"How can this be!?"
Uchiha Fugaku's eyes widened in shock as he stared blankly at Uchiha Madara.
His Mangekyō Sharingan had the ability to perceive the weaknesses of all things in the world and sever them regardless of defense.
Even intangible forces like fire or lightning could be "killed" by his eyes.
He was certain he had already cut off every weakness of this man—so how did Madara still have the strength to grab him!?
Could it be… an illusion?
"Release!"
Fugaku immediately tried to dispel any genjutsu, flooding his eyes with chakra. But his expression twisted in horror when he realized there was no illusion at all. Everything in front of him was reality.
"You think I'll die just because you cut me with a blade? Don't make me laugh, brat!"
Before everyone in the group chat, Susanoo and Madara's body had indeed been sliced through by Fugaku's strike. Though it wasn't even a minor wound to him now, Madara's face was dark enough to drip water.
How shameful.
With one hand, he clamped down on Fugaku's neck. Madara cast a cold glance at the chat window—where mocking comments were already rolling in—and his expression grew uglier still.
Chat Group:
Jibril: "There's no way he's going to lose in the beginner village! Right!? Because I think he might!"
Esdeath: "Hmph. He's still the man who stood at the very peak of the shinobi world. To think he'd get distracted by something like family sentiment… if he hadn't transcended humanity, that sneak attack might have left him crippled."
Yamamoto Mei: "Looks like being rejected by his own kin left a scar. Madara is actually quite pitiful, if you think about it."
Scáthach: "That Uchiha Fugaku's dōjutsu is remarkable. He managed to sever Madara's Susanoo and even his spiritual energy in one strike. Against such a massive gap in strength, this isn't mere technique—it's a rule-level ability."
Kasumigaoka Utaha: "Indeed, a very useful power. I can already imagine someone drooling over something like this. Anyway, I'll be arriving soon!"
Uchiha Miyuki: "I swear, I almost thought Madara just face-planted and died right there! When Fugaku cut through him, I nearly screamed."
Uchiha Madara: "…"
Madara's face darkened further at their banter. He had been showing off and got slapped down by his own clansman. Of course he wouldn't vent at the group chat. All his fury focused squarely on Fugaku, who was trapped in his grip.
"Uchiha Fugaku! Damn you! First you bend over to that trash Shimura Danzō, and now you raise your hand against a genius of your own clan!? Even at ME!?"
His voice thundered, and his grip on Fugaku's neck tightened until the sound of bone cracking echoed.
Watching, Uchiha Miyuki felt a flicker of unease. Was Lord Madara really going to strangle Fugaku to death right here? That'd be a waste—he'd make great material for forging a Noble Phantasm!
But Madara wasn't thinking of spoils. He was truly enraged.
Fugaku's betrayal stirred old memories of another betrayal—Black Zetsu, in that cold dungeon. The humiliation of being tricked, the sting of hesitation… all of it resurfaced.
That fleeting moment of doubt just now, because Fugaku had shown him familial closeness, left a sour taste that burned hotter than fire. Madara's anger swelled with the urge to tear Fugaku apart, limb by limb.
"Your eye technique…" Madara growled. "It ignores defense, doesn't it? Even my Susanoo and spiritual force can be severed!"
Fugaku's neck was already warped under the crushing grip, his breath ragged, yet he still clutched his sword stubbornly. Madara sneered:
"Pointless. I've already surpassed shinobi, surpassed humanity itself! Even if you managed to slice my body just now, it's nothing more than a flesh wound—I can recover with a sip of energy!"
As he spoke, the torn flesh along his waist writhed. New granulation spread, knitting the wound shut in seconds. Only a smear of blood remained, the sole proof it wasn't an illusion—Madara had truly been injured just moments ago.
"Impossible…"
Fugaku's Sharingan quivered in disbelief.
The Uchiha clan's secret technique, Izanagi, could rewrite death into illusion, but it demanded the sacrifice of sight. Yet Madara hadn't used his eye power at all.
That mortal wound, a cut that should've killed instantly—was it nothing more than a scratch to him!?
"Damn it… I shouldn't have submitted! I never should've sided with that garbage Danzō!"
Regret flooded Fugaku's chest.
