"Hey, wake up."
Feeling a harsh nudge by the side, Akashi opened his eye—one that he didn't remember closing.
'Where am I?'
He was seated on a wagon. Around him, a tattered and filthy cloak was draped. Judging by how he still lacked an eye, it looked like his physical characteristics were retained, but the circumstance that he lied within suggested many changes.
The one who nudged him was a stranger. Along with him, there were many strangers seated atop the wagon, heading to who-knows-where.
They looked exhausted. Bearded, all of them were men.
"Heh, did you go mute or what? Anyway, we are almost there."
"...To where?"
Akashi couldn't help but ask in genuine confusion. Others looked at him as if he were strange.
"Oh, it looks like you haven't gone mute, but instead, dumb! To forget something that I told you just a week ago!"
"Well, to be honest..."
Another man then raised his hand.
"I also don't remember... I just got on here since you told us that there is a place safe from the war..."
"...Geez, you make me sound as if I abducted you folks."
The man, who seemed to be the one who gathered these people and put them on the wagon, facepalmed.
"Fine. I will explain once more and one time only. Right now, we are heading toward the village known to be the world's safest... the Village Hidden in Rain!"
Such information was enough for Akashi to confirm that he had entered the genjutsu.
After all, Amegakure being the safest place in the world?
Even the depressed would laugh at that.
'However... this sensation... this genjutsu is managing to trick my five senses to this degree. Even if it were to be combined with the fuinjutsu, genjutsu of this extent shouldn't be possible.'
Akashi rubbed his cold hands together within the thin cloak.
'Mangekyo Sharingan too is involved in this jutsu, perhaps.'
Akashi looked around.
Rain began to trickle down, inducing a groan from the others.
It was the scene that he recognized. They just entered the land of rain, and just as the man explained, they were nearing the Amegakure.
'Did this genjutsu animate the entire Elemental Nations?'
Akashi frowned.
'Where can Konan be?'
Furthermore, if this were an alternate world, would there be an alternate version of 'himself' as well?
This genjutsu, based on what Akashi interpreted, was made to restrain him. Logically, it should, then, be harmful and hostile toward him.
From the moment he opened his eye, he was being carried and was quite close to the destination as well.
Even though he didn't have enough information yet, his instinct told him that what awaited him wasn't something pleasant.
And he was a firm believer in his instinct, one that was honed throughout numerous battles and situations he's come across.
"Count me out."
So Akashi jumped out of the wagon, much to others' surprise.
"I'll be on my way from here. Go without me."
"...What's with the sudden change in mind?"
The wagon stopped rolling. The man, who had previously explained, looked at Akashi suspiciously.
"If you think I'm some kind of sketchy man, worry not—"
"I can't be bothered with who you may be."
Without a second look, Akashi turned.
And there, he felt a sharp spike of killing intent from his back.
He chuckled.
Within the matter of a second, the others saw that the man in charge of the wagon was right behind Akashi, gruesomely diced into pieces of flesh.
Everyone turned pale. Some fell from the shock. Some fainted.
Though everything happened too quickly, how the situation went was clear.
The man who was guiding them was trying to attack Akashi, and Akashi killed him in response.
"Y-Y-You... are a shinobi."
By the time one man managed to speak, Akashi was long gone.
...
There were three things that Akashi had to learn.
One, Konan's whereabouts within this world of genjutsu.
Two, the condition to escape.
"And three is optional, but…"
Three, to see if the script from the Naka Shrine can be deciphered through the Rinnegan of this world.
The third one was something that Akashi thought of out of whim. Checking his pouches, he saw that his possessions had come along with him into this world; it was worth giving a try, if possible.
Currently, Akashi was silently running through the gloomy and slippery woods of the land of rain.
He deduced that being the kunoichi of Ame, there was a high likelihood that she was within said village. Hence, he was looking for a way to sneak into the village.
However, his run had to stop at one instance.
Something was strange. In front of where Akashi ended up at, there was a bizarre, crack-like dent in the air.
"Hellooooo~?!"
A childish voice rang from beyond the denture.
"Anyone there~?"
It was a phenomenon that Akashi had never experienced before.
'Can it be that…'
Then, Akashi's eye widened as he came across one possibility that went through his mind.
'Whoever is beyond that crack is someone from the real world, having managed to find a way into this genjutsu world?'
Strange, it was. Not only would the red orb that contained this genjutsu world be tightly secured by the ninjas of Ame, but entering it through the conventional means didn't involve a process like that Akashi was seeing at the moment.
"Hmm… I definitely sense the presence just out, though?"
Akashi didn't speak. In silence, he decided to monitor for some more time.
Whoever was beyond the denture continued to blabber.
"I sensed an interesting genjutsu that had its duration extended to that of a nigh infinity through its conjoin with fuinjutsu, and decided to check it out… but to think it would have a barrier this tight for even someone like me to… damn it! Now I'm stuck here! Someone help!!"
"…Who are you?"
At last, Akashi spoke.
