Chapter 311: Last Stand, The Awakening of the Mangekyo
The woman's gaze swept over the three children before finally settling on the silent Yamato.
"You're the one," she muttered. In a flash, she appeared at Yamato's side, her finger striking a pressure point on his abdomen.
Having immobilized him, she spun around and kicked the charging Shisui away. Then, amidst their desperate roars, she flattened her hand into a blade and brought it down, severing Yamato's right arm in a single, clean motion.
"Ghh!" Yamato grunted, fighting through the blinding pain. Channeling chakra to his feet, he leaped far away from the woman, leaving his severed arm in her grasp.
"Why... why is this happening...?" The heavily injured Anko struggled uselessly on the ground, tears of frustration mixing with the dirt on her face. She couldn't understand how a simple mission had turned into such a nightmare.
Unlike the self-blaming Anko, Shisui felt the same rage, but his maturity took over. He knew this was no time to lose focus. As the team captain, he had to hold the line until their teacher arrived.
With his resolve hardened, he cast aside all fear of the consequences. He inhaled deeply, molding his chakra.
"Fire Style: Great Dragon Flame Jutsu!"
Facing a full-powered ninjutsu from a Jonin-level opponent, the unfathomably strong woman finally got serious. Her counterattack confirmed Shisui's earlier suspicion.
"Gentle Fist Art: Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm!"
She really is from the Hyuga clan, Shisui thought. But I've never heard of a Hyuga with this kind of power. If someone this strong existed in the clan, the village would know. Besides, with her arrogant personality, she doesn't seem like the type to stay hidden.
Suppressing his chaotic thoughts, Shisui seized the opening created by her counterattack. He blurred into motion, slashing at her multiple times.
"Uchiha Style: Halo Dance!"
As a Jonin, Shisui's mastery of the Body Flicker Technique was already superior to most. At full speed, the entire street seemed filled with his afterimages.
However, even this level of speed was futile against her. Her palms moved in a blur, parrying every single one of Shisui's strikes, and she even found opportunities to launch counterattacks.
"Damn it." Seeing his teammate's arm still bleeding in his peripheral vision, Shisui's anger flared again. Ignoring the dull ache in his own body, he forced his speed to increase even further.
Kids these days are terrifying. To have this kind of strength at such a young age... back when we were being personally tutored by 'That Person,' few could match him, the woman mused internally, though her hands never stopped moving.
Her vast combat experience told her that the boy's onslaught couldn't last forever. The moment he paused would be the moment she claimed victory.
Just as she predicted, Shisui's continuous high-speed assault began to falter. Under the scrutiny of her Byakugan, his real body became clear.
She gathered a dense mass of chakra in her palm. To avoid any further trouble, she decided to put Shisui down for good.
Just as her palm was about to strike Shisui's chest, a figure suddenly appeared in front of him, using their own body to block the fatal blow.
"Anko!!!"
The one shielding Shisui was Anko, who should have been too injured to move. Seeing that Shisui was about to be defeated, her body had moved on its own. She had forced out a Body Flicker she hadn't even fully mastered yet, arriving just in time to save her teammate.
Holding the barely breathing Anko in his arms, Shisui's tears finally broke free. His hands trembling, he pulled a pill from his pouch and placed it in her mouth.
It was a special medicine created by Kyosuke, designed for emergencies just like this. He hadn't expected them to need it so soon.
Fortunately, Kyosuke had prepared well. Without it, Anko's injuries would have likely been fatal before help could arrive. But Shisui, in his panic, acted on instinct, not fully remembering the pill's effects.
"Why are you so stupid? I... I could have blocked that," Shisui said, speaking words he didn't even believe himself. How could he expect the sharp-witted Anko to believe them?
"Stupid Shisui... don't... don't lose to this woman. If it's you... you can do it..." Anko managed to whisper before her head lulled to the side, and she fell unconscious.
This didn't mean she was dead. The pill induced a state of suspended animation to halt the worsening of injuries, much like the drug Uchiha Hiroshi had once taken.
However, whether Kyosuke had forgotten to mention it or done so intentionally, Shisui was not fully aware of the "fake death" side effect.
Staring at Anko, who appeared to have slipped away, the final string holding Shisui's sanity together snapped.
He allowed the negative emotions to flood his heart. Gently laying Anko down, he stood up, gripping his short sword, and turned his gaze to the woman who was watching quietly.
Seeing the shifting light in the boy's eyes, the woman marveled. "The Mangekyo Sharingan... it seems that little girl was very important to you. This is getting interesting."
Shisui ignored her words. His mind was filled with only one thought: Kill her. He had never hated anyone as much as he hated this woman right now.
The Sharingan in his eyes spun wildly, morphing into a complex geometric pattern—the Mangekyo. A dark, eerie light emanated from his eyes as he charged at the enemy once more.
Before the woman could react, Shisui's figure vanished into a hazy phantom. It wasn't the high-speed movement of the Body Flicker; he had simply disappeared, entirely undetectable even to her Byakugan.
"Is this... Genjutsu?!" Realizing what was happening, the woman flared the chakra from all her tenketsu points, instantly disrupting her internal flow to break the illusion. She smirked. "Genjutsu is useless against me."
"Did it distract you enough?"
Shisui's icy voice whispered from behind her. At the same moment, his blade slashed across her back, leaving a long, deep wound.
Since the battle began, this was the first time the woman had been injured. Her playful demeanor vanished, replaced by genuine anger.
"...Since you're in such a hurry to die, I'll break your limbs first, then take my time playing with you."
Moving faster than before, she spun around and thrust her palm toward Shisui's chest. She was confident this strike would end his ability to fight.
But reality defied her expectations. Shisui's figure blurred into a phantom and vanished once again.
"What?!"
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