Chapter 21 Uchiha Itachi
"Are you alright?"
The clear, cool moonlight shone on the young man dressed in a black cloak with red clouds, highlighting his strikingly handsome profile.
He slowly turned to face Katori, fully revealing his face to the livestream audience.
The young man appeared to be in his early twenties, with raven-black hair like a crow's feathers, and long lashes that framed a pair of soft, deep black eyes—like the ocean, gentle yet holding hidden depths of emotion. The most distinctive feature, however, was the pair of long tear-tracks on his face.
"Um, hello…"
Katori stared blankly at the youth's stunningly handsome face, feeling her heart flutter uncontrollably. For a moment, she was utterly dazed and unable to form words.
But then, she noticed the mannequins behind the youth beginning to move again. She quickly shouted:
"Watch out! Behind you—!"
The mysterious youth, with a katana sheathed at his waist, glanced slightly to the side. He stepped forward and unsheathed his sword in one fluid motion.
A pale blue light burst forth from his body, wrapping itself around the blade in his hand!
With a flash of his sword, the cold moonlight reflected off the blade, creating an arc of light that looked like a crescent moon. In an instant, all the mannequins in the room were sliced cleanly in half.
Without turning back, the mysterious youth quickly dashed off, leaving only one parting message:
"The monster in this building is the only one. Stay here; it'll be over soon."
Watching his figure disappear, having arrived as mysteriously as the moonlight and now vanishing like a fleeting dream, Katori felt a sudden pang of sadness, as if she would never see him again.
"I didn't even get to ask your name…"
She stood there for a long moment, lost in a sense of melancholy. Finally, she shook herself from her daze, picked up her livestream equipment, and prepared to share her miraculous escape and encounter with the mysterious stranger with her fans.
"This guy is way too handsome!"
"Those eyes… it's like they reflect the whole sky, so full of sadness. Makes me feel for him."
"Which new show is this from? The special effects are amazing. Who's the actor?"
New viewers, drawn in by homepage recommendations, didn't know what had happened earlier. All they saw was the young man bathed in moonlight, swinging his sword like a crescent moon. They started asking questions.
The earlier viewers, who had been scared stiff, now felt relieved that the crisis had been resolved. The chat became lively with discussions.
"Thank God Katori-chan is safe!"
"Damn, was that sword energy just now? That was incredible!"
"That swing was so far, he cut through the mannequins at the door!"
"No way it was sword energy; it's gotta be special effects!"
The appearance of the mysterious youth and his stunning swordsmanship catapulted the livestream's popularity to the top of the platform's homepage. Countless new viewers flocked in, and some of them, thinking they had figured it all out, started making smug comments:
"I knew it! There's no such thing as monsters. This whole thing is just like the marketing campaign for *The Blair Witch Project*, fake documentary style to get people into theaters."
"Next up, the crew will probably show up to announce the movie release, right?"
Some trolls, frustrated after having been genuinely frightened earlier, began to spew insults once they thought they had "solved" the mystery:
"This lead actor isn't even that good-looking. Hayama's better. And what's with that black cloak with red clouds? This movie's gonna be trash!"
"Looks like Katori-chan's cashing in on bad deals too!"
"Special effects are great, but what matters most is acting and a good script. That's what shows real dedication!"
Just as the stream was about to be flooded with even more malicious comments, the livestream suddenly went dark.
Some of the most foul-mouthed trolls, who were just about to unleash more insults, refreshed the page only to find that the livestream no longer existed. It wasn't due to power loss, a bad signal, or Katori shutting it off herself.
The livestream had been blocked.
---
In the dark corridors of the mall, Uchiha Mei—still maintaining his transformed appearance as Itachi Uchiha—chased after the creature.
Even though the hallway was pitch black, Mei's sharp eyes clearly followed the shadow darting along the ceiling.
At first, Mei had intended to cause some trouble. After seeing the preview for *Katori-chan's Ghost Adventure* on the video streaming site, he thought it was the perfect opportunity.
He had planned to use ninja techniques to spook the livestream crew, eventually appearing as an exorcist or a supernatural expert to "defeat" the monsters in front of the camera.
This way, he could divert the attention of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police away from Nakano Ward and his alter ego, Jiroku, allowing him more room to maneuver.
Of course, Mei knew this plan was a bit crude, so he hadn't acted immediately. Instead, he sent his summoned crow to follow Katori's team, observing from the shadows.
However, before Mei had even made his move, something went wrong—the livestream team was attacked by a real, unidentifiable monster lurking in the mall.
It's just as they say: if you walk in the dark for long enough, you're bound to meet a ghost eventually.
Mei had carefully observed the creature's true form and strength through his crow and, after figuring out its weaknesses, decided to intervene.
Unfortunately, by the time he arrived, he had only been able to save Katori and the cameraman. The rest of the crew had been killed by the monster.
A flicker of killing intent flashed through Mei's eyes. He formed hand signs and spat out a jutsu:
"Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!"
A massive fireball shot toward the ceiling.
The shadow darting along the ceiling dropped a pale arm. With a flick of its finger, an overturned cabinet was lifted into the air, blocking the fireball, which shattered the cabinet into pieces.
The shadow used this distraction to turn a corner and escape into the more spacious clothing section, where it finally stopped.
The monster hung from a chandelier, its form half-concealed by mannequins that looked like eerie ghosts scattered throughout the dark and empty room.
Mei stopped at the edge of the room, his cold eyes fixed on the shadow.
The monster had a massive, bald head the size of a cartwheel, with narrow eyes and a mouth full of sharp teeth. It had no body, only six grotesque, two-meter-long arms that resembled human hands, each connected directly to its head.
The six-armed monster dangled from the chandelier, its long, corpse-like arms hanging down. It spoke in a strange, cautious tone:
"Human, what was that explosion just now? Do you have grenades? An RPG? Or maybe a flamethrower?"
It can speak!?
This was the first time since Mei's arrival in this world that he had encountered a talking monster. He was surprised, but his expression remained unchanged.
With Itachi Uchiha's calm and indifferent face, Mei replied:
"Grenades, RPGs, flamethrowers… Who knew a monster could talk about such things? The modern world's monsters are quite amusing."