Chapter 190: Taikyokuzu

Fugaku glanced at Suijin who has lost consciousness but was standing still as if he was a stone statue.

This scene scared Homusubi.

In his cognition, Hyuga Kuroto is the strongest in Konohagakure, even Sandaime-sama may not be as strong as him.

This is why Homusubi didn't expect Suijin to be taken in by Fugaku's Genjutsu so easily.

In shock and panic, Homusubi's three tomoe Sharingan instantly turned into a four-pointed pinwheel.

At this time, Fugaku sheathed the shinobi sword in his hand, at his waist, and asked in a deep voice while slowly walking towards Homusubi, "Answer me, who are you?"

The absent-minded Homusubi glanced at Suijin who was still standing like a rock.

Looking at Homusubi's action, Fugaku coldly said, "Don't bother, he is under Genjutsu!"

Attracted by Fugaku's cold voice, Homusubi turned towards him and noticed the three dots followed by three curves spiraling counter-clockwise around the pupil. Seeing those cold eyes, Homusubi gulped with a guilty conscience and took a step back in fear that Fugaku will figure out that it is him.

Fugaku kept walking forward calmly, giving off an intimidating aura, "You don't need to enact anymore, you may have tried your best to hide it, but your taijutsu, Shurikenjutsu, Kenjutsu, all styles have the shadows of Uchiha Clan written within them, others may not be able to see through this, but I am perfectly capable, put down that mask and reveal just who are you, I am still willing to give you a chance to explain yourself!"

Fugaku feels familiar with the person behind that mask and cloak.

Initially, he thought that it was Uchiha Shinichi who defected from Konoha and joined some bounty-nin organization, at least according to the rumors, but after observing the so-called, 'Homusubi' for a while, Fugaku realized that this person is indeed not Shinichi, but he is undeniably an Uchiha, so his thoughts turned onto other possibilities.

'Maybe Shisui?'

But this absurd thought was soon removed from his head because with the upright, loyal and kind nature Shisui has, it is impossible to betray the village no matter how much he suffers, Shisui might not choose the clan over the village but he will never betray both at the same time and join some bounty-nin organization, moreover doing something like killing the head ninja of Kumo delegates is impossible with Shisui's character, firstly because Shisui was responsible for protecting them and secondly because Shisui should very well understand that such an action could lead to war, and peace-loving Shisui wouldn't want to take such risk, just for a meager bounty!

For this reason, Fugaku has been a little confused, he couldn't figure out who could be the person.

In the face of Fugaku's aggressive questioning, Homusubi chose to remain silent.

"Do you still not understand? You have no chance of escaping, seeing that you are an Uchiha, I am willing to look over your actions, but you must show sincerity and reveal yourself, answer my question and take off that mask on your own, else the consequences will be far more disastrous than some light punishment for you." – warned Fugaku.

Homusubi was still silent.

Fugaku sighed, and the next thing Homusubi discovered was that everything around him had become black and white, all the solid materials and view before him was a shade of black and white.

Suddenly a pair of Mangekyou Sharingan with the same pattern as that of Fugaku appeared in the sky.

At this time, an indifferent omnipotent voice resounded in the Black and White World, "It's your last chance, take off the mask and explain yourself!"

Seeing that everything before him becoming pure black and white, Homusubi asked doubtfully,

"What kind of Genjutsu is this?"

The indifferent voice came again, "It's not a complete Genjutsu."

"Not a complete Genjutsu?" Homusubi muttered in confusion.

"Indeed, Taikyokuzu, that is the name of this Dojutsu. In simple terms, it's a Yin-Yang prison world, a semi-genjutsu world. Once your soul enters here, you will fall in an eternal Genjutsu bound by the struggle of good and evil in your heart.

A human has both good and evil in his heart, good and evil constantly struggle for dominance, and this struggle is something humans can not rid themselves of. As long as someone has even a bit of both in their hearts they will never be able to break free of this Prison World.

Once your soul enters this prison world, it will forever be trapped here, thus your body will be devoid of your soul, which is akin to death. But you will not die, you will be alive, bound eternally by the struggle of good and evil in your heart. There is no escape unless I wish for it, or you rid yourselves of either good or evil in your heart, which is impossible. As such there is no esca-." – halfway through the conversation, Fugaku suddenly stopped.

It's because he suddenly found that the black and white which symbolizes evil and good, Yin and Yang, that was about to invade the opponent suddenly dispersed, and the space filled with the caw of countless crows, thousands of crows flew and circled around Homusubi's spiritual body protecting from inside and out.

The omnipotent vice was no longer omnipotent and spoke in a manner of surprise, "Absurd… how is this possible, you are able to break free!… Does that mean you rid yourself of either good or evil? But such a thing is simply impossible!"

"It's actually simple, the Yin-Yang Prison World you speak of is actually the subjects' own spiritual world, what you do is cut off the link of the soul with the body, therefore, trapping the person here eternally in the struggle of two conflicting ideologies, where, one will only question himself.

As you said, a human can not rid himself of either of the two, so there is no escape, as such he is forever trapped here, alive, yet dead at the same time. The black and white are the disordered Yin-Yang energies, they also symbolize conflicting ideologies in one's heart.

The more black, the more evil, the more white the more goodness. A Genjutsu that traps its victim in an eternal struggle of two conflicting ideologies, indeed an extremely powerful Dojutsu. But not something that can not be broken. All I did is cast a Genjutsu on myself to break the struggle in my heart, by doing so, the struggle of conflicting ideologies in my heart disappears, and thus I can re-establish that connection and take control of my own spiritual world, therefore, successfully breaking free." – Homusubi explained.

