Chapter 113: The Honorless Victor & The Nuclear Option
The grove held its breath. Naruto and Sasuke, sweat-drenched and trembling with exhaustion, stood at the pinnacle of their respective trees, arms raised in shaky triumph. It was a dead heat, a mirror image of desperate effort.
In the Pure Land, the tension was a live wire.
[VIP1: Minato Namikaze]: They finished together! A tie!
[VIP1: Uchiha Fugaku]: My son was injured! He fought through adversity! He wins on moral grounds!
[VIP5, Admin: Tobirama Senju]: Your 'moral grounds' are irrelevant. The parameters were clear: first to the top. It is a statistical tie.
A debate erupted, but it was Hyūga Hizashi's bizarre interjection about 'size comparison' that derailed it into absurdity, exposing his Byakugan's voyeuristic potential and sparking a minor crisis about privacy in the afterlife. Ren, amused, cut off Hizashi's special visual feed, prompting outraged cries of unfairness from the Uchiha, who claimed their Sharingan had never been used for such "despicable" purposes—a claim met with universal skepticism, especially from Minato, who now blamed missing underwear on hypothetical Hyūga peeping.
[VIP1: Uchiha Madara]: Enough. I observed. They reached the summit at the exact same instant. It is a draw.
This should have settled it. But Ren, watching the two boys—Naruto slightly shorter, his head thus technically a fraction lower than Sasuke's at the same tree-height—saw an angle.
[Host: Ren Arakawa]: A technical point, esteemed viewers. Consider their respective heights.
Madara, ever sharp, grasped it instantly.
[VIP1: Uchiha Madara]: …The Uzumaki is shorter. For their heads to be level, his tree must be taller. Therefore, if they began at the same time and finished together, the Uzumaki climbed a greater vertical distance. He is the victor by marginal efficiency.
The logic was cold, irrefutable, and devastating.
[VIP1: Uchiha Fugaku]: THAT'S NITPICKING! WE NEVER SPECIFIED VERTICAL DISTANCE!
[VIP5, Admin: Tobirama Senju]: The objective was 'top of the tree.' The taller individual, upon reaching the 'top,' has objectively achieved less if both started from the same base. The host's analysis, while pedantic, is mathematically sound. The Uzumaki wins.
Fugaku's spectral form seemed to crackle with panic. To call Minato 'Father'? After all his boasts about Uchiha honor? Unthinkable. Then, a desperate, shameful idea took root. We made no binding contract. It was a verbal wager among ghosts. What enforcement is there?
[VIP1: Uchiha Fugaku]: You know what? This was a joke. A friendly wager. It doesn't count. We never signed anything.
The brazenness of the statement left the chat stunned.
[VIP1: Minato Namikaze]: FUGAKU! YOU DISHONORABLE—!
[VIP5, Admin: Tobirama Senju]: This is… unprecedented low conduct. Even for an Uchiha. Madara? Izuna? Will you tolerate this stain on your clan's name?
But the ancient Uchiha brothers were pragmatic.
[VIP1: Uchiha Izuna]: A private matter. Best resolved privately.
[VIP1: Uchiha Madara]: Verbal agreements are the weakest form of pact. The fault lies with the parties for poor structuring.
They turned a blind eye. Clan loyalty, even posthumous, overrode abstract honor. Fugaku saw his opening and swaggered through it.
[VIP1: Uchiha Fugaku]: See? Even my ancestors agree! It was a learning experience, Minato. Next time, get it in writing! Honor? My clan is extinct! What honor? Not calling you 'Father' is preserving our dignity!
Minato was apoplectic, Tobirama disgusted. The other viewers were too wary of Madara and Izuna to intervene. Fugaku reveled in his successful treachery.
[VIP1: Kushina Uzumaki]: MINATO! STOP ARGUING WITH THAT WEASEL! GO TO REN! HE'LL MAKE IT RIGHT!
[VIP1: Uchiha Fugaku]: Ren? What can he do? We exist in different planes! He's a living boy; I'm a dead clan head. His power doesn't reach here. The sky is clear, the rain has stopped, and Uchiha Fugaku thinks he's won!
He felt invincible, shielded by death and ancestral approval.
[Host: Ren Arakawa]: You're right. I can't force you to speak. But you questioned my capability. That, I cannot let stand.
[VIP1: Uchiha Fugaku]: Oh? Do your worst, boy! Threaten me? With what?
Ren's first option was delivered with chilling casualness.
[Host: Ren Arakawa]: Option one: I find Sasuke right now, and I ensure the Uchiha bloodline ends with him. Permanently. A simple, surgical solution.
Dead silence. The Pure Land chilled. Even Madara and Izuna went still. This was no idle threat. Ren had a history of creative brutality.
[VIP1: Uchiha Fugaku]: YOU WOULDN'T DARE! THAT'S… THAT'S MONSTROUS! COME AT ME, NOT MY SON!
[Host: Ren Arakawa]: You're correct. Threatening a child over his father's debt is monstrous. And a bit crude. Let me try a more… culturally relevant approach.
Fugaku breathed a shaky sigh of relief. He has limits. Good.
[Host: Ren Arakawa]: I wonder… would the audience be interested in a special, limited-edition 'Short Video'? A romantic, dramatic piece. Starring… Uchiha Fugaku and Uchiha Mikoto. Perhaps titled: 'The Night of the Massacre: A Clan Head's Final Comfort.' Or maybe something more tasteful. 'Secrets of the Police Chief's Office.' I have the Soul Arena. The visuals can be… highly authentic.
The relief on Fugaku's face shattered, replaced by pure, undiluted horror. The Soul Arena. The function that could recreate any scenario with the souls of the dead. He could force him and Mikoto to… to perform. For the entertainment of the entire Pure Land. His shame, his intimacy with his wife, turned into a spectacle for Madara, for Tobirama, for everyone.
It was a nuclear option. A violation far more profound than any physical threat to Sasuke. It struck at the core of his dignity as a man, a husband, and a clan head.
[VIP1: Uchiha Mikoto]: NO! REN, PLEASE!
[VIP1: Uchiha Fugaku]: YOU… YOU DEVIL!
[VIP1: Uchiha Madara]: …That is a weapon of unparalleled psychological devastation.
[VIP5, Admin: Tobirama Senju]: Efficient. Leverages the subject's greatest vulnerabilities: familial love and personal shame. A masterful escalation.
[Host: Ren Arakawa]: Well, Fugaku-sama? The clock is ticking. The 'Short Video' function is queued up. All I need is your consent… or Minato's victory to be formally acknowledged. Your choice. Do you uphold your word, or do you and Lady Mikoto become the Pure Land's newest streaming stars?
The chapter ended not with a climactic battle, but with a silent, psychic siege. Fugaku stood at the precipice, his bravado evaporated. The "clear sky" had been blotted out by the threat of a scandal infinitely worse than any lost bet. The power of the streamer, it turned out, reached far beyond the living world. It could reach into the very sanctum of the afterlife and demand its due.
💫 Liked the chapter?You can read 100+ extra chapters on Patreon, including the current
Chapter 214: The Snake's Obsession & The Silent Wind
👉 Patreon.com/KudosNey
Your support helps me write more and update faster 💖And don't forget to drop a Power Stone ⭐ — it really motivates me!
Thank you for reading! 🙌✨