Kishimoto's collar felt like it was caught in a vice, the weight of the air pressing down on him. The reality before him no longer seemed familiar. The figure charging at him moved as if time had sped up.
Kishimoto's gaze darted downward, following the ground, where he saw a cleared path through the studio, with scattered papers fluttering on either side.
The other party pulled down his mask, and Kishimoto saw the face of a teenager, younger than he had imagined. His pupils flickered slightly, but that was all.
"You don't seem to recognize me." Logan looked at the other party's expression and sneered.
Kishimoto was confused by Logan's appearance. Suspended in the air by sheer strength, he could barely shift his eyes to take a closer look... A few seconds passed, and he gradually focused more.
"Then let me help you remember." There were bound to be differences between two-dimensional and three-dimensional appearances. Logan flicked his wrist, sending another kunai flying. It whizzed through the open doorway into the studio.
A thin, nearly invisible silver thread shimmered in the light as it trailed behind the kunai. The moment it hit its target, Logan gave the thread a sharp pull.
Thud.
Kishimoto involuntarily flinched at the familiar sound of something embedding into the wall. When he looked up, he saw a black kunai lodged into the surface right in front of him.
The silver thread tied to the hollow circle at the back end of the kunai was in the other party's hand... Before Kishimoto could calm himself, he was attracted by something nailed together with the kunai. It was a drawing.
"Raiden... Hattori?" Kishimoto forced out the name with difficulty.
"Do you remember anything now?" Logan's gaze locked onto him.
Kishimoto's mind raced to piece everything together. His hands instinctively grasped at Logan's hand gripping his collar, sensing danger, but he couldn't pry it off no matter how hard he tried.
"You… this is impossible..." But he still spoke his mind openly.
Logan had no patience for nonsense, and his aura suddenly surged, "I've said it before, answer my questions honestly. I won't ask a third time."
The sheer weight of his killing intent pressed in like blades against the nerves, an undeniable force. Kishimoto's sweat dripped like rain. His tongue felt foreign in his mouth, his lips dry and trembling.
He recognized that this was no longer the reality he was familiar with.
"You… you're… Raiden Hattori."
"You got it right." Logan pretended to be relaxed and said, "Congratulations, what do you think?"
"This is impossible... Let me go! I don't know anything!"
The oppressive atmosphere grew heavier, compressing the space around them. Sweat poured down Kishimoto's face. He was reaching his limit, the terror in his throat making him feel as if he was about to be sliced open.
"As possibly the first creator in the world to see one of his own characters come to life..."
'Yes. This was undeniably a character from my Manga, the same one I had drawn... every facial line, that calm yet resolute presence…' Kishimoto's mind reeled from the shock.
The world blurred around him, leaving only his inner monologue. As his thoughts latched onto the inevitable conclusion, the boundaries between two-dimensional and three-dimensional faded. Every detail felt so familiar, merging together until they overlapped...
'Why did he come to me? Revenge? Hatred? No… No, that couldn't be it… But he was just ink on paper! Not something alive!' Kishimoto's thoughts screamed in protest, 'They're just dead drawings, nothing more! They weren't real...'
Then, like a shattered silver bottle, one lingering regret, which is buried deep in his heart, suddenly surfaced and burst apart.
"..."
A heavy silence filled the air. Logan tightened his grip and said, "Masashi Kishimoto, tell me..."
"Don't joke with me!"
Kishimoto, who had been restrained, suddenly shouted and burst out with a burst of strength. He grabbed his collar with such force that his knuckles turned white. Logan's eyes flickered and his hands relaxed slightly.
The man's face turned red and purple from exertion. As soon as he hit the ground, he scrambled to his feet, shoving Logan away. Logan allowed it, watching as Kishimoto reacted as if something had snapped inside him.
"There is no way the character from a Manga can come to life! Stop trying to mess with me!"
Logan's expression darkened, 'It seemed he hadn't accepted the situation yet.'
Just as he was about to move, Kishimoto's next words made him froze in place.
"Not to mention the failed character, Raiden Hattori!"
Kishimoto's emotions boiled over, "I'm the creator! I know my own work better than anyone! Every single character's outline was drawn by my own hand. Their personalities, their abilities! From nothing to something, every detail was the result of my painstaking effort night after night!"
The Manga Author swung his arms as if trying to convince himself more than Logan, "No matter how popular a character is, they can't truly be alive! A skilled writer knows their creations inside and out, even if you're dressed up as that failed character!"
Logan's eyes narrowed slightly and he spoke in a quiet, deliberate tone: "Inside and out? A failed character?"
"That's right." Kishimoto clenched his fists as if Logan had struck a nerve. Then, as if realizing something, a dark smile crept onto his face, "Haha... So you really are just an imposter. You don't even know this, yet you dare claim to be Raiden Hattori? As a character, have you not noticed..."
His voice lowered, heavy with certainty, "Not one single panel in the entire manga ever depicts your thoughts or inner monologue?"
Logan was shocked.
That sentence was like a switch, unlocking a flood of questions. While it didn't provide all the answers, it certainly cleared the fog.
"I had obviously finalized the character settings..."
"Whenever I wanted to add an internal monologue…"
It was as if Kishimoto had opened a box filled with grievances, spilling out words he had never shared with anyone before.
Logan's mind raced, piecing together the situation that happened in the previous two months, he made an uncertain but possible conclusion.
Ignoring Kishimoto's constant chatter, he interrupted and said slowly: "You couldn't understand me… Oh, no… you couldn't understand this character. And so..."
"… So after the Chunin Exam, I decided not to draw this character anymore." Kishimoto let out a breath, as if releasing years of pent-up frustration. For a moment, he wondered if he had said too much... As soon as his mind cleared, he sneered at the other party... It was definitely a sneer, maybe a mockery... However, this was not the occasion, so he instinctively stepped back but found himself pressed against the wall.
"A truly skilled Author has no use for a character they can't control."
Kishimoto's eyes darted toward the man who looked so much like Hattori... His rational mind tried to ignore that resemblance, but the primal fear from earlier, the suffocating grip on his collar, the overwhelming aura of impending death, crept back in. His voice shrank as his courage drained away.
"… But… w-what does any of this have to do with you...?"
Kishimoto was truly terrified now. Never in his life had he experienced real danger, one that he had only seen on the news.
Logan mulled over Kishimoto's words, reassessing him, wondering if there was still something of value left to be extracted from him, "It has everything to do with me."
"So..." He looked back at the drawing tablet on the workbench behind the door.
'Chance.'
Kishimoto tensed, his body coiling as he made a split-second decision. Without hesitation, he roared desperately, and punched forward. But then he felt a sharp pain shot through his neck and his vision faded to black.