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Chapter 128: Life is About the Struggle
Shiki stood, swaying unsteadily.
Blood flowed down his forehead, plastering over half an eye, making his already ferocious expression look as terrifying as an evil spirit.
But he was still laughing.
The laughter sounded like it was being squeezed out of his chest, carrying the scent of rust and gunpowder.
Fugaku Uchiha frowned, his crimson Three-Tomoe Sharingan turning slightly as he observed this clansman who had clearly reached his limit.
"Crazy... this guy is truly crazy."
The surrounding Uchiha clansmen whispered among themselves, their originally disdainful looks now replaced with uncertainty and shock.
No one would still be laughing in such a hopeless situation.
Except for a madman.
Fugaku looked at the blood-soaked boy of his clan before him, his brow furrowing tighter.
He didn't understand.
With several broken bones and concussed internal organs, why stand up again?
A ninja's battle is to complete the mission, to survive. This kind of meaningless bravado was simply foolish to the extreme.
"I don't know what you're laughing at, but your body has reached its limit."
Fugaku's voice remained calm, as if he were reading an autopsy report.
"Tsubasa, your willpower is indeed beyond that of ordinary people. As a clansman, I acknowledge your backbone."
He slowly raised his hand, holding a pitch-black kunai between his fingertips.
"But a ninja doesn't win on backbone alone."
"Your body is at its limit."
Fugaku's voice was tranquil, exuding an unquestionable rationality.
"Let's end this here."
"End this here?"
The Golden Lion spat blood onto the ground, his bloodshot eyes fixed on Fugaku like a beast staring at its prey.
"I've only just finished warming up!"
Before his voice faded, he stomped violently, instantly shattering the stone slab beneath his feet.
Fugaku sighed.
In his crimson Three-Tomoe eyes, the Golden Lion's movements, though fierce, were full of openings.
His left shoulder dropped too early, the power in his right leg was uneven, and the shift in his center of gravity was clearly visible.
"Too unsightly, Tsubasa."
Fugaku flipped his wrist, the black kunai tracing a cold arc of light at his fingertips.
Instead of retreating, he advanced, sidestepping the Golden Lion's chaotic punch, and in the same motion, slashed the kunai toward the Golden Lion's chest.
If this hit landed, the winner would be decided instantly.
However.
Just as the kunai was about to slice through the skin.
The Golden Lion didn't dodge.
Not only did he not dodge, he actively moved into it!
Puchi!
The sound of a blade entering flesh set teeth on edge.
Blood splattered.
Fugaku's pupils constricted sharply.
Is this guy... crazy?
Using this kind of self-mutilation method... what on earth for?
Blood instantly stained the front of Tsubasa Uchiha's shirt red.
In that instant, the entire training ground fell deathly silent.
Fugaku Uchiha's fingers were still gripping the handle of the kunai. For the first time, an emotion named "astonishment" appeared in his crimson Three-Tomoe Sharingan.
He had predicted all of Tsubasa's evasion routes.
But the one thing he hadn't predicted was that the opponent had no intention of dodging at all.
"Gotcha."
A low, savage laugh exploded in Fugaku's ear.
Ignoring the kunai stuck in his chest, the Golden Lion even took a step forward, driving the blade deeper into his own flesh, just to buy that fraction of a second to get in close.
That large hand, covered in blood and mud, clamped onto Fugaku's wrist holding the kunai like an iron pincer.
Fugaku's heart skipped a beat, a chill rushing straight to his head.
This wasn't a spar.
This was a slaughter!
"Go down... for me!"
The Golden Lion roared, balling his other hand into a fist. Carried by the murderous aura honed on the high seas, he smashed it viciously toward Fugaku's persistently calm face.
The distance was too close.
Close enough that Fugaku could even smell the rusty scent of blood spraying from the other's mouth.
At this range, although the dynamic vision of the Sharingan clearly saw the trajectory of the fist, his body couldn't make a large evasion in time because his wrist was pinned.
Fugaku made a snap decision. abandoning ninjutsu, he jerked his right leg up violently. His knee, breaking the wind, struck the Golden Lion's side before the fist could land.
Bang!
A tooth-aching thud.
The Golden Lion's fist grazed Fugaku's cheek, leaving a bloody streak.
But Fugaku's knee strike slammed solidly into the Golden Lion's liver.
The immense impact caused the Golden Lion's eyes to bulge instantly. Unable to suppress it any longer, he sprayed a mouthful of blood wildly.
In that moment, the Golden Lion felt as if his internal organs had shifted.
The fingers gripping Fugaku's wrist involuntarily loosened.
"Get off!"
Fugaku seized the chance to break free, immediately following up with a roundhouse kick that landed heavily on the Golden Lion's chest—right on the handle of that kunai.
Puh!
The kick drove the kunai even deeper, possibly damaging the ribs.
The Golden Lion flew backward like a broken sack, rolling over a dozen times on the ground until he slammed into the perimeter wall and stopped.
Dust rose everywhere.
The crowd was in an uproar.
"Madman... truly a madman."
"Just to land a punch on Lord Fugaku, he used his body to take a kunai?"
"This fighting style isn't a ninja's; it's a beast's!"
Setsuna Uchiha stood at the edge of the field, his face ashen.
Looking at his son lying in the ruins, life or death uncertain, his hand hidden in his sleeve trembled slightly.
Not from heartache, but from anger.
This suicidal attack was simply disgracing the Uchiha clan!
It was too inelegant!
"It's over."
Fugaku stood his ground, reaching up to touch the bloody streak on his cheek.
It burned with pain.
Though just a scratch, to him, it was a humiliation.
He looked at the motionless Golden Lion in the distance and spoke coldly:
"Medical team, carry him off."
Two Uchiha clansmen carrying medical kits immediately stepped forward.
However.
Just as they were about to get close.
"Scram..."
A voice, hoarse as if polished by sandpaper, came from the dust.
The two medical ninja paused.
From the ruins, a bloody hand reached out, gripping a crack in the wall.
Immediately after, the figure that should have been unconscious swayed and stood up once again.
The Golden Lion looked absolutely wretched at this moment.
With a kunai stuck in his chest and blood dripping from his hem onto the ground, his body was slightly hunched from the intense pain.
But on his face hung a smile even crazier than before.
"Who told you... it was over?"
The Golden Lion raised his head, his blood-crusted eyes staring dead at Fugaku.
"I'm... not dead yet."
Fugaku's brow furrowed tightly, and for the first time, a genuine trace of anger entered his tone.
"Tsubasa Uchiha, do you really want to die?"
"This is just a clan assessment, not a duel to the death!"
"Your internal organs are damaged. If you continue fighting, you will lose your life."
Although Fugaku was arrogant, he wasn't an executioner, and he certainly didn't want to bear the crime of slaughtering a fellow clansman.
"Lose my life?"
The Golden Lion seemed to have heard the world's biggest joke.
"Jiehahahaha... cough, cough, cough!"
The violent laughter agitated his wounds, causing him to cough up bits of visceral tissue, but he didn't care in the slightest, casually wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth.
"Isn't life something meant to be put on the line for the struggle?!"
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