If he'd known this younger, revitalized Madara was here at Miyuki's side, with such overwhelming strength… he would've abandoned the hunt for her, allied with her instead, and brought Madara back to Konoha. Then wouldn't the village's name have been Uchiha by now?
Fear and confusion churned in him. Why had Madara come back after so many years? Why was he younger? Was it immortality? Some forbidden Jutsu?
But answers wouldn't come.
Right now, Madara Uchiha had only one desire: to shred this traitor into pieces.
Boom!
Madara slammed Fugaku into the ground by the throat. The impact split the earth apart, spreading cracks like a shattered spiderweb.
"Ghhk—!"
Fugaku's eyes bulged, nearly popping from their sockets, his neck crushed into mangled flesh under Madara's monstrous grip.
"It's not over yet, brat!"
With no thought of mercy, Madara drew the Zanpakutō from his waist and brought it down in a ruthless arc.
Shkk—!
Fugaku's head spun into the air with a spray of blood, his Sharingan still wide with regret and panic.
"Eh!? Madara! Why'd you kill him outright!?"
Uchiha Miyuki froze in shock. "That body was meant to be offered to His Highness Jaeger for forging a Noble Phantasm! Just killing him is such a waste!"
"…I forgot."
Madara's face stiffened awkwardly. His rage had drowned out all reason; in that moment, all he'd wanted was to crush Fugaku into dust.
But then—something strange happened.
The severed head and the blood mist blurred, then vanished entirely. When Madara glanced back at the corpse, it too was gone.
Izanagi.
His eyes narrowed instantly in recognition. He had used the forbidden technique himself before—rewriting death into illusion.
But even as the thought struck, steel flashed behind him.
Shkk—!
Like slicing fruit, Fugaku's blade severed Madara's legs clean at the knees. Blood gushed upward like a broken spring.
"Damn…!" Madara snarled, toppling forward.
(T/N: Nah, Madara he caught your ahh lacking)
Behind him, Fugaku withdrew his blade, his left eye squeezed shut—its Mangekyō gone dark.
"Fortunate… that the All-Seeing Analysis is a technique I can still wield with just one eye," Fugaku muttered.
He didn't hesitate. He didn't press the attack. He turned and bolted, body flickering away.
He wasn't a fool. He'd nearly cut Madara in two earlier, yet the man had healed in seconds. A pair of legs? At best it would buy a few heartbeats. He had to escape now, in those fleeting seconds.
But a voice colder than steel chased him like a curse:
"You really… pissed me off."
Boom!
A wave of crushing blue spiritual pressure cascaded from above, pressing down like a storm of raindrops. Fugaku stumbled, his body buckling before he slammed to the ground face-first.
"What—what is this?!" His eyes widened in terror. "Ninjutsu? A kekkei genkai? Or… Madara's Mangekyō ability!?"
He couldn't even twitch a finger. Every cell, even his very soul, was pinned beneath an invisible mountain.
A vast shadow loomed over him. Madara, his legs already reformed, stepped down on Fugaku's back, grinding him mercilessly into the earth.
"Ghkk—!"
And then, laughing coldly, Madara swung his blade once more.
Blood sprayed, another head tumbled. And again, all of it—flesh, blood, body—dissolved into nothing.
"The second time…" Miyuki exhaled shakily. "This time he's out of Sharingan. Izanagi won't save him again."
Her eyes gleamed with relief and awe.
Madara really is invincible. The God of Death, Uchiha Madara! With this power, even the Ōtsutsuki clan could appear and he'd still stand among the absolute strongest in the shinobi world.
Well… aside from His Highness Jaeger. If Madara faced Jaeger now, he'd probably end up like Aizen—slapped into oblivion and filed under "black history."
Still, the scene was humiliating enough. Twice now, in front of the live broadcast to the entire chat, Madara had been wounded by none other than Fugaku—a man utterly beneath him.
First, his body cleaved.
Then, his legs were cut off.
The injuries had healed in seconds, but the shame would linger. And the group chat would never let him live it down.
Who told him to boast so loudly?
"Hmm?"
Miyuki blinked as Madara once again raised his Zanpakutō over Fugaku's broken body, ready to strike the final blow.
"Don't!" she cried out. "Madara! This man must be kept alive—His Highness Jaeger will forge him into a Noble Phantasm!"
