With Uchiha Fugaku, the Third Hokage, and Jiraiya standing at the front, veteran elite jōnin such as Homura Mitokado and Uchiha Setsuna also gradually regained consciousness.
The moment they opened their eyes, they quickly realized that in the brief instant they had been trapped in the genjutsu, the situation had already changed drastically.
Uchiha Yoru's Mangekyō Sharingan dōjutsu could only be described as heaven-defying.
In the mere instant after it activated, it had already produced several decisive results.
The first to suffer were the Root shinobi who had been closest to him, almost reaching Uchiha Yoru before the genjutsu struck.
In the blink of an eye, some had aged to death, their hair turning white and their skin wrinkling like old parchment.
Others had skin split apart across their bodies, blood spraying everywhere as they died.
Their minds were particularly simple.
Inside the illusion, they either killed Uchiha Yoru and then lived out peaceful lives until dying of old age…
Or they fought bravely against him and were killed in battle.
Next came the ANBU shinobi of the Sarutobi Clan.
Some had become incomparably weak.
Others were covered in blade wounds.
Some had skin charred black, while translucent blisters covered their bodies from head to toe.
Their minds were normal, so their lives inside the illusion had been far more colorful.
Because they would not naturally imagine themselves dying, none of them had directly died in battle.
However, the lives they experienced afterward were still extremely complicated.
Everyone had fears that came from the depths of their hearts.
And those fears evolved into disasters within their imagined lives.
Injuries were therefore impossible to avoid completely.
After experiencing several decades inside the illusion, all the accumulated injuries and aftereffects erupted in reality within a dozen seconds.
The result was terrifying.
The human brain was a miraculous thing.
As long as it truly believed that an experience was real, it would issue commands as though those events had genuinely occurred.
The body would respond accordingly.
Old injuries.
Lingering disabilities.
Even skin and muscle tissue would split apart.
That was because the brain had judged the cells in those places as "dead."
And so—
They really died.
Those dead cells then became weak points from which actual wounds opened.
If one observed carefully, any wound involving muscle would always split along the natural grain of the muscle fibers.
Everything experienced inside the illusion was therefore almost perfectly reproduced by the brain in reality.
The consequences were nearly identical.
Although the Sarutobi Clan ANBU had all survived, most had lost their ability to fight because of severe injuries.
Only a few dozen shinobi with calm personalities and exceptionally resilient nerves had escaped serious injury and retained their combat strength.
More than three hundred Root and ANBU shinobi—
Had collapsed under Uchiha Yoru's opening attack.
Uchiha Setsuna murmured,
"So this is the power of the Mangekyō Sharingan…?"
He had mistakenly attributed the courage-based spiritual pressure from earlier to the Mangekyō as well.
Thinking about how Uchiha Yoru was only nineteen years old, yet had nearly wiped out so many of Konoha's elites single-handedly—
Uchiha Setsuna's worship of the Mangekyō Sharingan became even more fanatical.
But that legendary pair of eyes was currently sitting inside the eye sockets of their enemy.
What were they supposed to do?
His worship of the Mangekyō instead shattered his spirit.
Uchiha Setsuna became helpless.
He trembled as he looked toward Clan Head Fugaku.
"Clan Head!"
"That really is the Mangekyō Sharingan!"
"What are we supposed to do?!"
His voice was filled with incomparable panic and terror.
There was even a trace of crying in it.
The entire side of the Third Hokage immediately grew uneasy.
Uchiha Fugaku's face flushed red with embarrassment.
He glared furiously at the disgraceful elder.
"Shut up, you fool!"
"You are an elder of the Uchiha Clan!"
"And yet you're terrified of an ordinary member of your own clan!"
"How disgraceful!"
Unexpectedly, Uchiha Setsuna was not snapped out of his panic by the reprimand.
Instead—
He began wailing outright.
"He isn't an ordinary Uchiha!"
"He awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan!"
"The Mangekyō Sharingan that even you, the clan head, don't have!"
"The Mangekyō Sharingan is invincible!"
"We're going to die!"
"All of us are going to die!"
Everyone looked at one another.
Uchiha Fugaku was so embarrassed he wished he could crawl into a crack in the ground.
At that moment, Uchiha Yoru suddenly spoke.
"Ah."
"Although all of you probably are going to die…"
"The Mangekyō really isn't invincible."
He wiped away the blood beneath his nose and carefully rubbed the faintly golden blood into the inner side of his sleeve.
Only then did he look at Uchiha Fugaku.
"Clan Head Fugaku should know this better than anyone."
"As long as there's another pair of Mangekyō Sharingan, a balance can be formed."
"Right?"
"Uchiha Fugaku…"
"Clan Head?"
"You've hidden your Mangekyō Sharingan for who knows how many years."
"Isn't it about time you showed them?"
