8 Chapter 8: Tsukuyomi

The entire scenery around Huo Yuhao distorted, the once vast white space filled with ten enormous golden balls of light, the grey little ball, and the limitless golden sea disappeared and transformed into a forest.

The trees were lush and green, but there was a hidden sense of danger lurking within the shadows.

"W-What's going on?!" Huo Yuhao cried out, stunned at the sudden change of environment.

The Ancestor stood in front of Huo Yuhao. "It's nothing to be so fearful about, kid. I merely changed the structure of your spiritual sea to mimic a random forest for you to train in."

"No, wait a minute! How did you do this?! Changing someone's spiritual sea like you have done isn't supposed to be that easy!" Skydream Iceworm said out loud, stunned. "This spiritual sea belongs to Huo Yuhao, he is the master of it and we're just loaches in it. Even for me, it had taken a considerable amount of effort to change the environment of what it was previously. How did you do this?"

The Ancestor coldly snorted, "Weren't you paying any attention little worm? I am him, he is me. It's as simple as that. And before you came here, I was already here first by the time he awakened his eyes and for five years I had time to familiarize myself with his spiritual sea."

Skydream Iceworm narrowed his eyes at him, "Does that mean you can have absolute control over Huo Yuhao's mind?"

The Ancestor shook his head and mockingly laughed. "Hahaha. I know what you're thinking little worm, I'm surprised to see you act so worried and loyal to my incarnation, despite only knowing him for a little while."

"But no, I am just a remnant spirit of a long dead person that died filled with hatred and regrets. My spiritual being isn't enough to possess a living person's spirit and take over their body, even my incarnation. I call him my incarnation, not because I will take over his life, but because he inherited my chakra... soul power and my eyes."

"Your eyes..." Huo Yuhao finally cut in, looking curious at what Ancestor was talking about. "Just, what kind of eyes do I have exactly? Based on what you say and how Brother Skydream looks whenever you mention my eyes, is it really that powerful?" Skydream Iceworm was also curious, going to float behind Huo Yuhao's back, and stared at the Ancestor.

Ancestor was silent for a moment and he let out a sigh, "If you do not believe me..." Suddenly, his faceless dark visage began to distort like a whirlpool and a pair of glowing red eyes with strange pupils began to appear. His blood red eyes had swirl-like lines as pupils, giving off an eerie and terrifying aura.

Huo Yuhao nervously gulped, staring with fear and awe at the demonic-like eyes. While the Skydream Iceworm's body shivered and immediately hid his face behind the former.

"To truly understand the power in your eyes, I will let you experience a fraction of what one of many abilities your eyes may hold in the future. Behold and tremble in fear of the one of the most powerful Genjutsu in existence, Tsukuyomi!"

As the Ancestor spoke, Huo Yuhao felt himself being sucked into the red eyes, his body surrounded in pitch black darkness. Suddenly, a blinding light appeared before him as he felt a piercing pain in his head.

He fell to the ground, his hand clutching his head as he struggled to keep himself conscious. The world around him was still a forest, the trees swaying under a mild breeze, but the colors were different. Instead of glowing green, the leaves were a deep maroon, and the sky above was crimson.

In the distance, he saw a figure, a woman in black robes, her hair tied back in a ponytail, standing under an enormous cherry blossom tree. She glanced up, and their eyes met.

Huo Yuhao felt like he had been struck by lightning, his body tensing up as he stretched out his hand and yelled with teary wide eyes, "MOM!"

She smiled at him, and he felt his body went rigid.

He blinked twice, and everything was back to normal. Huo Yuhao looked around in confusion, trying to make sense of what had just happened.

"That was Tsukuyomi," the Ancestor said, his voice rumbling within Huo Yuhao's mind. His eyes disappeared, making him faceless. "A powerful Genjutsu that traps the victim in an illusion world, where your perception of time is distorted and controlled by the user. With it, you can do whatever you want in that illusion world for days and a second would only pass. It is one of the abilities that your eyes possess... probably."

"And unlike other soul masters with martial souls... this ability doesn't need a soul ring. It's an innate ability of your eyes, amongst many other abilities."

"What? There are more!?" Skydream Iceworm spoke up in alarm.

"And by the way, the technique I used on you and the Shinigami wasn't one of the innate skills of these eyes. It was a mere technique, best suitable for the eyes to use."

"You gotta be kidding me..." He was struck speechless, what the hell kind of kid did he decided to bond with?

Huo Yuhao was speechless, his tears flowing eyes widen in shock. "Are you saying my eyes can do that kind of thing?!" He blinked his eyes, feeling the wet liquid, he quickly wiped his tears and glared at the Ancestor, his eyes also changed.

"Ancestor, making me see my dead mother... why didn't you let me talk with her? Didn't you say that it can last for days and–"

The Ancestor raised a hand, cutting him off and nodded his head. "I'm sorry about that, I wanted to show you just how this ability works. As I had said, Tsukuyomi is a terrifying illusion-type attack, when making eye contact with your opponent, you entrap them in an illusion world whilst distorting their perception of time, subjecting them to days' worth of torture in a matter of seconds; examples include continual stabbing or reliving traumatic events over and over."

"So, seeing my mother...? Was she an illusion?" He asked with a low tone of voice, heartache and sadness in his voice. He clenched his hands.

"I apologize, it wasn't my intent to do so. I had subconsciously pulled up your most traumatic feeling to show you its power. Your eyes have the potential to use this god-like ability and many more. But... it comes at a price."

Huo Yuhao frowned, his eyes glowed dangerously. Having seen his mother once more, even if an illusion, renewed his goal.

