"How moving, Clan Head Fugaku. Such touching camaraderie."
Hōzuki Hangetsu's voice drifted through the fog, laced with mockery and feigned regret, seeming to come from every direction at once.
Originally, he had intended to use Fugaku's emotional shock as an opportunity to quietly retreat.
But now, a far more tempting idea had seized him.
If he could bury the Uchiha Clan Head here...
Then defeating the Konoha defenders at this landing point would no longer be an impossible dream.
Once that thought appeared, it became impossible to suppress.
Even so, Hangetsu did not act rashly.
He understood perfectly well that a beast cornered to the brink of death was often at its most dangerous.
A desperate counterattack could be fatal.
What he needed to do now was continue using words to batter the enemy's already-crumbling mental defenses while silently shifting positions beneath the cover of the mist like a ghost, searching for the perfect angle from which to deliver a killing blow.
Unfortunately, Hangetsu had no idea that his taunts and delay were accomplishing the exact opposite.
Rather than crushing his opponent, they were like another bundle of firewood thrown onto an inferno on the verge of erupting.
They became the final catalyst.
The final key needed to trigger a terrifying transformation.
Had he known, he would undoubtedly have regretted this unnecessary game of cat and mouse.
If only I had noticed sooner...
If only I possessed greater power...
Fugaku seemed not to hear a single word from Hōzuki Hangetsu.
He remained immersed in an endless vortex of regret and self-recrimination.
The three tomoe within his eyes spun faster and faster until they nearly fused into a solid black ring.
The eerie glow intensified.
The shape of his pupils began undergoing a fundamental distortion and transformation.
Hm?!
Something's wrong!
Very wrong!
At last, Hangetsu sensed the unsettling chakra fluctuations rising at an alarming rate.
Can't wait any longer!
Killing intent exploded within his eyes.
Without hesitation, he raised his right hand and pointed his index finger toward the increasingly dangerous figure hidden within the fog.
Water Gun Technique!
The Hōzuki Clan's secret technique, passed down through generations.
By forming a pistol shape with the hand, highly compressed Water Release chakra was instantly fired from the tip of the index finger.
Its penetrating power rivaled steel ninja tools, while its speed far exceeded that of siege crossbows.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Several liquid bullets, condensed to an almost solid state and shrieking through the air, shot toward Fugaku's head and heart in a triangular formation.
And at that exact instant—
Fugaku suddenly raised his head.
The dense fog surrounding him, capable of blocking both sight and sound, seemed to lose all meaning.
It could no longer conceal the eyes that had just opened.
Within them, the original three-tomoe pattern had completely vanished.
In its place was a strange design resembling a black, curved three-pointed shuriken.
At the outer edge of each point rested a tiny black dot.
Eerie and beautiful.
Mysterious and ominous.
Mangekyō Sharingan!
The next moment, Fugaku merely tilted his body slightly to the side.
As though he had already foreseen the trajectory, he effortlessly avoided the lethal water bullet.
Then he burst forward without hesitation, charging straight into the depths of the fog.
What?!
Those eyes?!
Alarm bells exploded inside Hangetsu's mind as an unprecedented sense of danger surged through him.
He immediately used the Hiding in Mist Technique to rapidly change positions.
Yet the thick fog that filled the battlefield now seemed to have lost its ability to conceal him.
He could clearly sense that the ominous figure was closing the distance between them with terrifying efficiency.
Boom!
A blazing fireball struck his next intended landing point with uncanny precision, as though it had foreseen exactly where he would appear.
Hangetsu dodged awkwardly. The fireball brushed past his waist, and the scorching heat wave left his skin burning with pain.
At the same time, over a dozen kunai and shuriken followed in its wake, sealing off every possible avenue of escape.
Hangetsu's pupils contracted sharply.
Without hesitation, he activated the Hōzuki Clan's secret technique—
Hydrification Technique!
His body liquefied instantly.
Most of the attacks passed harmlessly through him, failing to inflict any real damage.
But he had still been a fraction of a second too slow.
Pshht!