The instant he said this—
Every gaze turned toward Uchiha Fugaku.
Uchiha Yoru's strength itself served as proof of his words.
Everyone believed him.
That was simply how the shinobi world worked.
If you possessed the strongest power—
Then your words naturally carried the strongest credibility.
Under everyone's intense scrutiny, Uchiha Fugaku finally sighed.
He closed his eyes.
When he opened them again—
A pair of Mangekyō Sharingan had appeared.
The pattern centered on the pupil.
A circular ring connected three bent, drill-like tomoe, while two thin rings revolved around the outer edge.
The three drill-shaped tomoe were slightly tilted and slowly rotating.
Anyone who looked directly into those eyes immediately became dizzy and instinctively looked away.
Uchiha Setsuna snapped out of his daze.
He escaped from the abyss of despair.
He was so excited he nearly cried.
"Clan Head!"
"You really have the Mangekyō Sharingan!"
"Your pattern is even more complicated than that traitor's!"
"Ah!"
"Then your Mangekyō must be even stronger!"
"We're saved!"
"We'll definitely win!"
The moment they saw Uchiha Fugaku's Mangekyō Sharingan, Hiruzen Sarutobi, Jiraiya, and the others also subconsciously relaxed.
Fortunately—
Their side also possessed a high-level Sharingan capable of opposing Uchiha Yoru.
The battle would not be completely one-sided.
That meant victory was still possible.
However, the Third Hokage and Homura Mitokado felt complicated emotions.
While they were relieved that Uchiha Fugaku could save them this time—
They also instinctively became deeply wary of him.
Their eyes exchanged glances several times.
Relying on the tacit understanding built through decades as classmates and colleagues, they silently reached the same conclusion.
Use Uchiha Fugaku for now.
Deal with him after returning to the village.
Uchiha Fugaku noticed nothing.
Uchiha Yoru, however, saw everything clearly.
He said nothing.
After all—
The Third Hokage would not be returning today.
So none of that would ever happen.
Most of Uchiha Yoru's attention remained fixed on Fugaku's eyes.
He had speculated about this pair of eyes for more than ten years.
He had spent years worrying about them.
Now that their existence was finally confirmed—
He instead felt relieved.
"Seriously."
"So you really did have them."
"What exactly were you thinking?"
"I really don't understand why you worked so hard to endure all these years."
"If you'd revealed them earlier, the Uchiha Clan wouldn't have ended up like this."
Uchiha Yoru shook his head.
"Aren't you going to introduce your eyes?"
Hearing the question, the Third Hokage and the others immediately became intensely curious.
Everyone pricked up their ears.
Uchiha Fugaku remained silent for a moment.
Then he pointed to his left eye.
"The dōjutsu in this eye is called Amenotachikara no Mikoto."
"Its primary ability is to see all possible developments of the future."
Then he pointed toward his right eye.
"This eye's dōjutsu is called Amano-Iwato…"
Hearing that name—
Uchiha Yoru's heart skipped a beat.
His own right-eye dōjutsu was called Amano-Iwato Seal.
It was an extraordinarily powerful ability.
Definitely not inferior to a space-time dōjutsu.
But Uchiha Fugaku's next sentence shocked him even more.
"The ability of Amano-Iwato…"
"Is to seal the Mangekyō Sharingan dōjutsu of other people."
"What?"
Before the words had even finished—
Uchiha Fugaku's Mangekyō Sharingan locked onto Uchiha Yoru.
At some unknown point, the patterns in his eyes had already begun spinning at extreme speed, becoming nothing more than blurred shadows.
He had actually activated his dōjutsu secretly while explaining it.
Sharingan—
Amano-Iwato.
Uchiha Yoru met his gaze.
The ocular powers of two Mangekyō Sharingan clashed.
Uchiha Yoru's dōjutsu power was clearly stronger.
In only an instant—
Fugaku lost the confrontation.
He screamed and clutched his eyes.
Thick, nearly black tears of blood flowed from them.
But Amano-Iwato had successfully activated.
Uchiha Yoru's eyes immediately began regressing from the Mangekyō state.
Three tomoe.
Two tomoe.
One tomoe.
Until finally—
Only a pair of glossy black eyes remained.
Uchiha Yoru was genuinely surprised.
He could not help praising the technique.
"Amano-Iwato."
"It actually sealed my Sharingan despite my superior ocular power."
"Ha."
"What an excellent weapon for fighting internal clan wars."
He raised a thumb.
"Uchiha Fugaku."
"You really are an expert at internal conflict."
"As for fighting outsiders…"
"You're a completely useless idiot."
Uchiha Fugaku trembled as he lowered his hands.
The patterns in his eyes had noticeably faded.
Clearly—
His eyesight had suffered considerable damage.
He shouted loudly,
"Quick!"
"His Sharingan has been sealed!"
"Defeat him now!"
