Chapter 580: An Appallingly Poor Talent

Chapter 580: Chapter 580: An Appallingly Poor Talent

At that instant, Deidara felt the entire world turn scarlet. Even the bright crescent moon hanging high in the night sky had transformed into a crimson full moon.

"Genjutsu?"

Deidara was startled and immediately tried to form hand seals, only to discover, to his horror, that his body seemed to have been firmly pinned down by several enormous iron nails. He couldn’t move an inch!

"Hmph!"

With a soft snort, Kagami, wearing a mask adorned with a flame pattern, emerged from the forest.

After receiving the message from the ninja crow and learning that Deidara might be heading to the Fire Temple, he had immediately slipped out of the village and rushed all the way here.

Disregarding his chakra consumption entirely, he had spent a full day traveling at breakneck speed before finally arriving at the Fire Temple, just in time to witness the confrontation between Chiriku and Deidara.

Fortunately, he had arrived when he did. Otherwise, Chiriku, one of the Guardian Shinobi Twelve with a bounty of thirty million ryo on his head, would have been blown to smithereens in a dazzling display of fireworks.

Chiriku, who had been restrained by Deidara’s explosive centipede, finally managed to struggle free. Looking at the suddenly appearing Kagami in astonishment, he asked warily, "You... you’re Homura of Kamigami?"

Kagami glanced at Chiriku and deliberately said, "You’re welcome!"

"Uh..."

Prompted by Kagami’s remark, Chiriku looked embarrassed and hurriedly said, "Thank you for saving my life just now."

Curious about the thirty-million-ryo bounty on Chiriku’s head, Kagami took a closer look at him.

In truth, Chiriku was by no means weak. His basic abilities were already at least at the jonin level, and when combined with the power of the Gift of the Hermit Group, his overall combat strength even surpassed that of some elite jonin.

In the original timeline, when facing Akatsuki’s ’Immortal Duo,’ Chiriku had held the absolute upper hand during the early stages of their confrontation.

However, a monk was ultimately still a monk, not a pure shinobi. He was somewhat rigid by nature and lacked adaptability. Coupled with the fact that the Immortal Duo’s abilities were genuinely too bizarre, his eventual death at their hands was hardly surprising.

Withdrawing his gaze, Kagami said indifferently, "You may leave. I’ll deal with this fellow."

Seeing Kagami’s unapproachable attitude, Chiriku pondered for a moment before ultimately choosing to compromise. Leaving Deidara, the culprit who had destroyed the Buddhist hall, to Kagami, he turned and departed the forest, returning to the Fire Temple.

"Hey! What the hell did you do to me?"

Just then, Deidara’s voice reached Kagami’s ears.

Kagami abruptly turned toward Deidara, his face beneath the flame-patterned mask filled with astonishment. He had never expected Deidara to show signs of breaking free from his genjutsu so quickly!

Kagami’s gaze sharpened.

When dealing with Deidara, the ideal candidates were originally Itachi or Shisui, both of whom specialized in genjutsu.

In the original timeline, Itachi had effortlessly subdued Deidara with a single glance, leaving the young genius of Iwagakure with an unforgettable psychological trauma.

However, considering that the primary purpose of this trip was to collect Deidara’s cellular tissue, and that the matter concerned Kagami’s most closely guarded secrets, he was unwilling to entrust it to anyone else unless absolutely necessary.

Thus, he had abandoned the idea of having Itachi or Shisui handle the matter and personally taken action instead.

As for deploying his Fire Release clone, that decision had also been made because fighting Deidara through conventional means would be extremely troublesome.

He wanted to replicate Itachi’s approach against Deidara, using the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan of his Fire Release clone to catch him off guard and settle the battle with genjutsu.

Not only would this be a clean and elegant victory, but it would also allow him to extract Deidara’s cellular tissue at his leisure.

He could even use this opportunity to coerce Deidara into joining Kamigami, or perhaps develop him into a second undercover agent within Akatsuki.

After all, Kagami held Deidara in rather high regard.

Setting aside his peculiar obsession with explosions, Deidara possessed abilities that many shinobi simply did not have.

However, plans could never keep up with changes.

The genjutsu Kagami had just cast at considerable expense to his ocular power was already showing signs of being broken by Deidara after only a few minutes!

"Hey! I’m talking to you! Hurry up and answer me, hmm!"

Deidara continued shouting as he struggled to break free from the genjutsu.

"Tch..."

Seeing that Deidara could already move his head slightly, Kagami clicked his tongue.

The genjutsu he had cast on Deidara was a Sharingan genjutsu known as the Demonic Illusion: Shackling Stakes Technique, the very same technique Itachi had used to subdue Orochimaru in the original timeline.

An enemy caught in the Shackling Stakes Technique would have their consciousness drawn into an illusionary space, where their body would seemingly be pinned down by enormous iron nails, completely depriving them of control over their movements.

Under normal circumstances, a genjutsu cast through the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan should have possessed more than enough ocular power to deal with someone like Deidara.

However, the effectiveness of genjutsu did not depend solely on the strength of one’s ocular power.

"Looks like I really have no talent for genjutsu!"

After grumbling inwardly, Kagami retrieved a kunai from his ninja tool pouch.

Having studied every category of ninjutsu, Kagami had discovered that his aptitude for genjutsu and space-time ninjutsu was the poorest of all.

And by poor, he meant downright appalling!

This was also why Kagami rarely used genjutsu despite possessing the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan.

Of course, shinobi who genuinely possessed a talent for genjutsu were actually only a small minority within the shinobi population.

For instance, even when Kakashi possessed the Mangekyo Sharingan, he rarely employed genjutsu, much like Kagami.

When confronting powerful opponents of his own level, Kakashi had never even attempted to use genjutsu against them.

His use of Obito’s Mangekyo Sharingan was primarily limited to its powers of perception and copying, as well as defending himself against genjutsu.

Even among the Uchiha clan, not everyone excelled at genjutsu.

For example, despite his exceptional talent, Sasuke was not particularly skilled in genjutsu. He belonged to the type of Uchiha who would avoid using genjutsu whenever possible.

This was the complete opposite of his older brother Itachi, who would never resort to physical combat if he could resolve a problem with genjutsu.

The two were practically polar opposites!

Weighing the kunai in his hand, Kagami suddenly hurled it toward Deidara.

Whoosh...

The cold gleam of the kunai flashed through the air, slicing across Deidara’s shoulder before embedding itself in the tree trunk behind him, carrying a piece of flesh and blood with it.

Deidara was instantly overcome with shock and fury.

"Damn it! You despicable bastard!"

Without betraying anything, Kagami glanced at the kunai embedded in the tree trunk, which had sliced away a small piece of flesh from Deidara’s shoulder.

A faint smile appeared on his face beneath the mask.

That small piece of flesh was already sufficient for him to extract Deidara’s cellular tissue.

With his primary objective accomplished, Kagami breathed a sigh of relief. Playing along with his previous attack, he said coldly, "I’ll give you a choice. Join Kamigami, or die!"

"You think a mere genjutsu can control me?"

Deidara’s struggles grew increasingly violent. Soon, he managed to bring his hands together and shouted:

"BEHOLD THE ULTIMATE ART, HMM!"