A spray of blood blossomed within the fog.
Despite liquefying in time, two shuriken pierced deep into his left arm before the transformation was fully completed.
Hangetsu let out a muffled groan.
Enduring the pain, he rapidly retreated while once again casting the Hiding in Mist Technique, attempting to disappear.
Yet the shadow pursuing him remained relentless.
Without the slightest hesitation, it pierced through layer after layer of mist and continued advancing step by step.
Over the next several exchanges, the battle became little more than a one-sided hunt.
Hangetsu employed every method at his disposal.
Water Clones to lure the enemy.
Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique to counterattack.
He even attempted to use the reef-filled terrain to circle around and shake pursuit.
Yet every action seemed as though it had already been written into someone else's script.
Fugaku always appeared one step ahead at the most critical moment.
Sometimes he pressured him with ninjutsu.
Sometimes he harassed him with taijutsu.
Sometimes he attacked with thrown weapons.
Wounds accumulated one after another across Hangetsu's body.
"Run."
"Run as much as you like."
Fugaku's voice echoed through the dense fog.
Gone was his usual calm and restrained tone.
What remained was a voice suppressing a cold madness on the verge of erupting.
"It won't matter."
"Because everything about you..."
"I've already seen through it all."
'Damn it! Can this guy actually see the future?!'
Hangetsu was horrified.
As he desperately dodged yet another attack, that terrifying thought surfaced uncontrollably in his mind.
Deep within the fog, Fugaku's left eye suddenly widened.
Blood vessels covered the surface of the eyeball, making it look grotesque and terrifying.
Mangekyō Technique—Yagokoro Omoikane!
In mythology, Omoikane was the deity who governed wisdom and strategy, renowned for unparalleled intelligence and insight.
Legend held that whenever the gods faced a crisis, Omoikane would gather their collective wisdom, analyze all things, and devise a path to victory.
The ability of this dōjutsu was not future sight.
Rather, it was analysis and deduction taken to the absolute extreme.
When the Mangekyō ability in his left eye activated, Fugaku's thought processes accelerated to an unimaginable level.
Every piece of information around him—
The slightest changes in the wind.
The flow of moisture through the air.
Residual traces of chakra fluctuations.
Even the faint rustle of clothing caused by an enemy's muscles contracting.
All of it flooded into his consciousness at a speed far beyond normal human comprehension.
These fragmented pieces of information were instantly organized, connected, and transformed into an extraordinarily clear map of the battlefield.
Once information gathering was complete, the calculations began immediately.
Like a master strategist simulating dozens of future moves in an instant, Fugaku could use all available variables to project countless possible outcomes and lock onto the path with the highest probability.
It was precisely because he had witnessed four of his closest companions sacrifice themselves to save him—
Because he hated himself for failing to perceive the danger just one step earlier—
That his left eye had awakened this dōjutsu capable of seeing through the flow of events.
Thus, although the fog could block vision, it could not conceal the web of information woven from countless subtle movements.
Hōzuki Hangetsu's location.
His intentions.
Even his next action.
Nothing could escape the deductions of Yagokoro Omoikane.
'Not enough!'
'Not enough!!'
'Still not enough!!!'
Fugaku roared inwardly.
Although Yagokoro Omoikane allowed him to predict and intercept his opponent's actions, enabling him to wound Hangetsu repeatedly, the Hōzuki Clan's troublesome Hydrification Technique prevented most of those attacks from inflicting decisive damage.
'Power!'
'I need power!!'
'Greater power!!!'
As if responding to the cries and desires emanating from the depths of his soul, his right eye—which had remained an unknown quantity ever since awakening—suddenly erupted with a tearing, agonizing pain.
Fugaku's right eye flew wide open.
The white of the eye was instantly overrun with blood vessels.
Then a stream of black blood slowly trickled from the corner of his eye.
At the point where his gaze focused, a deep, eerie black flame that seemed capable of devouring all light ignited out of thin air.
Amaterasu!
"AAAAAAARGH!!!"
A scream of absolute agony suddenly erupted from deep within the fog.
