One Wounded, One Escaped

Rumble!

The roar brought by the Susanoo instantly spread throughout the entire Uchiha Compound. One Anbu ninja, attempting to flee with the Body Flicker Technique, was struck midair by the Heavenly Kaku Missile. A huge hole was blasted through his chest, and after piercing through him, the Chakra arrow shot straight toward the barrier at the edge of the Uchiha Compound.

Boom!

Although the barrier had been erected jointly by more than twenty people, it could not withstand a single strike from the Susanoo.

After Uchiha Fugaku launched several consecutive attacks with the Susanoo, he killed more than thirty Anbu. However, the expenditure was tremendous. Neither his Chakra nor his eye power allowed him to keep burning through them so recklessly.

"Ha! Ha!"

Uchiha Fugaku panted heavily, his eyes bloodshot as blood continuously streamed from his eye sockets. He had more or less killed all the nearby Anbu, while the surviving Anbu fled in terror. He could no longer maintain the third stage of the Susanoo.

After the barrier shattered, Konoha’s residents all heard the enormous blast. Uchiha Fugaku’s Chakra arrow collapsed a building, fortunately with no one inside.

After Uchiha Fugaku used the Susanoo, a Root member reported the news to Danzo.

After hearing his subordinate’s report, Danzo’s eyes flashed coldly. He snorted. "The Uchiha Clan Head hid himself deeply. Even Uchiha Itachi failed to uncover your Mangekyō Sharingan. Susanoo, huh? The third technique of the Mangekyō Sharingan…"

Thinking of the information reported by the Root member—that godlike ability—and the fact that Uchiha Fugaku possessed a pair of intact Mangekyō Sharingan, though their abilities were still unknown.

"Where is Uzumaki Naruto?"

The Root member immediately answered, "He has been brought near the Uchiha Compound, but Kushina is troublesome. The Curse Mark on her body has given her extremely strong recovery abilities, and she is proficient in Medical Ninjutsu."

"Continue the siege. Kushina must be captured. The rest will come with me to the Uchiha Compound first. Do not let a single person escape."

Danzo issued the order coldly. The barrier around the Uchiha Compound had already been destroyed, and the commotion there could no longer be concealed. Some well-informed clans might have noticed something already, but now that the matter had been fully exposed, it would be difficult for Danzo to carry out his plan of exterminating them root and branch.

Under the Third Hokage’s influence, the mainstream view in Konoha was to leave others a way out. Besides, the situation within the Uchiha was chaotic. Calling them traitors was a stretch—they had not even had time to act.

If he exterminated them root and branch, the other Ninja Clans would certainly object. Danzo could force the matter through, but the consequence would be that the Konoha Higher-ups and most Ninja Clans would become alienated from him.

Recruiting for the Anbu would become difficult, wartime mobilization would be difficult, and even the fighting on the front line would be affected.

That was why Danzo had Root members bring Uzumaki Naruto to the Nine-Tails front line. From the very beginning, he had thought up the charge he would pin on the Uchiha. Six years ago, the Nine-Tails that wreaked havoc in Konoha had a Sharingan in its eyes. This time, the Nine-Tails had gone berserk again because of the Sharingan.

They had tried to control the Nine-Tails to destroy Konoha twice. Under that charge, even if Root slaughtered the entire Uchiha Clan, no one would speak a single word in their defense.

"What are you planning to do? I do not recommend fighting this guy. Both you and I are badly injured now. We should leave first."

Uchiha Obito said to Uchiha Itachi. Itachi was someone he wanted to recruit into the Akatsuki. If they fought Hyuga Mirai to the death here, they might very well die.

It had not been easy to find a proper member for the Akatsuki. With Itachi joining, the Akatsuki could basically begin carrying out its plans for real.

"There is still a chance…"

Uchiha Itachi said calmly. He still had methods to turn the situation around. Whether it was Amaterasu or Tsukuyomi, as long as either Eye Technique hit, he could reverse the defeat.

