Chapter 123
2-in-1-chapter
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As another Mist-nin charged at him, Rēn's response had become instinctual. He swung the Fan again. The roaring wind scattered the clone, but did nothing to dispel the gleam of moonlight-bright steel cutting forward. A blade wrapped in slicing wind cut through both the dissipating water and the gusts of wind, piercing straight toward him.
The assassin, not even one meter fifty in height, seized the opening created by Rēn's fan swing. With a reckless thrust, blade in hand, they aimed to pierce him. It was a desperate strike—succeed or die.
Rēn wasn't the least bit concerned.
This—this was how it was supposed to be.
He felt a strange sense of relief, as if the second shoe had finally dropped.
He hadn't feared the attack itself—only the idea that some hidden scheme might still be lurking, unresolved, unspoken, wedged like a thorn in his throat.
"Your blade… is still too slow."
His right hand, still occupied with the fan, couldn't be retracted in time. But he had another hand.
With his left, he drew the long blade hanging at his side. The instant it left its sheath, flames coiled up the steel like living threads. In midair, the flame-wreathed sword collided with the wind-infused blade of the assassin.
Uchiha Style: Great Fire Blade.
Elemental affinities in ninjutsu weren't absolute.
Fire might naturally counter wind, but only if their chakra output was comparable. Wind strong enough could easily extinguish a small flame. But this assassin, likely from ANBU, had only brought a breeze—while Rēn's fire was a roaring blaze, sustained by compressed chakra.
BOOM!
It sounded like a dozen explosive tags had gone off at once.
Rather than dispersing it, the enemy's wind strengthened the intensity of Rēn's technique, amplifying the Great Fire Blade's power despite the short charge time. The reverse flow of fire consumed the assassin's body in an instant. The corpse, blackened like charcoal and desiccated from the heat, flew backwards and crashed to the ground.
Even shinobi from the Bloody Mist notorious for their cold-blooded disposition couldn't help but freeze in place upon witnessing such a gruesome fate.
Two more attackers hesitated. That moment of delay was all Rēn needed. His left hand slid the blade back into its sheath. The Uchia Fan swept out again, tearing the surrounding fog apart in a gale that even scoured the surface of the ground. The two Mist-nin, who had been using Earth Style to tunnel beneath, were forced to surface.
But clearly—
These two were not fodder like the others. Their mastery of Hardening Jutsu alone revealed their status—these were no nameless shinobi. In the Hidden Mist, they were likely high-ranking elites.
Forced to emerge, the two assassins completed their hand seals in the same instant. Chakra already refined surged to the brink of release.
"Earth Style: Earth Flow—"
"Earth Style—"
But it was already too late.
A skeletal hand, shrouded in deep crimson flame, swept across like a scythe—snatching both of them up like a toy. They hadn't had the time to switch seals or activate defensive techniques. The bones in their bodies screamed under the pressure.
The pain tore through their minds like a blade.
And then—
Their consciousness vanished into darkness. Nothing more remained.
"If you want to watch—then open your eyes and watch properly."
Enclosed within the deep crimson ribcage of the Susanoo's protective form, Uchiha Rēn's gaze flickered sharply. Just moments earlier, as if struck by sudden insight, a thought had surged into his mind: perhaps the Mist-nin's objective had never been to assassinate Yagura Karatachi. Nor was their true goal to assassinate him.
Perhaps—
This entire encounter had been a probe to test his strength.
As he reviewed the progression of the ambush, he recalled how the Mist-nin had initially raised their voices in a grand denouncement of Yagura Karatachi, but gradually shifted more and more manpower toward his position. Yet if the enemy truly believed that such a small force could eliminate him, that was nothing short of delusion. The one pulling the strings behind the attack couldn't possibly be that naive.
In that case, the most likely explanation was that this had merely been a test.
