Black moon vs Red moon
The moonlight illuminated the silhouette of the Konoha ninja and made possible a dark reflection on the peaceful water. On Ichigo's eyes the scenary looked surreal, like if pulled out of a book. He almost expected a witch to appear and chant that something wicked was about to come.
Even without a witch, Ichigo knew that danger was imminent, so he raised his sword to guard his chest and be ready to make a counter.
The red eyed man jumped to the water in a quiet motion, so soft that the water didn't even ripple. Those eyes, bright like an animal, stared at him. Ichigo didn't blink, he was using a gigai so he couldn't afford an opening. If worst came to worst, his Shinigami pass was secured on the same side he had his sword sheath...Ichigo gripped his katana with more force, depending on his spiritual body all the time was far from ideal, he needed to trust in his new found skills at least a little.
The man aura thickened and Ichigo felt the strong killing instinct, not even a candle to Kenpachi's, but still dangerous for a new ninja as Ichigo.
Killer B had said he was genin level, the rockiest kind of ninja, and Ichigo recalled that only jonin, the highest ranked, could venture outside their villages alone. The Konoha ninja was alone.
The wind howled again and the ninja closed his eyes, just to open them a second later to show two black points on his irises. Ichigo remembered it being just one.
Before he could make sense of the change, the world darkened and Ichigo felt a stab on his gut. The ninja had somehow got behind him. He had not meet anyone that could supress their riatsu enough to do that kind of feat. Fast, yes, but even sonido, the fast step used by hollows, made in the arriving point a raise of riatsu.
Ichigo regained his mind fastly and trowed a vertical slash at the ninja.
The world was again illuminated by the red moon.
Instead of a body falling to the ground, Ichigo saw how the guy became crows and he realized that something was off. The reishi on everything felt muted and he couldn't sense any riatsu coming out from the birds. It was gengutsu.
He just knew the name of the hypnotic technique, but he had been busier trying to learn hand signs names to inquire about a lesson that Killer B planned for the next month.
Ichigo focused again, trying to find the riatsu of the ninja so he wouldn't be attacked when he was captured in the false world. He raised his spiritual energy to try to sense the ninja and without knowing fully how, he was back at the clearing in the same position he had been when everything began.
The ninja mouth was a thin line but unlike Ichigo, that was breathing heavily, the ninja looked as stoic as moments ago.
"You have talent" the man said with an icy tone as another black dot formed on his eyes "But not enough"
Ichigo felt his heart being stabbed but couldn't move. Everything was so abrupt that he could only stare at the full moon.
He was walking in a pathway of an hospital. He could see the moon outside, casting it's red light over the walls. There were sounds of water dripping every step he took, so he glanced behind him and saw a path of blood that went to him.
He looked at his feet and could see a muddle of blood forming between them. He was injured, he couldn't feel it, but there was a memory of an event: merciless and dreadful in a world of white sand and eternal night.
His eyes widened before his left hand went to his chest. Instead of flesh he found a gaping hole. The walls of the hospital blowed away and he was on the top of a white building, the scene was familiar. He was barefoot and on the top of a pulse, he saw a black figure looking down at him.
His chest was still open and he was feeling his mind going blank. It hurt. His mask, his heart, his skin and bones, he was going to die in the world tainted of red, away from his home and with the hollow riatsu surrounding him.
But this time his senses didn't detect any riatsu. There was not any hollow or any dome. Gengutsu!
Ichigo blinked before focusing in the black haired man again. It wasn't a bat like creature with skin harder than iron. Instead, it was a raven human, made of soft flesh that could be cut as if was paper with his sword.
The place was inside his mind, and Ichigo realized that even if the other man could pull out tricks like changing world after world, the ninja had no idea how sensing riatsu felt like. And did not have any idea of shumpo.
Ichigo apparead behind the illusion version of the man in a blink and the ninja became dust when the sword smashed the pillar. Ichigo could sense the muted riatsu in a place that was out of his reach (the real world) but he had the feeling that the ninja was more dangerous in flesh than in the confines of his mind.
He would crush the ninja in the gengutsu. If that was possible then Ichigo was sure he could pull it out. He localized the stranger man again, staring at him with those red eyes, and the world changed again to a very different scenario.
Ichigo was in a village that had a mountain with carved faces. Ichigo recognized the place as Konoha and wondered briefly if the ninja planned to use his home landscape as an advantage in their battle of minds. As always the world was tainted by red, but this time even the ground was bleeding.
Ichigo almost backed off when he noticed that it wasn't the ground. There were bodies. Unlike spiritual ones, this ones were more like the people in the normal world, the smell almost sweet, if death were capable of being sweet. It was mixed with the strong metalic taste of blood. The combination was repulsive.