"Can't I kill him just once?" Madara snapped, his eyes blazing with fury. "I'll find Jaeger a better Noble Phantasm. Hiruzen Sarutobi, Shimura Danzō, hell—even the other Kage! Take your pick!"
His gaze burned with the desire to butcher Fugaku. Twice now this traitor had used the clan's own forbidden power to humiliate him, twice he had been made into a laughingstock before the entire chat.
It was unforgivable. It was a crime worthy of death.
"No, Madara~"
Uchiha Miyuki smiled softly, her tone sweet but carrying an edge of command.
"It doesn't make any sense for you to kill him outright. But if His Highness Jaeger kills him, he'll gain a Noble Phantasm of immense power. You do understand the difference between gain and loss, don't you?"
"…."
Madara fell silent. Of course he understood.
But he had never been a man of reason.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have abandoned Konoha and pursued the Infinite Tsukuyomi in another timeline.
And yet… Fugaku had been claimed by Jaeger.
Even Madara, arrogant beyond measure, had to admit it: compared to Jaeger, his power was that of a human glaring up at a god.
Even though he now stood at the very brink of this world's limits, Jaeger's strength kept widening the gap with every passing moment.
"Tch. Don't mistake this for pity, little girl." Madara's voice dropped into a cold growl. "I'm not sparing him because of you but because of Jaeger. This is respect for strength."
With a brutal kick
Boom!
The broken, half-blind Fugaku was launched across the ground, crashing to a halt before Miyuki.
"Ghhkk—!" Blood poured from his mouth, mixed with fragments of his own organs.
"Tsk, careful there, Lord Madara." Miyuki crouched down, her tone mockingly gentle.
"What if your kick shoves his ribs into his organs and kills him? Then Jaeger really would be upset."
She pressed her heel onto Fugaku's skull and sneered down at him.
"Still think you're arrogant? Still think you can chase me? Who do you think you are? Don't you get it yet—I'm under someone's protection. In this world, it's all about backing. Without it, you're nothing."
"…"
Fugaku gave no reply. Instead, his chakra suddenly flared like a storm.
(T/N: Just die already I'm sick of it.)
Miyuki's eyes narrowed in alarm.
"No… impossible! He used Izanagi twice already. His eyes should be gone. How can he still…!?"
Boom!
The earth split open. Rising from the rift, a colossal black chakra giant roared to life—twenty to thirty meters tall, only an upper body, but with four massive arms, each gripping a titanic blade identical to Fugaku's own sword.
His Susanoo.
The air trembled as one of those blades swung downward, cleaving the sky, aimed not at Madara but at Miyuki herself.
Fugaku's eyes were wild. He knew he couldn't harm Madara. But if he had to die, he'd rather drag Miyuki with him than become some Noble Phantasm to serve Jaeger.
"Damn bastard! You think I'm easy!?" Miyuki's own chakra flared pale and skeletal, her Susanoo rushing to intercept the strike.
But
Chat Group:
Scáthach: "Miyuki! Watch out! That sword may carry the same defense-breaking power as his Mangekyō! If so, even your Susanoo won't hold!"
Her voice was urgent, her warrior's instinct screaming.
"What!?" Miyuki's heart lurched. She knew there were Susanoo wielders with special weapons—Itachi's Totsuka Blade, his Yata Mirror. Could Fugaku's sword… have a similar gift?
And in that hesitation, the blade descended.
"Damn it—! He was faking despair all along!"
Madara's eyes burned, spiritual pressure surging tenfold. "Bankai—!"
He prepared to unleash his full force, even if it meant obliterating Fugaku completely.
But then—
"GYEAAAAAAAHHH!!!"
The sky split with a dragon's roar. Wind howled, the ground quaked, and through the storm clouds descended a creature of myth—a pink dragon thousands of meters long, blotting out the sky.
Madara froze mid-strike, his eyes widening.
And the dragon's voice boomed with a playful, mocking lilt:
"Now, now. This one's already been claimed as Jaeger's Noble Phantasm. I can't let you kill him, Madara."
The colossal dragon plucked Fugaku's Susanoo up like a child snatching a toy, holding it effortlessly in its claws.
Its golden eyes turned to Miyuki, gleaming with amusement.
"How embarrassing, Miyuki. You beg for protection, you're chased down, and now you're nearly split in half by some washed-up patriarch. Isn't that a bit tragic?"
•••
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