Chapter 52

"This is a bad idea, Eiji," Anko said and I held back an irritated sigh.

I had told her what I planned to do with the Orochimaru Shade in my mind, her and everyone else that needed to know, including Hiruzen, Inoichi and Ibiki. The Hokage and the latter had been all for it once I gave all my reasons and my contingency plans to keep the thing under control. They had, however, demanded that my measures were actually as effective as I thought they were.

That had led to the Yamanaka Head quadruple-checking everything in my mind once more. Some that I hadn't even touched, but I endured through the whole thing patiently. After all, I understood how worried they must have been about what I was doing.

Eventually, they were all reassured that I wasn't doing something stupid. Everyone but Anko, that is. My sensei had been adamant that I was the biggest idiot on the planet for giving Orochimaru any room to do anything at all. She was biased due to bad experiences, I knew that much, but it still annoyed me that she had so little faith in what I could do. I had been the one to find the method to deal with the Mark in the first place, for God's sake.

However, she was worried too, and I knew that. It was the only reason I hadn't snapped at her so far.

"Anko," I said curtly. I was doing my best not to shout something mean at her already, I think I could be excused if I wasn't perfectly polite. "I'm doing it and I'm being smart about it. I told people just in case something happened and it really was a bad idea. But I'm confident in my defenses and so is Inoichi."

"It's just..." She tried to justify herself.

"I know," I interrupted, my eyes moving to her and staring. "However, this needs to be done well. The world literally could be depending on this, as you said. I can't take any chances. Now, if you excuse me. I need to study these," I finished signaling the books that I had gotten in the Shinobi Library.

Most of them weren't even from the Genjutsu section. Instead, I dove inside the Iryojutsu one, looking for anything I could find regarding senses. Now, the only thing I needed was to find how to affect everything with one single Genjutsu and then I needed to find a way to add my little idea into the whole thing.

Thus, I took out my notebook and started writing down everything that I found.

[}-o-{]

"Ok, so, this works," I nodded, looking down at what I had written. I was still working even while back at home. It was late into the night and I sat at the dining table, reading over all my ideas and deciding what seemed like it would work and what didn't.

My first step in the process was to tackle all senses one at a time and see how I would go about taking it out. For that, I had precedents for several senses, like sight and hearing. Still, I had made new ones just in case. From there, I would then decide if it was possible to take all those little jutsu and combine them into one or if I would need to work on something new that would nullify all senses.

The latter option was much more difficult, but then again, combining several jutsu into one wasn't exactly easy either. Furthermore, there were many senses, which meant that there were more chances of one messing up another's chakra interference with the target's coils. In the end, I was fully expecting to have to start from scratch, but at least it was good practice with Genjutsu creation if nothing else.

"This one looks like it would work, I think," I muttered, less sure with the one I had made to block the sense of smell. After all, that one was one I had to make from scratch. Granted, there were some Genjutsu made to stop people from smelling and tasting certain things, mostly poisons. However, there weren't many that completely eradicated the senses.

'Moreover,' I thought with a grimace, turning towards the ones I had made for things like the sense of balance and such. Those were completely uncharted territory, which made them a complete nightmare to get through. 'I still have to look over these… and I'm really not looking forward to it.'

With a tired sigh, I banged my head against the wood.

The hit was nothing compared to what seemed to be a permanent headache I was dealing with.

A sudden breeze made me sit straight up. However, the only thing my eyes caught was the box that now sat on top of my table and the note on top of it. 'Wonder if I'll ever catch sight of the ROOT guys that come in to leave this stuff,' I thought to myself with a wry smile.

I wasn't actually trying though. I suspected that there was more than just speed to that trick though. Most likely some Genjutsu that I could dispel with just a thought. However, it wasn't like I could constantly be casting Genjutsu Dissipation just waiting for them to… 'Wait, why can't I?' I wondered with a frown.