He looked up at the Ancestor, his eyes full of stubbornness and determination. "Ancestor, do you know, I have a dream. No, not a dream but an ambition."

"..."

"My ambition is to destroy a certain family. So whatever price it may be, I'll pay for it even with an arm, a leg, even an organ."

"Why not your life?" He asked.

Huo Yuhao shook his head and replied, "I can give you anything else, except for my life. Because how else will I exact my revenge on them?"

'... He kinda reminds me of a recent incarnation of mine, but a bit smarter. Now then, will he also follow that person's path of vengeance and bear the Curse of Hatred? Or will he walk a different story?'

Ancestor stared back at him and quietly replied, "You will regret it deeply one day."

"I won't." Huo Yuhao firmly said, his red demonic eyes gleaming with determination and unexpected clearness. "I will do whatever it takes to achieve my ambition. I won't let anyone or anything stop me, not even the consequences."

Ancestor sighed, "Very well. I will guide you in your training. But remember, power is meaningless without control."

Huo Yuhao nodded in understanding, his mind focused on his goals. He knew it wouldn't be easy, but he was willing to pay any price to achieve them. With the Ancestor's guidance, he would do whatever it takes to become stronger and make his ambitions a reality.

"By the way, I forgot to ask this but, uh, what do you mean that it'll be okay for me to spend a week inside here? Won't I starve to death or be attacked in real time?" Huo Yuhao asked about the burning, worried question he wanted to ask for a while.

"Ah, see, your spiritual mind and physical state are two different things. It's like this — you understand the sensation of your vision becoming slower, right? That's because your brain is processing information at a faster rate. Similarly, your spiritual mind can continue to exist and function even if your physical body is not present. Time may pass slower in the spiritual world than in the physical world, and you may feel hunger and thirst, but it won't harm you as much as it would in reality."

"As of now, by what that little worm had calculated, you can spend at most a week in here without any consequences and learn what I can teach you in this amount of time—while only a split second or two would pass in the real world." Ancestor said.

"Couldn't you just teach me while in the real world?"

"I'm afraid he can't. As I, and I hadn't noticed this till now, and this dark gloomy jerk of an ancestor of yours will undergo a type of hibernation for a while so, for at least a week, we wouldn't be able to look after you or guide you." Skydream Iceworm spoke up, floating up around Huo Yuhao like the big worm that he is.

"... You know, you guys could've explained that to me earlier," Huo Yuhao said with blank eyes.

The Ancestor shrugged nonchalantly. "You didn't ask. And so, let your lessons start now."

"First off, let me start off with an explanation of what a shinobi is. The Shinobis are a type of warriors, who have mastered the art of stealth, assassination, and deception. Essentially, they are ninjas. They are trained to be the ultimate spies and assassins, but also very effective fighters. Their abilities far surpass those of normal humans, making them feared and respected in the world. The clearest characteristic of a shinobi is their ability to manipulate chakra, or soul power in this case, to create and use techniques."

"Just like using Tsukuyomi?" Huo Yuhao asked, raising a hand.

"Yes and no, the Tsukuyomi is a special ability that only you and I with these eyes can use — in your case being a possibility yet. Even the greatest Genjutsu expert in the past couldn't completely duplicate a fraction of this special ability. The techniques that Shinobis use are mystical arts, mostly suitable in battles."

"There are three basic types of techniques: ninjutsu, genjutsu and taijutsu. Subcategories exist, including fūinjutsu, juinjutsu and senjutsu. But I'll teach you those three later on. There are also kekkei genkai, which are called bloodline limit, abilities which aren't techniques, but inherited abilities passed down through certain clans. Kekkei genkai can also be attributed to certain parts of the body, such as dōjutsu or eye technique." He pauses for a moment and points at Huo Yuhao's eyes.

Huo Yuhao nodded, understanding that his eyes were part of a bloodline similar to the White Tiger bloodline and the White Tiger Duke's inherited martial soul, White Tiger. So does that mean he has two powerful flowing through his veins?

The White Tiger martial soul is a pretty famous one, known throughout the entire continent. Not only is it because it's branded as having one of the rare 'king of beasts' attribute and is essentially a top tier beast soul, but also because it had the blessings and blood of a God, classifying it as a probable Godbeast martial soul.

Ten thousand years ago, it was rumored that the White Tiger Duke ancestor, which is also Huo Yuhao's, the leader of the first generation Shrek Seven Devils had the White Tiger martial soul and ascended to rank 100, becoming a God. His name was Dai Mubai, the White Tiger Douluo.

Of course, that was only a legend that his mother had told to him as bed time story so he didn't really believed it... until he got a million year old soul ring as his first soul ring and met a powerful elder that proclaimed to be his previous life and said to be his Ancestor at the same time.

'Wait, does that mean that I got my bloodline limit from my mom? I never really found out what her martial soul was...'

"... We'll talk about that later on." Ancestor said, seemingly read Huo Yuhao's mind. But before the latter could complain, the dark figure cut him off by saying, "We are still inside of your head, so anything you think about would be heard by everyone else."

"Yup, I heard him loud and clear." Skydream Iceworm could attest to it.

"..." Huo Yuhao incredulously stared at them.

Ancestor then continued with his lesson, "Without proper control of their chakra, a ninja will produce ineffective or weakened technique which will lead to them running out of chakra early in a fight. To manipulate their chakra more easily, hand seals can be used. With these hand seals, users can control their chakra and technique with higher efficiency. Different techniques require different hand seals...."

The Ancestor then proceeded to teach Huo Yuhao the basic principles of being a Shinobi, and the techniques that came with it.

.....

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