Chapter 515: Ending
White Zetsu smiled insipidly.
"Your original plan was to let the people of the Konoha delegation die in Cloud Ninja Village, right..." He slowly sank his body into the ground and said slowly.
If Shizune and the others died bizarrely in Cloud Ninja Village, then Cloud Ninja would really be like yellow mud falling into their pants; even if it wasn't shit, it would be treated as shit.
So Obito's scheme, simply put, was just this one trick.
"You wanted to kill them, and then frame it on Cloud Ninja." White Zetsu continued.
The masked man nodded.
"That's right. If so, a rift would occur between Cloud Ninja and Konoha, and it would be absolutely impossible for them to ally and cooperate!" He said.
Obito recalled the Nine-Tails Rebellion back then.
He deliberately used the Nine-Tails controlled by the Sharingan to attack Konoha in front of so many Konoha ninja, which was pinning a huge pot of shit on the Uchiha clan's head.
Poor Uchiha clan back then, investigating themselves for so long, still couldn't find out which traitor did this. Finally, unable to hand over a suspect, they were deemed by Konoha as shielding a criminal.
One side firmly believed they were innocent, and the other side firmly believed the opponent was guilty; the Uchiha and the village generated an unclosable gap from then on. Under continuous accumulation of contradictions and conflicts, it finally brewed the bitter fruit of the Uchiha clan's annihilation.
Of course, the root cause of the Uchiha and Konoha being unable to coexist was buried since Madara Uchiha. Obito merely fanned the flames and detonated the hidden danger.
This time was the same.
Relying on the power of the few Tailed Beasts collected in the early stage, Obito could cast a prerequisite version of the Infinite Tsukuyomi: Limited Tsukuyomi.
This jutsu, Limited Tsukuyomi, was actually a multi-player networked enhanced version of Tsukuyomi.
It's just that the networked version of Tsukuyomi was more powerful, able to more conveniently create a mirror world, and supported operations like changing character personalities, world history, etc.
Obito originally expected this jutsu to trap Haruno Sakura and the Konoha delegation to death in the mirror world.
At least trap their spirits in it, and then take the opportunity to kill the defenseless Haruno Sakura in the real world.
The plan was not complicated—with Obito's IQ, he couldn't come up with interlocking precise schemes either; but many times, the simpler and cruder the plan, the more effective it is.
White Zetsu also understood this reasoning.
This was the reason why White Zetsu, named Obito's subordinate but actually the supervisor of the Eye of the Moon Plan left by Madara, supported Obito's operation this time.
"But we didn't expect Haruno Sakura to be able to crack the Limited Tsukuyomi so quickly..." White Zetsu frowned and said.
Obito frowned without speaking, pondering in his heart that this might be related to Haruno Sakura cracking Itachi's Tsukuyomi before.
So she had experience dealing with this type of genjutsu...
"A normal Limited Tsukuyomi should be building a perfect world in the mind of the target, making them sink into that perfect world unable to extricate themselves. When you cast this jutsu, why did you modify this part?" After thinking about it, White Zetsu raised another question.
Obito snorted.
"Pulling so many people into the mirror world in one breath is not as easy as you imagine..." He glanced at the vegetative person on the ground and explained, "That's why I first blackened the Cloud Ninja, forced those people to death in the Tsukuyomi world, so I could concentrate on dealing with Haruno Sakura later!"
"Besides, what kind of world do you think would make her sink?"
Haruno Sakura's parents were both well, her master and teacher were all alive. Although she came from an ordinary ninja family, she climbed to the position of the Fifth Hokage's disciple and Konoha's top combat power. Her status was high, she had many friends, a beautiful best friend with a close relationship, and handsome or hot-blooded childhood teammates.
This kind of character background was considered among the happiest in the entire ninja world.
Her life was already quite fulfilling, why would she care about a perfect world created by Tsukuyomi?
White Zetsu was momentarily speechless.
Obito glanced at the gradually cracking crystal ball. The genjutsu world displayed in the ball had already begun to shake unsteadily; the effect of the jutsu was about to be dispelled.
Whatever, this trip at least collected Haruno Sakura's data, and more or less managed to sow discord in the relationship between Cloud Ninja and Konoha villages.
"Let's go."
The masked man said, turning around and disappearing into the air.
In the world of Limited Tsukuyomi.
Haruno Sakura hadn't yet realized what her blue willpower rod had done.
She only felt that after the thin rod pierced the Raikage's heart, it seemed to touch something else.
"Could it be... it touched the core of the genjutsu?"
Thinking like this, the girl gripped the rod in her hand tightly and stabbed forward forcefully, feeling as if she had punctured something.
Looking closely again, the rod was still as clean as before, and no changes could be seen.
Then, the whole world suddenly shook.
Not the earthquake-style shaking of mountains collapsing and earth moving, but the whole world seeming to suddenly lose its sense of reality.
"Sure enough, I fell into a genjutsu..."
Haruno Sakura frowned slightly.
In this shaking, the Raikage's body, full of a sense of reality, actually turned into black particles within Haruno Sakura's reach and disappeared into the air.
The reactions of the Cloud Ninja not far away began to become sluggish and clumsy.
Haruno Sakura couldn't be bothered to deal with these fake people.
At this moment, realizing this was a fake genjutsu world, her anger and agitation instantly vanished. Looking back, she just made a huge scene, uncontrollably agitated, only to find in the end that it was just a phantom dream.
Suddenly feeling dull.
But the girl also thought, if she hadn't intensified the conflict with the Cloud Ninja just now, how long would it have taken her to wake up from this illusion? Even... would she have sunk into the illusion forever?