[Yin Release: Genjutsu Dissipation – Max

D-rank technique with which the user disrupts their own chakra flow to free themselves or others from Genjutsu.

Consumption – 5 Chakra Points per use.]

'Really can't be casting this constantly through the night... Or can I?' I wondered. All the studying I had been doing regarding Genjutsu came to my head. 'Yeah, maybe that could be possible… But that's for after I'm done with all this shit.'

Instead, I focused my mind on the package that was left for me.

The note on top held a simple but rather surprising message.

'Any clothing preferences?' I read, blinking several times expecting the words to be different every time I opened my eyes. Shaking my head, I let out a wry smirk. 'Definitely not the kind of question I expected from Danzo or his people,' I mused as I opened the wooden box.

Inside, I found equipment. Equipment that, unsurprisingly, was very much the same as the one I was already using. Ninja wires, kunai, shuriken, senbon, even a tanto. That last one was surprising, considering that I had stopped using mine after I got Nuibari. The only truly new addition was a dark, leather belt with some metal contraptions that I quickly realised was meant to hold Nuibari.

So far, I had been carrying the sword across my lower back, using Living Thread on its string to wrap the thing around the blade and my hip so that it stayed in place. This, however, would do the same thing, except that I would only need to wrap the sword on its wire so that nothing would be cut and that would be it. A very convenient gift, that was for sure. It saved me the trip to buy or ask for something like that to be made, something that I had been putting off for some time now.

And that would have been it, if not for the second note inside the box.

'Everything is chakra conductive,' I read this time and a wide grin spread over my face. Sure, normal metals worked just fine for ninja tools, even when it was required to channel chakra on them with some jutsu, like Sparkling Shuriken, or Chakra Flow. But actual chakra conductive metal was much, much better at it. This was practically a buff to most of my techniques, actually.

'Can't wait to try out Living Thread and Web Sense with chakra conductive ninja wire that isn't Nuibari's. Wonder if there's any difference there,' I thought eagerly before groaning and slumping down. 'But I still need to finish that Genjutsu, damnit.'

That was when I noticed something else buried in the equipment. A scroll that I picked up with a curious look on my face. Taking a peek inside, my eyes opened as wide as they could. 'Yin Release: Bringer of Darkness,' I read as the title. However, that wasn't the most important part. Oh, no. The important part was what lied beneath that.

'Created by Tobirama Senju.'

"Thanks for the equipment, even if I can't use it for now," I mumbled, my eyes and most of my focus on the text in the scroll. The least I could do was show gratefulness. This had practically come out of nowhere, after all. Then I paused and looked over all the stuff on the table. 'Is Danzo trying to… cheer me up?' I theorized then, feeling more than a little weirded out. It was… kind of nice, though. 'Is he less of a shady bastard now for some reason or is this another AU thing?' I thought then, looking between the notes and the gear.

My attention was then grabbed by the first note. 'Clothing… huh?' I considered the question for a moment. I had considered asking the Spiders for a silk outfit, but Kumohoshi had quickly disabused me of that idea. Something about me not doing enough for them to do something like that. Which got me thinking about what they even gained in the first place. When asked, however, the boss spider had remained mysteriously silent.

"Surprise me, I guess," I replied out loud to the written question. I didn't have many preferences in outfit, really and I doubted the guy would make me look ridiculous. "Just… I like the boots," I added then, because I really didn't like the sandals, even if I had been told of the reasons for their use. I hadn't liked them in my first life and I didn't like them in the second.

With a sigh, I took the box and moved it to my room before settling back on the Genjutsu work. Especially since I now had to study the jutsu that Danzo had provided for me and see what I could pick from that.

I didn't notice until much later, but I didn't feel as annoyed anymore.

[}-o-{]

"So, you finally there, buddy?" I asked, sitting on a white chair. In front of me was a person that instilled fear in civilians and ninja throughout the world, no matter their nation. Now, however, that same man sat there, in a chair much like mine, and stared back. There was no fear in his eyes, but there was no loathing either.

