Amid the silent ruins of the fallen Cloud Village, Uchiha Soren swayed, nearly collapsing.
A cold wave of weakness rolled through his limbs — chakra burnout.
He forced down several ration pills in quick succession, breathing through the sharp ache behind his eyes.
The improvised space-transfer array he carved earlier had ripped a massive quantity of chakra straight out of him. That array was never meant to run on the user's chakra — it was designed to be powered by a future Zero-Tail, a chakra-devouring artificial tailed beast that would act as a living battery for the network.
But he hadn't had that luxury.
Not with the Ino–Shika–Chō trio dying in front of him.
He used his own chakra — and nearly drained himself dry.
"Looks like I really do need a portable charger…"
It came out half-mutter, half-complaint.
Chakra shortage — again. The one thing he couldn't brute-force through.
His mind flickered briefly to Matatabi, and to the promise he made to Kaori to hunt the big blue cat together.
That would have to wait.
History was accelerating; the world had no patience for leisure.
Once his chakra stabilized, he closed his eyes.
When they opened—
—he vanished.
Appearing instantly above the broken remains of Cloud Village.
His Mangekyō Sharingan spun open fully.
Another whisper of space distortion—
Soren reappeared in the densest heart of the village.
A heartbeat later…
A seventy-meter crimson Susanoo exploded into existence.
Third stage
Four blazing arms
Forty-meter blade dripping with killing intent
A titan forged of pure chakra and malice
In the golden light of the setting sun, the youth inside the giant looked like a divine executioner — utterly cold.
Shinobi screamed.
Others fought.
Some fled.
But under Tenchō Risshon — Soren's absolute sensory domain — not a single life could escape him.
Every breath
Every tremor
Every twitch of chakra
…was accounted for.
And then erased.
Two hundred.
Four hundred.
Eight hundred.
Blood painted streets into a crimson river.
Cloud shinobi fell as easily as drying leaves beneath a storm.
When Soren finally exhaled, the village was already dead.
Only a handful of elite jōnin remained — trapped in genjutsu, spared only for interrogation.
Arrival of the Raikage — Too Late
Heavy footsteps thundered across the shattered gates.
Third Raikage Ai, tattooed with the kanji 雷, halted in horror.
Before him:
A sea of red mud
A slaughtered village
A colossal Susanoo humming with hatred
A single boy standing above the carnage
A nightmare wearing Uchiha colors.
Ai's voice cracked into raw disbelief.
"You… you monster!"
Soren's Susanoo turned, eye-lights blazing.
"Monster?"
He stepped forward.
"You don't even know you've been manipulated.
You're a puppet.
A pitiful worm."
"Come. Join your soldiers on the road to Yomi."
"I— I am the Raikage! No one controls me!"
Lightning howled across Ai's skin as he forced his chakra to its limit.
The illusion controlling his mind shattered.
Clarity returned.
And with it — despair.
He finally saw what he had done.
What he failed to protect.
His roar tore through the ruins — raw, broken, animalistic.
A grieving beast.
"HELL STAB: ONE-FINGER!"
The legendary spear of lightning pierced Susanoo's side —
through chakra ribs, through spectral bone, grazing Soren's defenses.
But only grazing.
Soren's eyes narrowed.
Susanoo's sword fell.
A single arm hit the ground.
Ai stumbled back, burning the wound shut with Lightning Release.
His breath shook.
His eyes hollowed.
"How… how can anyone wield power like this…?"
"Is that your dying question?"
Soren asked calmly.
Then came the barrage.
Dozens of strikes — each one cracking stone, slicing dust into ribbons, hammering Ai deeper into the earth.
His superhuman speed faltered.
His thunder armor flickered.
His rage cooled into an icy, terrible understanding.
He needed to warn the world.
Unite the other villages.
Destroy the Uchiha before they—
But he never got the chance.
Soren appeared before him.
"Uchiha-ryu: Wind–Thunder Severing Blade."
A single elegant slash.
A single fall of crimson.
Ai's head rolled into the red mud.
Cloud Village — one of the Five Great Nations —
ceased to exist.
The Birth of Eternal Eyes
When the dust settled, Soren dismissed Susanoo with a shaking breath.
The strain behind his eyes pulsed violently.
Without an Eternal Mangekyō, extended Susanoo use could have blinded him.
If not for the Ascension Point System, his vision would already be fading.
He knew he had reached the threshold.
But the system kept preserving his eyesight, preventing the usual decline that triggered evolution.
He needed another push.
Another catalyst.
And the Eight-Tails would provide it.
After sweeping Cloud's vault:
He took the Six Paths Treasures
He bound the Two-Tails under his control
He rode atop the massive blue-flamed cat into the sky
Straight toward the Eight-Tails' lair.
When Gyūki emerged — all muscle, tentacles, and primal hostility — Soren wrinkled his nose.
"Truly ugly."
The Eight-Tails bristled—
But before it could speak, Soren's Mangekyō turned.
Silence.
Submission.
Sleep.
He stepped into the jinchūriki's seal.
Faced Gyūki in its inner world.
Not beautiful like Matatabi.
Not noble like Kurama.
Just a brute.
Perfect for experimentation.
Returning to his body, Soren killed the jinchūriki in three swift motions.
Gyūki's massive frame dissolved into raw chakra—
And a titanic surge of Ascension Points exploded inside him.
He froze.
Then smiled.
Then laughed — a wild, rising, triumphant laugh echoing across the mountains.
"So this is the worth of a thousand-year tailed beast!"
"From today onward—
this world belongs to me!"
Standing atop Matatabi's head, he roared:
"System!
Allocate Ascension Points!"
Vision drowned in crimson.
Pupils spun like spirals of fire.
And then—
Eyes reborn.
The Mangekyō Sharingan
unfolded
into the divine radiance of the
Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan
Power surged through every nerve.
Confidence surged through every thought.
"Eternal eyes… and I hold the Nine-Tails."
"Madara… what will you fight me with now, old man?"
Soren grinned toward the burning horizon.
The age of the Uchiha had begun.
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