Of course, such a test was rather extravagant in scale, which explained why Rēn hadn't considered the possibility at first. But now that the thought had occurred, regardless of the truth behind it, he was not about to hold back. He would make sure these Mist-nin witnessed the might of the Uchiha once again.
After all, one of his stated purposes in coming to Kirigakure was to leave an impression—to make it clear to those isolated, conceited Mist-nin that they were merely the descendants of the very people who had once been driven from the mainland by the Senju and the Uchiha. No matter how far Konohagakure had fallen since losing the brilliance of the Senju, one truth remained—
The Uchiha clan's fan-shaped crest had yet to be sullied by time.
So regardless of which Kage they served, regardless of whether they relied on tailed beasts or jinchūriki, all would bow before the overwhelming might of the Uchiha!
"Not bad."
The corner of Rēn's mouth lifted in amusement. He found this unconventional 'welcome ceremony' rather enjoyable. As a matter of courtesy, he decided he ought to return the favor. After all, a first visit to the Land of Water deserved a memorable gift.
The Susanoo's left hand rose.
In its palm spun three deep crimson magatama—Yasaka Magatama. With more magatama, the technique's power approached that of a Tailed Beast Bomb. It was a standard technique accessible to any fully awakened Mangekyō Sharingan Susanoo user.
The magatama were hurled.
In the next instant, a blinding flash erupted from the port. The sound of the explosion roared from land to sea like a massive stone thrown into a still lake, sending rings of shockwaves outward. The impact shredded the surrounding Mist-nin—whether real or clones, unless they had powerful defensive measures, none could survive a direct strike from the Yasaka Magatama.
When the dust finally cleared, there was no one left standing where the shockwave had passed.
.........
....
.
Roughly a kilometer away from the port, on the rooftop of a residential building, Ao let out a disbelieving murmur. He was holding a completed hand seal, the veins around his right eye bulging like serpents beneath the skin. His Byakugan was already active. Though he wore a black eyepatch, it did nothing to obstruct his vision.
After all, x-ray sight was just one of the Byakugan's fundamental functions.
In truth, he had been stationed there since the beginning of the ambush. Standing in for the aged and infirm Master Genshi, Ao had been tasked with observing Uchiha Rēn. That was Genshi's explicit instruction: do not interfere in the port battle. Just observe the leader of the Konoha delegation—the young clan head of the Uchiha, Uchiha Rēn.
As Rēn had speculated—
This had indeed been a probe.
But it had not been orchestrated by Genshi himself. The internal instability within Kirigakure was no fabrication. Yagura Karatachi's brutal policies while under mind control had spawned many rebels like Jūzō Biwa. Even Genshi could not rein them all in.
It was true that Genshi held a position equivalent to—or even above—the Mizukage in terms of influence.
But that did not mean all Mist-nin obeyed him.
The oppressive regime had instead fostered defiance. Many now despised both the blood-soaked Mizukage and the aging Genshi, whom they saw as decaying and obsolete. Momochi Zabuza was a prime example of this mentality.
Even among Genshi's hand-picked confidants, dissent had begun to fester—such as in the case of Meguro.
All Genshi had done was let things proceed naturally, allowing Meguro and those self-proclaimed rebels—who fancied themselves the future of Kirigakure—to act on their own. Seeing this as an opportunity to gather valuable intel, Genshi had dispatched Ao to observe from afar.
"So this is… Susanoo?"
Ao muttered the name that Genshi had told him. Gazing at the monster that had not even revealed its full form, yet already radiated power on par with a tailed beast, he struggled to maintain composure. He had to pinch himself hard just to suppress the storm of dread surging through his chest.
"I see now… this is what Master Genshi wanted me to witness. Something like this…"
Kirigakure, in its current state, had no means of standing against such power. Ao knew this clearly, even if he was unwilling to say it out loud. But now, at least, he understood why Genshi had sent him to watch Uchiha Rēn.
