Chapter 155 Valuable Information

The energy of the lightning was still there, dangerous and violent, and it snaked through his sand barrier, shining like glass wherever it went.

His perception was obstructed and confused, with blind spots everywhere. He struggled in agony, trying to regain his direction and stay awake.

His mother had emerged from his sand defenses, her power chasing the dark figure - the Uchiha, she was furious and angry, and soon, the ninja of Konoha would have nowhere to hide.

His mother finally did what he couldn't - the sand surrounded the entire arena, forming a moving desert of deadly chakra, blocking all access in and out.

Gaara finally saw Uchiha Sasuke's figure clearly. After a long chase, his blurry figure finally became clear.

It looked like his sand shield had done some damage after all; the Uchiha's left arm was a mess even though he was still holding on to the strange, pulsating ball of chakra, and blood was dripping and burning on the sand, and the air was filled with the smell of rust and ozone.

The color of blood was too dark, and Gaara knew blood, he knew the color of blood on rough golden sand, and he knew that there was something wrong with Uchiha Sasuke's blood.

It's not just wrong, it's sick.

The boy's eyes were sharper now, the lines around them more profound, and though Gaara couldn't sense any noticeable changes beyond that, his mother's perception made him aware of the heightened danger and the need for greater vigilance.

Then, something changed - the Uchiha's back arched, his shoulders broadened, his stance changed.

His posture became primitive and savage, his lips drawn back to show his teeth as if he were growling.

It took Gaara a moment before he could feel chakra seeping out of the Uchiha's skin, spreading out like a wave.

It was subtle and strange, like the air above the Sand Village desert twisting in the sunlight.

Soon, Gaara could feel it, stinging his skin and irritating his mother as it washed over his sand armor, seeping through.

Then, like a mirage, the Uchiha's physical form flickered.

The air grew unnaturally dark, and the outline of Uchiha's body grew distorted and terrifying, as if some unnatural black mist was oozing out of his body, weird and elusive.

The mother's perception wavered in confusion - it was a genjutsu, it had to be, but even she couldn't tell what was real and what was not, what part of the Uchiha was still himself and what was an illusion.

The blurry form of a winged demon appeared where the Uchiha once stood, its feathers sharp as blades and fingers pointed like claws.

Black feathers began to fall from the darkness, scattering around the arena.

A feather floated down onto Gaara's dripping sand armor and passed right through it.

The feather cut in quickly, right into Gaara's inner defenses, too close to his skin for comfort, before disappearing into the shadows.

The scene was so deadly, so bizarre, so haunting and beautiful that Gaara froze for several seconds in the aura of weirdness and power.

This is no ordinary illusion.

---

Sasuke panted hard behind his dark curtain of genjutsu, grateful for the sand ninja's paranoid defenses - he hadn't intended to use the jutsu until he had mastered it completely.

Although dangerous, Gaara's spinning sand dunes were beneficial to Sasuke.

The enclosed space allowed the subtle miasma chakra in the genjutsu to gather and permeate the entire space, making its effects much more powerful than in an open space, allowing him to achieve the same effect with less chakra.

But that didn't mean there wasn't consumption, Sasuke could now feel the rotting burning sensation at the back of his throat as chakra surged through his veins again.

But it was worth it, seeing the power of this technique in action.

Demonic Illusion: Crow Plague

Kurenai's understanding of genjutsu was invaluable to him - as an Uchiha, genjutsu had always come easy to him, a side effect of his Sharingan and the Uchiha clan's Yin-attribute chakra.

But this illusion was completely different from what he was familiar with.

The Sharingan had the ability to weave chakra into intricate patterns - making it a powerful tool for performing genjutsu, of course - but it wasn't until he began training with Kurenai that he had considered an entirely different aspect of the Sharingan.

It blurred the line between chakra and reality, melding will and the certainty of one's own power into a strange gravitational pull. It was a powerful and intoxicating force, and Sasuke felt dizzy as the dark force enveloped him.

Then, maybe there is corrosion.

Sasuke had no idea how Naruto could stand it - and Sasuke's 'curse' hadn't even fully manifested yet, but he could already feel his blood becoming as thick as mud and his body felt like it weighed a thousand pounds.

Something sick rose up his throat and he turned his head, spitting something that tasted like blood and tar onto the stone floor of the arena.

He wiped his lower lip with his thumb.

The chakra illusion mimicked his movements, and Gaara watched his every move vigilantly and intently, his eyes scanning back and forth at the edge of the illusion, trying to find its boundaries, to find the real Sasuke.

Sasuke snorted.

By the end of the training, even Hong Sensei found it difficult to distinguish what was real and what was an illusion made up of chakra and illusions.

Sasuke looked down at the unnatural black color of his blood.

He only has one chance to cause damage, but causing damage is not his purpose.

This Sandfall Gaara was dangerous, but Sasuke understood now why he was so dangerous; at the beginning of the fight, Gaara had almost complete control of himself, but somehow, as time went on, as Sasuke put more and more pressure on him, another personality began to emerge, tearing at Gaara until he broke like dry earth, revealing more of the madness hidden underneath, the two personalities entangled with each other.

This is valuable information.

As long as he was standing, he would gather as much information as possible.

Without warning, Sasuke attacked, his injured hand raised high, fingers spread.

The hard genjutsu claws mimicked his movements, merging with Chidori's electricity, growing even larger as he charged at Gaara's barrier of sand.

The sand resisted violently, hissing as it melted into indestructible crystals, and Gaara let out an inhuman roar as the sand formed bullets in the trajectory of his attack and shot towards Sasuke.