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What?
Uchiha Kitsune's pupils shrank as he stared at the colossal creature before him, its body crimson, its nine tails spread wide with arrogant grandeur.
The Nine-Tails.
The legendary Tailed Beast of the shinobi world.
Instinctively, Kitsune pushed chakra into his eyes. The scarlet pattern of the Mangekyō Sharingan bloomed in his gaze.
The instant his ocular power activated, his vision went black. Everything blurred, and a sharp pain stabbed from behind his eyes straight into his skull, making his whole body sway.
"Damn it..." Kitsune clutched his eyes, cursing inwardly.
His Mangekyō Sharingan was all but useless now. Even opening it for a moment came with this kind of price. If this continued, total blindness was only a matter of time.
"Hey, human." Kurama folded his arms and looked down at him with open arrogance. "You still haven't thanked me. If I hadn't caught you on reflex, you'd be paste right now."
"Thank you..." Kitsune forced down the pain in his eyes, slowly lowered his hand, and gave Kurama a slight bow. His tone was respectful, yet still carried the bearing of an Uchiha clan head. "The elders of the Uchiha Clan used to say that Tailed Beasts are signs of good fortune. Anyone lucky enough to meet one is bound to have fortune fall into his lap. To be saved by you today, I must have hit the mother of all lucky breaks."
"Oh?" Kurama's expression did not change. He only gave a faint nod, though inwardly, he was mildly startled.
Uchiha Kitsune.
The current head of the Uchiha Clan. This generation's reincarnation of Indra.
He had saved someone important without even trying.
I hope this little accident doesn't mess with Master's plans...
Kurama thought it over in silence. It had been far too long since he had contacted Manji. At most, he occasionally chatted with the other Tailed Beasts from a distance. He had no clear understanding of Manji's overall plan.
On the other side, Kitsune sounded polite, but his feet quietly shifted half a step back, putting a little more distance between himself and the Nine-Tails.
Rumors were one thing. Tailed Beasts were unpredictable. With his Mangekyō almost ruined and his strength greatly reduced, Kitsune had no room to let his guard down.
"Kid." Kurama glanced at him and spoke lightly. "If you're planning to climb back up the cliff, you'll be waiting a while. And there are a few Senju brats still guarding the top."
After confirming that this was Uchiha Kitsune, Kurama had already decided not to interfere any further.
He was not about to casually disrupt his Master's chessboard.
Still, if Manji had not sent instructions, that meant everything remained under control.
Kitsune's face stayed calm, and he had already made his judgment.
Foxfall Cliff was bottomless. The Senju would never risk climbing down. They would assume he had fallen to his death and left no body behind.
The urgent matter now was not escape. It was finding a place to recover and stabilizing both his body and his collapsing ocular power.
Kurama watched him remain steady even in a dead-end situation, with no panic or flailing, and said nothing more. He settled quietly nearby.
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Foxfall Cliff, summit.
Senju Futen stood at the edge of the cliff, staring down into the mist-wrapped abyss below. After probing the depths for a moment, all his chakra touched was dead silence.
The cliff was too deep. His sensing range could not reach the bottom.
"Clan Head, should we send someone down to search?" one elite Senju asked.
Futen immediately shook his head. "No. This cliff is deep enough to kill anyone. Uchiha Kitsune fell from here. He's dead. Right now, we press the advantage and chase down the Uchiha main force!"
"NO OBJECTIONS!"
The elite Senju answered in unison.
"Still, we play it safe." Futen pointed at two of them. "You two. Fire Style and Earth Style. Hit the bottom. Make sure he has no chance of crawling out alive."
"Yes!"
The two stepped forward and formed seals at high speed.
"Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!"
Several huge fireballs roared down into the abyss.
Earth Style chakra surged after them. Massive chunks of stone formed in the air and crashed toward the cliff bottom one after another.
Rumble, rumble—
The violent impacts echoed through the abyss. Dust and broken stone churned below. After a while, the depths fell silent again.
Futen turned and looked at the huge stone beside the cliff, where three words had been carved.
