Based on the intelligence Satsuki had carefully gathered over the years, she had a rough understanding of the Uchiha clan's dominant presence in the Valley of Clouds and Lightning. However, the exact location of their base and stronghold within the region remained unknown.
That was why Shirakumaru made no attempt to conceal his actions while moving through the gorge. Satsuki intentionally wanted them to discover him.
As expected, the self-proclaimed strongest Uchiha clan of this era did not disappoint.
Two shinobi, each mounted on a giant raptor, approached him.
"Another outsider. Captain, if he resists, can I kill him?"
The speaker was the ninja on the left, who bore clear traits of the Kaguya clan.
Heavy eye shadow, thin eyebrows, and a traditional midoura hairstyle. Though his appearance was otherwise unremarkable, this bizarre combination made him look less like a shinobi and more like a figure from some obscure avant-garde art movement.
If one ignored the bloodthirsty madness in his eyes, the impression would be complete.
The Kaguya clan was rumored to suffer from an incurable hereditary bloodline illness. The stronger the member, the more severe the affliction.
This deep, marrow-level pain drove most Kaguya to spend their lives seeking distractions, lest their condition lead to overwhelming self-destructive urges.
Eventually, they found a 'cure' — war.
But the Kaguya standing here, having restrained his instinct to strike immediately, didn't show restraint out of self-control. He simply lacked the talent to fully develop his Shikotsumyaku, the clan's bloodline ability.
"The man before us has chakra at least on par with a Jonin. If you want to die, I won't stop you."
The other ninja, a typical Uchiha youth, spoke in a cold tone. Handsome, with long disheveled hair rare in this era and the iconic three-tomoe Sharingan glowing in his eyes, his strength was immediately evident.
Dressed in a black short-sleeved top and short battle gear, he carried a slender ninja blade on his back.
After casting a warning glance at his Kaguya companion, he turned to Shirakumaru with a blank expression and said, "Stranger, state your name and your purpose."
"You may call me Taka," came the low voice of Shirakumaru, controlled by Satsuki.
"I have urgent business with the Uchiha clan leader. Which of you will escort me?"
"Taka..."
The Uchiha youth coldly eyed the mask that covered all but Shirakumaru's eyes.
"A codename and a vague reason? You think that's enough to enter our stronghold? Are you naive, or do you take the Uchiha's reputation as some baseless myth?"
As his words ended, Shirakumaru's eyes went blank.
In his vision, massive metal spikes suddenly impaled his body, pinning him in place, unable to move an inch.
Satsuki, remotely controlling him, instantly recognized this as the Uchiha's "Binding Illusion Jutsu."
"My, my. Challenging the Uchiha one-on-one and daring to meet their eyes head-on," the Kaguya ninja commented with a trace of admiration. "Retsu-san, this is the dumbest outsider I've seen since joining your team."
As fellow descendants of Indra, the Kaguya and Uchiha clans had long battled for dominance over the Valley of Clouds and Lightning. Both sides knew the other's bloodline traits well.
In an era where the Rinnegan remained only legend, the Sharingan reigned supreme across the shinobi world.
Even the Kaguya, another bloodline clan, struggled to compete.
"Remove his mask and take him back for interrogation," said the Uchiha youth, now identified as Retsu, in an icy tone. "Once the questioning is done, you may do whatever you like with him."
"Understood."
Though visibly displeased by Retsu Uchiha's commanding tone, the Kaguya clan ninja still chose to obey. Strength was strength.
As he urged his eagle mount to approach and reached out to bind the immobile Shirakumaru, the next moment his mind was struck by a violent assault. He instantly lost consciousness, collapsing onto the back of his agitated bird.
"So this is the famed genjutsu of the Sharingan?"
Like brushing away a fly, Shirakumaru casually withdrew his right hand, his gaze arrogant as he locked eyes with Retsu Uchiha.
"It seems the genjutsu of the Uchiha is only this effective. I deliberately fell into it just to test it."
"What?!" The cold demeanor Retsu had maintained was shattered. His eyes flared with killing intent.
"You will regret mocking the Uchiha."
With those words, Retsu launched his attack.
In less than a blink, he had already thrown dozens of kunai and shuriken.
"Heh."
