Following his memory, Itachi arrived at an underground gold exchange. After choosing a target, he casually headed to the destination, as if on a stroll.
That evening, after dinner, an image of Garaga looking utterly despondent popped into Itachi's mind. He smiled faintly, deciding to leave Garaga hanging for a while.
He summoned two shadow clones to stand guard for the night and fell into a light sleep.
The Next Day
The sun was shining brightly, its rays streaming through the dense branches and leaves of the trees.
Beams of light pierced through the small gaps, illuminating Itachi, who was lying on a tree trunk, sleeping.
He rubbed his eyes and stretched lazily.
Jumping to the ground, he twisted his body, shaking off the stiffness from sleeping.
"Garaga, have you given it some thought?"
After freshening up, Itachi once again entered the Tsukuyomi space.
The moment he appeared, the previously noisy space froze briefly and fell silent.
Garaga's bloodshot eyes stared back at him. Two days had passed—only heaven knew how it had endured these two days. Its mind had been hyperactively bombarded with constant children's songs played on an endless loop, combined with loud drumbeats and eerie singing.
"You brat! I won't give in. Two days? Do you think so little of me? If you've got the guts, keep going! I won't crumble that easily! Just you wait—when I get out of here, you're finished!"
At Itachi's languid remark, Garaga seemed to be triggered and roared angrily.
From Garaga's perspective, genjutsu couldn't last forever. Based on the principle of energy conservation, its own strength wasn't weak. For Itachi to trap it in genjutsu for an extended time, his chakra would surely run out soon.
It even speculated that the Itachi before it was already running on fumes.
Hearing Garaga's outburst, Itachi paused, instinctively ignoring the latter half of its words.
"Two days..." That phrase echoed repeatedly in his mind, growing louder and louder.
"Could it be that the flow of time in my Tsukuyomi space is different from the outside world? It's only been one full day at most—why would Garaga say it's been two days? Or has it been driven insane by the noise?"
Pondering this, he decided to ignore Garaga's stubbornness. He wasn't in the mood to argue with it.
Instead, he pulled two incense sticks from his bag and lit them.
Don't ask why he had such peculiar things in his bag—it was just a habit from his past self.
He placed one incense stick into the ground within the Tsukuyomi space and took the other outside, intending to verify Garaga's claim.
Although Garaga might not be speaking clearly, this was an opportunity for Itachi to better understand his own abilities. He wasn't going to overlook even the smallest possibility.
If this space truly had such a capability, it would be monstrous. It would add yet another powerful feature, turning it into an all-encompassing ocular jutsu.
Leaning against a tree, Itachi stared blankly at the incense in his hand, his mind completely focused on it.
He waited anxiously for the incense to burn halfway.
As soon as it reached the midpoint, he eagerly reentered the Tsukuyomi space and looked at the incense stuck in the ground.
Then, he froze.
The incense in the Tsukuyomi space had also burned to its midpoint.
"So, I was overthinking it? Garaga was just driven mad by the noise? There's no sunrise or sunset in the space—how could it possibly determine the time?"
Disappointment flickered in Itachi's eyes. The greater the hope, the greater the disappointment.
"You brat, are you at your limit? Why don't you let them keep singing? I really enjoy their songs!"
Sensing Itachi's disappointment, Garaga gloated, reveling in his supposed triumph.
It had a feeling that it was on the verge of breaking free from the genjutsu.
As its emotions surged with excitement, Garaga taunted Itachi, believing he no longer had the strength to maintain the genjutsu.
"Songs?"
Ignoring Garaga's mischief, Itachi caught onto a critical detail.
He had never forgotten the power of Kotoamatsukami, so he began to suspect that this might be a combined effect of Kotoamatsukami and Tsukuyomi.
If the Tsukuyomi space were to become a real-world space, what about Tsukuyomi's other time-related ability?
No matter how much time passes inside, only an instant elapses in the outside world—this peculiar time principle.
Thinking of this, Itachi snapped his fingers again. High-pitched singing and the sound of drums echoed once more, leaving Garaga dumbfounded.
Itachi appeared back in the real world, holding the half-burned incense stick.
...
Itachi's eyes glimmered as he stared intently at the incense in his hand, watching it burn little by little.
When the incense burned down by another third, Itachi eagerly returned to the Tsukuyomi space...
Only to find himself staring at the incense, almost entirely burned down, stuck in the ground.
"You brat, why are you back again? Are you here to beg for mercy? You must be running low on chakra, huh?"
Garaga's previously dazed eyes brightened, blazing with hope, as if he could see freedom once again...
"Hahaha..."
Ignoring Garaga's taunts, Itachi laughed heartily, feeling an overwhelming sense of satisfaction.
"Tsukuyomi, Tsukuyomi... So this is what Tsukuyomi is? A space with this kind of power, combined with Kotoamatsukami. From now on, I'll call it Divine Tsukuyomi!"
After laughing, Itachi cheerfully announced the new name of his Tsukuyomi ability.
Then, he looked at Garaga with admiration.
"Hang in there! You're my first test subject, and I've got high hopes for you."
Itachi's gaze brimmed with appreciation as he looked at Garaga. At this moment, even Garaga's grim expression seemed somewhat cute.
Seeing Itachi's refreshed and carefree demeanor, Garaga was left completely bewildered.
"This can't be real. There's no way. This brat must be tricking me... Humans are always so deceitful..."
Despite Itachi's change in mood and apparent joy, Garaga's resolve remained unshaken.
He consoled himself internally, insisting that everything Itachi did was just a bluff designed to intimidate him into submission.
But Garaga would never yield. A serpent bows to no one.
...
Itachi took one last deep look at the now "adorable" Garaga and decided to upgrade his playlist. No longer stuck on a single song loop, it now included 300 Children's Songs on repeat.
Feeling content, Itachi left this cheerful, music-filled space.
"If Tsukuyomi space equals the real world with doubled time flow, and the original effect where only an instant passes outside is gone, then where does Kotoamatsukami's ability to alter one's will manifest? Does it simply work as brainwashing according to my intent?
Is this the right way to think about it? If it isn't, why does time only accelerate when the music plays? But if Kotoamatsukami's mind-altering ability is gone, am I doing this correctly?
It doesn't make sense. There's no way time would speed up just because of the music."
Leaning against a tree, Itachi mumbled to himself.
As he continued experimenting, he realized how peculiar this ability truly was.
And within him, a deep sense of curiosity began to grow.
...