"Domain Expansion…"
"Time Cell Moon Palace."
The moment Neji shouted the name of his technique, something unnatural appeared in the center of the arena.
A black barrier rapidly expanded outward from his position, swallowing both him and Kiyomi before anyone could properly react. The dark wall rose like a living thing, cutting off the two combatants from the outside world as an eerie silence briefly descended over the stadium.
Thousands of spectators stared in confusion at the strange structure that had suddenly appeared in the middle of the arena. Most civilians had absolutely no idea what they were looking at and simply assumed it was some advanced ninja technique. Even the shinobi present were no better.
Genin and Chunin looked confused at the strange technique.
Jonin frowned. They were more experienced, and none had seen a technique like this. Perhaps some recalled the few barrier techniques used by a fuinjutsu master once or twice, but this was still different.
Certainly not something a Hyuga would use.
Clan heads narrowed their eyes. The visiting Kage watched with interest. None of them had ever seen anything like it before.
Barriers, yes. But this wasn't a normal barrier technique. They could tell.
To them, it was merely another mysterious ability displayed by the Hyuga prodigy. Only two people in the entire stadium immediately understood what had just happened.
And both of them almost panicked.
Sukuna and Izumi shot to their feet the instant the barrier manifested.
"That bastard!" Izumi nearly shouted.
"We have to save her," she said urgently.
Sukuna didn't say anything, but his mind mirrored Izumi's. Kiyomi had no way to fight against a domain. If that was indeed a complete domain with a sure-hit effect, and by any means it was lethal in nature, then Kiyomi was as good as dead.
Inside the barrier, Kiyomi's eyes widened so much that they almost looked ready to burst from their sockets. Unlike everyone else present, she knew exactly what Neji—no, Naoya—had just done.
'Since when did this bastard have a domain?' Kiyomi couldn't help but curse.
A domain. That was the pinnacle of jujutsu.
The ultimate technique of a sorcerer. More importantly, she knew exactly what happened to people trapped inside one without any form of anti-domain technique. Terror unlike anything she had experienced during the fight surged through her chest as the black walls closed around her.
She had no anti-domain technique. No Hollow Wicker Basket. No Domain Amplification. She had absolutely nothing capable of defending against a sure-hit effect. If she got trapped inside it, she was as good as dead.
For the first time since the battle began, genuine fear gripped her.
The barrier sealed completely. And her panic grew to the point that she let go of the one thing holding her back regarding using her Mangekyo ability, the blindness issue, because if she delayed anymore, she would really die.
Kiyomi reacted instantly.
Her Mangekyo Sharingan spun violently inside her eyes as she abandoned all thoughts of conserving her vision. A surge of chakra exploded from her body, and the skeletal form of Susanoo manifested around her.
Nothing as majestic as a full-body skeleton; just the ribcage was materialized for her. And that was enough to put significant pressure on both her eyes and chakra reserves.
Pale ethereal ribs wrapped around her like a shield as she desperately sought protection from the technique she knew was coming. Yet the moment the domain fully completed, she realized how futile that effort had been.
The sure-hit effect ignored the Susanoo completely. It directly bypassed the ribcage and hit Kiyomi.
That was the real horror of a Domain Expansion, the sure-hit effect. Inside a domain, without any sort of anti-domain technique which could either nullify the barrier or the technique etched inside the barrier of the domain, stopping the sure-hit effect was impossible.
Projection Sorcery flooded the domain.
For a single horrifying second, Kiyomi felt her body freeze.
Every cell inside her body screamed in agony.
Her flesh, her blood, her heart, even her thoughts seemed to be frozen.
It felt as though her flesh was rejecting itself. Her movements halted. Her blood vessels strained. Her muscles locked up. The world around her blurred as the overwhelming effect of the domain descended upon her. Death was only moments away.
Then everything suddenly resumed like before. The technique stopped.
She could breathe again. Think again.
Her eyes roamed just enough to spot the clear split running around the entire domain barrier, splitting the dome into two equal halves before her vision went blurry.
And true to her deduction, the entire domain was split apart.
A single invisible slash cut through the black barrier from the outside.
The barrier cracked, to Neji's horror.
Split.
