Although the speed had been extraordinary, Uchiha Kimu was absolutely certain that his three-tomoe Sharingan had fully tracked the movement and should have allowed him to react effectively and land his strike. And yet he had missed completely.
His speed was not slow. That was not the issue.
Bang.
The Death Waltz continued its deployment. The floating threads, now carrying fresh Uchiha blood along their lengths, continued to slash and tear through the space where the remaining clan members were standing, exploding with sharp sparks wherever they passed.
This time, the remaining five Uchiha members all managed to dodge.
"Blood Release: Flying Star."
His voice came out cold and even.
A mass of blood suddenly erupted from beneath his feet and spread outward in every direction. Centered around him, it transformed into a dense rain of blood-colored projectiles filling the surrounding space.
This particular ability was transformative in nature and did not originate from the standard Blood Manipulation technique system.
After obtaining the Blood Dragon Eye, he had begun utilizing that eye's blood control ability to enhance the variations and forms available within his own Blood Manipulation techniques, expanding what was possible far beyond the original framework.
In theory, without the Blood Dragon Eye, developing the Blood Manipulation Technique to this level would have required considerably more time and effort through self-cultivation alone.
With the Blood Dragon Eye's enhancement, his progress in this area had increased by more than two or three times the normal rate. The Blood Dragon Eye itself could also activate various blood-based form-shifting techniques that integrated seamlessly into his Blood Release abilities.
Furthermore, the Red Eye and Blood Dragon Eye together greatly amplified his mental strength, significantly improving both his precision in manipulating blood transformations and the speed at which he could execute them. The benefits extended beyond just his bloodline techniques and carried over into his Water Release and Earth Release as well.
This was why he could deploy those techniques with relative speed despite them not being his primary specialty.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.
In almost the blink of an eye, not only were the Uchiha clan members engulfed in the terrifying spread of blood, but the surrounding Leaf Village ninja who had formed a defensive formation around them were also struck indiscriminately.
Figures fell to the ground one after another, unable to react in time.
However, facing this attack directly, the Uchiha members appeared able to momentarily evade within the limited available space. Compared to the other Leaf Village ninja who could not react at all, their Sharingan eyesight clearly allowed them to see the trajectory and frequency of the spraying blood with some degree of clarity.
Even under these conditions and at this close distance, they could react with a certain speed. But the sheer volume of blood after the explosion was simply too great. It filled an area of approximately ten meters almost instantaneously. Even relying on the Sharingan's exceptional perception, complete evasion was not achievable.
They reacted quickly. But it was not enough.
The three Uchiha members with dual-tomoe Sharingan, whose eyesight was weaker, were struck in succession and fell to the ground injured.
One of the three-tomoe Sharingan Uchiha members, upon being hit, felt his movements suddenly stiffen and distort. Numerous blood droplets pierced his shoulder and abdomen simultaneously, and his weapon slipped from his grasp.
Uchiha Kimu was undoubtedly the quickest to react among them all. As his figure began moving to break out of the Blood Release's coverage area, he reached out to grab a Sand Village ninja to use as a shield.
But his speed was clearly no match for Yuji. In a single flash, Yuji appeared directly in front of him.
After opening his eyes fully, Yuji and Uchiha Kimu's three-tomoe Sharingan met directly.
Yuji narrowed his eyes slightly.
A slight flicker of light moved through them. His golden pupils alternated between bright and dim in rapid succession.
Uchiha Kimu was instantly paralyzed, unable to move. However, judging from the trembling and swaying of his limbs, he had not fallen completely under control. He was still struggling, still resisting from somewhere inside.
But in the clash between the two doujutsu, his ocular power was clearly the weaker of the two.
This paralyzing technique, functioning similarly to hypnosis, was an effect of the Blood Dragon Eye's ocular power. In essence it was a form of mind control.
The Sharingan also possessed hypnotic effects of its own. The historical reason the Uchiha clan had imprisoned the Blood Pool clan long ago was precisely because, in terms of doujutsu, the Blood Dragon Eye carried a certain restraining effect against the Sharingan, analogous to the relationship between the Red Eye and the Byakugan.