Shirakumaru let out a faint chuckle. In a startling display, he matched the barrage with an equally large volley of ninja tools, drawn from his pouch with comparable speed.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The sound of weapons clashing rang out endlessly. Retsu's Sharingan-boosted dynamic vision allowed him to demonstrate astounding skill. His tools were not simply first-strike weapons.
Empowered by the Sharingan, Retsu's perception and calculation abilities surpassed human limits. Through intricate trajectory calculations and controlled collisions mid-air, he was able to redirect two-thirds of his tools for secondary attacks.
This mid-flight re-targeting ability exponentially increased the lethality of his assault.
Yet his opponent was unexpectedly formidable.
The man in the hawk mask—"Taka"—accurately predicted every projectile's path.
Even the shuriken aimed at visual blind spots, redirected by Retsu's calculations, were intercepted cleanly by Shirakumaru's own tools.
This unnerved Retsu, who had been maintaining a high-intensity barrage.
His Sharingan then noticed something else—Shirakumaru's mount had no visible chakra. It was just an ordinary raptor.
Realizing this, Retsu switched tactics, leveraging his eagle's maneuverability to attack from multiple directions.
Shirakumaru immediately saw through the change in strategy but remained still, continuing to defend with tools.
Eventually, the multi-directional strikes broke through his defense grid.
A smirk appeared on Retsu's face.
"Got him."
With a sharp tug of his hands in midair, wires that had been secretly deployed sprang into action, tightening around Shirakumaru. Dozens of marks appeared across his body as he was bound in place, seemingly by invisible threads.
Yet even while tightly restrained by the Uchiha's special wire trap, Shirakumaru showed no panic. Instead, he calmly looked around.
"So this is the Uchiha's specialty wire? Interesting material. It certainly escapes most visual detection."
His tone showed no concern at being trapped.
Satsuki, through her remote control, even took a moment to critique the Uchiha clan's equipment.
Then, with a trace of mockery in his eyes, Shirakumaru looked at Retsu, who now stood with hands poised to unleash a Fire Style technique.
"But there's one thing you ought to remember—metal conducts electricity."
As soon as the words fell, the bound figure vanished in a flash of lightning. Crackling blue bolts surged backward along the wires and struck Retsu directly.
Caught off guard, Retsu Uchiha's body was instantly paralyzed and convulsing. Even his eagle mount wasn't spared.
With a pained screech, it plummeted downward.
Severely wounded, the eagle vanished midair as its summoning was canceled in a puff of smoke. Retsu himself wasn't as lucky. Powerless, he crashed onto the mountain platform below.
"Lightning Release Clone? That jutsu! Damn it."
The Sharingan hadn't seen through it! How was that possible?
Lying on the ground, Retsu was shocked.
"Alright, the entertainment's over. Now you can take me to your stronghold, right?"
The deep voice came from behind Retsu. The masked man, still calm as ever, didn't seem the least bit tired despite the earlier dazzling ninja tool duel and the chakra-intensive Lightning Clone.
But soon, Satsuki's Byakugan noticed something interesting: chakra began surging rapidly within Retsu's brain, converging toward his eyes.
"So convenient, these Sharingan awakenings," Satsuki murmured, watching from afar. "If only Tenseigan could be triggered like that. Oh well, they're not even on the same level. No point wishing."
"Was that duel really just entertainment to you? You go too far mocking people."
With a surge of chakra, Retsu suppressed the lingering effects on his body. Slowly, he turned his head, one Sharingan now spinning rapidly as he glared at Shirakumaru.
"Oh? Interesting. You're about to awaken further?"
Through Shirakumaru's vision, Satsuki keenly observed the chakra surging through Retsu's brain and eyes.
Blood began to trickle from both of Retsu's eyes as chakra violently surged into them. Though his ocular power was indeed increasing, Satsuki noted it was progressing far too slowly.
At this rate, by the time all the blood had drained, his power would have only doubled at best.
"Looks like your talent is lacking."
After observing for a while and confirming his ocular ability had peaked, Satsuki lost interest.
She had Shirakumaru release a burst of chakra to disrupt Retsu's flow.
In an instant, the spinning Sharingan lost its chakra support and reverted to a normal eye. Retsu collapsed into unconsciousness.
Minutes later, Shirakumaru had bound both enemies, carrying one in each hand as he flew swiftly toward the secret Uchiha stronghold.