The heavy mist from Kirigakure thickened, swallowing sight and sound.Visibility dropped to nothing, yet there was still no trace of Uchiha Fugaku. Not even a body.
"Where the hell is he!?""No way… he's hiding inside our mist?"
That was straight-up provocation.The Hidden Mist were assassins born in fog. For an outsider to use their own element against them? Unforgivable.
The Mist-nin began scouring the haze. Soon, they locked on.
"There!"
Fugaku emerged—only to find another pair of scarlet Sharingan cutting through the fog.Uchiha Shin. Their eyes met for half a breath. Without speaking, they shifted back-to-back, watching the enemy blur through the fog around them.
Fugaku asked in a low voice, "Did you see Yashiro?"
His appearance was grim—clothes torn, blood staining his shoulder. Shin wasn't much better, scarred all over.
"No. Didn't see him." Shin shook his head.
Fugaku's gut twisted. With so many Mist-nin here, Yashiro's chances weren't good.
"The enemy are the Three Ghosts," Shin reminded him. "Assassination Corps. We need to focus on getting out alive."
Fugaku nodded, jaw tight. If he'd already crossed blades with the female Ghost, then Yashiro was facing the White Ghost.
Figures lunged out of the fog. Fugaku and Shin's blades cut clean, heads flying——yet the headless corpses kept advancing.
"What the hell—!?"
From deeper in the mist, a ghoul of a man wove seals with lazy precision."Corpse Style… Corpse Manipulation Jutsu."
The mist itself carried his chakra, pulling the fallen bodies like marionettes. Even allies. A Mist-nin stumbled too close, only to feel a kunai drive into his throat. His own corpse staggered upright, then lurched toward the Uchihas.
Fugaku and Shin didn't hesitate. Shuriken clashed mid-air, caught on thin glistening wires.
"Fire Release—Fire Dragon Technique!"
Flames raced the threads, erupting into roaring serpents of fire. Bodies burned, but did not stop. Even aflame, they rushed forward, relentless.
"The caster," Shin hissed, eyes darting. "We kill him first."
Easier said than done. Sharingan could pierce tricks, but not the dense moisture-heavy mist of Kirigakure.
The corpses pressed harder. Fugaku cut two down, but the ghoul only smirked and formed new seals.
"Corpse Style… Explosion!"
BOOM!
The fallen corpses detonated, spraying Fugaku with blood. It sizzled on his skin, steam curling up. His vision blurred.
"Poison—!" he choked, knees buckling.
Like sharks in bloody water, Mist-nin swarmed.
Shin lunged in front of him, parrying desperately, taking cuts across his body."Drink the antidote!" he shouted.
Fugaku fumbled the vial from his pouch. Just as it touched his lips—
A mist-wreathed hand seized him."Fog Technique… Grip of the Dead."
Chakra-born hands wrapped his body tight, locking him in place. Darkness crept in. His vision tunneled. A kunai rose toward his face.
So this was it. His life flashed: the childhood pride, the weight of the clan, the distant hope of Hokage. All gone here, at eighteen. Elder Huohe had been right—Uchiha's glory would die with them.
He closed his eyes.
Shhhk.
Blood spattered warm against his cheek. But there was no pain.
Fugaku opened his eyes——just in time to see Shin, back to him, a kunai piercing through his chest. Blood poured from him, splashing Fugaku's face.
"Shin…" Fugaku's voice cracked.
"Antidote!" Shin snarled, shoving detonating tags into the ghoul's chest with his last strength. He leapt forward, locking the corpse in an embrace.
BOOM!
The explosion tore through the fog——but the body dissolved into water.
A clone.
Shin's sacrifice… was for nothing.
Fugaku's vision burned red. Bloodshot vessels spidered across his eyes as the tomoe spun wildly.
The ghoul's mocking voice slithered through the fog."So loyal. A dead soldier, just for you. But it won't save you, Uchiha. Your pain will only deepen."
Fugaku said nothing. He simply raised the antidote, swallowed, and stood.
The mist trembled.
Then, slowly, he opened his eyes again.
Three tomoe joined into a pinwheel of black flame.
The Mangekyō Sharingan.
"You all…" his voice broke into a growl, raw and trembling with fury."…deserve to die!"
And with that, Uchiha Fugaku awakened his Kaleidoscope Sharingan—more than ten years ahead of destiny.