Tōshirō clutched his head with both hands, his face contorted in agony, a roar tearing from his throat, a bestial sound mixed with despair and chaos.
That roar resonated deeply within everyone who heard it.
At this moment, he was in an extremely unstable state, completely exposed. It was undoubtedly an excellent opportunity to strike.
Someone suggested whether they should seize this chance to attack.
Uchiha Madara stopped them, saying, "Stop, let him scream his fill first."
To possess such strength at such a young age, only to suffer such a fate now, envy disfigured some faces, their words dripping with schadenfreude: "I never imagined a ninja like him would have such a weak side."
Uchiha Madara said in a deep voice, "No matter how strong a person is, their tolerance has a limit. Once that limit is exceeded, a person will break down..."
This battle was destined from the start.
A bomb had been implanted in Tsunade's body long ago. As soon as Tōshirō rescued Tsunade, the Explosion Release bloodline limit ninja would detonate the bomb inside her.
There was simply no way to break the situation.
He had intentionally and unintentionally created hope, all for the sake of a complete explosion at this final moment.
Among the crowd, there was a newlywed ninja couple who, looking at the agonizing Tōshirō, could somewhat understand his feelings at that moment.
At this point, Uchiha Madara stepped forward, and under the astonished gazes of the crowd, slowly walked up to the wailing Tōshirō, looking down at him: "What a truly weak side."
"Do you think crying will bring Tsunade back to life?"
"Do you think roaring in anger can change fate?"
Uchiha Madara's words were filled with mockery, continuously stimulating Tōshirō's already sensitive and fragile nerves: "Don't be naive... if it were that easy, this world wouldn't constantly breed hatred."
He paused, lowered his voice, and continued: "My relatives also died at the hands of your Leaf Village ninjas, right before my eyes."
"It is precisely because of love that sacrifice is born, and with it, hatred. Only then can one truly know pain."
A dark gleam permeated from the depths of Uchiha Madara's drooping eyelids.
Yes, understand the pain...
"Boom—!"
Gusts of wind erupted, the ground tearing up. Weaker ninjas near the center of the storm were instantly blown away: "Damn it, this violent chakra, how does this monster still have so much chakra?!"
A dark red beam of light shot out, piercing into the sky, pulling the clouds into a vortex.
Uchiha Madara, standing in the eye of the storm, his half-closed eyes reflecting a humanoid creature enveloped in dark red chakra, let out a hysterical roar.
Half-tailed beast transformation?
Uchiha Madara frowned. This was not the result he wanted to see.
Because of his mental breakdown, did the Nine-Tails within him take the opportunity to seize his mind?
Foolish—!
Just as he was thinking, Tōshirō, seemingly possessed by the Nine-Tails, lunged at Uchiha Madara, punching him away as if to vent his current emotions, roaring furiously.
Inside the mental world.
The Five-Tails' expression was extremely grave: "This is bad, Tōshirō, let's retreat quickly."
As a perfect Jinchuriki, the Five-Tails naturally wouldn't attempt to invade Tōshirō's body.
It had never seen Tōshirō in such an unstable state. Now, manipulating Tōshirō's body was truly a last resort.
Tōshirō lowered his head deeply. The Five-Tails couldn't see the expression on his face at the moment, but it assumed it must be terrible.
While controlling Tōshirō's body and struggling to fend off the ninjas' harassment, the Five-Tails continuously called out to Tōshirō to regain his sanity.
After a long while, after countless calls, Tōshirō finally responded.
However, the response made the Five-Tails quite troubled.
"Stay..."
A faint voice, imbued with an undeniable resolve.
The Five-Tails' eyes widened: "Tōshirō, are you crazy? We can't handle so many enemies as we are now."
"I said, stay..."
The tone was noticeably heavier than before, even carrying a hint of command.
The Five-Tails continued: "I know you're in pain and angry, but this isn't the time to be reckless. You need to be rational."
"I said, stay, can't you hear me!?"
Tōshirō's shout completely drowned out the Five-Tails' voice.
The voice was filled with dissatisfaction, reprimand, and command, like a bad-tempered leader speaking when someone made a mistake.
In the years they had spent together, the Five-Tails had never been spoken to by Tōshirō in such a tone. A feeling of injustice welled up in the Five-Tails' heart.
It understood that Tōshirō's mind had become abnormal due to the intense shock of Tsunade's sudden death.
But as the only "human" it recognized, the Five-Tails could only stubbornly, repeatedly, even pleadingly, hope for Tōshirō to regain his sanity.
Otherwise, if they dragged it out any longer, both it and Tōshirō would truly perish here.
Perhaps its persuasion had an effect, for this time, Tōshirō didn't shout as before; instead, he slowly raised his head in silence.
Before the Five-Tails could rejoice, a pair of blood-red eyes, emanating an evil aura, suddenly met its gaze.
"This is..."
The Five-Tails froze.
In a fleeting instant, with just one glance, an unparalleled pupil power directly poured into its eyes through their line of sight.