Thinking of this possibility, Haruno Sakura shuddered.
Thinking deeper, how could she know that the so-called real world wasn't a stronger, more real Tsukuyomi world?
How to define the difference between real and fake?
Haruno Sakura shook her head, feeling that going deeper would turn into pure philosophical speculation.
"Anyway, whether the so-called real world is real or fake, since I am genuinely living here, then treat everything in this world sincerely, and face myself truly!"
Instead of struggling over whether the real world is real or fake, it's better to actively face life and live out a wonderful self!
Haruno Sakura in this life was much more perfect than her life in her previous life.
Thinking like this, Haruno Sakura suddenly felt that everything that happened in the genjutsu just now also had its meaning.
At least after experiencing this genjutsu, she finally understood what it felt like to lose an important person, like Sasuke and many people in the ninja world...
Fortunately, this tragedy didn't really happen.
She sighed. Looking at the mountains and ruins in the distance, they slowly became blurred too.
From far to near, the world gradually lost its color, turning into a piece of grayish-white.
Before long, Haruno Sakura suddenly felt her body sway.
The scene before her eyes abruptly changed.
The girl found herself standing in the corridor of the courtyard.
Returned?
Haruno Sakura hurriedly condensed a willpower rod and poked herself.
The skin, full of real feeling, dented. The willpower rod didn't find anything unusual, and the girl instantly breathed a huge sigh of relief.
"Returned to the real world."
She subconsciously touched her body. Her pajamas were intact, and the wounds and bloodstains all over her body had vanished without a trace.
Haruno Sakura looked under her feet. The position she stood was exactly the corner of the corridor, the place where the masked man disappeared.
That's right.
Sakura remembered that when she chased that person here, the masked man disappeared through Space-Time Ninjutsu.
Then... meaning she was indeed affected by genjutsu at that time?
Presumably, it was when she chased to the corner that she completely fell into the genjutsu.
What kind of genjutsu could create such a realistic world that even she almost sank into it?
Haruno Sakura was frowning and pondering when she suddenly heard a rustling sound not far away.
A big tree in the yard on the left suddenly rustled, and a figure abruptly fell to the ground.
Haruno Sakura hurriedly looked over. The figure under the tree was not the burly strong man in the illusion, but a boy with long limbs, a thin figure, wearing a crop top.
It was Sai.
"I..." The boy touched his neck, his expression a bit confused, "Did I fall asleep just now?"
His mind was still stuck on the scene of being decapitated by the Raikage's sword.
Then the next instant, he opened his eyes and found himself still well hidden in the tree, his body unharmed.
Haruno Sakura's eyes curved, smiling brightly.
She walked over barefoot, stepping on the delicate and cool grass beneath her feet.
Passing by the spot where Shizune and the others "died", she didn't pause for half a minute, just walking straight to Sai like this.
Sure enough, a living Sai is still somewhat cuter.
"Sai," the girl slightly tilted her head, teasingly saying, "You couldn't have fallen asleep while on duty, right!"
On the other side, a loud scream suddenly came from the yard, followed by a flurry of footsteps.
"Sakura!"
Shizune shouted in terror. Before long, she led the rest of the delegation rushing out in a hurry and found Haruno Sakura.
"We seem to have collectively fallen into a genjutsu!" The senior sister's face was ugly, her forehead covered in cold sweat. Grabbing the girl's hand, she hurriedly said, "It's Cloud Ninja! Cloud Ninja are going to turn hostile against us!"
"Calm down, senior sister."
Haruno Sakura smiled faintly, backhandedly holding the woman's cold hand, wiping the cold sweat from her forehead with her cuff, and smiled gently: "We did indeed fall into a genjutsu, but this has nothing to do with Cloud Ninja. They have no intention of turning hostile against us."
"It's someone else... people from Akatsuki playing tricks."
"Anyway, don't worry, I'm here!"
Haruno Sakura patted her chest and said.
The confident smile on the girl's face and the heavy momentum deliberately exuded calmed everyone down. After a good while, the emotions of Shizune and the rest of the delegation finally cooled down.
The world in the genjutsu was simply too real.
That excessively real pain and experience left a deep psychological shadow on them.
Especially Shizune.
Could it be that she won't be able to marry and have children in this life...
A woman who can't get married at thirty, might have a hard time getting married in this life.
Haruno Sakura's expression was odd as she quietly glanced at her senior sister.
Something like this happened. If any strange psychological sequelae arose from this, Haruno Sakura wouldn't be surprised at all.
With such an accident, the people of the delegation lost all sleepiness, and everyone simply stayed up all night for their last night in Cloud Ninja Village.
Haruno Sakura rearranged the duty personnel and added hidden sentries.
"Someone is coming." As Haruno Sakura was speaking about the duty arrangements, a girl from the Inuzuka clan was suddenly startled, stood up abruptly, and said, "It's the Raikage and his people!"
Everyone instantly stood up.
"Don't panic..."
Haruno Sakura waved her hand calmly, taking the lead to walk out of the room.
"You guys just stand behind me."
She thought for a moment, summoned Katsuyu, and entered Sage Mode.
Light purple eyeshadow and gorgeous sage markings instantly emerged.
❃❃❃
⤑ Show your support with Power Stones!
⤑ Unlock a Bonus Chapter every time we hit 400 Power Stones!
❃❃❃
♕ Get early access to 30+ advanced chapters on Patreon!
🔗 https://www.pat-reon.co-m/c/Hollowborn
(Just remove the hyphen (-) to open the link!)
💬 Enjoying the story? Drop a review!
Your support really helps the series grow—thank you!