"Damn it! What kind of flames are these?! What the hell is wrong with his Sharingan?!"
Hangetsu's figure darted frantically through the mist.
At the critical moment, he once again activated the Hydrification Technique.
But the flames of Amaterasu were not something ordinary Water Release could resist or extinguish.
Though he had managed to save his life, his entire right arm and nearly half of his body had already been consumed by the black flames and reduced to nothingness.
What remained of his body was charred and twisted beyond recognition.
He could no longer maintain the Hydrification Technique.
Even if he received the finest medical treatment available, he would spend the rest of his life as a cripple.
And if he did not receive treatment, death was only moments away.
"Mangekyō! This is the Uchiha Clan's Mangekyō Sharingan!"
Amid the overwhelming pain and shock, a term buried deep within his memories flashed through Hangetsu's mind like lightning.
As the head of one of Kirigakure's great clans, he had naturally read records concerning the Uchiha Clan's highest ocular power.
After all, decades ago, a man named Uchiha Madara had dominated the shinobi world with those very eyes.
"Damn it! This bastard actually awakened that thing!"
Pshht!
Before the thought could fully form, an icy pain suddenly pierced through his chest.
Who?
Using the last of his strength, Hangetsu struggled to turn his head, wanting to see the face of the person who had taken his life.
But his vision was rapidly swallowed by endless darkness.
His final consciousness sank into eternal nothingness.
...
Elsewhere.
After releasing Amaterasu, darkness suddenly flooded Fugaku's vision.
A powerful wave of dizziness and exhaustion crashed over him like a tsunami.
The Mangekyō pattern within his eyes quickly faded, reverting to ordinary black pupils.
Staggering, he dropped to one knee.
Both hands braced against the cold, wet ground as he gasped heavily for breath, sweat pouring from his forehead.
Every use of those eyes carried an enormous burden.
And the dōjutsu in his right eye—Amaterasu—consumed an especially terrifying amount of chakra.
But he quickly forced himself back to his feet.
Swaying slightly, he straightened his body.
Because he knew one thing.
Hangetsu had to die.
Not only to avenge his fallen comrades.
But also because the awakening of his Mangekyō Sharingan absolutely could not be allowed to become public knowledge.
During those few breaths he had spent kneeling on the ground, countless thoughts had already raced through his mind.
The reappearance of the Mangekyō Sharingan in the shinobi world would undoubtedly cause immeasurable upheaval.
How would Konoha's leadership react?
What actions would the other hidden villages take?
What kind of scrutiny and pressure would the Uchiha Clan face?
These eyes brought power.
But they also brought endless trouble and danger.
No witnesses could be left alive.
Taking a deep breath, he forcibly squeezed out the remaining chakra within his body.
The beautiful yet ominous Mangekyō pattern slowly reappeared within his eyes.
Though his vision had already begun to blur and needle-like pain stabbed relentlessly through his eyeballs, he still stepped forward, preparing to pursue Hangetsu in the direction he had fled.
However—
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
Clear footsteps echoed from the opposite side of the fog.
Neither hurried nor slow.
Steady and measured, as though someone were walking down a perfectly level corridor.
Then, a battered body was casually thrown through the mist and landed heavily on the sand not far in front of Fugaku.
It was Hōzuki Hangetsu.
A gaping wound pierced straight through his chest, extinguishing all signs of life.
Fugaku's pupils contracted.
His expression became uncertain as he stared toward the direction from which the footsteps had come.
Moments later, a figure slowly emerged from the dense fog.
Higashino Shinichi.
The two men's gazes met in midair.
After a brief silence, Shinichi spoke first.
His voice was as calm as ever.
"Clan Head Fugaku, are you alright?"
At those words, Fugaku's expression shifted repeatedly.
Suspicion.
Vigilance.
Hesitation.
Resolve.
A multitude of emotions flashed through his eyes.
A moment later, he drew a deep breath, as though finally making a decision.
Looking directly at Shinichi, he spoke in a low voice.
"Shinichi-kun..."
"Could I ask you for a favor?"
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