"A Mangekyō Sharingan technique? Fine. At most, I will cover you."

He had just used Izanagi against Uchiha Fugaku. Although he had installed a new Sharingan, it would still take more than ten minutes for the eye to fully fuse with his body. If not for the Hashirama Cells, Uchiha Obito would have needed to master Medical Ninjutsu to replace his eyes so frequently.

Before his left eye could use Izanagi again, he would not expose any opening.

Crack, crack, crack!

Uchiha Itachi’s pair of Sharingan transformed into the shape of Mangekyō Sharingan. Then, a giant made of Chakra condensed around his body, forming from bones to muscles and finally armor.

Not long after awakening his Mangekyō Sharingan, Uchiha Itachi brought forth the third stage of the Susanoo.

"As expected of the Uchiha genius who became an Anbu Squad captain at thirteen. He had only just awakened the Mangekyō, yet he could already use the Susanoo to this extent…"

Although Uchiha Obito’s tone was calm, he was thinking about whether he should take back the Sharingan from Kakashi and give him someone else’s Three-Tomoe. A single Mangekyō eye was somewhat disadvantaged against powerful Ninja. He had nearly been caught off guard even when fighting Uchiha Fugaku, much less Hyuga Mirai.

However, now was not the time to think about that. Uchiha Obito damaged a small portion of his mask, then rapidly formed hand seals. Coordinating with his Kamui Eye Technique, he used a Ninjutsu unique to himself.

"Fire Style: Blast Wave Wild Dance!"

The fire serpent spewing from Uchiha Obito’s mouth was empowered by the Kamui Dimension. It moved one or two times faster than ordinary Fire Style Ninjutsu, instantly twisting and spiraling toward Hyuga Mirai.

"Eight Trigrams: Air Palm!"

Hyuga Mirai pushed forward with one hand. A massive Chakra shockwave instantly dispersed the Blast Wave Wild Dance. The fire serpent was shattered by the Air Palm, turning into sparks that scattered through the air.

After dispersing Uchiha Obito’s Blast Wave Wild Dance, the Air Palm’s shockwave did not lose much of its power. Its terrifying force directly plowed out a deep trench more than ten meters wide as it blasted toward Uchiha Itachi and the other man.

"Yata Mirror!"

Uchiha Itachi controlled the Susanoo to condense a legendary spirit shield on its arm, capable of blocking all physical attacks. It was an ability awakened by his Susanoo.

Boom!

The Air Palm shockwave was blocked by the legendary spirit shield. Then Uchiha Itachi continued controlling the Susanoo, condensing another attack in its enormous right hand.

"Yasaka Beads!"

The Chakra magatama condensed in the Susanoo’s hand was instantly thrown by Uchiha Itachi. However, the massive cloud of dust could not block the Byakugan’s vision. The moment he threw the Yasaka Beads, Hyuga Mirai had already left his original position with the Body Flicker Technique.

With his speed in Sage Mode, even the Mangekyō Sharingan found it difficult to see his movement trajectory clearly, not to mention the thick dust and smoke between them.

Rumble!

With a colossal roar like the heavens collapsing, the Yasaka Beads’ attack directly destroyed every building within a hundred meters. The violent impact cleared out a wide open space.

"Fire Style: Great Dragon Fire Technique!"

Uchiha Obito used Fire Style Ninjutsu to clear an open field of vision, but Hyuga Mirai had long since disappeared from where he stood.

Uchiha Obito suddenly looked up and quickly warned Uchiha Itachi, "Above!"

But his warning was slower than Hyuga Mirai’s attack.

Thud!

Leaping down from high in the air, Hyuga Mirai drove a brutal punch directly into the neck of Uchiha Itachi’s Susanoo.

The immense force made even Uchiha Itachi, inside the Susanoo, unable to remain standing. It was as though an enormous force had pressed him into the ground. Then his legs cracked, and he staggered before falling onto his back.

Crack, crack!