"I am," The Shade of Orochimaru replied. It had taken him a whole week to regain a semblance of sanity, but I could see his eyes still darting around every so often, his fingers twitching and his tongue passing over his lips. He was far from completely fine, that much I knew.

"That's great, because I need some information," I nodded, going straight to the point.

"What do you need?" He obediently asked. If I didn't know the fear of the Void first hand, I would have been surprised by his willingness. However, I did, and I also knew that he was very aware that he would be back in square one if he didn't comply with my demands.

"The Void," The Shade's whole body shivered at the word, like it did every time I brought it up. "I want to know your observations of it."

"Is this some kind of sick attempt at mockery?" He asked and I smirked at him. "No, you are not the type. I investigated you well, you know? I'm sure there's a reason for that," He mused to himself and I was tempted to ask what the original he knew of me, at least before the Mark was placed. Maybe he would even have real time knowledge? Thoughts for later though. Although…

No, if he had real time knowledge of Orochimaru, then Orochimaru had real time knowledge of him.

"Do you know what Orochimaru does and vice versa?" I asked, this time steel entering my voice and my back straightening. Evidently, he sensed danger, because I saw him visibly gulp.

"We are… not the same person anymore. I'm merely a projection of the real Orochimaru. He's not aware of me and I'm not aware of him. I don't even share most of his memories. My best guess is that he feared someone achieving what you have, in some way at least," He explained and I frowned.

The edges of the room slowly disappeared, revealing the Void outside and I saw his already white skin pale somehow, becoming almost translucent. The Shade almost threw himself in the middle of the room, away from the disappearing walls, as if attempting to escape for as long as possible. It was for naught, obviously, since this was my mind and my will was absolute. If I wanted him in the Void, he would be.

It wasn't that I thought he was lying. What he said made enough sense for me to believe it. However, not using all my tools to make sure that he was truthful would just be stupid. So, I had to verify.

"I swear!" He screamed, any semblance of calm he previously had disappeared, replaced with very obvious panic. "It's as I said. I'm not lying. Please." The begging was what told me that he was really telling the truth. I couldn't imagine Orochimaru ever begging for anything unless there was absolutely no choice, and even then, consequences had to be bad for that to happen. I knew though, that the Void was about as bad as things could get.

The room was restored to its previous pure white visage. The Shade, however, stayed sitting in the middle of the room, shaking and muttering to himself. When I used my power over the Minscape to eavesdrop, I found out that he was babbling incoherent sentences. Most of which related to fear and the Void.

"Will you do that..." The Shade spoke, breath catching in his throat as he did so. "With all my answers?" He asked, looking at me with unveiled fear.

"It's not that I don't trust you," I said with a shrug. "It's just that I don't trust you. Next question," I stood up and walked up to him, picking him up by the neck of his clothing and bringing him right up to my face. I absolutely loved the complete power I held in my mindscape. "Do you remember anything that I should know?" I growled at him, willing my eyes to become little windows into the Void.

"I… hah..." He tried to speak, only being capable of heaving due to the panic that filled him. I tilted my head to the side, letting my eyes return to normal. "I don't think so..." He answered finally and I narrowed my eyes at him, something that made him flinch. "There's a group of people… they are trying to gather the Tailed Beasts, as far as I know..." He blurted out and my eyes widened.

I expected him to tell me something about the Crush. That would have helped me prevent that shitshow, maybe without even needing the Void Genjutsu. I didn't expect him to tell me about Akatsuki. Still, it was very useful information to relay to Hiruzen and some others.

"There'll be more talking about that. So, be sure to remember every single detail," I ordered him, getting a shaky nod as I let go of him. 'The Crush is the main concern right now. I can worry about Akatsuki later,' I thought with a sigh. "Back to the first question," I restarted, sitting on the chair and messaging my forehead. 'I'm too young for all this shit.' "I need your observations of the Void."