With Konan confiscated, he didn't have the time to dawdle around. If not for the fact that what's happening ahead has the potential of being linked with a way to escape from the genjutsu world, he would've ignored it.
"H-Huh?! Someone indeed was there, after all! Hey! Help me! Let me out, will you? I can't move!"
"How will I let you out?"
"H-Here!"
Akashi threw a question, and in response, a… wing—of a bug but at a size far greater than that of a bug—made its way through the crack.
"Pull my wing!!"
'…Wing?'
This confirmed that the one whom Akashi was talking with wasn't a human being.
"Answer my inquiries, and I will consider liberating you."
"Ugh… of course. You're one of those annoying ninjas, aren't you?"
Ignoring the creature's grumble, Akashi began throwing questions at it.
"What are you? A butterfly? Looks like that wing of yours belongs to that of a bug."
"W-W-What?!!! How dare you associate the word bug with me?!! Can't you see how big, beautiful, and baddie my wing is?!!"
"So?"
"…A moth. At least that's what those geezers of my clan say."
"So you are one of those ninja summons."
"Fuck, I hate the sound of it."
"…"
"But I cannot deny it."
"How did you end up here?"
"Hey, aren't you a bit cold?! I gave you the answer at the cost of feeling humiliated! At least show some empathy!"
"…"
"Well… my specimens are able to convert our physical self into chakra and freely go in and out of restricted places, genjutsu included. I was just trying to explore this new area I found, and…"
Having concluded that the creature wasn't dangerous and that its means of entering this genjutsu wasn't something that he and Lona could apply, Akashi decided that there was no point in further interrogation.
Summoning a clone, Akashi had it pull the wing out of the crack. Initially, the wing comically extended like a rubber,
"Ow, ow!! Be delicate!!"
Before one moth-like creature, approximately one meter in height, was flown out of it.
"Ugh… thanks…"
Akashi glanced over the giant moth and noticed that its body was quite fragile.
"Then, I'll be on my way."
With the giant moth having been freed, there was no longer a reason for Akashi to remain at the spot.
His feet moved, and he was running.
'Amegakure is one of the most familiar places to me. From what I see thus far, the structure seems to be the same as that of the real world. This saves me quite some time—'
"...Why are you following me?"
Akashi noticed that the giant moth was flying from his back.
He was quite surprised, not so much by the fact that it was following him, but that it was able to match his speed.
"U-Uh, it wasn't that I was originally intending to follow you, but, uh,"
The moth, somehow speaking a human's language without a mouth, stuttered.
"I can't return to my home! Like, something about this world is blocking me from doing so! This is an emergency!!"
"And?"
"Er, so..."
The moth flew playfully as if trying to hide its embarrassment.
"I know, based on your chakra, that you aren't part of this world. Um, so, can I follow you?"
"You will be nothing but a hindrance to me."
"An immediate rejection...!"
Upon Akashi's cold response, the moth's flying form wobbled. Flying ahead of Akashi and turning, its compound eyes then twinkled as they were headed toward him.
"But what if I can do... this!"
Suddenly, its size shrank to that of a normal moth. It then entered Akashi's cloak without his consent.
"I'll just stay dead silent like this! What do you say?"
Akashi's eye narrowed upon the performance. Without bothering to expel the moth, he asked instead,
"What else can you do?"
"I excel at infiltration and information gathering! You're trying to find a way to get out of this place as well, right? We can work together!"
"Hm..."
Akashi pondered a little as he continued to run. Eventually, he decided to reveal the truth.
"Before the escape, I am here to search for another one who's trapped in this world like us. After that one's done, I will then try to escape from here."
"Oh... a girl, I bet?"
Suddenly, the moth spoke in a teasing tone, confusing Akashi.
"She is my family."
"Oh, you are related by blood?"
"No."
"Heh~"
"...What's with that tone of yours?"
"Nothing!"
The moth let out a light, playful laughter before declaring,
"Well then, we'll be partners from hereon!"
"For now, yes."
Akashi's right hand began to glow. Raising it up, he saw that on the back of the hand, a seal appeared.
"It's a contract between us two! It isn't done by the official scroll, so it's temporary at best... but it should be enough for now!"
"What is the point of this contract, when you can't return to your home anyway?"
"It's a restriction that's placed on my side... a proof that I cannot betray you!"
Akashi gazed down at the tiny moth that was slipping out of his cloak's neck area.
'In contrast to its goofy attitude, this one is surprisingly sharp.'
It was aware of Akashi's distrust.
"After all, you are the Red Blade, aren't you? I don't want to get myself killed!"
"...So you already knew."
"Who doesn't? Your name has spread far and wide!"
"Well then,"
Akashi finally lowered his guard, having inspected that the seal placed on his hand was exactly what the moth described.
"Bear with me for a little while."
It was an unexpected company. As someone who had rarely met someone who wasn't hostile, an experience like this felt novel to Akashi.
"Your name is?"
"Chakka!"
Through the woods, Akashi's eye revealed a solemn glow as it found the huge, gray wall of Amegakure ahead.