Outside the cave, Kakashi clung to his ninja resolve, biting his tongue until blood welled, the sharp pain snapping him back to clarity.
Moments before, as his gaze nearly met the statue on the platform, he'd instinctively averted his eyes.
Even so, he caught a fleeting glimpse of its form.
A blurred silhouette and the faint vision of an ancient city flickered in his mind, accompanied by fragments of forbidden knowledge.
Deep in a mysterious sea lay R'lyeh, an ancient city.
Its master was Cthulhu.
Cthulhu, a being far beyond human reach, one of the Old Ones.
Three billion years before humanity's dawn, it descended upon this world, now slumbering.
Yet when the stars align, R'lyeh will rise with its master, bringing cataclysm to all.
Kakashi forced his mind away from these alien truths, focusing on the present, to his duty as a ninja.
He glanced at his companion. Aono Unkan was entranced, dropping his mirror and stepping from behind the stone wall.
Danger!
Kakashi's heart roared. He lunged, grabbing Aono Unkan.
But Aono Unkan's strength was uncanny, resisting Kakashi's pull with unnatural force.
Recalling how he'd broken the statue's hold by looking away, Kakashi clapped both hands over Aono Unkan's eyes.
Aono Unkan's steps faltered. Kakashi yanked him back behind the wall.
"What… what happened?" Aono Unkan gasped, regaining himself.
"You were ensnared by the statue," Kakashi said.
"Sorry… what now?"
Kakashi leaned against the stone, tempted to peer into the chamber again but wary after his near miss.
He reasoned that using the mirror and glimpsing the statue with one eye had saved him. A direct look would have trapped him.
Aono Unkan, spared by the mirror's indirect view, had been easier to pull back.
Shinko Aburame, the sole escapee, likely owed his delay to the Aburame clan's tinted goggles. Yet even he succumbed later.
This suggested the statue's power required sight to take hold. Avoiding its image could evade its control.
It reminded Kakashi of the Sharingan.
He touched the cloth over his hidden eye.
Could his Sharingan counter the statue's power?
After a brief struggle, Kakashi dismissed the thought. The statue's influence far surpassed his Sharingan.
From the Mist assassins and Shinko Aburame's fate, its genjutsu was constant, indiscriminate, and persisted across vast distances, even through unconsciousness.
Worst case, it was permanent.
His Sharingan's genjutsu would be overwhelmed, and possibly backfired.
Why was he even considering casting genjutsu on a statue?
Kakashi scoffed at the absurdity.
He recalled Gai's recent boast of a Sharingan counter, watching an opponent's feet to avoid their eyes.
But that required rigorous training, and in this cramped cave, dodging the statue's gaze during combat was nearly impossible.
"Come out, you rats behind the wall."
A voice from the chamber targeted Kakashi and Aono Unkan. Kakashi recognized it—the man who'd chanted praises, the only one among the twelve who seemed to retain some sanity.
Was he the mastermind?
His reverent tone suggested otherwise—a mere servant of Cthulhu.
"Come, let me introduce you to our great Father and Savior!"
Kakashi knew it was a lure to draw them toward the statue. He stayed rooted behind the wall.
When no response came, Kisame Magake didn't pursue. Instead, his hands formed seals.
"Water Release: Exploding Water Shockwave!"
A torrent gushed from his mouth. Before Kakashi and Aono Unkan could react, a lake-like surge swept them out of the cave.
The narrow passage turned the water into a raging current. They struggled, barely dodging trees to avoid injury.
The flood carried them to the bandit camp, now a wrecked mire as the waters dispersed.
Climbing from the deluge, Kakashi surveyed the devastation. "Such immense chakra."
He'd read that Water Release: Exploding Water Shockwave, devised by the Second Hokage, was simple to learn but scaled with the user's chakra.
To wield it at this magnitude, Kisame Magake's chakra dwarfed Kakashi's several times over.
"Captain, what now?" Aono Unkan asked, trailing behind, the events far beyond his grasp, leaving him reliant on Kakashi's genius.
"Regroup with Daisuke's team," Kakashi said, turning to leave.
A pained cry stopped him.
Behind, Aono Unkan seemed to sprout a second head.
No—it was a corpse from the camp, risen, its jaws clamped on Aono Unkan's neck.
The once-pallid, featureless face now pulsed with life, faint blue veins beneath its white skin. Though still grotesque, it seemed revived.
The corpse's jaws locked tight. If Aono Unkan pulled free, it would tear away flesh, risking an artery.
He'd die.
Kakashi froze, unable to act, as more "corpses" stirred, crawling from the ground.
(End of Chapter)