Uchiha Shigure paused midair, his Sage Mode perception sharpening like a blade. A roiling mass of violent chakra, blood-red in nature, surged within his senses. It pulsed like an open wound in the fabric of the world.
"That has to be it," he muttered. Without another thought, his body flickered out of existence—instant teleportation carrying him at lightning speed to the source.
The one-eyed crimson serpent had already sensed him. Though Xinya had not yet laid eyes on Shigure, the massive snake felt the disturbance through his belly scales, which caught even the faintest vibrations in the ground. His deep cheek-pits burned with heat signatures—like an unerring web of infrared sight.
"Human!" Xinya's voice boomed, dripping with venomous hatred as his lone, gleaming red eye locked forward.
Shigure twisted aside just as the serpent lunged, coils ripping through trees like paper. The ground split with the force of the strike.
"Such reflexes," Shigure murmured. His body flickered again, reappearing right before Xinya's massive snout. "Xinya, I want to talk."
"Talk? With a human? Don't be ridiculous. I don't know how you learned my name, but it doesn't matter. Any human who comes near me dies!"
Shigure's jaw tightened. Reasoning clearly wouldn't work.
"Then I'll beat you, and you'll submit."
In a flash, he teleported behind the serpent, clamping both arms around Xinya's thick tail. With a roar, Shigure heaved and spun, slamming the colossal serpent's body in a circle before hurling him into the sky. Xinya crashed down with an earth-shaking boom.
"What—!?" Xinya hissed in disbelief. "Such strength, from a human!? You can toss my body around…!"
Still reeling, the snake opened his maw and sprayed a torrent of glistening venom. The droplets sizzled on the ground, the petrifying toxin solidifying rock where it struck. A single splash could freeze Shigure's entire body in stone.
But Shigure was already gone, teleporting between points in a blur. Each stream of venom barely missed, striking earth and tree but never touching him.
"Immortal Art: Black Diamond Technique!" Shigure's eyes flashed golden as he released a new power learned in Ryūchi Cave. From his palms, a black-scaled dragon erupted, whirling forward in a spiral of darkness.
Xinya recoiled in shock. "That… That's the magic of Longdi Cave!?"
The shadows crashed down upon him. The serpent's mighty senses—his sight, his smell, his hearing—all vanished in an instant, leaving him trapped in a suffocating void.
"Where…? What is this place?!" he bellowed. His voice echoed into nothing, unheard even by himself. His body writhed helplessly. "Impossible! I can't even hear my own voice! What… what kind of sorcery is this!?"
Shigure stepped calmly into the darkness, his presence absolute. "Xinya. You can struggle all you want, but you won't escape. I want you to listen to me… and willingly become my summoning beast."
"Ridiculous!" Xinya howled, thrashing in a blind void. "Why would I serve a human!? I'd rather die!"
"Then hear me out." Shigure's voice was low, deliberate. "I have three reasons."
Through the darkness, the snake stilled slightly, his coils no longer crashing in blind fury.
"First—you already know. My strength surpasses yours. I've awakened Sage Mode and inherited the black-scaled sage arts of Longdi Cave itself."
For the first time, Xinya froze as if struck still. Shigure's words carried undeniable truth. Few in history had earned the recognition of both White Snake Sage and the black-scaled elders. Such a human was no ordinary summoner.
"…What else?" Xinya rumbled, cautious now.
"Second," Shigure continued, "I want to heal your wounds. Both the one in your eye—and the one in your heart. I know your story. Your last master betrayed you, scarring you with lightning. That pain still chains you, doesn't it?"
The snake's body spasmed, and his roar burst out again. "Silence! How do you know that? That scar… He struck me down himself! That cold look in his eyes when I questioned his orders…"
"I told you," Shigure whispered, opening his blazing golden Sharingan within the darkness, letting its glow sear through. "My eyes see more than the present. They see truth… and the future."
The sheer weight of the golden gaze pressed into Xinya, shaking his resolve. His voice trembled when he asked, "…What about the third?"
Shigure straightened, his presence composed, his voicelike a vow burning in the night. "The third is simple. I will change everything. This broken world I inherited—filled with betrayal, endless war, and fleeting trust—I will turn it into a place of peace. Not just for humans, but for beasts like you, who deserve loyalty and respect."
A harsh laugh burst from Xinya. "Peace? In this world? Foolish dreamer! Humans betray each other as easily as snakes shed skin. Betrayal never ends. How can you possibly stop it?"
"You call betrayal endless?" Shigure challenged back. "Or do you only cling to a wound you misunderstood?"
The serpent froze. "What… did you say?"
"You said he struck your eye because you disobeyed. But answer me this—what matters more to a ninja? His own life, or his mission?"
"My life!" Xinya spat instantly. "Why else would he flee the battlefield, wounding me instead of fighting!? Do you know what it's like to see those cold eyes, full of betrayal?"
Shigure's golden eyes narrowed. "You're wrong."
Xinya snarled, but he found himself listening.
"A ninja is born to carry out missions. Even if death looms, the mission comes first. And for those who forge pacts, the same rule applies to summoning beasts."
The snake thrashed in defiance. "Then why wound me!? Why gouge out my eye?"
"Because it was the only way to save you."
Xinya's massive coils slackened, confusion dimming his rage.
"If he truly intended to desert the battlefield, why call you to join him at all? If he wanted to kill you, he had the power. Instead, he struck only your eye—a minor injury, painful but not fatal. Because when you were hit, you would be forcibly returned to Ryūchi Cave, alive. That was his way of ensuring you survived while he pressed on."
Shigure's gaze softened. "He sacrificed himself, Xinya. That cold look you remember? It wasn't betrayal. It was despair… the disappointment of seeing you disobey when he needed you most. And when he sent you back, he fulfilled the mission alone—and died fighting."
Silence hung in the void.
Xinya's body shivered violently. "…Died? No. That can't be. He escaped, he must have—"
"No," Shigure murmured. "He gave his life for the mission. And for you."
The serpent's great head dipped low, trembling as memories buried for centuries surged up. The rage that had filled his soul flickered, threatening to collapse into grief.
"Impossible… After hundreds of years, you say this now?" His voice weakened, raw. For the first time, doubt cut through his hatred.
Shigure's hand reached out, golden Sharingan shimmering. "Not impossible. Only the truth you refused to see."
Xinya's lone crimson eye flickered wildly between fury and despair, the weight of his past crashing against Shigure's unyielding conviction.
And in the next instant—
The earth shook as Xinya's body coiled in a surge of chakra. His eye blazed, venom dripping from his fangs as his roar split the air.
"Human! If your words are true… prove it to me with your life!"
--
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