Naruto: The Blind Swordsman - Chapter 196: Paintings, Sea and Emotions

__________ POV Narration __________

As soon as Tsunade accepted the Blind Assassin’s help, she felt odd, her vision becoming blurry for a moment as she stared at his widening smile and inhumanly perfect teeth.

‘D-Does he have 40 teeth?’

She quickly raised her hands to rub her eyes, thinking she was having a panic attack or something.

When Tsunade opened her eyes next, she was already in a forest.

The sudden change in scenery quickly took her aback, but as an experienced Shinboi, she realized what had happened…

“A Genjutsu…” Tsunade felt weird, as the images around her almost looked like caricatures of trees.

For a moment, they looked like the fingerpaintings of children; the other looked as if painted by the best watercolor artist in the Elemental Nations.

‘What the hell is this Genjutsu… I’ve never heard of something like this…

I can’t seem to break out of it either… That’s weird, my chakra pool should be enough to take me out of most illusions…’

Normally, she would have felt some amount of fear at being trapped in a Genjutsu, but now she was in a rather safe environment, with even her comrade Orochimaru by her side.

She didn’t feel like she was in any danger, so she allowed her mind to wander and her eyes to look further into the strange world that now surrounded her.

With fascination in her pearly blue eyes, she walked forward, her right hand reaching out to touch one of the colourless trees.

And she surprisingly did so successfully. She felt as if she was touching a real tree, yet her hand dragged across the masterfully painted tree bark.

Her eyes couldn’t help but sparkle, as a smile rose to her lips.

And in an instant, that tree splashed into the ground, as if turning into ink right in front of her.

The next painting that formed in front of her eyes was of a beautiful sea filled with waves that appeared as if pulled out of yet another masterpiece.

Every painting that revolved in front of her… It all felt so real, so right.

She had been caught in Genjutsu before, but she had never seen one that was this intricate and focused on giving the victim such a unique experience.

But her mind was forced to refocus as another color rushed into the corner of her eyes… Red.

The beautiful sea in front of her quickly turned blood red, and her mind was immediately encapsulated by irrational fear.

It was not just the color, it was also the stench, the feeling on her skin. It was all accentuated greatly.

Even as a medical-nin, as she served in the bloodiest battlefields imaginable, she had never felt a stench of blood as deeply as she was feeling it now.

Some memories flashed before her eyes. Memories of people that had died in her arms, people she had failed to save…

In an instant, she started heaving uncontrollably, her hands shaking as she looked down at them, only to see them fully covered in blood.

The sea of blood itself seemed to have almost swallowed her up completely for a moment, as fear completely overtook her mind and she felt that she was about to pass out.

In that instant, the world stilled, and she was quickly spat out by the ocean, which quickly went still, and all color drained from it.

Tsunade’s mind calmed down for a moment, as she quickly tried to take control of her breath.

‘This is all a nightmare, this is all a nightmare… Yes, this is nothing more than an illusion…’

The Slug Sannin was ultimately able to regain her composure after a few moments, her eyes quickly taking in her surroundings, that black and white sea was now completely still.

“W-What’s next now?!?” She shouted into the void of that beautifully dead sea.

And as soon as she wondered out loud, the sea started to shift right in front of her.

And a figure rose out of the sea, meeting her gaze.

It was a tall man, long dark and spiky hair flowed down all the way to his lower back, his pale skin mostly covered within a coat which hid most of his body.

She could make out his face. And there was no way to describe him other than handsome, even she couldn’t help but blush a bit when looking at him.

His features were sharp and manly. There was nothing imperfect about his face.

But the thing that stood out most were his eyes… Deep dark pupils seemed to stare right into her soul. Yet, they were almost lifeless, there was no light in them, and no light reflected from them.

“You’re… the Red Dot?”

Tsunade could somewhat make out the lower half of his face. The upper half had been previously obscured by his long bangs, but she could still recognize him.

‘Wasn’t he supposed to not have eyes at all? Wait, no, this is an illusion…’

“Hmm~ You’ve guessed it. Do not let these eyes fool you, they are nothing more than how I see myself internally. They do not work as eyes would.”

Tsunade’s eyes widened when hearing the assassin’s voice.

Instead of it being raspy and serious like before, it was now much clearer, gaining an almost melodic intonation.

“Hmph, so what? You created a Genjutsu to make yourself look handsome? Ain’t that kinda pathetic?” Tsunade spat to the side as she spoke.

She didn’t want to admit how impressed she was by everything, and she was also quite salty at the scare he had given her just a few minutes earlier.

