In the past, Byakuya's strength was still developing. At that time, he had shown interest in Uchiha Fugaku—both as a source of negative energy and a strategic figure within the Uchiha clan. But now, with his strength greatly enhanced by vast amounts of collected negative energy, Fugaku no longer had any value to Byakuya.
Without hesitation, Byakuya handed Uchiha Fugaku over to Uchiha Mikoto.
"Uchiha Fugaku, did you order the death of my father!?" Mikoto shouted, her voice trembling with fury.
"I..." Fugaku's mouth opened, but no words followed.
Although he hadn't directly killed Uchiha Gen, he had tacitly consented to it.
Gen's death had cleared the way for Fugaku's rise as clan leader.
"I did it... for Konoha. For the Will of Fire..." Fugaku muttered, as if trying to convince himself more than anyone else.
"You bastard... I'll kill you!!"
Driven by years of buried pain and hatred, Mikoto lunged at Fugaku with a kunai in hand.
Fugaku, though surprised, instinctively drew his own weapon to block her assault. Soon, a fierce battle broke out between them.
Though worthless compared to Byakuya, Uchiha Fugaku was still a veteran shinobi and once the recognized head of the Uchiha clan. His mastery of the Sharingan and extensive battle experience gave him the edge early on. Both combatants activated their fully matured Sharingan—three tomoe spinning rapidly in both their eyes.
Despite her rage, Mikoto struggled to keep up. Fugaku's technique and timing were sharper. Before long, she fell to the ground, bruised and gasping.
"Damn you, Fugaku... I won't let this go... I will avenge my father!"
Her grief, hatred, and unrelenting will burst forth in a wave of emotional energy. The intense trauma pushed her beyond her limits. Something snapped in her mind—then surged.
A sudden pressure erupted from Mikoto. Her chakra roared to life. Her pupils twisted.
The tomoe in her eyes spun wildly, merging into a complex, windmill-like pattern.
Byakuya's gaze sharpened. "Mangekyō Sharingan…"
The sheer force of her chakra made Fugaku step back involuntarily.
"Mikoto... your eyes..." he muttered, stunned.
At that moment, Mikoto raised her gaze, and the temperature around them plummeted.
She activated her right eye's power—Amaterasu.
In a flash, black flames erupted across Fugaku's body.
"What—! What is this!?"
Fugaku screamed, swatting at the inextinguishable flames. But he knew. Deep down, he knew. This was no ordinary fire. This was the fire that never dies. The flame that devours everything.
Amaterasu.
Mikoto, whose affinity had always been Fire Release, had awakened one of the deadliest eye techniques—an ability befitting her lineage and fury.
"No... no...! Aaaaaargh!"
Fugaku's body was engulfed completely, the flames roaring louder with his agony. Within moments, he was reduced to ash.
The strain of awakening the Mangekyō Sharingan, coupled with the mental backlash of killing her husband and avenging her father, was too much for Mikoto. Her body collapsed. She lost consciousness on the spot.
Byakuya appeared instantly, catching her in his arms before she hit the ground. His expression was unreadable. Without a word, he turned and walked back toward his residence, holding Mikoto gently.
But as silence returned to the scene, a faint ripple in the air signaled an unseen presence.
From a dark crevice in the corner, a figure emerged—Black Zetsu.
He had been lurking in the shadows, watching everything. His eyes gleamed coldly at the sight of another Mangekyō Sharingan awakening.
"Another pair... I didn't expect this," he whispered.
The gears of his plan began turning faster.
"If I play this right... I might be able to use her."
With that, his body melted into the ground, vanishing without a trace—just as silently as he had appeared.
…
On the other side—
Under Uchiha En's leadership, the group quickly located the secret base of the Root organization hidden within Konoha Village.
Traveling alongside them was none other than Senju Tsunade.
The Root organization had been experimenting with her grandfather Hashirama Senju's cells—transplanting them into living subjects. When Tsunade learned that the Uchiha were planning to destroy the Root base, she didn't hesitate for a second. Her hatred for the organization, which had dared to desecrate her grandfather's remains, burned fiercely.
"This is the Root's base?"
Tsunade's eyes narrowed as she gazed at a concealed entrance tucked near the foot of the Hokage Rock.
"To think… all this time it was hidden under Hokage Rock itself..."
She recalled the countless times she'd stood atop that monument, surveying the village with pride. The idea that something so vile had been festering beneath it enraged her.
"Damn Root. This place is going down today."
Without waiting for backup, Tsunade surged forward, her chakra surging violently.
Uchiha En and the Uchiha elites quickly followed.
The moment the guards stationed at the base saw them, they shouted out in alarm.
"Stop! Who are you people? This is the Root base—leave immediately!"
But Tsunade didn't even slow down.
"So this is your base. Good—then you're exactly who I'm looking for."
"Go to hell!"
"Super Strength Punch!"
With a thunderous impact, Tsunade's punch shattered the reinforced gate, blowing open a massive hole in the base's entrance.
"Intruders! We're under attack!"
"Defend the base—quickly!"
The alarm sent Root operatives scrambling. One by one, armed shinobi poured from the underground complex to repel the assault.
But Root was no longer what it once was. After multiple encounters with Byakuya, most of its elite combatants had already been wiped out.
Against Tsunade and Uchiha En's vanguard, they were hopelessly outmatched.
In a matter of minutes, the attackers cut through Root's defenses, overwhelming its remaining forces. The once-secret base of the Root organization was reduced to ruins—its experiments, its archives, and its legacy buried beneath the rubble.
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