But the eyes Yuji now possessed were not merely the Blood Dragon Eye. They were the Red Eye and Blood Dragon Eye fused together. Although the fusion had not produced an outright evolution or transformation in appearance, in terms of raw ocular power alone the combined eyes already held a meaningful advantage over the Sharingan.
The counterattack Kimu managed to mount was insignificant compared to what a three-tomoe Sharingan should theoretically have been capable of producing. Two Uchiha had been dealt with in a single exchange.
And the long sword Kimu had swung had not landed.
The more Yuji assessed it, the clearer it became. This opponent's ocular power was far inferior to his own.
The three-tomoe Uchiha could clearly see his movements and react in time, but the effect of Yuji's ocular technique was distorting the angle of every attack before it could connect.
"Well then? My eyes. Are you satisfied?"
He smiled.
The Uchiha opposite him held his sword, still slowly swaying where he stood. Looking at the young man's smile, Uchiha Kimu's face had gone pale. His grip on the sword tightened until his knuckles turned white.
The arrogant Uchiha finally had nothing left to say. He only glared, intensely and in silence.
Yuji did not bother with any further words. His figure moved again, moving through the remaining severely wounded Uchiha clan members and knocking them out in quick succession.
Then he immediately ordered a retreat.
Because he was certain that this lone Uchiha squad having acted without orders would cause Konoha's reinforcements to accelerate their arrival considerably.
He moved fast.
Therefore, when he had struck, he had used his full power without holding anything back.
He had activated both Red Scale Leap and Winged King simultaneously, pushing his Blood Release to full output. He had deliberately refrained from killing them, intending to incapacitate the Uchiha in the shortest possible time and take them away.
Although the Uchiha had been hit by his poisoned blood, he could still neutralize the toxins afterward. He needed to study these specimens carefully.
Otherwise, with Minato's speed, if they lingered any longer on this battlefield, the others would arrive.
As for the two Uchiha clan members who had been killed, it had been a deliberate demonstration for Konoha to witness. Their bodies were left behind, but the two heads, with the Sharingan intact, were taken.
"Move out!"
Hundreds of Sand Village soldiers immediately retreated without hesitation from the Konoha positions.
A few minutes after the Sand Village had cleared the area, a single figure appeared in the middle of the field.
Namikaze Minato, alone.
His speed was the fastest available. To prevent anything further from happening to the Uchiha clan members, he had set out ahead of everyone else. He arrived at the battlefield quickly.
When he saw the two Uchiha clan corpses, his expression shifted subtly.
He had pushed himself with everything he had and still arrived a step too late.
His heart sank.
The two Uchiha members who had fallen were those who had awakened the three-tomoe Sharingan. Jonin-level fighters. The core of the Uchiha clan's combat force. But the fact that the battle had ended this quickly made one thing clear. Against Blood Doctor Yuji, they had been insignificant.
Of the seven, two were dead with their heads missing. The remaining five were in unknown condition.
A quick assessment of the battlefield allowed Minato to conclude that Kimu and the others were most likely still alive and had been taken by the Sand Village. Not only because of the Sharingan, but as members of the prestigious Uchiha clan, their value as prisoners of war during this period far exceeded that of ordinary ninja.
Minato dropped to one knee, placed his hand flat against the ground, and closed his eyes.
After a moment, he opened them, determined a direction, and gave chase immediately.
No matter what, he could not allow the Uchiha to remain in Blood Doctor Yuji's hands.
The reasoning was layered and all of it was serious. Yuji was one of the foremost medical ninja currently operating in the ninja world. This was something Tsunade herself had acknowledged.
A medical ninja of that caliber studying living Uchiha prisoners, with access to their eyes and their bodies over an extended period, represented a risk that went beyond ordinary prisoner capture.
The possibility of the Sharingan drifting outside the village, being studied and potentially replicated or transplanted, was not something that could be permitted.
Furthermore, the already delicate relationship between the Uchiha clan and the village's senior officials made the situation even more precarious. If the Uchiha clan discovered that their people had become prisoners of war and that the village had been unable to recover them, the internal tensions that were already present would almost certainly worsen in ways that were difficult to predict or contain.
Kimu and the others had presumably not anticipated that a single moment of arrogant impulse would lead them to this outcome. But things had reached this point. There was nothing useful left to say about how it had happened.
...
BOnus @1000 PS