Chapter 11: Breaking a Dog
From the very beginning, he'd been trapped within a genjutsu.
There had been no warning signs. No Sharingan activation. Not even the slightest chakra fluctuation to detect.
A bone-chilling realization, accompanied by primal, unknowable fear, slowly eroded Ryōma Aburame's sanity like acid eating through steel.
No. This guy is definitely not an ordinary jonin!
This information must reach Lord Danzo. Uchiha Kazuki is deliberately concealing his true strength—he's definitely plotting something!
Almost without conscious thought, Ryōma decisively abandoned any pretense of completing his assassination mission. He turned and fled with every ounce of speed his body could muster.
As long as I can escape the Forest of Death, even if Uchiha Kazuki is incredibly powerful, he would never dare kill an ANBU operative in broad daylight. That would make him a rogue ninja—an enemy of Konoha itself!
"Running away? How very ANBU of you."
Kazuki sighed, placing his right hand against his forehead in mock disappointment. "Really now, couldn't you just stay here obediently and accept your fate?"
Madness!
While fleeing at full speed, Ryōma suddenly felt as if a bomb had detonated inside his skull.
"AAAAHHH—"
Ryōma screamed, clutching his head with both hands as he lost his footing and tumbled from the tree branch, crashing heavily to the forest floor.
Pain!
Excruciating, unbearable pain!
It felt as if every single nerve in his body was being gnawed on by fire ants—slowly, methodically, endlessly.
The terrifying agony, accompanied by maddening whispers that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere, relentlessly eroded Ryōma's mental landscape. Blood began pouring from his nose, ears, eyes, and mouth—making him look like something that had crawled out of a nightmare.
"Uchiha... Kazuki... what... what did you do to me?!"
He writhed in the dirt like a wounded animal, clutching his head as his eyes turned bloodshot. His cries grew increasingly pitiful and inhuman, veins bulging across his face in grotesque patterns that made him look like a demon from hell itself.
"Nothing much, really. As everyone knows, I'm a psychiatrist."
Kazuki shrugged casually, his tone almost conversational. "I simply... detonated your mind. Just a little psychological treatment."
'Frenzy' was an ability of the Spectator pathway—specifically, a Sequence 7 Psychiatrist's signature technique.
By forcefully detonating the target's suppressed emotions or unstable mental state, it could plunge victims into complete psychological breakdown, causing severe spiritual damage that no medical ninjutsu could heal.
A sharp pain suddenly lanced through Kazuki's temples, accompanied by a burning sensation along his neural pathways. His concentration began to waver dangerously.
This is bad. Using Beyonder abilities repeatedly in such a short timeframe has severely depleted my spirituality.
He pinched the bridge of his nose, forcefully withdrew from spirit vision, took a deep, steadying breath, and barely managed to suppress the restless potion churning within him.
I need to be more careful. I don't want to lose control so soon after advancing.
The potion system from Lord of the Mysteries was fundamentally a double-edged sword.
While it allowed mortals to step into the realm of gods, it also brought madness and the constant risk of losing control. One significant misstep could transform a person into nothing more than a pile of Beyonder 'materials' to be harvested.
Kazuki began walking slowly toward the broken form of Ryōma Aburame.
He needed to bring this matter to a perfect conclusion.
Intimidation.
"No! No, stay back!"
Ryōma, still suffering from the mental onslaught, saw Kazuki approaching and reacted as if he'd witnessed something far more terrifying than death itself. His face contorted with absolute horror as he scrambled backward on all fours, screaming and frantically waving his hands as if to ward off a demon.
"Don't come near me—Uchiha Kazuki!"
Just moments ago, through the haze of his fractured mind, he thought he'd seen something impossible.
A dragon?
Enormous, pale golden vertical pupils like blazing twin suns, searing his very spirit and soul. Scales engraved with mysterious, incomprehensible runes that seemed to exist in dimensions his eyes couldn't fully perceive—like invisible hands crushing and twisting his sanity itself.
Uchiha Kazuki... is this guy even 'human'?!
"Are you afraid, Ryōma Aburame?"
Kazuki's voice was low and measured, yet it didn't feel distant or cold. Instead, it carried an almost friendly quality—like greeting an old companion.
"No... don't come any closer!"
Ryōma's back slammed against a tree trunk with nowhere left to retreat. His face remained frozen in an expression of pure terror. "What are you, Uchiha Kazuki?!"
"Human? Monster? A god? Think whatever you like."
Kazuki approached him step by deliberate step, his shadow stretching impossibly long in the dappled sunlight filtering through the canopy.
But in Ryōma's perception—through eyes that had glimpsed something beyond human comprehension—that shadow was writhing. Moving. Alive. Like a grotesque, many-limbed beast preparing to devour its helpless prey.
Unease and primal fear clung to the depths of his consciousness like parasites, burrowing deeper with each passing second. The whispers in his ears grew louder, closer, more insistent—a shrill cacophony of voices that nearly drove him over the edge into complete madness.
