Before the disappearance of the Jinchuriki . . .
The Kumo forces who had been pursuing the retreating Uzumaki forces were being delayed by a large number of traps.
Dismantling them would not be very hard but it would take enough time that it would allow their enemies to reestablish their defenses, greatly diminishing their forces' advantage.
Knowing this, Shoka, the dirty blonde haired woman who held the Two Tails, Matatabi, within her body, ran her hand through her shoulder length bob and decided to suggest using her jinchuriki abilities to blow all the traps away using brute force.
Just as she was about to move and approach Dodai however, her cold, sharp brown eyes widened in disbelief before narrowing.
A girl . . .
A little girl of weak, thin build with straight black hair so long it almost dragged on the ground, expressionlessly walked through the Kumo army, heading in her direction.
The shinobi around her seemed utterly oblivious to her existence, running about, checking their weapons or searching for traps to disarm like she was not even there.
"Watch out! Enemy attack!" Shoka shouted.
Even if they could not perceive the enemy, she had to make her comrades aware of their presence.
Frighteningly however, the Kumo shinobi around her kept moving about, completely unaware of her shouts or even movements.
All of them acted as if both she and the approaching little girl did not exist.
Shoka's lithe form twitched as her muscles tightened in response to the disturbing situation.
She grabbed a passing shinobi but, the instant she touched them, they froze, as if their time had been frozen.
Worse, the other still around still acted as if nothing was wrong, it chilled the Kumo kunoichi to the core.
'Is this genjutsu?' The Jinchuriki thought to herself.
It was the only explanation but could genjutsu even accomplish something on the scale of what was taking place.
'Why would it not be able to?' A young voice, colder than the chilliest glacier, resounded in Shoka's head.
The Jinchuriki's expression twisted in shock and fear.
The enemy was quite literally inside her head.
WIth desperation starting to creep in from the horror and abnormality of the situation, Shoka desperately called out to the Two Tails.
'Matatabi! Are you there?'
'I'm here Shoka.' A calm and mature female voice responded, the Two Tailed Fire Cat, Matatabi.
'You are not under genjutsu, that was just a mental transmission.' The Tailed Beast revealed.
'Then ho-?' Shoka started but a different voice in her mind interrupted.
'Like the cat said, you are not under my genjutsu yet.' The same young voice from before said.
The young girl extended her arms outward.
'Every single shinobi here other than you is.' Maiko revealed.
Now, even Matatabi herself was becoming unsettled.
Theoretically, every Kumo shinobi in that location was entirely at Maiko's mercy.
Of course, that was not the case.
The girl was merely implementing Shiki's teachings, mixing subterfuge with genjutsu, manipulating her opponents with the kind of illusions that did not rely on chakra but instead were based in trickery and lies.
All Shoka had to do was wildly blast out with Tailed Beast Chakra and it would all come crashing down.
Sure, she would injure quite a few of her comrades but Maiko, with her weak body would likely die outright.
And so the girl made sure to make the situation as unsettling as possible, manipulating Shoka into being overly cautious.
Walking alone deep into enemy forces was a big risk but her trump card for removing the Two Tailed Jinchuriki required that she close the distance and she could not risk alerting her with a weaker genjutsu.
Having no choice but to approach while visible to Shoko, Maiko made it look like she did it on purpose as a taunt, converting a disadvantage into an advantage.
Shiki would surely be proud of his overachieving adopted sister for this maneuver.
Being talented as a shinobi was one thing but being smart enough to optimally use those talents? That was truly rare in this world of unimaginative meatheads.
'Just a little closer . . .' Maiko thought to herself, calmly taking one step at a time so as to not spook her target and make all the theatrics useless.
Tip, tap, tip, tap, tip, tap . . .
Each step seemed to pound into Shoka's consciousness, disturbing her concentration and interfering with her proper judgement.
Matatabi however, was not so easily cowed.
'Transform! Now!' The Tailed Beast roared within her host's mind.
Although not friends who could entrust their lives to one another implicitly, which was why Shoka was a Nigh-Perfect Jinchuriki and not a Perfect one, they still had a generally harmonious relationship.
Combined with her somewhat shaken mental state, Matabi's roar shook her host in action.
Alas . . .
'Too late.' The cold, emotionless voice of the young girl resounded in Shoka's mental space, clear to both human and Tailed Beast.
'Id Illusion: Reality Marble'
In an instant, the world turned to black and the Two Tailed Jinchuriki was left drifting in the void.
"Wha-!?" Before Shoka could even register her new environment, it changed once again.
*drip*
The sound of water drops echoed in the woman's mind and just as suddenly as she was pulled into the void, she was no longer within it.
A stagnant ocean of dark grey water extended into the horizon.
An equally grey, overcast sky added to the dark, gloomy atmosphere and enormous black trees, bereft of leaves, rose from the water and into the sky alike colossal stone pillars.
While the floor was water, Shoka immediately noticed that even without channeling chakra, she could stand on it like solid ground.
Immediately, the JInchuriki stood.
Despite the increasingly bizarre situation, the fog in her mind had actually cleared and she was fully refocused.
A marginal distance away, further than before, the same girl who brought her here stood unfazed.
Wearing the same white straight jacket with black straps, pale skin like a vampire, long, straight, luscious black hair that reached all the way to her ankles and pitch black eyes darker than the void itself.
Shoka opened her mouth to talk but again, almost as if mocking her desire for some semblance of stability, the environment began to rapidly shift once more.
The ocean of dark grey water began transforming into one of more viscous dark red blood.
From the spaces in between the colossal, pillar-like black trees, smaller, crooked trees with multiple twisted branches began jutting out.
Previously an overcast grey, the sky gained a reddish tint, culminating in a large Blood Moon high up beyond reach.
Far more disconcerting for the Kumo kunoichi however, were the changes not in the environment, but in the young girl responsible for it.
The white straight jacket with black straps, became pure black with white straps instead, her pale, vampire-like skin turned a monstrous greyish black and the long, straight, luscious black hair that reached all the way to her ankles turned whither than snow.
The most impactful changes however, were pitch black , pupilless eyes becoming a demonic yellow with slitted pupils, a pair of curved, black devil horns emerged from her scalp and the previously cold and expressionless face gave way to a maniacal grin and bloodthirsty gaze.
The chilling little girl had become a crazed, unhinged devil.
"Finally! The boss baby is free to rampage at last!" The changed "Maiko" shouted with enthusiastic glee.
"And my first victim in a long while! Shiki-nii will be delighted when we hand over your bloody broken body and shattered mind to him!"
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Hey, Author here!
To promote the novel I will be releasing BONUS CHAPTERS on SUNDAYS based on the previous week's power stone count.
100 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter
500 Power Stones = 2 Bonus Chapters
1000 Power Stones = 3 Bonus Chapters
Every earned BONUS CHAPTER on Webnovel will also be posted on Scribble.
Just a reminder that you can read up to a FULL MONTH ahead of this site on pa-treon.
I'm trying to become a full time Author now and I'm not going to be starting any new novels just so I can make sure this one is properly completed.
Find those sweet advanced chapters on pa-treon.com/lusoba without the -