Uchiha Orikawa felt somewhat wronged, because he had absolutely no idea who he was actually fighting against.
It wasn't that he was confused—after all, in the shinobi world, when two different ninja forces encounter each other, according to established "custom," there's no need to worry about why. Direct combat is the most correct choice.
So when his side's ninja was kicked to death and practically turned into mincemeat, Uchiha Orikawa naturally began his stress response.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique"
As Uchiha Madara's younger brother, Orikawa's talent and potential as a ninja were naturally beyond question. However, talent requires time to mature.
His age differed from Yūshin's by more than three years. Such talent wasn't enough to bridge this age gap—a vast chasm lay between their strength levels.
Limited by his background, Yūshin was indeed mediocre in natural ability, but having good talent doesn't necessarily mean strong power.
In this era, countless geniuses who never managed to grow up were everywhere.
"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet"
The small flame was instantly extinguished. Using the steam screen created by the clash of water and fire, Yūshin quickly approached the nearby Uchiha Orikawa.
While Orikawa was busy dodging the water dragon, the next moment, a palm with five spread fingers was already grasping toward his skull.
In this situation, no one could blame Yūshin for his merciless attack. Currently, The Fireflies organization was at an absolute disadvantage—as their leader, should he still worry about personal relationships?
Were the dead Fireflies organization ninja supposed to deserve their deaths?
Yūshin now faced two enemies. First instantly killing the weaker one, then concentrating on dealing with the stronger—this strategy had no problems.
However, a father wouldn't allow his son to die before his eyes. Just as Yūshin was about to succeed, Uchiha Tajima timely pulled Orikawa away, and Yūshin's five fingers grasped only empty air.
"Orikawa, you're not needed here. Go find Shichimi."
Tajima blocked Orikawa behind himself, his eyes tightly fixed on Yūshin as he spoke without turning his head.
The three tomoe in his eyes had slowly transformed into a more complex shape... The two sides had just encountered each other, yet he already realized this young ninja was stronger than he'd imagined.
"Huh?"
Only now did Uchiha Orikawa react—they were attacking the organization where Shichimi resided!
What an unfilial father, actually concealing this from him all along.
But it was somewhat late to say anything else now. Orikawa could only follow Tajima's request to find Shichimi.
But just as he turned around, before his raised right foot could land, his entire figure vanished.
Though Orikawa hadn't encountered any danger at this moment, the recent close call still made Shichimi decide to protect him.
This scene made both Yūshin and Uchiha Tajima simultaneously look up toward a certain direction in the night.
Yūshin first shook his head helplessly, then his brow furrowed involuntarily.
He had already discovered Shichimi was saving people, but she was using her dōjutsu like "Kamui"—but were these two the same thing?
One could imagine how much pressure such frequent use of time-traversing dōjutsu would bring to Shichimi.
Indeed, at this time, one of Shichimi's eyes could no longer maintain its Mangekyō activated state.
But Yūshin couldn't worry about that side now. He turned his gaze back, looking directly at this Uchiha clan head before him.
The other did the same, only looking at Yūshin's eyes without any other movements.
After several seconds, Yūshin finally laughed dryly.
"A genjutsu-type Mangekyō?"
What are you doing, throwing flirtatious glances at a blind person?
Not exactly—it's just that Uchiha Tajima was a very traditional Uchiha ninja, therefore particularly skilled at interspersing genjutsu use during combat. Enemies couldn't guard against it and would often be suddenly subdued.
Steam erupted from Yūshin's body. The next moment, he used Body Flicker to Uchiha Tajima's side, drew his long sword, and slashed diagonally from the opponent's right shoulder toward the lower left.
Uchiha Tajima originally intended to block, but a momentary sense of crisis made him change from blocking to dodging.
Boom!
The next moment, Yūshin's sword edge grazed his clothing hem and smashed into the ground, instantly leaving a rough crack.
Uchiha Tajima's taijutsu was exquisite. While dodging Yūshin's attack, he stepped forward and kicked toward Yūshin's abdomen.
Yūshin's right hand gripping the sword suddenly exerted force. The blade pushed against the ground, and using the recoil, his body became airborne, flying back several steps.
But at this moment, Uchiha Tajima's Fire Release ninjutsu was already prepared.
Yūshin sensed large amounts of chakra transferring toward Tajima's chest and abdomen. Feeling something was wrong, he could only choose to release his long sword and hastily form seals to respond.
"Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation"
Even before this technique was executed, Yūshin already felt scorching flames assaulting his nostrils.
