As the wave of ninjutsu and flying weapons rushed toward him, Uchiha Fugaku remained calm.
The towering black giant—his fully manifested Susanoo—raised its hand slowly, effortlessly blocking all incoming attacks. The beheading sword was instantly deflected, clanging uselessly against Susanoo's armored form.
But in the next moment, Fugaku felt a massive repulsive force slam into him.
Caught off guard, Susanoo staggered back several meters. A sharp pain stabbed through Fugaku's eyes.
He narrowed them at the six Akatsuki members standing before him and sneered coldly. "Not bad… but there are six of you against one of me."
Konan remained calm. She replied coolly, "Even if it's six against one, we must win. Don't call it despicable. You're simply too strong—we can only counter that by working together."
Fugaku exhaled slowly, then closed his eyes. A faint smirk tugged at his lips. "I won't call it despicable. In fact, six-to-one sounds like a fair warm-up…"
Suddenly, he opened his eyes wide. Blood gushed from the corners, and the red hue of his Mangekyō Sharingan began to fade.
His vision blurred. The faces of the Akatsuki members in front of him became indistinct smears.
At the same time, the towering black Susanoo began to shrink rapidly—its size halved in a matter of seconds. The heavy armor that once covered it flaked away, leaving only a bare, skeletal form.
Watching this, the Akatsuki members grew excited.
"He can't maintain it anymore!" Konan shouted.
"It seems such power can't be sustained for long," Orochimaru mused.
But just as they began to celebrate, Fugaku's icy voice cut through the air: "You're celebrating too early."
Everyone instinctively turned toward him—and their expressions froze.
Fugaku was rapidly forming hand seals. In the blink of an eye, dozens of clones appeared around him. Each one, before even touching the ground, was cloaked in a black Susanoo of their own.
One by one, they transformed into towering black giants, just like the original.
In moments, thirty-six Susanoo stood in formation.
The Akatsuki members gawked, stunned speechless.
"F**k! What kind of cheat code is this?! How do we even fight that?!" Biwa Juzō cried out in horror.
"This is a serious problem…" Pain's usually calm Rinnegan eyes widened.
"Can we even win?" Kakuzu muttered, despair creeping into his voice.
All of Fugaku's clones spoke in unison:
"You called it six against one. So don't call me unfair—I'm just matching numbers."
Then, all thirty-six giants surged forward.
The Akatsuki members immediately took up their battle stances, each unleashing their strongest techniques to fend off the overwhelming assault.
Each member was forced to fight six clones at once. Even with their immense power, the pressure was suffocating.
But as time passed, the Akatsuki began to adapt to the high-speed assault. They noticed something—the clones' movements were beginning to slow.
Seeing an opening, Orochimaru appeared before one of the clones and whispered, "Die."
His arms bulged with unnatural strength as he slammed his fist into the Susanoo's chest.
"Heh. Punching a rock with an egg?" Fugaku's clone scoffed.
But the smile froze on its face.
A thin crack spread across Susanoo's chest.
"What?! Impossible!"
Before it could react, the fracture widened. Cracks spread like a web, and with a final shudder, the clone shattered into dust—its Susanoo collapsing, and the clone itself vanishing into nothingness.
Far away, Fugaku grunted and clutched his eyes. His vision dimmed, and pain stabbed through his skull like a thousand needles.
"Not good!" he hissed. "That hit drained a ton of my pupil power... I can't keep Susanoo's defense up like before…"
A wave of regret swept through him.
If only I hadn't tried to show off...
"Damn it," he cursed aloud. "I messed up big time…"
"Haha! He's faltering—we've got this!" Juzō shouted.
"Shut up, fool!" A massive hand slapped Juzō into the dirt.
The Red Sand Scorpion, piloting the Third Kazekage puppet, glared at him coldly. "Distracted during battle? Idiot."
Pain slowly levitated into the air. "Uchiha Fugaku… it ends now."
The Akatsuki members gasped in unison.
"Not good!" someone shouted, and everyone immediately disengaged from combat and began to retreat.
In the distance, Juzō, crawling out of a crater, looked up and saw them fleeing.
"Wait for me! Leader, don't nuke the place yet!" he screamed, bolting after them.
Even the nearby Uchiha spectators, though unaware of the specifics, saw Akatsuki fleeing in terror and instinctively ran too.
In the sky, Pain's face was expressionless as he glanced at the receding figures. Once he felt they were clear, he turned back to Fugaku below.
"I admit you are strong," he said flatly. "But this farce… is over."
On the ground, Fugaku canceled the clone technique and growled, "Come on, show me your strongest attack! Let's see if it can break my defense!"
He ignored the burning pain in his eyes and forced Susanoo into its complete form once more.
Pain raised his arms calmly.
"Shinra Tensei."
A pulse of invisible force exploded outward with terrifying speed.
Far in the distance, the fleeing figures felt a massive blast from behind and were flung through the air like leaves in a storm.
---
Back in the Mine
"Kakashi, I'm telling you—I really didn't imagine it this time," Obito said solemnly.
The ground beneath them suddenly trembled violently.
Kakashi's eye twitched.
"…I'm starting to believe you."
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