibility.
"An outsider from beyond this world…"
The moment the thought formed, ripples spread across Black Zetsu's surface—his body trembling in fear.
Had one of the "same kind" his mother remembered—an outsider from beyond this world—truly appeared in the shinobi world?
Yes… eyes that even his mother had never possessed could only belong to one of those outsiders!
"No! This is the opportunity I've waited a thousand years for. No one is going to stop me from freeing Mother!" Black Zetsu narrowed his hollow eyes. "We must have Obito and Nagato begin collecting the Tailed Beasts immediately!"
If these eyes had not been the prize he had waited a millennium for, his cautious nature would have made him hide away until he learned more about this outsider's identity.
But he could not wait. This was the best—and final—chance he would ever get.
With that thought, Black Zetsu took one last look at the distant crater, then had White Zetsu merge back into the earth and head toward the Land of Rain. He made the same rational choice as Samui.
Even though he knew secrets lay hidden there, he would never risk himself directly.
Let others scout the path. He would wait until the very end to reap the benefits. That was his way.
At the same time, inside Konoha Hospital, the atmosphere was oppressively heavy.
"A monster with blue eyes, robes formed from teal-colored chakra, references to the Sage of Six Paths, a hurricane unleashed without hand seals, and the abyss where the monster was sealed…" Sarutobi Hiruzen narrowed his eyes after listening to Hyūga Kumokawa's account.
If these words had not come from this good-hearted boy—and if Akimichi Dōtō had not been there to confirm them—he would have dismissed the entire story as an absurd fairy tale.
As if something had just occurred to him, Hiruzen looked at the young man and asked, "You said you saw a 'structure' inside that abyss?"
"Yes, I'm certain of it!" Some color had returned to Kumokawa's pale face. "But I couldn't see inside the structure. Something blocked my Byakugan."
Hiruzen stroked his beard thoughtfully, his eyes flickering.
A monster that might have lived since the age of ancient legends… could the place where it was sealed still hold secret techniques or forbidden knowledge?
If it was real… if they could obtain it…
[Ding!]
[Your lie has been judged as turning fiction into fact, slipping away like a cicada shedding its shell, obscuring the truth with a single leaf, and luring the target into a trap. Samui, Black Zetsu, White Zetsu, Akimichi Dōtō, Sarutobi Hiruzen, and the others experienced strong emotional fluctuations, reaching the level of half-believing and half-doubting. You have earned 6000 Realization Points.]
[Remaining Realization Points: 16694]
Hearing the notification in his mind, Hyūga Kumokawa's heart stirred. A quiet smile rose inside him.
The fish had taken the bait.
And Black Zetsu had been there too. What a pleasant surprise.
***
Hi guys, Elenea here. I hope you're all doing well.
I wanted to let you know that I'm currently working on one of the best projects you might ever read. This project is set in the world of Fairy Tail with some combined elements from the Yu-Gi-Oh! series.
I'm confident you won't regret giving it a try, so don't hesitate to visit my second account's page (elenea) and start reading it.
[Fairy Tail: My Magic is a Yu Gi Oh Deck?]
Synopsis:
Getting isekai'd into the world of Fairy Tail sounds amazing with all the magic and beautiful girls in it...
But do you know what's even more fun than that?
Getting isekai'd with a Yu-Gi-Oh deck!
(No knowledge of Yu-Gi-Oh is needed, so don't worry.)
...
If you like it feel free to giving it a try.