And shattered into two perfectly equal halves.
As for who did it, wasn't it obvious?
Outside the domain, neither Sukuna nor Izumi had hesitated. The moment they recognized what was happening, both had moved. Izumi leapt from the stands, but Sukuna was faster. Far faster. From across the arena, he unleashed an invisible Dismantle directly at the barrier itself. The slash struck with terrifying precision, severing the domain before it could fully establish itself.
As for why this was so easy, it was because domain barriers were rather weak from the outside to maintain the strength they needed inside the barrier to keep the target of the domain within its effective range.
And that's why accomplished ancient sorcerers like Ryomen and Kenjaku developed toward an open domain instead of a barrier-style domain. A normal Domain Expansion had weaknesses like this.
The moment the barrier broke, the sure-hit effect vanished.
Everyone finally saw what had happened inside. They didn't even realize that the domain had been broken apart from the outside and not from the inside by how fast and clean Sukuna's invisible Dismantle was.
Inside, Kiyomi stood frozen like a statue for a brief moment before blood suddenly erupted from her body. Crimson droplets burst from her skin, her nose, her mouth, and even the corners of her eyes. Hundreds of shallow wounds appeared across her body simultaneously.
The exposure had been short, thankfully far shorter than Naoya intended, but even that brief contact had inflicted severe damage. Combined with the punishment she had already endured throughout the fight, it was simply too much.
The strength left her body.
Her knees buckled, and she collapsed.
There was silence in the area, most not even realizing that the fight had already ended.
It took a certain amount of time for even Genma to come out of his daze before he shouted.
"The match is over!" Genma finally shouted after emerging from his own stunned silence. "Kiyomi Uchiha is unable to continue! The winner is Neji Hyuga!"
The announcement barely registered with anyone.
Naoya's face twisted with fury.
Someone had interfered. He hardly cared about winning anymore since someone had robbed him of his victory.
Someone had shattered his domain. He opened his mouth to voice his anger when suddenly someone arrived in the arena.
It was Sukuna.
The pink-haired genin appeared beside Kiyomi's fallen body almost instantly, kneeling beside her as green healing energy flowed from his hands. Reverse Cursed Technique poured into her damaged body, stabilizing injuries that would have crippled most shinobi. Normally, Sukuna kept his cursed energy restrained so completely that nobody could sense even a fraction of it. He hid it instinctively. Controlled it effortlessly.
This time he didn't bother.
So, while offhandedly healing Kiyomi's wounds, he lifted his eyes and met Neji's own. And for a brief moment, he released it.
Only toward Neji. He released his cursed energy and his unrelenting killing intent.
The pressure struck Naoya like a physical blow. His body stiffened under Sukuna's killing intent. His entire body tensed up, screaming at him that he needed to run. Run from here if he wished to survive.
His anger vanished.
His voice died in his throat.
His mind at first couldn't even work, but when it started thinking again, he seemed to recognize that pink-haired boy. It was a very familiar face.
'Itadori Yuji?'
He thought, but immediately discarded that idea.
'No… this is.'
Cold sweat immediately formed across his forehead and back as a monstrous killing intent slammed into him. Every instinct screamed danger. Every survival instinct he possessed roared at him to remain still. The overwhelming presence lasted only a second, perhaps even less, but it felt eternal.
After that one look, Sukuna ignored him completely, accelerated his on-the-spot healing before lifting Kiyomi carefully into his arms once her condition stabilized.
"I'll be taking her to the hospital. If it's my fight next, wait for me for a while." He offhandedly said to Genma, and before even getting a response in return, he was gone.
What was left was a baffled Genma and a very shaken Neji Hyuga with a certain misogynistic soul inside him.
Genma huffed to himself after a while, internally complaining that he wasn't getting paid enough for this. And then emotionlessly called off the next match-up.
"Sasuke vs Gaara."
xXx
A/N : Ah... who would have thought the first domain we'll see in this fic wouldn't be of Sukuna's.
Anyways. Lets see what happens next.
Please Consider Donating Power Stones if you like the Chapter.
"Thank you Very Much for All Your Support"
If you want to read up to 20+ Chapters in advance, check my Patreon on
Patreon.com/Kamidemond