"His ocular power is too strong."
"I can only suppress it for fifteen minutes at most!"
Hearing this, the Third Hokage immediately suppressed the joy he had felt at seeing the two Uchiha seemingly cripple each other.
He shouted toward Enma,
"Adamantine Staff!"
Unexpectedly—
Enma shook his head.
He refused.
"Sorry, Sarutobi, old friend."
"I can't fight alongside you this time."
Hiruzen Sarutobi stared at him in disbelief.
"Old friend…"
"You're violating the contract?"
"The summoning contract between the Sarutobi Clan and the Monkey Clan has lasted for several hundred years without issue!"
"How can you violate the summoning contract?"
Enma looked at Hiruzen Sarutobi.
"Old friend Sarutobi."
"I am not the one violating the contract."
"You are."
"You may have forgotten."
"The Monkey Clan and Mount Myōboku have never had a friendly relationship."
"Unless we face an exceptionally grave crisis, we absolutely will not fight side by side."
"More importantly…"
"Sage Uchiha Yoru is an important guest of the Cat Castle."
"He is also an important member of our Warm-Blooded Sage Alliance."
"I cannot attack him."
"And besides…"
"I'm not Sage Uchiha Yoru's opponent."
"Challenging him would only lead to certain death."
Enma looked rather embarrassed.
"Old friend Sarutobi."
"I may already be old…"
"But I still don't want to die."
"I want to keep living."
"So…"
"Sorry."
With that—
The muscular Enma vanished in a cloud of white smoke.
He voluntarily canceled the summoning and returned home.
The Third Hokage reached out with his right hand, trying to stop him.
But he caught nothing.
He attempted the Summoning Technique again.
This time—
He received an explicit rejection.
After that—
He could sense nothing at all.
But when the Third Hokage raised his head again—
His gaze had become incomparably sharp.
The blow of being abandoned by his summoning beast finally caused the Third Hokage to cast aside every remaining hesitation.
His battle instincts returned.
He removed the Hokage hat from his head.
Without the slightest hesitation—
He threw it onto the ground.
Then he removed the Hokage haori, revealing the light shinobi armor underneath.
Hiruzen Sarutobi took a deep breath.
"I really have grown old."
"Always rambling."
"Always hesitating."
"Always worrying about one thing after another."
"That doesn't resemble Hiruzen Sarutobi at all."
"Hmph."
"Uchiha Yoru!"
"In Konoha Year 43…"
"The human body that exploded in the sky above Konoha."
"You did that, didn't you?"
Uchiha Yoru looked at Hiruzen Sarutobi strangely.
His expression showed genuine surprise.
"Why would you say that?"
The Third Hokage snorted coldly.
"Enma called you 'Sage Uchiha Yoru.'"
"No one knew you could use senjutsu."
"And no one could ever find the senjutsu practitioner responsible for making that body explode."
"Is that really so difficult to figure out?"
Uchiha Yoru sighed.
"That's right."
"I did it."
"You killed Konoha shinobi without cause two years ago!"
"You had already betrayed Konoha back then!"
"For an entire two years…"
"Who knows how many things you've done to harm the village!"
"You deserve death!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi's hair and beard bristled as he roared,
"In the name of the Third Hokage—"
"I hereby declare Uchiha Yoru a missing-nin of Konohagakure!"
"Every shinobi of Konoha has the duty to kill you!"
The power of legitimacy was not something to underestimate.
Jiraiya had already helped the two Sages cancel their summons and return to Mount Myōboku.
He had already been furious over their injuries.
After hearing the Third Hokage's declaration—
Killing intent immediately appeared in his eyes.
Even the remaining ANBU shinobi felt united against a common enemy.
Their shattered morale began to rise again.
Uchiha Yoru immediately rejected the Third Hokage's declaration.
"Just because you're the Hokage doesn't mean you can say whatever nonsense you want!"
He did not consider himself a missing-nin.
More importantly—
He intended to turn the Third Hokage himself into the criminal today.
Naturally, he would never casually admit to treason.
He pointed at Hiruzen Sarutobi and cursed,
"Bullshit!"
"Root shinobi tracked me and tried to assassinate me!"
"They had already attacked!"
"And I'm not even allowed to fight back?"
Of course—
Uchiha Yoru was lying.
He had merely predicted that Root would eventually act against him and had struck first.
But he could tell the lie with absolute confidence.
Because that was exactly the kind of thing Root did.
Uchiha Fugaku and Uchiha Setsuna both believed him.
Even the Third Hokage and Homura Mitokado instinctively felt—
Uchiha Yoru was probably telling the truth.
Danzō really would do something like that.
Uchiha Yoru continued without the slightest restraint.
"So according to you, Hiruzen Sarutobi…"
"If Danzō's Root decides I should die…"
"I'm not allowed to resist?"