"No! Don't come near me! Please, I'm begging you, don't come any closer!"
Ryōma Aburame—one of the most elite operatives in all of Root, a man who'd killed without hesitation, who'd tortured prisoners without flinching—was now openly weeping and pleading desperately with Uchiha Kazuki.
"Please! Please! Please!"
The incessant screaming of those otherworldly voices was driving him completely insane.
The dragon-like entity from his hallucination was becoming clearer in his mind's eye, its twisted, reality-defying runes seeming to physically split his skull from the inside.
"Ryōma Aburame, have you ever thought about what people truly live for?"
Kazuki stopped walking, his back now to the sunlight streaming through the trees, and posed the question calmly.
Patches of golden light filtered through the leaves, casting him in an almost ethereal glow.
From Ryōma's perspective—on his knees, looking up through tear-blurred eyes—Kazuki stood haloed in sunlight like a holy angel descending from heaven, bathed in divine radiance that seemed to push back the darkness.
The frantic whispers gradually faded into blessed silence.
The distorted, nightmare world before him vanished like morning mist under the sun.
The chaotic, sanity-breaking runes dissolved into nothingness.
The light emanating from Kazuki—like a savior extending his hand—pulled Ryōma back from the abyss of madness. A lifeline for a drowning man gasping for air.
His heart had never felt so calm. So... peaceful.
"I don't know," Ryōma answered automatically, instinctively lowering his head in an unconscious gesture of submission.
Perhaps even he didn't fully realize that, in that fleeting moment of salvation, a profound sense of awe had taken root deep within his psyche toward Uchiha Kazuki.
"I think it's a sense of security."
Kazuki's voice was gentle, almost therapeutic.
"A sense of... security?"
A blank, confused expression appeared on Ryōma's face.
"That's right. 'Peace of mind,' Ryōma."
Kazuki spread his hands in an open, welcoming gesture, a gentle smile gracing his features as he explained patiently, "Everyone lives to overcome anxiety and fear—to find peace of mind. That's the fundamental truth of human existence."
He began pacing slowly, like a priest delivering a sermon to a devoted believer, speaking with measured, deliberate emphasis:
"Gaining a prominent reputation, dominating others, or amassing enormous wealth—all are pursued for peace of mind!"
"Marriage and friendship—also for peace of mind!"
"Dedication to others, the pursuit of love and peace—all are simply different paths toward peace of mind!"
"Ultimately, everything people do, every action they take, every choice they make—it's all in pursuit of that single goal: peace of mind!"
Peace of mind.
Those three simple words struck Ryōma's battered psyche like a hammer blow, resonating deep within his soul and causing him to fall into profound contemplation.
"The reason people feel fear is because of anxiety—uncertainty about the future, about their safety, about whether they truly matter."
Kazuki's gaze seemed to pierce through flesh and bone, seeing directly into the core of Ryōma's being.
And the deep vortex hidden within those crimson Sharingan eyes seemed ready to pull Ryōma's entire existence into their depths.
The anxiety vanished like smoke.
The constant unease and fear that had always lurked in the depths of his mind while serving under Danzo—the terror of failure, of disposal, of becoming expendable—melted away like snow in spring sunshine.
A single glance from those eyes was enough to grant him an unparalleled sense of absolute security.
Like an infant floating peacefully in amniotic fluid within its mother's womb, a comfortable sense of complete safety surrounded him. Ryōma's battered soul immersed itself in that warmth, never wanting to leave.
"You are uneasy. You are in constant pain beneath that mask."
Kazuki walked up behind Ryōma, bent slightly, and gently placed both hands on his shoulders. He leaned down, bringing his lips close to Ryōma's ear, and whispered with honeyed persuasion:
"In that case, why not choose to pledge your loyalty to me instead, Ryōma Aburame? Is there truly anything wrong with seeking peace of mind?"
Yes.
The reason people live is to seek peace of mind.
Since I could never find 'peace of mind' serving Danzo, what could possibly be wrong with submitting to someone who can actually give me what I need?
"Lord Kazuki."
Ryōma Aburame lowered his head, his voice now carrying complete obedience and genuine respect—no longer feigned or coerced.
"Very good, Ryōma."
Kazuki smiled warmly, reaching out to gently stroke Ryōma's head like one might pat a faithful dog. "I will grant you the peace of mind you've been desperately seeking all this time."
Feeling the warmth of that hand against his head, Ryōma experienced a tranquility he had never known in his entire life.
Yes. This is the peace of mind I was searching for. Someone truly worthy of absolute devotion.
Not that paranoid rat hiding in the shadows, always scheming, always suspicious, always ready to dispose of his own tools!
Author's Note: Kazuki just pulled a complete psychological takedown using Spectator abilities. Ryōma never stood a chance. Thanks for reading!
[End of Chapter 11]
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