"Oh no—Sharingan!"
The instant Akahoshi saw the crimson three-tomoe eyes, his heart sank.
This… this wasn't supposed to happen.
Hadn't Uchiha Ran already heavily injured him with Lightning Release: Kirin? And now—now he was still shameless enough to finish things off with the Sharingan?!
In that split second, Akahoshi felt his entire body slip out of his control.
Even the defensive form of the Peacock Method collapsed completely.
"I can't move… I can't even disrupt my chakra anymore. Is this… the Uchiha's genjutsu?"
Paralysis gripped him from head to toe. No matter how hard he struggled, there was no escape.
"What a pity," Ran said calmly, sheathing his Zanpakutō.
"You were never going to escape Fleeting Life, Dreamlike Illusion in the first place. And honestly—you underestimated its power."
The moment the blade slid back into its scabbard, the scorched battlefield—ravaged by Kirin—vanished like mist.
"T–This is…?!"
A look of disbelief spread across Akahoshi's face.
Though he couldn't move, his peripheral vision barely shifted toward his arm.
Unharmed.
Not a single wound.
"How is this possible…? It was all genjutsu?!"
"You're not wrong," Ran replied.
"Fleeting Life, Dreamlike Illusion can indeed be considered a type of genjutsu."
After so many battles, Akahoshi was—ironically—an exceptionally attentive audience.
"This is the ability of my Zanpakutō. You can think of it as a real illusion."
Ran walked slowly toward him, his voice steady and composed.
"Once you're affected by Fleeting Life, Dreamlike Illusion, your five senses fall completely under my control. Sight. Hearing. Touch. Smell. Taste. All of them."
"As long as I control your senses, I can construct any environment I want before your eyes—and even fabricate every sensation your body experiences."
He stopped in front of Akahoshi and reached down, rummaging around his waist.
"So this is it… the so-called Star Stone."
Ran pulled out a faintly glowing fragment and examined it with interest.
At that moment, everything finally clicked for Akahoshi.
If Ran truly controlled the five senses, then Akita and the others killing each other made perfect sense—they must have mistaken allies for enemies.
And him?
When he thought he had escaped into the sky, his vision had already been hijacked. What he believed was long-distance flight was probably just him hovering around in place like an idiot.
The terrifying Lightning Release: Kirin.
The destroyed terrain.
The pain. The blood.
All of it—nothing but fabricated sensations.
"This… this world actually has genjutsu this terrifying?!"
Once you were caught, you'd be toyed with endlessly—never knowing what was real and what was fake.
Just like Natsuhoshi, still foolishly battling empty air.
"…So his goal was the Star Stone?"
Feeling the Star Stone leave his body, Akahoshi's thoughts raced.
If that's all he wants… maybe he'll spare me?
The Star Stone was the greatest treasure of the Star Ninja Village—capable of amplifying chakra and forming unique chakra constructs. Even in the shinobi world, it was a rare prize.
There was no direct conflict between the Uchiha and the Star Ninja Village. Maybe… just maybe…
But while Akahoshi spiraled in desperate hope, Ran was already examining the stone closely.
Holding it in his hand, Ran recalled what Orochimaru had once told him.
More than two hundred years ago, during the Warring States Era, a deafening roar split the sky above the Star Ninja Village of the Land of Bears.
A meteor tore through the heavens and crashed down at unimaginable speed.
It wasn't large—only a few dozen centimeters across—but its surface shimmered with an eerie, starlike glow, as if a fragment of the cosmos itself had fallen to earth.
Ran infused his chakra into the Star Stone, probing its depths.
Inside, he sensed an enormous amount of chakra—pure, dense, and tightly sealed within the stone.
Could this be… Ten-Tails chakra that's been completely sealed and purified?
The Ten-Tails—legendary progenitor of all tailed beasts.
The nine tailed beasts of today were nothing more than fragments of its former power.
The Ten-Tails possessed limitless chakra, enough to shake the entire shinobi world—but that chakra was steeped in hatred and malice.
Yet the energy within this stone felt different.
The Ten-Tails' chakra and the meteorite had fused, forming a radiating Star Stone that emitted a faint, steady glow—without that overwhelming resentment.
"So that's how it is…"
Ran's thoughts sharpened.
"This radiation is the byproduct of Ten-Tails chakra. The Star Ninja can't absorb it directly, so they cultivate themselves using the radiation instead."
"No wonder it's so harmful to the body."
The radiation was dangerous—but for ordinary Star Ninja, it also brought undeniable benefits.
That was why generation after generation of Star Shadows refused to abandon it.
"So this is… pure Ten-Tails chakra?"
When Ran fully connected his chakra to the Star Stone, the sealed energy surged outward as if it had finally found an outlet.
Vast, overwhelming chakra poured into his body, rushing through his meridians and converging in his dantian.
At the same time—
In a space that existed somewhere between reality and illusion, an old man abruptly opened his eyes.
"How pure… Ten-Tails chakra… ah, an Uchiha…"
And just as quickly, he fell back into slumber.
...
"…As expected of Ten-Tails chakra."
Ran exhaled slowly, satisfaction clear in his eyes.
The immense chakra coursing through him was pure, primal—constantly growing and stabilizing within his body.
Pure Ten-Tails chakra was among the most fundamental energies in the shinobi world.
And the Uchiha had always shared a deep connection with it.
Ran could clearly feel it now—the Ten-Tails chakra slowly merging with his own. New chakra circulated through his body, and faintly… subtly…
His three-tomoe Sharingan was beginning to change.
Curious, Ran also experimented with the residual radiation left within the Star Stone.
Combining it with his own chakra, he raised a hand—
Behind him, tangible chakra constructs formed before Akahoshi's stunned eyes.
A peacock.
A leopard.
A tiger.
A qilin.
A dragon.
The chakra shifted forms freely, responding to Ran's thoughts.
But as he compared the two, his expression cooled slightly.
The radiation-infused chakra was far less compatible than Ten-Tails chakra.
Disappointment flickered across his face.
"So this is the Star Ninja Village's greatest power?"
Ran shook his head lightly.
"It's… nothing special."
It wasn't worth further exploration.
This power fell far short of his expectations.
Ran stopped channeling the radiation and turned away, already planning to bring the Star Stone back for Orochimaru to study instead.
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