"I'm just supposed to stand there and let them kill me?"
"The shinobi world may be brutal."
"But even this world doesn't work like that!"
His words shook Jiraiya deeply.
He had never considered that Uchiha Yoru's killing might have been retaliation.
His fighting spirit immediately lost a large portion of its foundation.
His aura visibly weakened.
Even the Third Hokage felt somewhat awkward.
He could not help saying,
"Even if Root shinobi attacked you…"
"You still shouldn't have killed them directly."
"You could have defeated them, then come to me—"
Uchiha Yoru sneered and interrupted him.
"Come to you for what?"
"To complain?"
"To ask you to mediate?"
"Stop talking nonsense."
"You think I don't know?"
"You ordered Danzō to target the Uchiha Clan."
"Then Danzō ordered Root shinobi to monitor and assassinate Uchiha shinobi!"
"And I'm supposed to come to you?"
"So I can hear you say—"
"'Who stands before this Hokage, accusing this Hokage?'"
"Huh?"
The Third Hokage frowned.
His expression became solemn.
"I never expected your misunderstanding of me to run so deep."
"You're a Konoha shinobi."
"And yet you refuse to trust the Hokage?"
"Ha!"
"Trust you?"
"Did those children in Root with branches growing all over their bodies trust you?"
"Did the owners of all those pairs of Sharingan stored away in the warehouse trust you?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi's eyes suddenly widened.
He raised a trembling finger toward Uchiha Yoru.
"You…"
"You…?"
Uchiha Yoru grinned.
"That was me too."
"Uchiha Fugaku's Mangekyō sealed my Sharingan."
"So you thought everything was finally settled?"
"But…"
"I'm not just a Sage."
"I'm a Sage who's especially good at showing off."
Natural energy erupted from Uchiha Yoru's body.
It merged with his chakra—
Transforming into senjutsu chakra.
Then he clapped his hands together.
Sage Art—
Wood Release: Deep Forest Emergence!
The earth churned violently.
Roots and branches surged upward from every direction.
In the blink of an eye—
They occupied every visible space.
The open ground that had been deliberately cleared for the defense of the pass instantly transformed into a primeval forest.
Trees dozens of meters tall—
Some even approaching a hundred meters—
Twisted and spread wildly.
Even the pass itself disappeared beneath the sea of trees.
The corpses of the Root shinobi were dragged underground by the roots.
One ANBU shinobi after another was seized by branches or roots.
Then—
They were wrapped into wooden spheres.
Like canned prey stored by spiders—
They were suspended high above the ground.
Naturally, the several top-tier shinobi present were not so easily captured by an ordinary forest.
They all evaded in time.
But their spirits—
Were already close to collapsing.
It had to be said—
After twenty years of propaganda, Konoha shinobi had developed an almost superstitious worship of Wood Release.
When that legendary power appeared in the hands of an enemy—
The resulting psychological collapse was naturally even more severe.
When Uchiha Yoru revealed the Mangekyō earlier—
Uchiha Setsuna had broken down.
Now—
Homura Mitokado.
Uchiha Setsuna.
Uchiha Fugaku.
Jiraiya.
Even Hiruzen Sarutobi—
All felt as though their minds were on the verge of breaking.
Suddenly—
Homura Mitokado shouted,
"Genjutsu!"
"This has to be genjutsu!"
The next instant—
All of them formed hand seals.
"Release!"
"Release!"
"Release!"
"Release already!"
"Come on!"
"Release!"
"Release!!"
"Stop trying."
"This is real."
"We're finished."
"How are we supposed to deal with Wood Release?"
The Third Hokage snorted coldly.
His hands rapidly formed seals.
"Wood Release still depends on who's using it."
"Watch me burn it down with Fire Release!"
Fire Release—
Great Dragon Fire Technique!
His cheeks swelled.
A torrent of flame erupted from his mouth.
The front of the flames transformed into a majestic dragon.
It released a silent roar as it charged toward the sea of trees.
Uchiha Yoru suddenly appeared directly in front of the fire dragon.
He raised one hand—
And blocked it.
Seeing this, the Third Hokage immediately increased his chakra output.
The fire dragon's power and temperature climbed another level.
Even the color of the dragon's head changed—
From orange-red…
To a much brighter yellow.
Two years ago, Uchiha Yoru had already been capable of decomposing Pakura's Scorch Release.
Now—
Facing the Third Hokage's Fire Release—
The process was even easier.
Fire Spirit natural energy collided directly with the fire dragon at a one-to-one ratio.
Its powerful fusion property destroyed the ninjutsu's structural formula.
The fire dragon was dismantled into pure Fire Release chakra.
The Fire Release chakra then naturally fused with the Fire Spirit natural energy.
It became senjutsu chakra.
And completely escaped the Third Hokage's control—
Becoming Uchiha Yoru's power instead.
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