‘I don’t know if I made the right choice or not.’ Sighed Shisui as he followed Kuroka, then shook his head, ‘Whatever, I still have time, as there are still a few years before the agreed time… I’ll get to know by then.’
Kuroka who is carrying a lantern and step-by-step walking through a secret passage slightly glanced at Shisui’s thoughtful face, then looked at Fuwafuwa sitting on his shoulder with an inexplicable smile.
Although Shisui did not completely agree with her condition, she is still quite satisfied with his promise… and, Kuroka has confidence in her charm… therefore, she is not worried that Shisui wouldn’t fall for her…
With this thought, she turned her head forward and continued to walk.
As the three travelled through this passage; Shisui gradually lost sight of almost everything around him. Only the area under his feet that is illuminated by the lantern in Kuroka’s hand, and Fuwafuwa’s mysteriously glowing green Cat eyes are visible to him in this pitch darkness.
The surrounding Darkness is quite mysterious and seems to be capable of swallowing light, so normal eyesight is pretty much useless here, even the Sharingan and Mangekyou Sharingan are unable to see anything except for Kuroka and Fuwafuwa’s chakra.
However, this time, Shisui isn’t too nervous. Even if he is unable to see anything in the surroundings, he is able to sense it to some degree because of Fuwafuwa sitting on his shoulder.
Fuwafuwa; as a Nekomata proficient in Senjutsu is naturally capable of sensing and seeing through this mysterious darkness.
And considering Fuwafuwa’s special ability, which enables her to share her senses with others to a certain degree, Shisui, who signed a Summoning Contract with Fuwafuwa not long ago is also capable of sensing the surroundings to a certain degree.
Therefore, he is not afraid of losing track of Kuroka.
After a while of walking, Kuroka stopped abruptly, and said while looking at the thing in front of her, “We have arrived.”
Shisui was awakened by Kuroka’s words and raised his head to look at what Kuroka is looking at… and immediately his pupil shrank.
The mysterious darkness has already disappeared, and despite being a close hall this area seems to be a little windy. Shisui’s black cloak fluttered, and his hair swayed slightly in the wind… but all this didn’t attract Shisui’s attention… because all his attention is currently focused on the thing in front of him.
The thing in front of him is an exaggeratedly huge black sphere, and it is exuding an aura of pure chaos.
The radius of this huge black sphere is hundreds of meters and compared to this humongous black Sphere, Kuroka, Shisui, and Fuwafuwa are as small and insignificant as ants.
Noting Shisui’s awed expression, Kuroka introduced with a proud tone, “This place is the holy land of Nekomata… The Black Ball Space… nya~”
Shisui converged his shocked expression, and asked with a suspicious tone, “The Black Ball… Space? Is it–…?”
Even before Shisui could ask his question, Kuroka nodded, “Yes… this place is no longer in the same space as the outside space… you should have felt this too… nya~?”
Because of Fuwafuwa, Shisui did feel something when the mysterious darkness appeared ad disappeared. Initially, he thought that it was some sort of Genjutsu that isolates normal perception but it turns out that’s not the case, unknowingly they have entered a completely different space!
“By the way, Kuroka-sama… what does this Black Ball Space do??” asked Shisui with a curious tone of voice.
“The Black Ball Space is a medium that will help you sense Natural Energy… For better understanding, I suppose you can say that it is quite similar to Mount Myoboku’s Toad Oil, Ryuchi Cave’s Sake Venom, and Shikkotsu Forest’s Slug Mucus.”
“Is that… so?” Shisui nodded slightly… although, he is not familiar with the practice method of Senjutsu of the Three Sage Regions; this doesn’t stop him from understanding what Kuroka meant.
Kuroka nodded, and said, “Yes, now follow me inside the Black Ball Space… your Senjutsu Training will be carried out in the Black Ball Space nya~.”
Immediately after that, Kuroka took a step forward and stepped inside the Black Call Space.
Shisui hesitated a little, whether to follow her inside the Black Ball Space.
Seeing Shisui’s hesitation and worry, Fuwafuwa gently licked his cheek, and assured, “Don’t worry…”
With Fuwafuwa’s assurance, Shisui no longer hesitated and he too stepped inside the Black Ball Space.
…
The moment Itachi dispelled the Genjutsu, the scenery started to become hazy… Itachi’s presence was like a drop of water in a calm lake and it produced ripples… wherever the ripple travelled the scenery begin to change.
Itachi was no longer present in the familiar and lively Village with familiar people… the scene in front of him is a familiar and unfamiliar plane with red and black chaos everywhere.
Looking at this familiar and unfamiliar scenery Itachi can’t help but think, ‘Another Genjutsu? But this place feels a lot like the Tsukuyomi Realm! What’s going on?’
But suddenly his brows turned into a frown, and his nose wrinkled, “This is the smell of Sake–!”
However, Itachi didn’t have much time to think as his eyes widened in shock looking at the person walking towards him step-by-step, “You are….?!”
“I am you… and… you are me…” said the person standing before Itachi.
“What do you mean?” asked Itachi with a confused expression as he looked at the person standing before him, although, he does have a guess in his mind about the identity of the other party…
Considering that the person standing in front of him looks exactly the same as him and give off the exact same feeling… To Itachi, it feels as if he is looking at himself standing opposite to him.
“You guessed it right… I and you, we are the same people… but at the same time, we are different… I am your inner darkness… everyone has darkness within their hearts… and I am the manifestation of your inner darkness… I am also your true self.” said the other Dark Itachi.
“I see… my inner self? So, to get out of here… I need to be able to defeat you… and since you are my inner self… which means, I need to be able to overcome my inner self… in other words… myself. Is that right?” asked Itachi in a sure tone.
The dark Itachi nodded with a smirk, “Yes… to be able to get out of here, you need to be able to defeat me… but you know what’s the best thing about this fight?”
Itachi narrowed his eyes, and while not letting the stench of alcohol affect him, he asked, “What happens if I am unable to defeat you? Will I be trapped here?”
Dark Itachi said with an evil smile, “Yes if you lose, you will remain trapped here forever… while I… on the other hand will be able to get out of here… I will be able to take over the body and then… hehehehehe… the fun will begin…”
Itachi’s pupil shrank upon looking at that evil smile… and he instantly made up his mind with a determined expression, ‘No matter what… I must win!’ and activated his Sharingan then raised his right hand forming a seal of confrontation.
Dark Itachi looked at Itachi’s determined expression, the Sharingan that is activated by Itachi, and said, “As expected of myself… even when facing me, there is still no hesitation… well then, let us start this fight… the winner gets what he wants, while the loser will forever be sealed here!”
As soon as the Dark Itachi finished, he too activated his Sharingan and then raised his right hand in the form of the seal of confrontation.