204 - Eyes for the Taking

BOOM—BOOM—BOOM—

A massive black cube marked with red concentric square patterns crashed down onto the ground with terrifying force. It smashed into the earth with a thunderous impact, gouging out three large craters.

But faced with Kei's reaction speed, which was clearly far superior, even this overwhelming force was useless. Despite relying on the attacks unleashed by Daikokuten, Sukunahikona, and the Daihakoten, which were large black cubes, Jigen's efforts were completely ineffective.

Kei used his Byakugan, and he clicked his tongue with a disappointed expression.

Daikokuten and Sukunahikona were two powerful ocular abilities.

Relying on his talent for space-time manipulation granted by [Multiversal Voyager] and the ability to learn granted by [Heavenly Spirit Sovereign], he had thoroughly mastered the intricacies of Daikokuten.

Besides its impressive deployment speed, Daikokuten's true value lay in its ability to freeze time and store living beings. Everything inside the Daikokuten space was completely isolated from the outside world. Any living being stored within would emerge exactly as they entered.

In the original work, Kashin, who bore a Kāma mark from Jigen, once trapped Naruto and Hinata in Daikokuten for three years.

To wield such power meant Kei could use [Infinite Armory Domain] to bring others with him to different worlds.

As for Sukunahikona, the ability to instantly shrink or restore the size of objects and oneself sounded simple, but its principles were far more complex than he had expected.

That made sense, despite the straightforward effect, it was a nemesis to all large-scale ninjutsu.

If Hashirama were fighting Jigen, just one glance from him could reduce Hashirama's colossal wooden construct to a pocket-sized sculpture. Unless Jigen was willing to tediously demonstrate the technique repeatedly for Kei to observe every chakra pathway and its intricate changes, he wouldn't master it any time soon.

So… eye extraction it was!

What else could he do?

"You will pay the price for what you've done today."

Jigen's eyes were cold and sharp like blades, scanning the crowd that was gradually surrounding him. He activated Kāma's absorption ability, sucking in all the Amaterasu flames around him and converting them into chakra stored within his body.

With a twist, he grabbed the black rod impaled in his heart and, using Sukunahikona, shrank it into microscopic particles, hiding it within Daikokuten.

Due to Hikari's sneak attack, his vessel had suffered fatal damage.

Now, he had only two choices.

First, use Kāma to repair the vessel, but that would prevent him from placing perfect Kāma marks on others for a while.

Second, draw Kei's attention and wait for his subordinates' signal.

Once they successfully controlled Kushina, he could open a spatial rift to them and implant Kāma in her body.

"No 'someday' for you! You won't live to see tomorrow." Kei moved, spiritual energy coursing through his body as he dashed toward Jigen like a flickering shadow.

Though he no longer bore the distinctive face paint and aura of Sage Mode, a soft white glow enveloped his form, and his strength was far greater than before.

Less than 100 meters, he crossed it in a blink. Behind Jigen, a twisted black spatial rift opened, rapidly moving to engulf him. He rushed toward it, trying to escape before Kei reached him.

Kei raised one hand, activating a technique he had learned from Madara's Rinnegan.

Under a surge of spiritual energy like crashing waves, a terrifying force burst from his palm. Jigen tried to use Kāma's ability to absorb ninjutsu to neutralize the pull, but the force rendered Kāma useless.

His body was pulled uncontrollably toward Kei, the rift behind him growing distant.

His right eye turned black, forcibly manipulating Daikokuten and Sukunahikona to place the Daihakoten between them, cutting off Kei's technique.

But the cube, newly restored to its original size, vanished the moment it touched the ground.

Kei was now within five meters of him.

As he swung his right hand, a replica of the straight-bladed Kusanagi Wsword appeared in his palm, slashing at Jigen's neck.

CLANG—!

A crisp metallic sound echoed.

Jigen barely blocked the strike with a black rod pulled from Daikokuten.

Cold sweat beaded on his forehead.

Fast!

Too fast!

If he hadn't seen the sword swing in advance and instinctively pulled out the rod, that strike would have severed his head.

Infinite Armory Domain! Open!

Seeing that Jigen was faster and more reactive, Kei grinned coldly and unleashed his strongest attack. A pitch-black domain unfolded, with grave-like sword mounds appearing beneath his feet.

At the edges of this vast space, countless steel gears turned slowly, creating a mechanical symphony of metal grinding and clashing.

