Chapter 350 – The Vanished Magatama! A Sea of Blossoms!
Snap!
A crisp snap of the fingers echoed out.
Though it seemed like a simple, unremarkable motion, in the blink of an eye, a transparent ripple quietly spread out from midair.
"What was that?"
"Was that a barrier fluctuation?"
"What's going on? Wasn't the barrier already broken earlier?"
In the distance, a murmur rippled through the cautious Cloud shinobi stationed atop the city wall, who had been carefully observing Uchiha Ci's movements, analyzing his abilities, and constantly relaying intel back to the Kumo sensory team at the Tenshukaku.
The group of Cloud ninja stared blankly at the sky, where the shattered barrier seemed to have suddenly reappeared, faint ripples now undulating across its surface—so subtle that one might miss them if not paying close attention.
They had just reported the intel that Uchiha Ci had dispelled the barrier at the gate, and were confident in what they saw. The barrier had clearly turned red and shattered in a strange fashion under his hand.
It should've vanished completely.
And yet now, that very barrier reappeared bizarrely in the sky, faintly quivering with nearly imperceptible fluctuations.
"Wait—could that previous barrier shattering… have been an illusion?"
"A genjutsu?"
Sensory Unit Captain Nurui furrowed his brow slightly, voicing the possibility as his expression darkened. He turned to his subordinate on the left.
"No matter what, report this intel immediately. Yurui, you contact the Tenshukaku."
"Wait, Captain, where are you looking?"
"I'm right here!"
Hearing Yurui's voice suddenly coming from his right, Nurui froze in confusion.
"You're on my right?"
"What are you talking about, Captain? I've been behind you the whole time!" Yurui frowned in puzzlement, staring directly at him.
"What did you say? Yurui's right in front of Captain!" another teammate interjected with a furrowed brow.
"Quit joking! I haven't moved from my position from the start. What the hell are you talking about!?" Yurui snapped back in frustration.
As the argument escalated, a chilling realization dawned on Nurui.
"In my perspective, Yurui is on my left. But I heard his voice from my right. He says he's behind me, while someone else sees him in front of me?"
A wave of dread surged through Nurui.
Instinctively, he looked up toward the sky—the direction where Uchiha Ci had earlier hurled the eight blazing Yasaka Magatama.
But—those eight flaming magatama, which should have been flying through the air, plummeting fiercely toward the mountains,
had…
vanished.
Vanished completely from sight!
"What!?"
"What just happened!?"
"What in the world is going on!?"
"Was it because of that move Uchiha Ci just made?"
"The barrier that had shattered is suddenly back. Both my sight and hearing, along with the other team members', have been disrupted. And the attack from above disappeared at that very moment…"
His thoughts flew back to that single, transparent ripple that had spread from the sky across the entire city!
In the next instant—
Nurui began to tremble in terror. His entire body convulsed involuntarily. His teeth clattered, muscles spasming. The skin at the corners of his eyes stretched as though tearing, and his round eyes bulged as if about to pop out of their sockets.
"Genjutsu!"
"This is bad! It's genjutsu!"
"Definitely genjutsu!"
"A genjutsu beyond imagination—one that can distort sight and sound, and on such a massive scale that it could hypnotize an entire city covering 10 hectares!"
"This intel… this intel has to reach the Tenshukaku immediately—"
Suddenly—
Nurui's frantic scream was cut short.
Because he saw it—
Not far away,atop the towering and sinister skeletal giant, Uchiha Ci slowly tilted his head down, his icy gaze sweeping sideways—right at him.
In an instant, Nurui felt like he had plunged into an icy abyss.
Indeed—
Sage Art: Genjutsu – Sun-Mirror Illumination.
This jutsu was created through the fusion of Sage Art: Yin Release – Illusionary transformation and the barrier spanning the entire city. It also incorporated the principles of Genjutsu: Sharingan, Genjutsu: Mirror Heaven and Earth Change, Genjutsu: Temple of Nirvana, and Genjutsu: Bubbles—a genjutsu so advanced it defied standard classification.
Coverage radius: 10 hectares.
Its core function was not unlike the genjutsu once cast on Ci by Uchiha Shinichi—transferring Sharingan genjutsu into a body of water via the Genjutsu: Bubbles technique.
Anyone within the barrier who looked up at it was effectively making eye contact with a three-tomoe Sharingan. Every second they gazed upon it, genjutsu would be applied repeatedly.
The method of dispelling it was, ironically, simple—just the same old tactic used against the Sharingan: two people disrupting each other's chakra flow.
But the real problem was this:
Even if one broke free of the illusion, within this barrier, unless you stared solely at the ground or closed your eyes entirely, no matter where you looked, you would see the barrier covering the sky, and would once again be ensnared by the massive yin-natured natural energy within it, immediately plunging back into the genjutsu.
It was a technique that seamlessly merged the strengths of multiple genjutsu, forged through the Uchiha clan's unparalleled mastery of the art—a jutsu so potent, it bordered on divine!
Like a heavenly mirror descending from the skies, wherever the eye touched, sunlight would shine.
—
"The magatama… it vanished!?"
At this moment, standing together atop a mountain peak, A and B stared resolutely at the eight falling Yasaka Magatama—but as their eyes met, confusion began to dawn.
Separated by several kilometers, with only their shinobi instincts and common sense to rely on, they didn't even consider the possibility that they might have fallen under a genjutsu.
And with the delay in intel transmission, they could only conclude—
"Is this just a feature of the jutsu?"
"The magatama can turn invisible?"
"Even if it can turn invisible, I can still hear the sound of it cutting through the air—but that sound is coming from the wrong direction."
"So Uchiha Ci is targeting somewhere else?"
"But he has no reason to…"
"No, it's getting hotter around here!"
"…"
"Could this be… genjutsu!?"
Even with A's lightning-fast reaction speed, he was forced to resort to basic process of elimination—ruling out each impossibility until he finally neared the truth.
But by then—it was already too late.
"Bee! Use Gyūki to break your genjutsu—then break mine!"
The young A's expression changed drastically. Recalling where Killer Bee had stood, he reached out toward his shoulder—but grabbed only air.
Realizing something was wrong, he roared in fury.
This genjutsu had at least distorted his vision, hearing, and touch—three major senses!
Killer Bee, hearing his brother's voice, responded with unconditional trust.
He acted immediately!
But—
Even after he broke his own genjutsu and his sight returned, revealing the eight blazing magatama plummeting from the sky—
He was trapped in another illusion again.
And once again, his attempt to free A came a beat too late.
After breaking free a second time, Killer Bee quickly deduced the genjutsu's mechanism through experience, shut his eyes, and finally dispelled the illusion on A, relaying the information—
—but by then…
The magatama, like meteors from the heavens, spun madly—faster and faster—and slammed into the ground!
In that instant—a chaos of explosive flames converged, coalescing into disorderly petals—
And at the mountain peak, they bloomed like a sea of mandala blossoms.