Foxfall Cliff.
"That's a good name..." He stared at the words and murmured with a hint of satisfaction. Then he stopped lingering and waved his hand. "Move out. We pursue the Uchiha army!"
Several figures vanished at once, racing in the direction of the Uchiha retreat.
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Mount Myōboku.
A pale White Zetsu slid on its belly to the foot of the stone platform, respectfully delivering the intelligence it had gathered.
"Grand Sage, news from the shinobi world. Uchiha Kitsune fell from Foxfall Cliff, but the Nine-Tails saved him. He is still alive."
On the platform, Manji's lowered gaze paused slightly.
"Kurama?"
"That little one got mixed up in Indra and Asura's reincarnation feud?" Manji frowned faintly, then relaxed almost at once and shook his head.
"Forget it. Kurama has always done whatever he feels like. I imagine it was accidental, not deliberate interference."
"Kitsune being saved by him means his time hasn't come. That was the hand he was dealt. No need to force it." Manji slowly clasped his hands behind his back and looked toward Mount Myōboku's layered green peaks and drifting sage mist. Understanding flickered through his eyes.
"Still, Uchiha Kitsune's Mangekyō Sharingan has already been pushed past its limit. Blindness is inevitable."
"Without the power of the Mangekyō, he has no way to turn the board around. This generation's feud between Indra and Asura's reincarnations is nearly over."
With that thought, Manji had already reached a conclusion.
This generation's struggle had been interesting enough.
At first, Uchiha Kitsune had swept forward like a storm, crushed Senju Uzuki, and seized the advantage completely.
Then Senju Futen appeared out of nowhere, reversed the war, and drove Kitsune into a corner with nowhere left to go.
Indra and Asura had each won once. One mark apiece. Fair enough.
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At the bottom of Foxfall Cliff, the world was deep and quiet.
Vines hung from the cliff walls, blocking out most of the sky. Now and then, faint light slipped through the leaves and fell across Uchiha Kitsune, who sat cross-legged on the ground.
He had been recovering here for three days.
During those three days, Kurama silently watched him.
Kurama had no desire to interfere with worldly affairs. He was bored and wanted to see what made this generation's Indra reincarnation different.
He had met Uchiha Senichi before, and that obsessive, grim personality had annoyed him to no end.
Uchiha Kitsune, however, had a kind of resilience entirely different from Senichi's. That much was enough to catch Kurama's attention.
Of course, if Kurama knew Kitsune had murdered the woman he loved for power, his opinion might have changed very quickly...
On the morning of the fourth day, a cool mountain breeze swept across the cliff bottom.
Uchiha Kitsune slowly opened his eyes.
Endless darkness greeted him.
Not even the faintest trace of light remained. His hands trembled sharply.
It had finally come... His Mangekyō Sharingan had gone completely blind.
"Heh..." A bitter laugh spread from his lips, and bone-deep despair surged through his chest.
Without the Mangekyō, he had lost his last trump card. His strength had not dropped by one level. It had fallen off a cliff.
He was trapped here, cut off from all news.
Who knew what danger the Uchiha Clan was facing out in the shinobi world?
And Senju Futen was at his peak, rising higher with every victory...
Humiliation and resentment surged together. The Uchiha clan head who had once crossed the river in funeral white and shaken the shinobi world silently began to cry.
No roaring. No wailing. Only hot tears slipping down his cheeks and striking the cold ground.
After a long time, Kitsune suddenly raised his hand and wiped the tears away. His knuckles tightened until they turned white, and his nails bit deep, bloody marks into his palm.
He lifted his head toward the faint light above.
"Fate! You think losing the Mangekyō means I have no choice but to roll over??"
"You think Uchiha Kitsune's victory or defeat depends on one pair of eyes??"
"Was it really only the Mangekyō Sharingan that made me who I am??"
Kitsune suddenly drew the blade at his waist. The clear ring of steel leaving its sheath echoed through the cliff bottom.
"Even without the Mangekyō, I, Uchiha Kitsune, can still stand above the entire shinobi world!"
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