Standing before the Four Celestial Symbols Men, Raiga's frown did not disappear. A sense of danger engulfed him upon confirming their deaths. Ranmaru's following words did not help in the slightest.
"We're still being watched. I've also checked our surroundings. There's no one within several kilometers."
"Impossible," Raiga exclaimed. "Have they hidden even their life force?"
Ranmaru's head popped up from where he was hiding, "I don't think so."
He sighed.
"It seems like entering the Land of Rivers was a mistake. Should we go somewhere else—?"
Raiga dashed away from the corpses of the Four Celestial Symbols Men.
Without being given a chance to breathe, a pillar of fire erupted and engulfed the entire area. Caught in the flames, Raiga hurriedly escaped.
"Are you okay, Ranmaru?"
Patting down the fires that had stuck to him, Raiga made sure his companion was okay.
"It's hot," Ranmaru replied, "But I'm fine. The fires came from above us. I can't believe that I didn't notice it."
Raiga shook his head, "The attacker is cunning. He knew how to attack where our guards weren't heightened."
Luckily, Raiga had an insane reaction time. If not, then both he and Ranmaru would've been cooked alive.
Raiga roared, "Show yourself!"
However, there was no reply. Ranmaru took a moment to observe the way the firepillar appeared.
"Hm... I'm going to try looking North-West. Based on the impact, the fireball was launched from there." Ranmaru activated his Dojutsu and gazed into the distance.
"...I still can't find anyone."
—Sizzle!
Suddenly, another fireball arrived. Raiga dodged it with ease. However, this made him worried.
The fireball came from a different place.
—And still, more fireballs were falling from the sky. The burning trails that they left behind were ironically beautiful.
Ranmaru realized its implications just then.
"We're surrounded!"
Raiga's expression changed as he wrapped himself in lightning. A crackle of thunder resounded as he was struck by the thunder gods above.
'Lightning Strike Armor!'
As soon as he donned the lightning that fell from the sky, Raiga's speed skyrocketed. He dodged left and right, searching for gaps between the volleys of fireballs that engulfed the area in flames.
A forest fire spread.
However, Raiga and Ranmaru didn't receive even an inch of damage after the first fireball. With Ranmaru's insight and Raiga's speed, the 'slow-moving' projectiles were like falling dandelions.
The surrounding area had been filled with flames, yet Raiga stood, unbothered.
***
'As expected of one of the Mist's legendary swordsmen,' Suguru thoroughly recorded Raiga's footwork with his Kaisu-Sharingan.
Then, he put his hands together to form seals.
[Snake » Rat » Boar » Tiger » Horse » Rat].
'Genjutsu: Infernal Mirage,'
Suguru's eyes flashed. The chakra he had distributed with his Hellfire Artillery had already surrounded Raiga and Ranmaru in a veritable flood.
Thus, the Genjutsu began its invasion.
Suguru instantly followed it up with a dangerous,
[Bird].
'Dark Release: Vampiric Gaze,'
His target was Ranmaru.
***
Unlike Ranmaru who bore a certain resistance against Genjutsu, Raiga was less perceptive of it. Without Ranmaru's help, he wasn't well-attuned to fighting against Genjutsu users. Much less recognize the influence of such an obscure Genjutsu like Suguru's Infernal Mirage.
After all, there was a reason why he called Ranmaru his eyes and ears.
"Be careful. Don't move and focus. I can feel them preparing something..."
Raiga heard Ranmaru speak to him as he watched the flames with a wary gaze. Unbeknownst to him, this act of watching pulled him deeper into Suguru's Genjutsu.
In reality, Raiga was now unresponsive. Meanwhile, Ranmaru faced a pair of ethereal eyes that manifested out of thin air.
"Rai... ga..."
Ranmaru barely uttered the missing-nin's name before falling into a trance. Chakra began flowing out of his body, consumed by the eyes before him.
He was helpless. There was no outer influence to break him out of the binding. Raiga was stuck in a Genjutsu, fully confident in his abilities yet unable to realize his predicament.
'I'm... sorry...' Ranmaru wanted to pry his gaze away, but he could do nothing.
The ethereal eyes forced him to look. Unwaveringly and uncontrollably.
It was a demand he could not deny.
"He...lp,"
Still, Ranmaru was able to eke out a mutter despite his circumstances. It was a surprising feat.
'Such strong willpower... Ranmaru could've made for a good shinobi.' Suguru thought.
Unfortunately, the stage had already been set. Although the two wouldn't die just yet, they weren't too far off.
***
Ranmaru and Raiga were lying at the center of a forest fire. Surrounded by ashes and fallen trees, the duo eventually stirred.
Their lungs were filled with burned particles. Upon waking up, they realized how the ashes that fluttered in the wind made it unpleasant to breathe. The heat and the fumes made for a thick, poisonous atmosphere.
However, they were glad to have survived.
Raiga's psyche was scarred by the Genjutsu he didn't realize he was in. Now that he had returned to reality, the dissonance grew worse.
"Ranmaru... you're alive," Raiga spoke carefully, "What... What happened?"
Ranmaru struggled to speak.
"I don't know."
There was no sign of someone attacking them. Furthermore, the volleys of flames weren't the dangerous part of their encounter — no, it had been the Genjutsu used on both of them. Ranmaru still couldn't tell what kind of Genjutsu had been used on Raiga.
Furthermore, the eyes that Ranmaru saw for himself were even more terrifying.
"I lost much of my chakra and passed out," Ranmaru said, to which Raiga had also nodded.
"Did you see those eyes too?"
Ranmaru shivered. "I did. Could that have been... the Ghost?"
Raiga shook his head. "That was no ghost. It felt more like a powerful Dojutsu."
For a moment, Raiga was reminded of Konohagakure's Uchiha. Their legendary Sharingan had unmatched capabilities when it came to Genjutsu. However, he could only get rid of that thought.
Their recent encounter didn't even reveal a single enemy shinobi. Furthermore, the Uchihas were said to have been massacred a few years ago.
'It couldn't have been the Sharingan,' Raiga clicked his tongue.
He couldn't help but glance at his companion...
'What if it was a special Dojutsu like Ranmaru's?'
Suddenly, Raiga thought that it was possible. A random mutation was more likely than the dead coming back to life.
'I need to be careful,' Raiga thought as he sheathed his swords.
***
So... a random mutation was more likely than the dead coming back to life... That was quite an interesting statement.
Suguru couldn't read minds, but he could guess that Raiga was trying to formulate a strategy against him. Unfortunately for Raiga, they didn't realize one key point.
The reason why they still lived.
Suguru did not have absolute control over his flames. If he attacked them with Hellfire Artillery while they were weak, he might accidentally burn Ranmaru's eyes in the process.
If that happened, Suguru would be crushed by regret alone.
Thus...
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