Chapter 408 – Go to Hell, Uchiha Kei!
"When will the Third Hokage return?"
Standing inside the Police Force headquarters, Uchiha Kei gazed at the snow drifting down outside the window before speaking softly.
The war had lasted nearly two months.
And in those two months, it had gripped the hearts of nearly everyone in Konoha.
Especially the recent great battle—
It had filled people with excitement and dread in equal measure.
Uchiha Fugaku and the Fourth Raikage had turned the no-man's-land between the two camps into a wasteland.
Two shinobi.
Just two—
And the terrain across several kilometers had been utterly reshaped.
For this generation of ninja, such a feat bordered on the unbelievable.
And yet—
It had happened.
Right before their eyes.
On their own frontline.
How could that not inspire awe?
And fear?
When individuals of that caliber existed, numbers alone truly meant little.
After that clash, both men appeared gravely injured. Neither had shown themselves since.
Both armies had suffered significant losses.
Fatalities, perhaps manageable—
But nearly every surviving shinobi had been wounded.
Konoha understood one thing clearly:
Kumogakure outnumbered them.
Without that titanic duel holding the battlefield in check—
The losses would have been far worse.
But alongside the anxiety, there had also been thrilling news.
According to reports from the Third Hokage's unit—
The hidden rear-guard force had struck.
They lured Kumogakure's flanking unit toward a dam.
At the most critical moment, Police Force member Nara Shikajo detonated it—
And unleashed a flood that obliterated the enemy force.
Frontline intelligence suggested fewer than five hundred Cloud shinobi survived.
The remaining fourteen to fifteen hundred were presumed dead—or missing.
Either way—
That unit was finished.
Undeniably a major victory.
But alongside that triumph came devastating news:
Kumogakure's Eight-Tails Jinchūriki was a Perfect Jinchūriki.
A being on par with Konoha's Nine-Tails host.
The Third Hokage had been struck down while shielding his forces during the confrontation.
Fortunately—
Because the Eight-Tails was a Perfect Jinchūriki, it retained consciousness even in full transformation.
And Shikajo, forewarned by Kei's intelligence, had captured several hundred surviving Cloud shinobi to use as leverage.
That gamble had saved them.
Good news and bad—
Almost equal in weight.
Cloud had superior numbers.
Konoha had destroyed nearly a thousand of them in the rear and held the frontline to a standstill, severely injuring the Raikage.
Yet Cloud still possessed a Perfect Jinchūriki.
And Konoha had lost one of its commanders.
A powerful one.
---
"He should be back soon."
Hyūga Ayaka stood behind Kei, glancing at the report.
"But how did you know Killer B was a Perfect Jinchūriki? And since when are you so familiar with Nara Shikajo?"
"Soon is good," Kei replied with a faint smile. "As for Shikajo… we're fairly familiar. When the Police Force's administrative division was established, he was among the first to join."
He chuckled lightly.
"Even after tensions with the Nara clan, that never affected how I utilize capable personnel. His performance has been solid."
Kei had indeed been surprised that the Third Hokage selected someone from the Police Force.
Given their strained relationship, he had expected otherwise.
But Hiruzen didn't care about departmental boundaries.
He chose usefulness.
Competence.
Capability.
In that regard—
Kei admitted he might not measure up to the old Hokage.
"Don't change the subject," Ayaka said, taking his seat and studying him carefully. "How did you know he was a Perfect Jinchūriki?"
She tilted her head.
"If you won't tell the truth, you should at least prepare a cover story. Orochimaru would make a convincing shield—and he wouldn't talk."
"Orochimaru?" Kei shook his head, turning toward her.
"It's simpler than that. Captain Minato once mentioned that when he fought the Raikage and the Eight-Tails host, the latter manifested octopus-like tentacles."
He raised a brow.
"You know what the Eight-Tails is."
Ayaka blinked.
"So you deduced it from the Fourth Hokage's encounter?"
Then she narrowed her eyes.
"And what if you were wrong? What if he'd shown no restraint and wiped them out?"
Kei shrugged lightly.
"Then there was nothing I could do. I only offered speculation. I told Shikajo it was my judgment—not certainty."
He spread his hands.
"They must have been desperate."
Of course—
Kei knew with absolute certainty.
Canon knowledge.
Killer B was unquestionably a Perfect Jinchūriki.
But he couldn't say that.
So he had spoken vaguely.
Left room for doubt.
And Shikajo had gambled—and won.
Ayaka studied him carefully.
She felt something was off in his explanation.
She just couldn't pinpoint it.
In the end, she let it go.