“I assure you, I could make my body into whatever I want it to be even in the real world. And I have already.

There is no telling what I would have actually looked like, this is something I have been doing for well over a decade.

I just don’t bother with the eyes since they are just decorations anyway…”

Ken smiled a bit at her pettiness and brashness. There was something rather endearing and amusing about her behavior in his fake eyes, but he didn’t dwell on it for too long.

Still, he took his time as he spoke out, taking a few moments to enjoy that small illusionary world he had created as well.

“Hmph… If you’re so special why not just grow out some eyes? That way you won’t be blind anymore.” Tsunade muttered as she scowled a bit at Ken’s antics.

“Sight is simply not in my nature. It is not the type of beast that I am. I have tried before, but I am simply unable to.

Maybe it would be possible scientifically speaking to implant eyes on me, but even then there’s no telling if my body would accept or reject them.”

Ken sighed as he remembered some body-transforming attempts he had made in the past. Both whilst in his Scaled Sage mode and whilst in his regular state(regular sage mode for others).

“That’s odd… But why are you sharing all of this with me?” Tsunade narrowed her eyes as she looked at the world around them as well, not knowing what to expect next.

“Your expertise is giving me some interesting insights as well.

As I spoke out, many thoughts passed through your mind, many theories that I find intriguing…”

Tsunade shuddered as Ken spoke, for a moment, she felt completely bare before the man, no the beast in front of her.

She felt as if she had no privacy whatsoever, she felt vulnerable.

“T-this is not helping me much, Red Dot!” Tsunade spoke out as she slowly took a step back from Ken, who merely tilted his head at her.

“Sorry if this is a bit invasive, but how else would we get to the bottom of your trauma exactly?” The assassin’s head tilted to the side, his lifeless eyes not moving one bit, feeling to the Sannin like nothing more than the entrance to the abyss.

Even with Ken’s explanation, she didn’t quite know what to make of the situation, she was not pleased at all in fact.

But before she made her displeasure known outwardly, Ken’s hair seemed to move, expanding into all of her surroundings and covering her vision as well.

She quickly struggled against the hair.

“How about a regular talk?! I’ll be honest with you myself! This isn’t helping!” She felt as if she was fighting against the tides of an ocean, as the hair completely covered her body.

“Oh, but words could never quite describe a trauma as well as a memory can…” Ken’s voice sounded out from all around Tsunade as the Sannin finally clenched her teeth and prepared for a fight, turning completely hostile.

She struggled, using a lot of her inhuman force and a lot of charka to break out of that hair, but she couldn’t.

Eventually, she used all of her strength, the mark on her body glowing vividly as she quickly raised her hand and ripped away the hair that was covering her vision…

Only to find out that the hair had been a thick coat of beautiful green leaves.

Looking around her, she was now in another forest, this one more real, more tangible, more detailed.

“W-what…” Her eyes quickly scanned the surroundings, as a feeling of familiarity sunk into her gut.

“To overcome a fear is to face the root of it directly…”

Ken’s disembodied voice reached her ears, carried by the wind as if it were nothing more than leaves in the wind.

“H-how did…” Tsunade froze up before she even finished her question. The Blind Assassin had answered it already.

That sea of red, she had already bore herself fully to him in that outburst. Now, she was not looking at an illusion of Ken’s creation, but one pulled straight from her mind.

“I-I don’t want to do this…” Yet, she didn’t feel ready. The wound was still fresh in her mind, and she couldn’t bring herself to reopen them once more.

But before she could attempt to break out of the Genjutsu again, a voice sounded out from her side.

“… Those would be the words of a coward. Are you willing to remain as you are?

Nothing but a liability, going weak in the knees at even the faintest sighting of blood…”

Ken’s words grated on Tsunade’s ears, the anger within her rose up for a moment, overcoming even her rising fear as she lashed out and punched a random tree to her side.

“Oh~ So you have guts! Good, then put them to use!”

Tsunade’s every muscle trembled in anger as she heard the assassin’s voice, but she eventually sighed and turned around, walking into that damnable forest.

Where it had all fallen apart.

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Hope you liked the chapter!

Took me a bit to write, been focusing a bit too much on the Original Book that’s still underway, currently at chapter 18 on it(still writing it).

Also, I kinda really like writing Illusion scenes, I still have to get some practice with it, but hope it turned out nice

Anyhow, I’m still focusing on this story as well :)) I don’t plan to abandon it or anything. I still very much enjoy writing this story as well. My time’s just being eaten up by random sh

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