"It's a very peculiar type of hell, the one that you've managed to create," He told me and I fought back a bitter laugh. I hadn't created it, after all. Simply copied.

"I know," I replied instead. "But I still want a proper answer."

"Taking away all the senses of a person. Very creative," The Shade started this time, sounding like someone appreciating a piece of art. Which was all sorts of fucked up, if anyone asked me. Especially considering how scared the man was of the Void. Orochimaru was a weird bastard, that was for sure. "It seems to be more than that though," He said and I almost perked up. That was the part that interested me. "There's nothing there but… there always seems to be something there..." He muttered without making any sense at all.

And still, I understood.

"What is that?" I prodded.

"You made that, don't you know?" He asked back with a raised eyebrow, apparently forgetting his fear of me for a second. I raised an eyebrow back at him and stared. In the end, he rolled his eyes. "Well, my best guess is that the place, or thing, or whatever, messes with the senses once they are nullified. I seemed to see things that weren't really there. Heard things that weren't there. Felt things that weren't there. Although, I'm not sure if that's an effect of having no senses or if it's your doing," He explained and I nodded.

I hadn't heard or felt much in the Void, but I had always seen this… lights in the emptiness. Now that he phrased it like that, I had to wonder if they had actually been there or if they were just a product of my sense-deprived mind. For the moment though, I now had to consider that, maybe, no senses was all there was to the Void.

"Is that all?" The Shade asked when the silence stretched. If I was honest, I had kind of forgotten his existence as my mind got lost in plans and theories for the Genjutsu. Which was funny, since I was already inside my mind.

"Yeah, thanks for that, snakey bastard," I replied, waving a hand dismissively. In a corner of the room appeared what I had decided would be his reward if he was helpful, which he had been, if not much. There laid a white desk with art supplies on top. Everything except for the paints was white too. "Take that as a thank you. If you are good next time, I'll give you an instrument or something."

Making sure that the things had like three layers of triggers in case he attempted anything, I disappeared from the Mindscape and opened my eyes back outside.

[}-o-{]

"Did you test your other original techniques?" Anko asked curiously as we walked through the Forest of Death. It was two weeks after my little chat with the Shade of Orochimaru and also a full month since I was given the task of creating the Void Genjutsu. I had several running ideas that I was working on as of that moment, and all of them looked both like they would work and like they wouldn't.

That was why I was there that day, to test some of them and see if any of them looked like they would work.

For the sake of my non-existent sleep schedule, I hoped they would.

"Not really," I answered my sensei's question with a shrug. "But then again, they were much simpler Jutsu. And I wasn't too worried about them failing, really. This time, it's much more serious. I need to make sure everything is perfect."

"Makes sense... " She nodded. Anko was tense, that much I could tell. There were millions of reasons for her to be like that, really. There was the whole War thing looming over us, there was her own training to overcome the Mark through the mindscape with the Yamanaka and there was my now somewhat regular chats with the Shade that was both helping me with the Jutsu and with some other things. He might not have had most of the original's memories, but he was just as smart, if what I got to see was any indication. I was really glad that I was taking advantage of that now.

All that didn't help Anko with her ingrained fear and hate of the man though.

I couldn't worry about that though. I had more important things to worry about. Like the report I had given a week back about the Akatsuki directly to Hiruzen. Or, closer in time, the Crush and my work to stop it.

Speaking of which…

I bit my thumb before going through a few hand seals and thrusting my hand down to the ground. A moment and a cloud of smoke later, Shirakumo stood before me, for once looking straight at me with her blue eyes. She knew what was in store for today.

Me? I looked at her filled with apprehension instead of fondness.

"You sure about this, Shirakumo?" I asked, for once, using her full name instead of the nickname I had given her. "I can just ask one of the bigger spiders, or I could use it on one of the animals in the fore-"

"No," The small spider denied and I grimaced. "I'll do it, Eiji," She said stubbornly and I gave her a pleading look.

