UK:GSW Chapter 340 – Hymn of the Old Ones, Witnessing the Apocalypse from the World of Cthulhu
"Enough. I don't know which branch of the Uchiha you belong to, but nothing you're saying has any credibility. You claim to know Karin's mother and that you have some kind of godfather-godson relationship with her, but no matter how I look at it, you're only a bit older than me."
"So, what you're saying is impossible to believe."
Uchiha Sasuke finally spoke up. The cold, composed young man laid out, point by point, the falsehoods in Uchiha Kei's words, showing undisguised suspicion and hostility.
Clearly, Uchiha Kei's series of bizarre actions had angered Sasuke.
If it were someone else, Sasuke might not react like this. But Uchiha Kei was an Uchiha. For Sasuke—who had lost his clan and always considered himself the last survivor—this kind of behavior was unacceptable. It was a disgrace to the Uchiha name!
Yes—this was Sasuke's true feeling at the moment.
After all, for Sasuke, who had always been alone, suddenly meeting another clansman—one with a fully matured Three Tomoe Sharingan and a massive chakra reserve—was like finding a beam of hope in the darkness. It meant a future without confusion, and the joy of no longer being alone.
These two kinds of joy should have brought even more happiness, but then this unfamiliar clansman began spouting a series of lunatic statements. It was beyond absurd, instantly shattering the bond Sasuke had just started to feel.
If it had been someone with poor emotional control and volatile temperament, their expression would have completely twisted and broken by now.
Of course, this referred to hot-headed seventeen or eighteen-year-olds. For someone deeply shrewd and calculating, even if they wanted to tear you apart inside, they'd still smile on the outside.
Hearing Sasuke's words, Uchiha Kei merely smiled at him, then deliberately examined him with a curious gaze, slowly scanning him from head to toe. This only made Sasuke's expression worsen—he felt like he was being displayed as some kind of exhibit.
Just as Sasuke was about to lose his patience, Uchiha Kei spoke.
"Not bad. To have this level of strength at seventeen—you're already exceptional by traditional Uchiha standards. Among your peers, there are very few who could match you."
The sudden praise made Sasuke pause for a moment, and he instinctively wanted to respond with something in his usual cool tone.
But before he could, Kei's next words made his expression twist in anger.
"However, compared to Uchiha Itachi, you're still far behind. At your current strength, unless Itachi floods the Naka River on purpose, the odds are about one to nine—he'd kill you nine times in an hour."
Hearing this, the members of Snake all showed looks of shock. After Sasuke's moment of surprise, his face turned grim—he felt he was being severely underestimated.
Before Sasuke could speak, one of his teammates spoke first—Suigetsu Hozuki blurted out:
"Hey, hey, hey—are you kidding? What do you mean, 'killed nine times in an hour'? Sure, we've heard the stories about Sasuke and know he's strong, but he's not weak now! He even killed that Deidara guy from the Akatsuki. They're both Akatsuki—how could Sasuke's brother be that much stronger?"
This was exactly what the others thought too.
In the recent battle against Akatsuki member Deidara, Sasuke had displayed overwhelming power. It had been a Kage-level battle without question—massive destruction, dazzling ninjutsu, and in the end, Sasuke emerged victorious.
Even so, Sasuke hadn't used all of his cards, saving some for when he faced Itachi. He believed that with these hidden techniques, he could definitely kill him. The rest of Snake also thought the same—Sasuke's recent record spoke for itself: first killing Orochimaru, then Deidara, and Deidara had previously defeated the Fifth Kazekage Gaara and captured him alive. That was the feat of a confirmed Kage-level combatant.
Of course, they didn't know that Deidara had only captured Gaara by exploiting his desire to protect the Hidden Sand Village, and that in a fair fight, Deidara likely couldn't beat him—especially since Gaara had already destroyed one of his arms in that battle.
Based on the information they knew, Snake assumed Deidara was far stronger than Gaara, and that Sasuke—who had beaten Deidara—must be well above the average Kage's level. Surely, he would at least be on equal footing with Itachi, if not stronger.
But now Kei was claiming that Sasuke was nowhere near Itachi's level—and even saying it was "one to nine"? Such absurdity sounded like the ramblings of a madman.
Kei only smiled faintly and said:
"Looks like none of you believe me. Understandable—without experiencing the power of the Mangekyo yourselves, you'll always judge by your own limited standards."
"In that case, I'll let you personally experience the difference between ordinary shinobi and an Uchiha with the Mangekyo Sharingan!"