After witnessing Yūshin's speed and special flight ability, Uchiha Tajima immediately offered up a killing range that was difficult to escape... This old man's combat experience was truly too rich.
Yūshin formed seals so fast they created afterimages, finally preparing his defensive ninjutsu before the flames arrived.
"Water Release: Water Formation Wall"
A circular water curtain rose high, instantly blocking Tajima's Fire Release technique. However, within just a few breaths, the flames had completely burned through Yūshin's water curtain.
Just as Orikawa's Fire Release couldn't stop Yūshin's Water Release, Yūshin's Water Release also couldn't stop Tajima's Fire Release.
With no choice, Yūshin could only continue casting, wasting enormous amounts of chakra for defense.
"Water Release: Exploding Water Colliding Wave"
Lotus-shaped water waves gushed from beneath Yūshin's feet. While spreading outward and gradually pushing away the outer sea of fire, they continuously surged upward, using a water column to lift Yūshin's body above the scorching flames.
To become the Uchiha Clan head in this era, Uchiha Tajima's personal strength was truly exaggerated—such large-scale Fire Release came as easily as breathing... quite in Uchiha Madara's style.
A father resembling his son wasn't shameful—this was sincere praise.
This round, Uchiha Tajima seemed to have suppressed Yūshin, but he actually felt somewhat uncertain... Why, why hadn't the genjutsu taken effect?
If Uchiha Tajima's genjutsu was ineffective, wouldn't he only be fighting with taijutsu and ninjutsu? This seemed too abnormal no matter how you thought about it.
"Fine, looks like I'll have to consume some eye power." Uchiha Tajima thought to himself.
After witnessing Yūshin's strength, he felt Yūshin deserved better treatment.
The excessive Fire Release set the entire district ablaze. After the surging waves, the water surface became calm again.
Yūshin stood on the water surface created by Exploding Water Colliding Wave, formed seals to use Water Clone Technique, then the two of him began openly forming chakra spheres.
Anyone seeing the Rasengan technique for the first time would naturally pay great attention to such high-density chakra spheres. Just as Uchiha Tajima's attention was drawn to the Rasengan...
Yūshin emerged from the shadow behind him.
The two figures on the water surface were both clones. His real body had just used the cover of flames to employ the Mayfly Technique for repositioning.
Silently, Yūshin slashed toward Uchiha Tajima's nape.
However, the usually infallible assassination failed this time—Yūshin actually slashed through empty air.
Uchiha Tajima suddenly and strangely ducked his head to dodge Yūshin's attack, while simultaneously using Phoenix Sage Fire Technique to eliminate Yūshin's two clones rushing over with Rasengan...
Very bizarre—Phoenix Sage Fire didn't attack Yūshin's clones directly. Instead, it seemed to wait along the clones' attack route, then the clones actively crashed into this Fire Release.
Tajima could even kick backward, sending the caught-off-guard Yūshin's real body flying.
Yūshin flipped upright, staring blankly at Uchiha Tajima's eyes.
Izanagi? No, impossible.
Yūshin thought of Shichimi's Mangekyō Sharingan and suddenly had an epiphany, asking:
"How many seconds? These eyes of yours—how many seconds into the future can they see?"
Tajima's eye was only bleeding, not losing its light, indicating he had just used the Mangekyō Sharingan's special ability rather than the rumored reality-altering Izanagi.
This clan head's Mangekyō ability very likely was some kind of time-related power sharing the same source as Shichimi's—not as heaven-defying as Shichimi's ability, but performing better in combat applications.
"You know too much."
Uchiha Tajima instinctively reached up to cover his eyes. Only after concealing his eyes did his eye corner begin twitching uncontrollably.
Though his expression remained calm, his back was already soaked with cold sweat. Just now, he might have been mere fractions of a second away from losing his head.
What kind of stealth ability was this, with absolutely no warning signs?
"It doesn't matter. How long can your Mangekyō hold out?"
Regardless of how long it could last, Uchiha Tajima felt such passive defense was too risky. Constantly being alert for silent sneak attacks would seriously divide his attention.
Given the current situation, there was necessity for a quick resolution.
And wasn't the so-called absolute offense-defense capability precisely meant for such situations?
Thinking this, Uchiha Tajima narrowed his eyes. The battle situation exceeded expectations—there was nothing to hesitate about.
Massive amounts of chakra suddenly surged from his body, gradually gathering and solidifying. Translucent sternum and ribs surrounded Uchiha Tajima, with an arm extending from the right side of the ribcage to shield in front.
