Using an artifact crafted by the Shinigami himself, Ryusei Uchiha tore through the defenses of the Crystal Tower, revealing a hidden thread—an anchor the Shinigami had left behind during his battle with Michel. Cloaked in a robe woven from the same dark fabric the Shinigami once wore, Ryusei broke the laws of this sacred place—he disrupted its very rules.
His Susanoo emerged without hesitation, a towering phantom of armored fury, and its blade was already drawn. With a thunderous roar, Ryusei unleashed an opening strike meant to obliterate the tower in a single, unforgettable blow.
But before the strike could land, the tail of a colossal serpent whipped out of nowhere, coiling around Ryusei's legs and throwing him off balance. Simultaneously, a shadow surged forward—what had seemed like a small dog expanded grotesquely into a massive beast of equal scale, slamming into Ryusei's chest. The force deflected his sword upward, and the devastating blow cleaved harmlessly into the sky.
Before he could crash to the ground, Ryusei twisted midair and pushed off with one hand, landing smoothly on his feet. In front of him now stood the two guardians: a massive serpent encircling the Crystal Tower with its coils, and the towering black dog glaring up at him with intelligent, furious eye.
Ryusei scoffed. "So instead of a mighty, fearsome guardian of the nodes… I get greeted by a snake and a mangy mutt?"
The serpent responded first, her voice a slow, seductive hiss. "Sssso… you're the one-eyed Uchiha… the one who usesss his family like disposssable toolsss?"
The dog growled sharply, her voice shrill and feminine—like that of an irritated young girl. "Who are you calling mangy?!" she barked. Then, clearing her throat and trying to lower her tone—without success—she added in an awkwardly deeper voice, "Even fleas don't want you, creep!"
Ryusei blinked. For a moment, he didn't know whether to laugh or draw his blade again.
Ryusei Uchiha vs Kuro & Mitsue
Round I: Ryusei Uchiha vs Kuro
Ryusei advanced calmly. His Susanoo radiated an aura of dark power, as if each step unraveled the laws of reality around him. Kuro didn't flinch.
The shadow beneath her paws stretched... and then multiplied.
Without warning, dozens of Hard Shadows emerged from the ground. Some took the form of spears, others claws. Ryusei responded with a spray of jet-black Amaterasu flames from his Susanoo in all directions, but Kuro redirected each one using her shadows—they moved as if alive, trapping, bending, or dragging the flames out of the battlefield, some even reflecting them back as distorted projectiles. As she breathed with intention, she activated the Shadow Lightning Breath… and the world around her slowed.
Ryusei frowned. "Shadow manipulation with a will of its own? Pathetic."
He extended his arm and the Susanoo executed a vertical slash, powerful enough to cleave a mountain.
The strike tore through Kuro with such force that the ground beneath her fractured… and then she vanished. Not with speed, but with density—turning into black smoke, revealing it had been a solid illusion using supreme stealth. Yet the Susanoo turned and landed a precise kick to her chest. The explosion shook the field.
Ryusei landed with a smirk. "Enough games. Against these eyes, childish tricks are useless."
But the crumbling body before him… was a shadow. One that spoke in a childlike voice as it vanished: "I agree... let's end the game."
A living shadow clone of Kuro emerged from Ryusei's own shadow, inside the Susanoo's torso. A tangible shadow, lunging to bite Ryusei's throat—just as he turned, the bite had already torn through. The Susanoo unraveled and Ryusei's body collapsed, dead on the floor...
Kuro shrank to her natural size beside Ryusei's body.
Suddenly, a sword pierced her side—Ryusei's body vanished from the floor and appeared above her. Holding his blade, Ryusei stood, one of his eyes permanently fading…
Silence. Only the metallic echo of steel and Ryusei's breathing remained.
"That was... impressive," admitted the Uchiha, gasping for the first time.
Kuro collapsed, wrapped in her own shadow, her body evaporating slowly.