Back on the unnamed island, Rēn had also used Susanoo, cutting off the wooden giant's head that had been summoned by White Zetsu. Although it had lasted only a moment—brief as a flash in the pan—the presence of that massive being had been overwhelming. Many had witnessed the deep crimson Susanoo, towering like a demonic god.
Yagura Karatachi had mentioned Susanoo in a letter to Master Genshi, which the master allowed him to read through. But even then, Ao himself did not understand it well. In this era, when he had been active, Susanoo of the Uchiha clan had already become a legend of the past. He had never deliberately researched such things in the archives.
And it wasn't just Yagura. Mei Terumī also wrote a letter, likewise referencing Susanoo. At least Yagura knew the name, but by Mei's generation, people no longer even knew what Susanoo was. All she could do was describe what she had seen in vague terms—"deep crimson," "human-like form," "as large as a Tailed Beast," "wielding a massive sword"—and pass her account on to Master Genshi.
The moment he received those letters, Master Genshi was shaken awake by memories long buried in dust.
That had been before the establishment of Kirigakure. He had once traveled with the future First Mizukage—though he had not yet received that title at the time—and with Hakuren, to the newly founded Konohagakure. Their purpose had been to challenge the already world-renowned Senju Hashirama. Yet, before they could reach him, they had encountered Uchiha Madara.
And so—
In Master Genshi's memory, Hakuren, who had never known defeat, suffered his first loss.
The power called Susanoohad left a mark in his memory that could never be erased. In Genshi's mind, Hakuren had been an overwhelmingly powerful shinobi. Yet Uchiha Madara had displayed a strength that stood above even him, forcing Genshi to confront a bitter truth—that there were always greater heights beyond what one could see.
Since that encounter, Hakuren—once known as an unstoppable force—became more measured. He learned restraint, and his political savvy improved significantly.
"Susanoo… So this is the true power of the Sharingan?"
Ao muttered to himself.
He now understood why the Hyūga clan despite possessing the Byakugan, had always ranked below the Uchiha in Konoha. The Byakugan's abilities were potent, but ultimately supportive. It could see through illusions cast by the Sharingan—but it could do nothing against a monstrous being that rivaled a Tailed Beast in scale and power.
At least, as someone who possessed the Byakugan, Ao could not imagine any method of countering Susanoo.
..................
...
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At the harbor,
Rēn's Susanoo had only advanced to its second form. Flesh and sinew had formed over the skeletal structure, its body cloaked in an armor-like chakra shroud. The Susanoo blade had not been summoned, and under Rēn's control, it launched wave after wave of furious, barehanded assaults against the attackers—each strike more ferocious than the last.
He could feel the strain on his vision—his ocular power was being consumed. Yet after the confrontation with Uchiha Obito, he had gained so much that this expenditure was still well within his limits. More importantly, whether it was real or not, he felt that with each use of Susanoo, the power and the cost were becoming more balanced. His control over it was growing increasingly smooth and natural.
If, in the beginning, he had merely been wearing the "armor" that was Susanoo—
Then now, it was as though that armor was beginning to fuse with his skin and flesh. Someday, perhaps, wielding it as effortlessly as moving his own limbs would cease to be a metaphor—and become fact.
Boom!
Another punch slammed into the ground. Bricks and stone shattered into fine dust. The overwhelming might of Susanoo crushed the attackers remaining courage. When their commander was pounded into paste by a falling fist, the rest of the attackers, leaderless and panicked, broke completely.
"Run! That thing isn't even human—he's a demon from Konoha!"
"I don't want to die!"
"Help me! Someone help me! My leg is broken!"
But they were never going to escape. When Rēn unleashed Susanoo—this ultimate weapon—Konoha's shinobi instinctively backed away. Every clan in the village with roots stretching back to the Warring States period possessed records of Susanoo.
In peacetime, no one had reason to study it deeply. But now that Susanoo had returned to the world once more, ancient scrolls long buried in archives were brought back into the light. Clan heads and elders pored over them again. And the more they studied, the clearer it became—
Why the Uchiha were so strong.
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