The moment the ritual was triggered, every Uchiha present — including Uchiha Itachi — felt their ocular power instantly drained. Their three-tomoe Sharingan reverted to ordinary eyes. If these people didn't have the paper status of jōnin, they would have collapsed on the spot.
Such a cost produced an extraordinary result.
Above them, a vast eye more than two meters across appeared, suspended in the air. The giant eye was blood-red, set with three magatama — a colossal three-tomoe Sharingan.
The instant the giant Sharingan manifested, its dazzling radiance burst outward like a little sun, lighting the entire capital of the Land of Hot Water and banishing the night.
In a heartbeat, every Kumo shinobi in the encirclement was struck — jōnin and lower alike.
As soon as the Sharingan's light touched them, chakra inside their bodies went haywire, scrambling without control.
A ninja robbed of usable chakra is worse than a schoolchild in a fight.
"Captain Taiki — this genjutsu only holds for thirty seconds! Act now!" someone shouted.
"All units, full counterattack! Kill as many as you can!" Taiki charged first, slamming a palm onto a troublesome Kumo jōnin.
That jōnin tried to dodge, but with chakra gone his movements and reactions had slowed dramatically. He could only watch as Taiki shattered his skull with a single strike.
Konoha's raiding teams abandoned defense and surged forward. The Kumo forces fell like wheat beneath a sickle; in under thirty seconds nearly three hundred enemies lay dead.
Then the giant Sharingan's power was spent. The light dimmed. Taiki noticed immediately.
"Break out — now!"
Everyone stopped pressing the attack and rushed to the Uchiha, hoisted them up, and began a northern flank amid the chaos.
There was no alternative: Rokuro's massive genjutsu burned through eyesight reserves, and Uchiha fight primarily with ocular power. When that's gone, chakra follows fast — right now they were in worse shape than the Cloud ninja who'd been affected.
Perhaps stunned by the slaughter, or maybe cautious of a Uchiha ruse, the Cloud forces did not immediately pursue. Konoha's people seized the chance and fled.
After the slaughter, Kumo had lost over three hundred. Konoha's losses were far lighter: twelve dead — and those twelve had fallen before Rokuro's genjutsu was triggered. Once the Lesser Infinite Tsukuyomi had been used, not a single person in Rokuro's party died.
After fleeing through the night for hundreds of kilometers, the remaining thirty-eight Konoha raiders rested within a dense forest.
Rokuro unpacked food and water from the sealing scroll and set up a barrier to block detection by sensing ninja. Satisfied, he sat down, grabbed a roujiamo, and ate heartily. He avoided the supply pills; those restored chakra fast but had nasty side effects if used excessively.
Inuzuka Hana sat beside him, treating the wounds of the Graymaru brothers while replenishing her own energy. The Graymaru had survived the chaos — the raiders hadn't singled them out — and were only lightly hurt.
"You alright, Rokuro?" Hana asked.
"I'm fine. Just used a lot of chakra and ocular power."
He downplayed it; actually Rokuro hadn't spent that much himself. The Lesser Infinite Tsukuyomi drew on the other Uchiha's ocular power — he only gathered it and cast the spell.
"If not for you, we'd probably have been wiped out," one of the Uchiha told him. Others clustered around, curious. Their Sharingan had been heavily drained, but three-tomoe eyes recover — most could be largely replenished in a night's rest.
Taiki approached with a heavy expression.
"Captain Taiki, what are our casualties?"
"Substantial. Four Hyūga dead, one each from the Inuzuka and Aburame clans, and seven civilian shinobi — twelve in all. No Uchiha deaths, but their ocular reserves are exhausted. Rokuro, that large genjutsu can't be used again for two days at least — earliest on the morning of the third day. And each time they use it, the recovery window stretches; it eats through ocular power like nothing else."
"Two days without it? That's a problem."
Taiki spread a map and pointed.
"This is our current position. We've pushed beyond the capital's immediate perimeter, but we're still surrounded. West and south both run straight into Cloud defenses. East is the sea — we have no ships. Running that way would expend too much chakra and leave us exposed. North is even worse: the Land of Lightning sits beyond the northern border; break that way and we'll run into more enemy formations."
Hana interjected. "Captain Taiki, can't we stick to the original plan and coordinate with the main camp for an internal-external linkup?"
Taiki shook his head.
"Unlikely. We missed the scheduled breakout window. Establishing contact is difficult now. Using summoning beasts might work, but the Cloud definitely anticipated western and southern fortifications. Even if we linked up, cutting through would be hard. And our supplies are running low. If we scavenge locally, we'll reveal our position and invite pursuit. It's a slow death by attrition."
The team fell silent. Ninjas are powerful, but they need food and water; repeatedly going without leaves even the strongest exhausted. Opponents outnumbered them; a war of attrition favors the enemy.
Rokuro had solutions. He could use Flying Thunder God to teleport everyone away — but that would expose that jutsu's secret. He could unleash his full Lightning Chakra Mode and escape himself; with full power, only the Fourth Raikage might be able to catch him. But those techniques couldn't be exposed now.
He tapped the map, pointing to a northern seaport.
"If breaking out is too risky, we won't run — we'll go to this port and cut off the Land of Lightning's supply line. Recreate the glory of the Fourth Hokage at the bridge of Kannabi!"
END OF CHAPTER
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