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Chapter 337-Eyes
🕑 Added 2025-01-03 23:04:11 +0000 UTCShe stood there, poised and unyielding, her violet-trimmed coat swaying lightly in the breeze. Tani Sakiko stared him down with piercing blue eyes that seemed to see right through Renjiro's mask.
Renjiro’s Sharingan picked up the flickers of chakra surrounding her—wild, untamed, and impossibly vast. It wasn’t just her chakra. It was Matatabi’s presence, simmering beneath her skin, coiled and ready to strike.
Renjiro’s breath hitched. His Sharingan magnified the sheer depth of what his chakra field was picking up, and it was overwhelming. The two-tailed beast’s chakra was a roaring inferno, its heat and intensity pressing against him like an invisible weight.
For a moment, it felt as if the air had been sucked from his lungs, replaced with a searing heat that threatened to engulf him entirely.
'So this is the power of the two tails,' Renjiro thought grimly.
He could not help but want to compare it to Kurama and Kushina but his instincts screamed at him to move, to escape before it was too late.
“Who are you?”
Tani’s voice was calm but carried a sharp edge, cutting through the oppressive silence like a blade. It jolted Renjiro out of his stupor, though the suffocating pressure of Matatabi’s presence remained.
He didn’t answer. His mind raced, calculating the odds of escape.
'This is bad. Though she’s a new Jinchuriki, I don’t think the odds will ever favour me.'
“You... who are you?” she asked again, her tone colder now, her piercing gaze locking onto him.
Still, Renjiro didn’t reply. Words wouldn’t save him here. The only way out was through action. His hands moved in a blur, forming a rapid sequence of hand signs for a reverse summoning. He didn’t look at her; he didn’t need to.
Renjiro could feel the flicker of her chakra surging as she moved but paid no heed to it. He needed to get out of Kumogakure, and fast.
But Tani wasn’t going to let him leave so easily. Her eyes narrowed as she recognized the seals he was forming.
“Raiton: Raijin’s Bolt!”
A sharp crack split the air as she unleashed a streak of lightning. The bolt shot forward like a spear, carving a jagged path through the ground.
Renjiro stopped midway through his jutsu and hurled himself to the side, the lightning grazing his arm as he narrowly avoided the attack. The air buzzed with static, and the smell of ozone filled his nose.
Tani didn’t relent.
“Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu!” she called, spitting a volley of flame bullets toward him.
Renjiro countered, summoning a gust of wind that extinguished the flames before they could reach him. The courtyard lit up with bursts of fire and smoke, the two shinobi moving in a deadly dance.
She switched tactics, alternating between lightning and fire jutsu.
“Raiton: Arc Surge!” she shouted, unleashing a wave of electricity that crackled across the ground.
Renjiro leapt back, flipping mid-air to avoid the attack. He retaliated with his own fire jutsu, spitting out flames that roared toward her in a torrent.
But Tani was faster, her movements fluid and precise.
Her counterattacks came swiftly, forcing Renjiro to stay on the defensive. He gritted his teeth as he dodged, narrowly avoiding a particularly close strike. Amidst the chaos, a stray kunai sliced through the straps of his mask, sending it tumbling to the ground.
Renjiro froze for a split second, his face now exposed. He scowled in irritation, his scarred cheek and piercing eyes visible for the first time. 'Why can’t she just let me leave?' he thought bitterly, dodging another of her attacks.
As the battle dragged on, Renjiro began to notice something strange. Tani wasn’t trying to kill him. Her attacks, while powerful, were measured, as if she was containing him rather than seeking to finish him off.
'She could have ended this by now if she wanted to. What’s her game?' he wondered, frustration mounting.
Renjiro couldn’t afford to drag this out. Though he had deep chakra reserves, attrition battles like this favoured him only when his opponent wasn’t a Jinchuriki with a beast’s seemingly limitless power.
With a grimace, he activated his Mangekyo Sharingan. Pain lanced through his eyes as the six-pointed star pattern spun into existence, but he didn’t falter, ignoring it. His chakra surged, and green flames flickered to life around him.
Tani’s gaze flicked to his eyes, her expression sharpening as she noticed the change.
Renjiro formed the hand sign for his next jutsu, gathering chakra into his lungs.
“Katon: Ryūjin Homura!” he roared, expelling a massive torrent of green flames. The fire roared like a living beast, its unnatural colour casting eerie shadows across the courtyard.
Tani’s eyes widened at the sight, but she quickly composed herself. Matatabi’s chakra surged within her, a calming yet powerful presence. She countered with her own flames, a brilliant blue that burned hotter than any natural fire.
The two flames collided in the center of the courtyard, the clash creating a vortex of heat and light that rippled outward. The ground beneath them cracked and blackened, unable to withstand the intensity of their attacks.
Renjiro shifted to defence, manifesting his adamantine chains to form a barrier around him. The chains glowed faintly as its barrier absorbed the heat and force of Tani’s attacks, holding steady against her relentless assault.
“This is pointless,” Renjiro muttered, frustration creeping into his voice.
Matatabi’s voice rumbled in Tani’s mind. “His eyes... there’s something dangerous about them. Be wary, Tani.”
Tani faltered for a moment, her attack wavering as she processed the warning. The pause was brief but enough for Renjiro to exploit.
His six-pointed Mangekyo dilated, and his chakra reserves dipped, the strain evident in the tension of his muscles and the laboured sound of his breathing. Tani hesitated, her eyes narrowing in confusion at his sudden shift.
Before she could react, her body froze mid-step. Her chakra stuttered, her movements ceasing as if an invisible force had taken hold of her. Her mind raced, trying to comprehend what had just happened.
Renjiro exhaled shakily, lowering his hands as the jutsu took effect. His vision blurred slightly, a sharp reminder of the cost of using the Mangekyo.
In the next instant, Renjiro found himself in a dark, oppressive void. The air was thick and suffocating, the silence absolute. For a moment, he thought he had passed out, his consciousness slipping away from the strain of the battle.
'No, it can work' He tried to convince himself.
But then he saw it—a faint light in the distance, flickering like a flame.
Drawn to it, he began to walk. Each step felt heavier than the last, as if the darkness were trying to pull him back. But he pressed on, the light growing brighter with each step.
When he reached it, he stopped, his breath catching in his throat.
A massive figure loomed before him, its body composed entirely of blue flames that flickered and shifted like a living inferno.
Its form was feline, powerful and sleek, with piercing eyes that glowed with an otherworldly intensity.
The heat radiating from the creature was almost unbearable, and Renjiro instinctively raised a hand to shield his face.
The beast tilted its head, its glowing eyes narrowing as it studied him. For a moment, it seemed as surprised by his presence as he was by its.
But then its gaze locked onto his, and its body stiffened.
Something was different now.
Its eyes were no longer its own. Instead, the pupils had shifted, reshaped into a six-pointed star—the unmistakable pattern of Renjiro’s Mangekyo Sharingan.
It was a feat that defied the natural order, something only a select few shinobi in history had ever achieved. Renjiro could count their number on fewer fingers than one hand. Each of those figures was etched into legend—unparalleled shinobi who had left their mark on the world in ways both terrible and awe-inspiring.
And now, he had joined their ranks because Matatabi was now under his Genjutsu.
