8
Yeah, the wave of red and malevolence was obviously Kurama, but that did bring up the question of why I hadn't... felt? saw?... the other Bijuu.
Perhaps it was simply because of how close I was to Konoha compared to the other villages? It had been pretty overwhelming, and the village did play host to one of the most powerful sources of Chakra in the world. Too much power to close to me drowning out my senses, couple with my relative inexperience.
Or I could be horrendously wrong and it was something else entirely.
Only one way to find out, though I wasn't particularly eager to try and sense the world again. If only because I would end up feeling and tasting the Darkness again.
I really wished I could afford myself the ignorance. But I couldn't, I needed to learn how, because doing so would help me survive longer.
It was simply too useful to not have.
With a sigh, I once again pushed away from the World. I hadn't moved much closer to Konoha, so I still had a lot of time to do this.
Like before, I stared a slow and careful push towards the Darkness, stopping just the tiniest portion away from its edge.
For the second time that day, I turned towards the world.
Like before, the Tidal wave of malevolence that was undoubtedly the Kyuubi immediately crashed into my senses. The wave of energy, probably Chakra, came next.
Interestingly enough, I couldn't see any spots of black.
The ocean of Darkness came last, just as tantalizing as before. This time, however, I was prepared for it.
The desire, much like before, immediately welled up. Unlike before, this time I clamped down on it, forcing myself to focus on things other than the Darkness.
I looked around, searching for things outside the collection of malevolence, Chakra and Darkness.
As I looked further from the village, it became somewhat easier to distinguish the world. Blues and reds faded out, replaced with a slight shade of green. The ocean of Darkness faded, barely, but it did diminish. Off in the distance,way off in the distance, I could feel a tiny vestige of Hatred.
I was distracted from my viewing when my eyes caught a strand of black, a thin line of Darkness that stretched from a distant part of forest to another, closer part.
It twisted even as I watched it, warping and changing, with only the ends remaining a seeming constant. The part that was further was easy to see and follow, but it was almost drowned out by the Darkness of the village as it came closer. I could barely, just barely, see it through the Darkness.
Is that... is that a Corridor of Darkness?
I kept my eyes on the strand of Darkness, even as I pulled closer to the World. The feelings of malevolence, Chakra and Darkness faded away, allowing me to see the Corridor of Darkness more clearly.
I watched as it twitched, before it was pulled to the side.
Another string stretched out to meet it, the two strings attracting each other like magnets.
They collided, wrapping and warping around each other, before merging into a single, thicker strand, one stretched from four different places.
It lasted for all of a second before it snapped, four different lines flinging themselves in wildly different directions.
One of the four flew past me, striking the ground and reconnecting there.
My eyes followed it as it moved, and, with a start, I realized that I was utterly surrounded by them.
No matter what direction I looked in, I found at least one Corridor of Darkness stretching. Some were like the first one I had saw, a winding, twirling, warping strand of Darkness, flitting to and fro. Others were different, more stable, with less movement and a seemingly larger size.
Hundreds stretched from direction of the Village, forming a network that connected dozens of different areas surrounding the village.
One of them actually connected nearby, forming from just outside of the village to just off the main road.
I pulled closer to the world, though I tried to keep the Corridor of Darkness in my sight.
I moved over to where the entrance to the Corridor was, hoping that I could use the Corridor of Darkness.
Well, here goes nothing.
I pushed out of the World, and into the Corridor of Darkness.
Instantly, my surroundings were replaced with a swirling green that changed into a brighter orange. On the walls and floor, the symbol of Konoha's swirling leaf was reflected everywhere, in a manner not dissimilar to the way that the Nobody Symbol had appeared on the walls of the Betwixt and Between.
I stood on seemingly nothing, an invisible barrier that nonetheless acted as a floor.
Now wasn't that reassuring, that the Corridor of Darkness made precisely as little sense as I thought it would.
I moved to the orange side of the Corridor, passing through the exit.
Instantly, I appeared near the village. Though I was still some distance away from the walls, the village was now actually within my sights.
What would have been several hours of travelling was instead reduced to only a couple seconds and a bit of disorientation.
Now all that was left was to get into the village itself.