He had to close his eyes and when he did that, he felt his arm being cut. He knew it was a gengutsu, but the burning sensation that traveled all his body felt real and he almost felt bilis on his throat when his mind couldn't control his left hand.
It was still there, he knew it was just an illusion, but his brain couldn't fully process the illusion and it overlapped what Ichigo knew with what Ichigo believed. He closed his eyes and after a deep breath he could felt his fingers again.
After opening his eyes he found himself at the same place, just this time he could see the massacre before it began, could see the old couple closing their store just to be murdered in cold blood a moment later, then a young man with a goatee ran towards them just to have his head sliced by a younger version of the red eyed ninja.
It was an illusion, his mind screamed, but his soul howled with the need to stop the carnage unfolding in front of his eye. Ichigo swung his katana towards the ninja neck, but when his sword touched the ninja, the man vanished in smoke. Ichigo searched for him, his eyes scanning the area. Finally, he found the ninja inside a house, Ichigo was able to watch trought the window a thin woman falling to the ground.
Then the ninja apparaed two houses away, at the top of the rooft and went inside the place. Ichigo forced himself to follow him inside. He didn't turned to see the body, instead he focused in the retreating killer.
"Stop!" Ichigo screamed, but the ninja ignored him as he went towards the next house. Ichigo managed to get inside at the same time that the red eyed man.
There was a black haired girl in what looked to be light blue pijamas. She was just out of childhood and had a blue ribbon tying her hair in a ponytail. Karin, his sister, had used one like that on a birthday party a few months ago.
He tried to grave the girl and snatch her to safety. She was less than wind on his hand, even as she turned to smile at the ninja that would kill her. Ichigo closed his eyes, registering again the blue ribbon. He felt powerless and was unable to face another kill.
At the moment he closed his eyes, his leg was severed out and he felt to the ground patting. He was back at the beggining. Just after all began.
The moon was red, mooking him and everyone. He knew it wasn't real, that those people screaming and dying were just a creation of the pychopat ninja to torture him. Even with that knowledge, he was unable to stop his heart hurting when his sword was unable to help any of those persons.
He raised his riatsu, trying to crush the ninja with his energy. Or to break the illusion and get away from the smelt of death.
The illusion crumbled as he saw the old woman body hit the ground soundless.
Ichigo felt to his knees and barely could put his hands to stop his face to hit against the ground. The world was real, even if the moon was still red and he could smell blood. His eyes searched and found that his upper arm had a deep horizontal cut.
He barely composed himself before a kunai was trowed at his head. He jumped a meter away and finally could see the ninja cold face. He looked fresh even after killing all those people. The girl had not been older than fourteen and even then she was dead.
Her small frame crumbled to the ground, to a crimson pool in a lonely room.
His chest felt heavy and even if he saw kunais going to him, his mind was unable to process the after images of the illusion.
There was a crashing sound, and next thing Ichigo was aware about, Chad was standing in front of him. His back turned to Ichigo as he faced the ninja.
"Are you fine, Ichigo?"
"Yes" Ichigo impulsed himself to stand up "Be careful, he can do gengutsu"
Chad nodded before launching himself towards the ninja, he was unable to walk over the water, but with his fast speed there was no need. In a fast action, he hit the ninja in the chest without even using his Fullbringer.
The murderer was pushed away various meters until he crashed against a tree at the same time that Chad sunked in the water after losing his momentum.
The ninja managed to stand up and I higo could see a small trail of blood on his mouth. He counted that as a victory.
Before he could go after the ninja and finish him once and for all, the other man made four had signs in fast successions and banished in a puff of leaves. His riatsu gone with him.
"Ichi, are you fine?" Bazz-B jumped at his side "Was that...A rouge nin?"
"A rouge nin?" Ichigo asked as he walked to the lake to help Chad to get out of the water.
"Rouges are ninjas not affiliated to any village, traitors. He had a Konoha headband with a slash, I think"
"Yes, he did" Ichigo nodded "And had red eyes"
Bazz-B seemed lost on thought for a second. Next thing his strong hand went to tap Ichigo on his shoulder.
"Congratulations, you have survived the S-class rouge, Itachi Uchiha" KillerB said with that singing tone he liked to use.
Ichigo and Chad enchanged looks, they didn't recognize the name, but by the sound of it, the man had a fame.
"What did he do?" Chad dared to ask.
"He killed every member of his clan" the older ninja told them in a solemn voice "In just one night, he murdered all the Uchiha"
Ichigo felt his blood run cold. The massacre he had witnessed, it had been real. Before he could think more about bodies of innocent people, his vision darkened and everything faded to black.
to be continued