"Susanoo..."
Just the initial form—wasn't this looking down on people a bit too much?
"You understand the Mangekyō Sharingan a bit too well... Did Shichimi tell you all this intelligence?"
What's wrong with you? Why do you care how I know?
Large amounts of steam gushed from Yūshin's body as his chakra became highly activated, combined with Heavy-Weight Boulder Technique... Quite a few people had previously smashed through initial, first, and even second-form Susanoo. Yūshin wanted to test whether he could achieve this.
The next moment, the ground beneath his feet exploded violently as he charged straight at Susanoo.
Violent air-breaking sounds suddenly struck. Susanoo's massive chakra palm slapped toward Yūshin.
However, possibly limited by strength, Uchiha Tajima's Susanoo movements weren't agile enough. Yūshin simply changed direction and easily avoided this palm.
One direction change slightly reduced his speed, but within a second, his velocity again soared to its limit.
Boom!
A flying kick smashed into Susanoo's sternum. Both sides had a moment of stalemate, then with a slight cracking sound...
Yūshin's leg transmitted severe pain as the initial-stage Susanoo broke cleanly in two.
Physical strength still wasn't enough...
Yūshin instinctively landed on one leg, then swung his sword toward Uchiha Tajima, who had lost Susanoo's protection.
But just then, the already shattered, dissolving Susanoo suddenly rapidly gathered another arm.
A massive chakra palm slapped Yūshin's body from the side.
Crack.
Yūshin was slapped flying, his long sword originally aimed at Uchiha Tajima's neck only managing to shatter the opponent's forearm.
Yūshin was slapped into a building on the side. Under such violent impact, that building collapsed thunderously.
He seemed to be in worse condition, but based on his inherent characteristics and with medical ninjutsu's help, his injuries were rapidly recovering.
As for Uchiha Tajima, at least during this battle, he had no way to form seals for ordinary ninjutsu.
"Cough!"
Yūshin coughed lightly and spat out fresh blood. He struggled up from the building ruins, even managing to pull his mouth corners into a smile.
Ninja who believed in "absolute defense" never had good endings—this thing was the shinobi world's version of Iron Body.
After activating Susanoo, Uchiha Tajima couldn't use his "future prediction" ability. From the results, it would have been better not to activate Susanoo at all.
Uchiha Tajima pressed his injured arm with one hand. Only a few remnant chakra bone fragments remained around him. At this time, the anger on his face could no longer be controlled.
"You will bear the consequences of angering the Uchiha."
Now Yūshin finally couldn't help laughing out loud. Fresh blood still stained his teeth, making him appear both wretched and unrestrained.
"And then? The Uchiha get angry and... get angry?"
Behind Tajima, chakra gathered again. Susanoo reformed, a massive chakra head appeared, then these chakra bones began "growing" sinews, flesh, and skin.
He skipped Susanoo's first stage and directly used the second stage.
"Huh? Is that all?"
A Susanoo without even a third stage was just so-so. Without the tengu armor on the outside, Susanoo's defensive capability was worlds apart.
Yūshin wasn't afraid of Susanoo because he had many times envisioned how to deal with chakra "mechas."
Boil Release's acid mist could dissolve Susanoo, but the requirements were quite demanding—Boil Release could only fully demonstrate its corrosive effects in enclosed spaces.
But with both sides currently fighting in an open environment, the acid mist's effectiveness would be greatly reduced.
"Looks like I'll have to use my trump card..."
Yūshin thought this when suddenly, four more signal flares lit up in the sky, but this time the colors changed to two red and two blue.
This meant ordinary ninja had basically withdrawn from Kikyō Castle. The ninja responsible for blocking attacks no longer needed to hold their positions and could fight while retreating.
On the other side, Shichimi, who had been continuously saving people, was growing increasingly exhausted, but her mastery of her Mangekyō Sharingan was becoming more and more sophisticated. Unknowingly, she seemed able to precisely control the time of her jumps.
Besides this, she also sensed some other, deeper power.
But at this time, her eye power was nearly completely exhausted. She actually wanted to throw her younger brother into the time tunnel, but unfortunately, she could no longer do so.
Meanwhile, the Hagoromo Clan head was leading several ninja in pursuit toward her location.
Her position had finally been detected by the enemy.
Theoretically, the Hagoromo Clan wouldn't harm Shichimi, but war is an uncontrollable, irrational behavior.
Since the battle began, the Hagoromo Clan had suffered losses far greater than expected. By now, they were somewhat bloodthirsty.
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