The Five-Tails' eyes glazed over, its blue eyes stained blood-red, and its pupils began to twist and deform into a peculiar pattern, not the usual three-tomoe Sharingan pattern, but a hexagonal snowflake-like pattern.
This was a sign of being controlled by a genjutsu.
A few seconds prior.
In the real world, a group of ninjas surrounded Tōshirō in a circle.
The Five-Tails, manipulating Tōshirō's body, was fighting a desperate battle. It looked around, surrounded by ninjas. If it transformed into a full tailed beast, it could break through, but the next second it would be riddled with countless ninjutsu from the crowd.
If it were at full strength, it would be fine, but now it wasn't just in poor condition; the Jinchuriki's mind was also in trouble.
Given this situation, the Five-Tails could only respond with a half-tailed beast transformation, at least to reduce the area of damage and try to buy more time.
Without a moment to catch its breath, several water pillars shot through the air. The Five-Tails barely dodged by pushing off the ground, only for crackling, spherical lightning to come hurtling at it with no room to maneuver.
The Five-Tails tried to dodge again in the same way, but at that exact moment, something went wrong internally, and its body seized up, causing it to take the full brunt of the attack.
The explosion kicked up smoke, which dispersed with the wind, carrying electricity.
Seemingly gravely wounded by this blow, Tōshirō lay sprawled on the ground, his dark red tailed beast cloak slowly fading, revealing his original appearance.
Seeing this, the ninjas finally breathed a sigh of relief. They had finally taken him down...
Ippon-Datō looked at the Lightning Blade user who had just launched the attack, somewhat unconvinced: "I can't believe you ended up getting the first kill."
The Lightning Blade user looked forward, his gaze slightly lowered.
After having experienced Tōshirō's formidable strength, he felt that his previous lightning ball attack shouldn't have been enough to incapacitate Tōshirō directly.
This doubt didn't last long, as Tōshirō, who was sprawled on the ground, slowly rose.
Although blood hung from the corner of his mouth, he didn't seem to be significantly harmed overall.
At this moment, he was scanning the crowd with eyes as red as blood.
These eyes overflowed with an eerie red light, both beautiful and dangerous.
"Hey, do you guys feel it? This guy's eyes seem a little different."
A ninja noticed the change in Tōshirō's eyes, feeling puzzled.
Tōshirō was from the Uchiha clan and possessed the Sharingan bloodline limit.
But what was with these eyes?
Although they were also red, the pattern was clearly much more complex.
Unlike the familiar three-tomoe, it looked somewhat like... a hexagonal snowflake falling during snowy weather?
This, this is...
A well-informed ninja, who had seen much and had a wide range of contacts, suddenly seemed to remember something, and his face instantly turned pale, an expression beyond mere horror.
Uchiha Madara, not far away, showed a pleased smile when he saw these eyes appear, mixed with a hint of emotion.
Since he and his brother Izuna successfully awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan, the Uchiha clan had finally produced a new Mangekyo Sharingan after so many years.
Come, Tōshirō, let me see your power!
A rookie asked, "What's wrong...?"
"Damn it, why would these eyes appear!?"
Being well-informed often means having seen and experienced a lot, leading to a calm demeanor. But even so, upon seeing these eyes, the well-informed ninja nearly lost his composure and almost cursed out loud.
The intel didn't mention this at all.
Clearly, the unexpected situation before him had exceeded his mental tolerance.
"What's wrong? Is there a problem with these eyes?"
The rookie looked confused, not understanding why his well-informed senior looked so terrified.
The well-informed ninja's face was ashen, as if he had swallowed two pounds of arsenic: "This is... the Mangekyo Sharingan!"
"Mangekyo Sharingan? What's that?"
The rookie was, after all, a rookie. Even hearing the name, he had no concept of it, only vaguely sensing it was a type of Sharingan.
The well-informed ninja explained it briefly, while emphasizing the power of these eyes: "This is the Uchiha clan's highest-level dōjutsu, possessing power comparable to the First Hokage's Wood Style."
He wasn't just explaining this to the rookie, but also to the other comrades present who didn't understand the power of the Mangekyo Sharingan, all to ensure they would take it seriously.
"Hiss~"
The rookie gasped sharply after hearing this.
He had some idea of what the First Hokage's Wood Style represented...
That was the God of Shinobi who brought peace to a chaotic world.
The well-informed ninja speculated that Tōshirō's Mangekyo Sharingan must have been awakened by some intense stimulus, a burst of potential, allowing his eyes to evolve, otherwise he would have used it by now.
He finally understood why the higher-ups went to such great lengths to gather so many ninjas to deal with Tōshirō.
There wasn't much time to be shocked. They had to kill this guy before he adapted to these eyes.
Otherwise, if he grew stronger, he would be a genius with the potential to surpass the God of Shinobi, and then the various villages would never have a chance to rise.
Thinking of this, he quickly formed hand signs, preparing his strongest long-range kill move.
This thought wasn't limited to this well-informed ninja; other ninjas who knew the power of the Mangekyo Sharingan also had the same idea.