With the domain active, Kei's speed and strength surged again. His sword, previously blocked, now slashed in a zigzag arc, drawing within inches of Jigen's throat.

Without hesitation, Jigen shrank Kei's sword to a tiny size. But before he could counter with his rod, pain exploded in his neck, and blood spurted out, soaking his chest.

"The throat, huh? You got lucky." Kei smiled, unfazed, and casually drew another curved ninja blade, slashing at the stunned and confused Jigen.

"Huff... hrrk...!"

His eyes bulged, his trachea and esophagus severed, making it impossible to breathe properly, let alone speak.

Clearly aware of the huge gap in strength between them, he knew that facing Kei in his current state would lead to certain death within a minute. Raising both arms to forcibly block the blade, a space rift opened behind him once more.

Clang, clang, clang, clang—!

Slash, slash—!

A series of metallic clashes rang out, blood spraying from Jigen's arms as they were severed at the shoulders. Yet, he barely managed to crawl into the space rift behind him. But staring at the unchanged scene before him, and at Kei standing once again a hundred meters away, his heart nearly stopped.

Why?! Why am I still here?!

"Don't bother thinking about it. Unless your spatial control surpasses mine, or you defeat me here, you're not getting out," Kei said, casually tossing aside the not-so-useful ninja blade.

He pulled out another replica of the straight-bladed Kusanagi Sword, similar to Sasuke's, and began walking toward Jigen.

The armory domain, empowered by [Multiversal Voyager], had become an independent spatial realm, completely cut off from the outside world.

With [Multiversal Voyager], he could traverse entire worlds.

Jigen's spatial abilities, limited to small-scale dimensional jumps, didn't even come close.

"Huff..." Armless, with his trachea and vocal cords still unrecovered, Jigen's bloodshot eyes reflected his disbelief. Refusing to accept Kei's overwhelming power, he opened another spatial rift.

This time, he emerged less than fifty meters in front of Kei.

Eyeing his enemy, who was slowly approaching, he stubbornly pushed his spatial powers to the limit, rapidly opening rift after rift.

"A completely different activation method than Flying Thunder God... following the corresponding axis between space and reality to move, huh?" Kei observed, having seen Jigen's space-shifting abilities clearly after dozens of uses.

"Pathetic."

Jigen suddenly let out a hoarse roar, seemingly enraged at his own desperation.

The black markings of the Kāma on his skin merged into his body, and his flesh regenerated rapidly, transforming into the form of Isshiki within seconds.

Forcibly fusing the Kāma and vessel.

As a vessel, Jigen's body wasn't strong enough to sustain the energy of a full transformation. In this state, his body would completely collapse within two hours.

And if he didn't find a suitable vessel before that, he would die.

Isshiki's eyes glared venomously at Kei, and his severed arms and throat regenerated in seconds.

"Ignorant, foolish insect, prepare to—"

Whoosh—!

Before he could finish his sentence, Kei became a streak of light, closing the forty-meter gap in an instant to appear at his side. With his straight-bladed sword in hand, he slashed at Isshiki's neck.

Kei had already mastered all the abilities he could learn quickly. The only one left was Sukunahikona—which could wait until Tobi's puppet could demonstrate it slowly.

Slash—!

Shrunken to the size of dust using Sukunahikona, Isshiki's neck burst with blood as he was cut, only to return to normal size the next moment. Shocked and horrified, he tried to reattach his severed head to his body, hoping to heal it with his regenerative powers.

He clearly dodged that slash, so why was his head severed?!

Hum—!

Kei's sword emitted a clear hum, silver light shining like a moon in the pitch-black domain.

In a blur, he passed by Isshiki's side. With a flick of his wrist, he flung the blood off the blade, and calmly rested the tip on the sheath's mouth. Releasing the handle, the spotless Kusanagi sword slowly slid into the scabbard with a click, sealing away its deadly edge.

Splurt, splurt—!

Frozen in place, Isshiki's body erupted in countless fine slashes, spraying blood into a mist the moment the sword was sheathed. His head, already split in two by the blade, fell to the ground in two halves, accompanied by the blood spray.

"Heh... tui—"

Kei prepared to spit a mouthful of phlegm onto Isshiki's lifeless face, but after glancing at the bisected head, he hesitated and instead spat to the side.

Still gotta take the eyes... better not gross myself out.