"But to be able to do that, you must have cast a genjutsu that can change ideologies itself… any normal Sharingan Genjutsu is incapable of such a thing, and would never be able to do change ideology no matter how skilled you are. Which can only mean… don't tell me… you have them too? But if that's the case, just who are you!?" – the omnipotent voice questioned solemnly, "A… Are you Uchiha M… Madara?"

"Uchiha Madara? No, I am not him! I… I am… sigh… I am Homusubi, the one who holds the seat of Fire in Amatsukami!" – This was the moment.

For the peace of village that he loves.

For the glory of the Clan that he loves.

The final hesitation started to disappear, now what remained was the determination to fall, no matter how deeper, for the clan and for the village!

"So, you don't deny that you have the Mangekyou Sharingan!?" – After a pause the voice became furious, "Neither you are Shisui nor you are Shinichi or Madara, then who are you? Why do you have Mangekyou Sharingan? Answer my question, was it you who attacked Konoha and released the Kyuubi? Are you the person behind that disaster? Are you the one responsible for the death of Yondaime?"

It is not just a rumor that Kyuubi was being controlled by the Sharingan on the night of the Kyuubi's attack, Fugaku himself knows that it was true as he witnessed the scarlet three tomoe ring in Kyuubi's eyes. Which signified that Kyuubi was indeed being controlled by someone of the Uchiha Clan.

And Fugaku knows that anything remotely below the Mangekyou Sharingan is incapable of controlling a Bijuu, therefore, he has always suspected that there might be an Uchiha with Mangekyou Sharingan, possibly hidden inside the village or maybe outside the village. There exists a shinobi who bears the name Uchiha and harbors deep hatred towards the clan and the village, at the same time, possess necessary power to be able to cause chaos.

The first guess is obviously Uchiha Madara! Why did Fugaku conclude it to be Madara who is supposed to be dead? Obviously, because Fugaku knows of the existence of Izanagi, therefore, he can not deny the possibility that Uchiha Madara may still be alive, and only Madara possesses enough hatred and necessary power to control Kyuubi and destroy Konoha.

And now that there stands a person before him who has the Mangekyou Sharingan, with the visual prowess superior to him must mean that it is him. But from the behavior of the other party, Fugaku doesn't think that he is Madara, this is because Fugaku's father had told him about what kind of man Madara was or is?

And if this person is neither Madara, nor Shisui, or Shinichi, then who is he?

Fugaku was now seriously angry, it is only because of this damn Homusubi of Amatsukami that the Uchiha Clan has been suffering from all the blame.

In anger, Fugaku put more strength in the Genjutsu, the other party must not be allowed to live anymore. One might be able to temporarily fool himself out of his ideological struggle, but this fooling can never be forever. Within the human heart lingers these struggles, he just has to incite it.

With Fugaku's urging, the pair of Mangekyou Sharingan in the sky started circling along their central axis. As a result, the entire space again started to turn black and white, the white endless ground and the black endless sky, no sign of the horizon as the two seem to never intersect, there were also countless White and black Kanji characters floating above the ground and in the sky. This is Taikyokuzu's dimension, the Eternal Yin-Yang Prison, a prison that eternally restricts you.

At the same time, Homusubi's Mangekyou Sharingan under his mask also started rotating as a trail of blood flowed from his two eye sockets, resisting the eternal prison.

As a result, a tug of war started between the two of the strongest Uchiha.

…

Downstream along the river.

Tap… Tap… Tap…

Amidst the sound of water stepping, a group of Shinobi flew across the river.

While running, Sasori turned his head and glanced back at the Konoha Shinobi following him, as well as the Kunai and shuriken tied with exploding tags as well as other throwing ninja tools being shot towards him.

While continuously running, Sasori didn't stop flicking his fingers that had the Chakra Strings tied to them and controlled the puppet in red robes.

Ding… Ding… Ding…

The puppet waved the sword as per Sasori's directions and all the Kunai Shuriken et cetera were sent off the track so that they would not harm him.

At the same time, the fingers of his other hand flicked, the other puppets controlled by him suddenly opened their mouth and shot out countless Senbon at the pursuers.

Sandaime's face sank seeing this, and he hurriedly used the Adamantine Staff in his hand to block the Senbons shot towards them, the Konoha Anbu officers were also not behind, some simply dodged, some used defensive ninjutsu to block, while the other countered with Kenjutsu or Bokijutsu, and other suitable methods.

Pierce…

Suddenly an Anbu Shinobi who wasn't able to defend against all the Senbon and was pierced by a Senbon that managed to get past his defense fell head-on into the river.

The Anbu next to him didn't wait and immediately helped him only to find that his skin had turned purple, indicating the symptoms of poisoning, having some knowledge of poison, he tried extracting the poison while also warned, "Everyone, be careful of the poison!"

Sandaime shouted at this time, "The Hokage Platoon will stay with me, while the rest will chase after Kakuzu!"

"Yes, Hokage-sama!" – The Anbu members responded, and chased after Kakuzu.

Kakuzu, who was gradually moving away from Sasori saw the large number of Anbu rushing towards him and cursed inwardly at the two bastards… sighing lightly, he increased his speed and dived into the forest on the opposite bank of the river.

....................................................................................................

Read up to Chapter - 397 on P.a.t.r.e.o.n. Page: p-atreon.com/Milta_translations