But Ryusei didn't relax. The ground trembled. Around him, Susanoo's bones began to manifest again when a tail slammed into him with the force of an avalanche.
Round II: Ryusei Uchiha vs Mitsue
The impact against Ryusei still echoed across the clearing. But before he could recover, the serpent landed like a meteor, shattering the earth with barely contained fury... Behind her, another serpent circled the area where her fallen companion lay. From that dark spot, a green light pulsed from the serpent's tail, healing her ally.
Mitsue's response was a coordinated strike with her clone… She unleashed a jet of condensed water: Suiton: Water Severing Wave. The condensed stream—capable of slicing through mountain chains—was barely blocked by Ryusei's full-body Susanoo. At the same time, her clone used Katon: Flame Wave, trying to vaporize the water and obscure Ryusei's vision. But Mitsue's water wasn't ordinary—it was laced with a very special poison.
He raised an eyebrow. "So the snake slithers and strikes from behind?"
Mitsue didn't reply. She moved. A blur.
Using chakra mastery she had trained endlessly, she emulated a scaled-down version of Tsunade's strength. Her first strike cracked the air. Enough for Ryusei to feel it through the fog. His Susanoo absorbed the hit but the force behind it—strength combined with serpent elasticity—cracked and fractured the Susanoo's right arm.
Ryusei spun midair from the devastating blow and tried to guide his Amaterasu-imbued sword in an upward slash. He struck only a water clone, which burst into smoke and poisoned water. The real attack came from behind: a whip-like tail strike aimed at his ribs, coated in a thin, invisible venom layer. Ryusei countered with a wind blast, clearing the mist and forcing Mitsue back. He followed up with a wide Amaterasu wave, black as night, but she slid beneath it like flowing water.
More vapors—some sweet, others metallic—rose from the flames burning Mitsue's clone water.
"Poison?" Ryusei laughed. "Amateur tricks."
But he narrowed his eyes. These weren't normal toxins. The air shimmered unnaturally. Even inside his powerful Susanoo, the effects were creeping in. He held his breath.
Mitsue created more water clones in circles, her clones zigzagging, each with a different scent. One blurred his vision, another made his muscles twitch.
Ryusei unleashed a wave of vacuum blades, clearing the entire field of lingering poison. But even then—she was gone. One clone down. Another cut in half. Where was the real one…?
She appeared above him.
Too slow.
He caught her by the throat with the Susanoo's hand… he felt it. He was slower, his reflexes faltering… but he still saw her coming. The snake had overestimated the true effectiveness of her poison.
Her final move before he crushed her neck was a full-force tail strike, whip-like, breaking through the Susanoo's defenses. The blow disoriented him. He reflexively released her, his work half done. She collapsed at the Susanoo's feet, near death.
"Damn snake."
Round III: Ryusei Uchiha vs Kuro & Mitsue (clone)
Out of nowhere, Kuro emerged from the poisonous vapors left behind by the cursed Amaterasu still evaporating Mitsue's tainted waters. She climbed Ryusei's Susanoo like a shadow. He barely reacted, slicing her with his real sword—poison had slowed her too. Yet the flea-ridden mutt only laughed… in her childish voice, spitting blood.
"You're a fool, human… I brought the real danger…" he didn't understand—until a small snake hidden under the black fur of her companion bit his neck.
He froze. His body paralyzed. His Chakra is unresponsive. Before he could activate a second Izanagi, he saw in slow motion how a little serpent's tail pierced his Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan like a spear… sealing his fate.
The Susanoo vanished and Kuro, with the last of her strength, tried to toss the small snake toward the massive one—toward the real Mitsue, who lay dying.
"Heal yourself… I'll be fine…"
Only for the little one to be left clinging to her paw. And it was already healing her, treating her wounds
"Don't worry… I'm more resssilient than that… but I'll need time to move again… let me treat you firssst."
Ryusei Uchiha vs Kuro & Mitsue → Winner: Mitsue