With those words, Snake's members froze for a moment before realizing his meaning. Sasuke's eyes widened, the tomoe in his Three Tomoe Sharingan spinning faster.
And then Kei's eyes changed—
The Mangekyo Sharingan appeared.
No—the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan.
Their gazes met.
And then…
"Uh… what happened? Did anything… happen?"
Suigetsu looked around in confusion before focusing on Kei.
"You… what did you do?"
Kei only kept smiling—a smile that in Suigetsu's eyes grew more distorted, more terrifying, as if something unspeakably horrible was invading his mind, twisting his perception, overturning his very thoughts.
And then—a strange song began to play. Its melody was unlike any music of the shinobi world. The lyrics were in a language Suigetsu could not understand—yet somehow, he knew their meaning.
"Gazing at the night sky, losing oneself;
The stars align, the past has gone;
What once was is lost, the end is at hand;
The seal is broken, it has awakened;
It returns with resolve, mankind trembles…"
An ethereal female voice sang, and as Suigetsu understood the strange words, he saw the world twisting around him. The stars in the sky spun wildly, shifting in impossible ways.
The world seemed tainted by something indescribable. Colossal, writhing tentacles pulsed and churned, the ground trembling as if something monstrous was about to emerge from beneath.
"What is this? What's happening? Wait… a genjutsu? Am I trapped in a genjutsu?!"
Panic creeping in, Suigetsu tried to dispel it with a hand seal—only to find nothing changed. No sign of breaking free.
Fear growing, he turned to his teammates.
"What do we do? What's going on? We… we—"
The rest of his words caught in his throat.
Because as they turned to look at him, their faces had become warped monstrosities. Their features were made of countless purple worms writhing together. In the hollow sockets of their eyes, something infinitely deep stirred.
The shock was too much for a native of the shinobi world—his mind nearly stopped working.
The song grew louder, the world's distortion intensified.
His twisted teammates lost even their human shape, their bodies warping further as they tried to wrap themselves around him. The sickening worms glistened with moisture and stank of brine and rot. The very air seemed to twist into a tangible force, ready to corrupt his body.
As a member of the Hozuki clan, Suigetsu's body was already water-based from Orochimaru's experiments—like a water elemental in a fantasy world. But even his liquid form couldn't hold. His body melted like ice, spilling water as he instinctively tried to retreat.
But the world's collapse moved faster. The ground split open, swallowing his grotesque teammates into the depths.
For a moment, he thought he could escape—jumping upward to safety.
But when he looked down from above, his mind froze—thoughts halted.
The sky rained meteors—but these were no rocks. They were curled masses of tentacles, nameless and abhorrent.
Winds howled, seas surged, and from the churning earth rose massive black horrors—gaping maws, pillar-like limbs, no trace of a natural form, covered in countless tentacles. They bleated like goats as they devoured everything, dragging prey into their tooth-lined maws.
Everything twisted and decayed. Trees became living predators, animals turned into fang-mouthed abominations, humans rotted into hunger-driven corpses, or sprouted eyes and tendrils from torn flesh.
The stars stopped moving—but the sea began to rise. Waves towered high, as if to engulf the world.
And from the depths… it emerged.
A massive figure with the head of an octopus, great wings, and a bloated, humanoid body. The song was a hymn to its return.
Suigetsu's mind shattered. His water body offered no defense. Everything he saw, felt, and understood was twisted beyond reason, driving him into madness.
Before losing consciousness, he somehow knew its name—Cthulhu, an Old One, a true god. A being humans could never comprehend or gaze upon without losing their sanity.
And the song was called the "Hymn of the Old Ones."
Suigetsu collapsed. Jugo fell with him. Both twitched violently, as if their bodies were reacting instinctively to unbearable mental trauma.
Only Sasuke and Karin still stood.
Yes—this was reality. In reality, three of Snake's four members had frozen in place moments ago, trapped in a genjutsu-like state. Only Karin was unaffected—because Kei had spared her.
But Karin took no comfort from that—her face was pale, cold sweat dripping as she trembled. She had tried again and again to break the "genjutsu" on her teammates—but nothing worked.
Even Sasuke, with his Three Tomoe Sharingan, had been locked in place, eyes vacant. And now two of them lay unconscious.
"This… this is the power of the Mangekyo Sharingan? How can it be so terrifying? Even Sasuke couldn't resist it…" she whispered in horror.
Kei said nothing—only smiling. In truth, it was Mangekyo power that trapped them—but the inescapable immersion came from a "genjutsu game" effect Kei had layered on top, creating a fully realized illusory world they could not escape.
Such a thing could not be resisted by skill or Sharingan alone.
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