The next day.
When Uchiha Akira opened his eyes, he felt as though he was holding something.
He looked down.
“Isn’t this the book from yesterday?”
Akira’s eyes flickered.
“So it really exists.”
“But why are there still no words?”
Akira frowned and walked out of his room.
He placed the book on the dining table.
However, when Uchiha Mikoto and Sasuke entered, neither of them seemed to notice it.
It was as though the book didn’t exist at all.
Akira fell into thought.
“This book appeared because of that tentacle.
The tentacle emerged from the vortex, and the vortex appeared after my left eye absorbed the black aura surrounding Mizuki.”
“This book must be connected to Mizuki.”
Akira took the book to the Ninja Academy.
He placed it on the podium.
None of the students noticed it.
Yamashiro Aoki entered the classroom and didn’t see it either.
Neither did Iruka.
Not until Mizuki arrived.
Mizuki stared at the podium and frowned.
At the same time, Akira sensed the book appearing inside his mind.
—Corpse-Eater Bloodline
Those words appeared clearly on the cover in Akira’s mind.
Mizuki instinctively reached toward the book.
The moment he touched it, the scene around him changed.
It felt as though he had entered an entirely different world.
There was nothing but endless darkness.
Strangely, Mizuki didn’t feel afraid.
Instead, he felt a sense of familiarity and belonging.
The aura in this place felt incredibly familiar and comforting.
It was as though he had been born to belong here.
It was far more comfortable than Konoha.
Suddenly, the sound of chewing echoed through the darkness.
It sounded like a wild beast devouring its prey.
Mizuki saw something.
A humanoid figure was crouching on the ground.
Another humanoid figure lay motionless before it.
The chewing came from the crouching figure.
For some inexplicable reason, an overwhelming impulse suddenly surged through Mizuki’s body.
He wanted to join the crouching figure.
He wanted to devour the body with it.
The next moment, Mizuki lunged forward.
“Crunch!”
He tore off a mouthful of flesh.
An indescribably pleasurable sensation surged through him, as though some kind of power had been poured directly into his body.
The crouching figure raised its head.
Mizuki looked at it.
His pupils contracted sharply.
The figure’s face was identical to his own.
It grinned.
“Boom!”
Every image vanished.
When Mizuki came back to his senses, he discovered that he had returned to the classroom.
“Good morning, Sensei.”
“Good morning, everyone.”
Mizuki composed himself and looked at the students below.
A sudden hunger rose from deep within him.
He saw the students as food.
He wanted to eat them.
The thought startled Mizuki, and he forcefully suppressed the urge.
He then looked at the book in his hand.
“Is this because of the book?”
Mizuki closed his eyes and recalled what he had just experienced.
His heart began beating faster.
“If I follow the method recorded in this book, I can obtain power.”
“Chūnin will no longer be my limit.”
“I can become a jōnin, an elite jōnin, or perhaps something even greater.”
Mizuki gripped the book tightly, impatient to leave.
Akira opened the book inside his mind.
“Just as I expected.
This book appeared because of Mizuki, so he’s the only one who can see it.”
“By performing a special ritual and consuming corpses, he can obtain power.”
“Is this power born from the desire hidden deep within Mizuki’s heart?”
Akira glanced at Mizuki before quickly looking away.
“Iruka, Senior Aoki, I’m not feeling well, so I’ll be leaving early.”
“All right.”
Mizuki left the Ninja Academy as quickly as possible.
Akira closed his eyes.
A scene appeared inside his mind.
He saw Mizuki leave Konoha at tremendous speed and head toward a medicinal-herb base near the village.
It was where Mizuki’s fiancée, Tsubaki Chie, worked.
An ominous feeling rose in Akira’s heart.
“Don’t tell me this guy plans to experiment on his own fiancée?”
Hearing footsteps, Tsubaki Chie hurried outside.
When she saw Mizuki, a delighted expression appeared on her face.
“Mizuki, what brings you here?”
A trace of hunger flashed through Mizuki’s eyes—a hunger for flesh and blood.
After struggling with it for a moment, he managed to suppress it.
“I came back to get something.”
Without waiting for Tsubaki to respond, Mizuki entered his room and opened a chest.
He retrieved a bundle from inside before quickly leaving.
Soon, a watchtower appeared in his field of vision.
Only one shinobi was stationed inside.
Mizuki entered.
A short while later, he came back out.
But when he emerged, he was carrying an additional black sack.
It was large enough to hold a person.
Mizuki carried the sack to a secluded cave.
He opened it.
Inside was a corpse.
The corpse of a Konoha shinobi.
Like Mizuki, the man had been a chūnin.
Mizuki stared at the corpse on the ground, hesitation flickering in his eyes.
The images he had witnessed earlier replayed endlessly in his mind.