To her—
The war itself wasn't the central concern.
Because if Kei stepped onto the battlefield—
This wouldn't be a war.
It would be a massacre.
She had fought alongside him in Kirigakure.
She knew exactly how terrifying he was.
Especially now—
After his Susanoo had evolved further.
The Third Stage alone had devastated Mist.
Fugaku's Third Stage had clashed evenly with the Raikage.
If Kei deployed the Fourth Stage—
A mobile titan of overwhelming offense and defense—
Would Cloud shinobi still dare act so boldly?
Power was the language of this world.
And to Ayaka—
The most important one.
Kei's strength came from his self-evolution.
Particularly—
His eyes.
As a member of a dōjutsu clan herself, she had always used Kei's path as reference.
Now—
She too had carved her own.
Optimized.
Adapted.
"Your synchronization rate is nearly ninety percent," Ayaka suddenly said, smiling faintly.
"It's strange… watching you reach this point step by step. It feels like—"
"If you start saying something strange, I will too."
Kei cut her off immediately.
"Ninety percent is good. But the final ten will be the hardest."
Ayaka tilted her head.
"At one hundred percent… who could stand against you?"
"No one being my opponent is a dangerous statement," Kei replied calmly. "This world is vast."
He wasn't exaggerating.
Even Eternal Mangekyō had limits.
Madara Uchiha had been overwhelmed by Hashirama Senju during the Warring States era.
At the Valley of the End, Madara gambled everything and still lost—despite deceiving the world.
Even among Eternal Mangekyō users, there were vast differences.
And beyond it—
There was the Rinnegan.
And beyond that—
An even greater unknown.
Kei's gaze drifted to the falling snow.
"Besides… Madara isn't the final enemy."
His eyes narrowed slightly.
"The real enemies are the ones beyond this world."
Kei let out a quiet sigh inwardly.
The Ōtsutsuki—
Those extraterrestrial beings—
They were the true terror of this world.
He didn't know how many of them existed.
Nor did he know the full extent of their power.
But all it took was remembering Ōtsutsuki Kaguya.
A being with almost no real combat experience—
Guided clumsily by Black Zetsu—
And yet she had nearly killed two battle-hardened, fate-chosen prodigies.
Just that thought alone sent a chill through him.
Worse still—
She couldn't even truly be killed.
The only solution had been sealing.
Kei never believed that Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo or the Ōtsutsuki Hamura were truly "dead."
More likely, they had discarded their physical bodies and continued existing in another form.
Perhaps that was how they escaped the limitations of sealing.
But then—
Who in this world could seal beings like that?
As for what would happen when his own cellular fusion reached one hundred percent—
Kei was both curious and expectant.
His Mangekyō Sharingan had begun to show faint overlapping afterimages.
The phenomenon caused him no discomfort.
But it also brought no obvious benefit.
Was it incomplete?
Did those overlapping patterns need to fully align and merge with the original design before manifesting true power?
Or—
Had he already been enjoying its effects without realizing it?
His ninjutsu prowess was leagues beyond his former self.
His chakra reserves were vast.
Perhaps the White Zetsu cells within him masked the changes, dulling his perception of what his eyes were truly granting him.
Whatever the case—
He waited.
For the final transformation.
For the final breakthrough.
---
"Enough about me," Kei said lightly, flicking Ayaka's forehead protector. She shot him an annoyed look as he grinned.
"You've undergone four fusion procedures already. How's your genetic unlock progressing?"
"Pretty well," she replied, ignoring his teasing. "Only three gene sets remain. I'm roughly on par with Hyūga Hiashi now."
She paused.
"But I feel stronger than him. Much stronger. Chakra capacity. Physical resilience. All of it."
"That's only natural," Kei said, hopping up onto the desk and looking down at her with a smile.
"You followed a path similar to mine. And unlike Hiashi, you weren't born with those genes already unlocked."
He shrugged.
"In any case, moving forward is always a good thing."
"Yeah…"
Ayaka nodded slowly.
"We weren't born prodigies. Everything we've achieved came from our own effort—and our experiments."
A faint sigh escaped her lips.
"It's strange. Almost unbelievable."
And it truly was.
They had once been small figures—
The kind who might die nameless on a battlefield.
And yet—
They had changed themselves.
Changed their destinies.
It felt unreal.
Ayaka stared at Kei in silence.
The office grew quiet.
Until—
"Hey, Ayaka. Let me ask you something."
"Hm? Go ahead."
"How long can you maintain Sage Mode now? Want to transform and let me take a look?"
There was a split-second pause.
Then—
"Go to hell, Uchiha Kei!"
---