"Ugh—"
Hiashi gritted his teeth tightly, a pained groan escaping his throat as blood streamed from the corners of his eyes.
Nonoyu tucked the sealing scroll into her ninja pouch, then drew a kunai.
As a way to repay him—
Returning to Konoha to see anyone was impossible.
But Nonoyu could at least grant Hiashi a swift and painless death. With that final thought, she plunged the kunai into his chest, piercing his heart.
Blood bloomed like plum blossoms across his pure-white Hyuga clan robes. Hiashi collapsed into the spreading pool of blood, his life fading away.
Nonoyu stood and flickered away toward the base of Uchiha Yu's Susanoo.
"..."
The remaining Hyuga ninja and Jiraiya could only watch helplessly as Nonoyu took Hiashi's Byakugan—then ended his life.
At this moment, Jiraiya was completely devastated. He couldn't even muster the strength to speak.
He quietly closed his eyes.
Letting the pouring rain drench his body.
Even the giant toad Gamabunta remained silent now, likely under the control of Yu's ocular powers.
Earlier, Jiraiya had a chance—he could've summoned Fukasaku and Shima to enter Sage Mode.
But when he saw Yu unleash his full-body Susanoo, he gave up on the idea… and deeply regretted dragging Gamabunta into this.
He had thought that if he stepped in and summoned Bunta, he could at least save Hiashi from Yu, even if Yu was commanding over ten thousand ninja.
But reality was cruel—
In all of the shinobi world, probably no one could have saved Hiashi from the hands of today's Uchiha Yu.
High above the battlefield—
Yu stood at the center of a diamond-shaped jewel positioned at the top of Susanoo's helmet.
His eyes lowered,
Looking down upon the land.
Once massive like a mountain, Gamabunta now looked like no more than a hill in front of the complete form of Susanoo.
As Nonoyu's small figure returned, passing near Gamabunta—
Whoosh—
The skeletal framework of devilish wings, burning with dark blood-red chakra, materialized two glowing crimson sword hilts at their tips.
Like a divine being towering like a mountain, Susanoo slowly raised its armored hands, gripping the sword hilts tightly.
The motion alone scattered the rain curtain.
Susanoo was ready to strike.
Yu's expression was calm and indifferent, his gaze arrogant as he looked down at Jiraiya, who stood on Gamabunta's head.
He bore no personal grudge against Jiraiya—
But in the future, he was
Susanoo unsheathed its blades.
Two dark blood-red chakra greatswords that tore through space slowly emerged from the skeletal framework of its wings.
The slightly shadowy energy blades carved crimson afterimages through the air, as though capable of cleaving the heavens in a single strike.
A piercing sound sliced through the air.
The twin energy blades tilted forward and came crashing down. In an instant, the curtain of rain was neatly parted.
A violent wind surged ahead.
As the dark red glow grew more intense, Jiraiya slowly opened his eyes. Staring up at the descending energy swords, his expression was vacant and numb.
His life flashed before his eyes.
In many ways, he had always been a failure.
He spent years wandering the ninja world, searching for the Child of Prophecy, to no avail—failing the expectations of Mount Myōboku.
When his disciples died, he wasn't in Konoha. He hadn't fulfilled the duties of a master.
And now, lacking intelligence, he had acted rashly—failed to save his comrade, and hadn't lived up to the burden carried by one of the Legendary Sannin.
"My whole life has been defined by failure."
Jiraiya slowly closed his eyes.
Deep within, Gamabunta cursed:
"Damn you, Jiraiya… So you were in a hurry to die after all, you stubborn bastard!!"
Gamabunta had never imagined this descent into the ninja world would mark the end of his life.
BOOM—
Where the two blazing dark-red chakra blades fell, they cleaved through all matter, their fiery glow illuminating Jiraiya and Gamabunta.
The terrifying heat incinerated them both to ashes on the spot.
Nearby Hyuga clan ninja—including Hiashi's corpse—were likewise reduced to dust under the burning energy of the crimson blades.
And thus, Jiraiya and Gamabunta returned to dust.
RUMBLE—
The Valley of Judgment had originally consisted of two cliffs. After the crimson blades of chakra struck, the ground beneath Jiraiya and the others cracked and collapsed—rocks flying in all directions.
Half the cliffside was split apart, carving a new path into the stone.
The strike triggered a localized earthquake.
Trees toppled.
Boulders tumbled.
In the distance—beyond the reach of Susanoo's blades, at the base of a nearby cliff—a narrow ravine split open in the earth.
In an unnoticed corner—
A man and a woman emerged from the forest, quickly fleeing beyond the cliff's edge.
Clearly, they had been hiding beneath the forested cliffs and had witnessed everything that happened above.
"Watch out, Lady Mei Terumi!!"
The man wore a Hidden Mist forehead protector, had blue hair in a buzz-cut style, and an eyepatch over his right eye—Ao—shouted toward the female ninja beside him.
BOOM—
A massive boulder came rolling their way.
Both of them dodged to the side, narrowly avoiding the falling rock. Before they could even catch their breath, a wave of trees tumbled down after it.
Mei Terumi gritted her teeth, her feet stepping nimbly from boulder to boulder, weaving between the crashing timber—her movements graceful like a startled phoenix.
Her beauty was striking. Dressed in a Hidden Mist ANBU uniform, her mature presence and stunning figure couldn't be hidden even by armor.
The two had come to the Land of the Shinobi hoping for a breakthrough—a solution to the crisis of the Bloody Mist Village.
They had caught wind, through intelligence networks, that the entire shinobi world had turned its attention toward a group of Uchiha defectors from Konoha.
Mei Terumi was immediately intrigued.
The Uchiha!
The Sharingan!
She had grown up on stories from Master Gen about this legendary ninja clan.
Her initial plan had been a hopeful one—if she could somehow recruit this band of Uchiha defectors into the Hidden Mist, maybe they could shatter the current deadlock strangling their village.
That was why Mei had brought her retainer Ao to this region, arriving just in time to witness Uchiha Yu's descent like a god to the battlefield.
Thankfully, Ao had remained cautious and didn't let her approach too closely—otherwise, the two of them would've already been obliterated by that demon god's blade.
The power displayed by Uchiha Yu… truly looked like it could solve the Bloody Mist's crisis.
But…
Mei began to wonder—what could she offer in exchange to earn Uchiha Yu's genuine assistance?
Pushing the thought aside—
"Forget it. Escaping alive comes first!"
Mei Terumi refocused, dodging the debris tumbling down the mountainside.
BOOM—
The two chakra energy swords came crashing down once more.
The earth split apart—
Cleaved in two.
The dark-red flames burning on Susanoo's exterior dimmed slightly.
Having remained still earlier while his chakra surged, Yu hadn't noticed the pain rising from his cells. But now—he could feel it faintly.
He endured the pain.
Susanoo stepped forward, slowly turning its massive frame to face the only ones left: Orochimaru's Yamata no Orochi… and Itachi's Susanoo.
"Your turn."
Yu's expression was calm, his gaze falling upon the orange-red armor burning on Itachi's Susanoo.
°°°
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