Countless cracks spread across Uchiha Itachi’s Susanoo. Even the third stage of the Susanoo could not withstand such terrifying force.

A little blood flowed from Hyuga Mirai’s fist as well. The Susanoo’s defense truly was tough, but in an instant, the tiny scrape on his fist had healed completely.

"One more punch!"

Hyuga Mirai had no favorable impression whatsoever of Uchiha Itachi, who had taken the initiative to attack him. After knocking down the Susanoo, he launched punch after punch at the fallen Susanoo!

Thud!

Thud!

Amid repeated dull, thunderous impacts and cracking sounds, Uchiha Itachi’s third-stage Susanoo was forcibly smashed apart by Hyuga Mirai’s fists.

The instant the Susanoo shattered, Uchiha Itachi could no longer endure the searing pain in his eyes. He covered them and groaned a few times.

Compared to the agony of his broken legs, the excessive use of the Mangekyō was the true pain.

"Not good!"

Uchiha Obito was unwilling to let Uchiha Itachi be captured like this. Whether it was the Mangekyō Sharingan or an Akatsuki member, Uchiha Itachi was extremely valuable to him. No matter what, he had to try to save Uchiha Itachi.

Relying on Kamui’s intangibility, Uchiha Obito charged directly toward Hyuga Mirai.

If he wanted to save Uchiha Itachi, he could only first suck Hyuga Mirai into his Space-Time Ninjutsu. Activating his ability at the moment he got close, even the Yellow Flash could only escape through Space-Time Ninjutsu.

Yet in the face of his attack, Hyuga Mirai neither dodged nor retreated. That faint smile remained on his face, making him look thoroughly irritating.

Just as Uchiha Obito was about to touch Hyuga Mirai, a sense of imminent danger suddenly arose in his heart.

"Gentle Fist: One Strike Body!"

Boom!

Powerful Chakra suddenly erupted from every acupoint on Hyuga Mirai’s body. Such shockwaves were even more powerful than Exploding Tags.

Uchiha Obito was blasted dozens of meters away by the One Strike Body. He spat out a mouthful of blood in midair before activating his intangibility.

Uchiha Itachi beside him also suffered another heavy blow, flying more than ten meters before crashing heavily to the ground.

"It seems difficult to save Uchiha Itachi from your hands. I suppose we were not fated. Let us end things here today."

After getting to his feet, Uchiha Obito said this to Hyuga Mirai. However, he did not use Kamui to absorb his own body. Uchiha Obito did not dare expose such a huge opening in front of Hyuga Mirai, so he left with his intangibility activated. Only after going far away did he dare enter the Kamui Dimension.

"Next is—"

Just as Hyuga Mirai was about to walk toward Uchiha Itachi, he saw Uchiha Tekka leading members of the Military Police Force toward them from another direction.

Before long, more than ten Uchiha clansmen arrived.

"Wh-what happened here?"

Seeing the ruins stretching for hundreds of meters, the Military Police Force members could not help but freeze. After hearing the enormous sounds earlier, they had wanted to come here, but because they needed to gather and protect the clansmen, they had not sent anyone to investigate.

Only after gathering the clansmen together did Uchiha Tekka lead people over.

Upon seeing Hyuga Mirai, Uchiha Tekka also paused slightly. "You…"

"Tekka-san, has everything over there been dealt with?" Seeing Uchiha Tekka’s expression, Hyuga Mirai smiled and explained, "That was my Shadow Clone. The commotion here just now was caused by my fight with Uchiha Itachi and another masked Uchiha. However, the Uchiha clansmen in this area have already been killed. Sorry, I arrived a little late…"

He looked far too similar.

Although Uchiha Tekka heard Hyuga Mirai’s explanation, his attention was more focused on Hyuga Mirai’s expression and bearing as he spoke.

In every respect, the Hyuga clansman before him was extremely similar to Yasunori-kun. Even at their first meeting, he inspired an indescribable sense of goodwill.