Chapter 131: Sasuke and Naruto's Mission

…

Sasuke awoke in the real world. He was now among a race known as the Starfish Astrals.

The people of this race had human upper bodies, but fish tails instead of legs. With a swish of their tails, they could swim through the cosmos.

They were an exceptionally powerful race throughout the universe.

Returning from his thoughts of the spirit being Suigetsu, Sasuke continued carrying out the task assigned by the Sage of Six Paths.

Although he was blind, the Sage of Six Paths had opened a Soul Eye for him, allowing him to “see” nonetheless. He infiltrated the castle of the Starfish Astrals and headed straight for the chamber of their king.

“Enemy attack!”

“There!”

“Everyone, get over here!”

“…”

One of the Starfish Astral guards spotted Sasuke and immediately joined the others in surrounding him. The entire castle was suddenly ablaze with light.

The Sharingan in Sasuke’s soul transformed into a Mangekyo Sharingan. Activating its power, he slipped into the darkness at the corner of a wall.

The Soul Mangekyo was a newly awakened ability of Sasuke’s, allowing him to travel through shadows.

Wherever a shadow existed, Sasuke could appear anywhere within it the instant he touched it.

The guards surrounded him, yet all at once, his figure vanished.

He had fled into the shadows.

As long as his ocular power was sufficient, he effectively possessed limitless teleportation within the shadows.

The Starfish Astral King’s chambers were located on the highest floor of the castle. Sasuke used his Shadow Passage ability all the way there and soon arrived inside the royal chamber.

“Bang!”

Sasuke kicked open the door and stepped inside, only to find the Starfish Astral King sitting upright with two guards beside him, as though they had been waiting for his arrival.

The room was brightly lit, and everything within it was clearly visible. The Starfish Astral King had a shrewd, merchant-like mustache and sat in a chair, lazily flicking his fish tail. In one hand, he held a red-glowing fruit and gnawed at it. Seeing Sasuke, he smiled.

“There have been disturbances among all the races lately. Is that because of you?”

He spat out a chunk of fruit. Judging by his expression, it seemed to taste terrible.

Sasuke kept his eyes closed. Holding a cane, he gave a faint smile and tapped his way into the room.

“That would be me. So you noticed.”

With a bang, the door closed by itself behind him.

There had been disturbances among the various races of the universe recently, but they had been suppressed soon afterward. Ordinary people would never have thought to connect the incidents.

The Starfish Astrals, however, were different. Their race possessed the ability to foresee danger. Whenever one of them was about to encounter peril, the energy particles of the universe would warn them in advance.

The Starfish Astral King continued chewing his apple with one hand. He extended the other, and countless yellow cosmic particles immediately gathered around him. Before long, they formed a swirling yellow sphere of energy in his palm.

“To our people, the ever-present cosmic particles are equivalent to water. When danger approaches, those particles warn us beforehand.”

He spoke with absolute confidence, making it clear that he had known for some time that Sasuke would come.

Sasuke tilted his head, angling his ear toward the Starfish Astral King as though listening carefully.

“Then did the cosmic particles tell you to run?”

“Hahahaha…”

The Starfish Astral King threw his head back and laughed. The hand holding the yellow sphere clenched tightly, crushing the cosmic particles with a soft burst.

He looked toward Sasuke, his gaze sharp.

“Against a blind man like you?”

Sasuke’s eyes remained tightly shut. With his cane in hand, he looked every bit the part of a blind man—and he truly was blind. He had given his eyes to his elder brother, Itachi Uchiha. On that point, the Starfish Astral King was not mistaken.

The Starfish Astral King continued, “Compared to that, I am more interested in the purpose behind the disturbances you have been causing one after another.”

That was why he had arranged this confrontation and waited for Sasuke.

Sasuke’s expression remained emotionless.

“You will know soon enough.”

The next moment, his body moved, and he attacked without warning.

The two guards on either side of the Starfish Astral King immediately lashed out with their tails and engaged Sasuke. Yet after only a few exchanges, both guards were dead.

Sasuke turned toward the Starfish Astral King.

Only then did the king begin to panic.

Those two guards had been the strongest members of the Starfish Astrals aside from himself, yet they had been killed in a handful of exchanges without even having the chance to unleash their ultimate techniques.

There was no way he could be Sasuke’s opponent.

“Guards… guards!”

The instant he shouted, before he could even activate the chakra within his body, Sasuke flashed forward and appeared directly before him.

Sasuke’s tightly closed eyes suddenly opened, revealing two pitch-black sockets.

“Yin Tsukuyomi!”

The Starfish Astral King saw those two black sockets, and his eyes immediately went dull. He had fallen under Sasuke’s genjutsu.

The Mangekyo Tsukuyomi in its soul state possessed the ability to cast illusions directly through the gaze of the soul. The body and the soul stood in opposition: the body was yang, while the soul was yin. Thus, it was called Yin Tsukuyomi.

Even a powerful being like the Starfish Astral King could fall victim to it in an unguarded moment, especially without any understanding of the power of the soul.

“Your Majesty!”

“Save the king!”

“…”

At that moment, the voices of guards rang out beyond the door. Clearly, they had heard the Starfish Astral King’s cry.

Sasuke’s expression did not change. He closed his eyes, took one step backward, and retreated into the darkness at the corner of the wall. Immediately afterward, he vanished.

“Bang!”

The door was thrown open. Guards carrying weapons rushed inside, but they saw no sign of Sasuke. They saw only the corpses of the two guards lying on the floor, with their king standing beside them.

“Your Majesty… Your Majesty… are you all right?” one of the guards asked.

The dullness in the Starfish Astral King’s eyes transformed into a hidden glimmer of light. He looked at the guards and answered calmly, “I am fine.”

Then he pointed toward the two bodies on the ground.

“They intended to assassinate me. I killed them. Deal with the corpses.”

The guards looked at the bodies. They were familiar with them: the two dead men had been the commanders of their guard force. How could the commanders have attempted to murder the king?

They looked again at their king’s solemn expression. Though doubts filled their hearts, the weight of his authority kept them from asking any questions.

The matter was quickly suppressed, leaving no ripples behind.

…

Sasuke had used genjutsu to control the king of the Starfish Astrals. At the same time, similar scenes were unfolding among other races, such as the Corpse Soul Clan.

This race was born when the corpses of the dead developed consciousness. The more powerful the corpse, the stronger the resulting individual.

Naruto could not deal with the king of that race, but he could handle some of its weaker high-ranking members. Thus, he secretly infiltrated the clan and released a crow before one of those officials.

The crow was a summoned beast, and a genjutsu was hidden within its eyes. The moment the official looked into them, he was controlled.

The result was the same as in Sasuke’s case.

Together, the two of them had taken control of important figures within two different races.

For some time, Sasuke and Naruto continued carrying out missions of this kind. Through the cosmic black market, they traveled to the regions of space where the various races resided, using genjutsu to control their kings or high-ranking officials and turn them into their agents.

By now, nearly every prominent race had received a visit from one of them.

After completing their missions, the two returned through spatial teleportation to the cosmic black market, then made their way back to their temporary residence.

They returned almost simultaneously. Meeting at the entrance, they nodded to each other. Naruto took the initiative and supported Sasuke as they knocked on the door.

“Creak.”

The door opened, and a man with black eyes stood there to let them in.

It was not the Sage of Six Paths.

It was Itachi Uchiha, who had escaped from Earth.