"... Goddamnit," I grumbled to myself, seeing that she wouldn't budge at all. The reason for my current state was that the small spider had offered to be my test subject for my Genjutsu ideas. The little girl was adamant on improving her abismal capabilities against the illusion arts and helping me with my project at the same time. Still, the last thing I wanted to do was to subject someone that didn't deserve it to the Void. "It'll just be a second and I'll dispel it myself afterwards, I promise."

Both my summon and my sensei rolled their eyes at me. I looked at them feeling more than a little bitter. They didn't understand. Which I thought was very, very annoying, since Anko should know how serious this project was. She shouldn't be so easily dismissing it.

With a sigh, I resigned myself. I wasn't hoping for my attempts to fail, but at least I hoped my summon wouldn't be traumatized for whatever short exposure she had to the Void if they succeeded. With any luck, it would need more than a second to fully reach the traumatizing levels that the Shade of Orochimaru had been subjected to.

Mentally preparing myself to cast a spell on Shirakumo almost as soon as the Genjutsu was applied, I ran through my first prototype's hand seals. I saw the small white spider tense up once I was finished and had to do physical effort to not instantly make it stop. A second later, I put a finger between her eyes and gast Genjutsu Dissipation on her.

"You ok?" I asked worriedly as I saw the spider look around.

"It… kind of worked," She said and I gulped. "I couldn' see anything… nor hear or taste… but I could feel things just fine and I could smell, even if only a little bit. Everything else was fine, I think."

I sighed in relief when I realized, midway through her explanation, that she was, indeed, fine. Then, I narrowed my eyes at what she said and picked up the notebook I had brought with me, taking notes on what she said regarding that test. While doing that, I idly wondered why that hadn't become a skill. Even if it wasn't complete, the Jutsu did do something, which should be enough to be considered a technique.

'Is it because I don't consider it a full technique? Might be,' I thought to myself, still writing down what Shirakumo had said. Then, I started asking more pointed questions to get all the details right and to find out if there was something that she might not have thought was important.

Nodding once that process was done, I looked through the other Prototypes, seeing if there were any that I could already scratch out with the information on the first. I actually managed to reduce the list by one more with just that. 'With any luck, this process will be faster than just having to cast every single prototype,' I wished in my head.

The second attempt unbalanced her, also working to take away her sense of time and even the one from the kinesthetic receptors that enabled her to feel her limbs position. However, all the main senses seemed to remain unaffected, which worried me a bit. Still, with new notes, I could scratch out many more attempts off the list.

By the time I reached the sixth test, I had a much better idea of what I needed to do, even if none of the prototypes looked like it would work. After all, that one was the only one left on the list without a cross mark next to it due to the previous attempts. And still, I was fairly sure that it lacked some tweaks here and there, which sounded like an easy thing to correct but was anything b-

I tensed up when I saw Shirakumo start shivering shortly after the Genjutsu was placed on her. Immediately, I dispelled the technique and picked her up in my hands. The poor spider continued trembling between my fingers for a few seconds.

"I… I could only smell and taste," She replied to me and I nodded, not really paying attention to that. I was more worried about what had affected her so much. "I couldn't feel anything else… it was… I understand now, Eiji," The little arachnid admitted in a whisper.

"No more tests for you, Shira," I told her and she didn't protest or respond in any way. "I'll ask one of the older spiders next time."

"Don't want to test some more? I saw your list, brat," Anko pointed out next to me and I almost snapped at her. "You can cast them on me if you want," She offered but I quickly shook my head.

"No, I'm good with the data I got right now. And besides, I already used most of my chakra. They use more than Greater Mirage, after all," I replied, feeling slightly relieved that I couldn't continue with that.

Whoever the higher ups wanted to be placed under the Void, I hoped they would at least deserve it.

For now though, I was almost done with it. The only thing left was to start working with the info I had gotten that day, make another list of prototypes with the failures corrected and test again. With any luck, that would be it, if not, I would have to repeat the process.

At any rate, I was almost done with that project.