They all unleashed their specialized long-range ninjutsu, vowing to kill him before he could adapt to these eyes.
It was said that once the Mangekyo Sharingan was awakened, the original abilities of the Sharingan would be greatly enhanced, and in addition, the user would develop ultimate ocular jutsu.
Without knowing the opponent's ocular jutsu, a reckless attack would be tantamount to suicide.
Therefore, using long-range ninjutsu to test the waters was undoubtedly the safest method.
With the evolution of the Sharingan into the Mangekyo Sharingan, Tōshirō's dynamic perception was greatly enhanced, leading to an even more significant improvement in his reaction speed compared to before.
Long before these people completed their hand signs and launched their attacks, Tōshirō had already judged the attack trajectories, making it easy for him to react and dodge.
The ninjas' techniques, expended with a large amount of chakra, couldn't even harm a single hair on him: "Damn it, this guy's reactions are even faster than before."
As Tōshirō dodged the ninjutsu attacks, upon landing, a Jonin, thinking he had seized an opportunity, shamelessly launched a surprise vertical slash with his sword.
Tōshirō glanced sideways.
Genjutsu: Mangekyo Sharingan.
With just a simple glance, the Jonin instantly froze in place, his eyes blank.
Tōshirō snatched the wakizashi from him.
"Swish"
A flash of the blade, a horizontal slash across the neck, and fresh blood immediately gushed from the Jonin's neck.
Tōshirō was not skilled in genjutsu, but due to the Mangekyo Sharingan, his genjutsu instantly reached a level that many genjutsu ninjas could never achieve in a lifetime.
"What powerful genjutsu..."
Everyone looked horrified. With just a glance, he had affected a Jonin.
Indeed, the opponent's guard against Tōshirō's genjutsu was relatively low because Tōshirō didn't use genjutsu much in combat, but it shouldn't have been so easy as to just be taken out by a simple gaze.
"Everyone be careful, this guy has awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan, and all his Sharingan abilities have undergone a massive leap."
Someone warned.
But it was useless. The Mangekyo Sharingan was called the strongest ocular jutsu precisely because even if you knew what the opponent was going to do, there was almost no countermeasure.
Tōshirō gripped his sword and charged into the crowd, swinging the sharp blade. As he ran, the sword would be stained with the blood of all the prey it cut down.
The improvement in dynamic perception allowed Tōshirō to easily spot enemies' openings even while running, and to execute quicker movements.
"Bastard, don't get too carried away."
Ippon-Datō swung the Kubikiribōchō (Executioner's Blade) at Tōshirō, who was cutting through the chaotic battlefield. He wasn't even using his tailed beast cloak; who was he looking down on?
As long as he dared to block with his sword, the other remaining Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, lying in wait, would instantly strike with a fatal blow.
Tōshirō swung the wakizashi in his hand, the sword light drawing an arc in the air, like a silk thread wrapping around the Kubikiribōchō.
"Impossible—!"
Ippon-Datō was greatly astonished.
Tōshirō's sword didn't rebound Ippon-Datō's slash; instead, he used his sword to entangle the blade, leading it away and changing its trajectory.
To achieve such a movement, using lightness to counter weight, and slowness to counter speed, would be impossible unless there was a vast difference in their swordsmanship.
While Tōshirō's swordsmanship was decent, it wasn't so far superior to Ippon-Datō, a ninja specialized in swords.
He was able to accomplish this through the Mangekyo Sharingan, which surpassed the dynamic vision of a regular Sharingan.
"Damn it..."
Having his swordsmanship countered in this manner, Ippon-Datō roared in impotent rage.
Tōshirō redirected Ippon-Datō's attack toward another nearby area, effortlessly dodging the attacks of enemies lurking nearby.
The coordination of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist was far more complex than what was just displayed.
With no room to spare, a long blade flew in, aiming straight for his head.
Tōshirō took a step back, dodged sideways, and then caught the flying blade with a reverse grip, sending it right back where it came from.
The Seamstress's Needle user's eyes widened. What kind of monstrous dynamic vision was this, to be able to catch the Seamstress's Needle in mid-flight and retaliate? This had never happened in his many years of active service.
Because he had never imagined such a thing could happen, the Seamstress's Needle user reacted half a beat too slow, and was directly headshotted by his own weapon, suffering his own consequences.
Having taken down one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, Tōshirō's heart remained unperturbed. He looked up to see the Hiramekarei user leaping high into the air, his weapon converging into a hammer.
While Tōshirō's attention was drawn, a ninja skilled in Earth Release burrowed into the ground, directly dragging him underground, leaving only half of his head exposed.
The giant hammer descended, with the force of a collapsing mountain, intent on smashing Tōshirō's head.
Tōshirō's gaze was cold and unmoved. A massive amount of chakra converged in his eyes.
Spirit Fire
Summoning a demonic hand from thin air, adorned with rhombus patterns, it clenched into a fist and punched out.
(End of Chapter)
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