As the clash between Obito, Itachi, and Naruto escalated, the awakened Uchiha clansmen stood frozen before the towering wall of fire.
Then, as their eyes fell upon the corpses of their kin strewn across the ground, horror gripped them.
Confusion surged. Rage followed.
A heavy silence descended—only to be shattered by shouts of disbelief.
What was happening?
Who had done this?
Why were their comrades dead?
The once-proud Uchiha compound, now soaked in blood and lit by flickering flames, had become a battlefield—and none of them yet knew the true face of the enemy.
At that moment, the head of the Uchiha Clan—Uchiha Fugaku—finally appeared.
He had sensed Itachi's arrival long ago.
In the original timeline, when Itachi had regarded him as the greatest threat on the night of the massacre and opened the door with caution, he was greeted by the sight of his parents already kneeling in formal seiza, calmly awaiting death by the hands of their own son.
As the clan leader, Fugaku had pinned all hope of a successful coup on Itachi and Shisui…
But one had disappeared, and the other had clearly been brainwashed by Konoha.
Even his own son no longer believed in him. Upon hearing those all-too-familiar footsteps, the clash of blades and the sounds of death, Fugaku's heart had long gone cold.
If that's the case… then let him offer himself as a sacrifice, and let Itachi do what he believes must be done.
As for the rest of the clan—though Fugaku was the head, his sense of duty was far too faint to worry about them anymore.
He would fulfill his son's wish first.
With this intent to die, Uchiha Fugaku was met not by silence, but by an eruption of Mangekyō power and the blazing Uchiha Fire Formation.
The situation had changed.
"Clan Head, this… what is going on?! Why are so many clansmen dead?!"
A Uchiha clansman held Uchiha Izumi's corpse, his scarlet Sharingan filled with rage: "My niece—she was caught in a Sharingan genjutsu! Judging by the chakra remaining in her brain, this is clearly the power of Uchiha Itachi!"
"Even though it's surprising he awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan, that doesn't justify killing his own clansmen!"
Across the fire formation, the man stared at the red Susanoo surrounding Uchiha Itachi, increasingly convinced that Izumi had been killed by him.
The chakra was an exact match...
The other Uchiha, hearing this, all turned their Sharingan toward Uchiha Izumi.
To create the most lifelike illusion for her, Uchiha Itachi had infused excessive ocular power into the Tsukuyomi, leaving strong remnants in her brain.
And Susanoo, inside the fire formation, was itself a manifestation of Itachi's Mangekyō chakra.
With this comparison… the culprit behind the clan's deaths was clear—it was Uchiha Itachi.
"There's another Uchiha with a Mangekyō? Who is it?! Two Mangekyō Sharingan in one night, and both are enemies of the Uchiha?!"
Uchiha Yashiro clutched his head in despair: "They're fighting the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki? Are they trying to steal the Nine-Tails and wipe out the Uchiha Clan?!"
"This is madness!"
Uchiha Fugaku remained silent, watching the three people within the fire formation.
He was still hesitating—
Should he reveal his own Mangekyō Sharingan now?
If he did, would it provoke Konoha's suspicion?
But during that moment of hesitation—
Naruto made his move.
He swiftly formed hand seals, sending surging torrents of water toward Uchiha Obito and Uchiha Itachi.
In response—two signature Great Fireballs met the attack.
Water and flame collided, erupting into clouds of steam.
"Naruto, your Uzumaki bloodline, beyond the Adamantine Sealing Chains, also grants you powerful sensory perception… I'm sharing this sense with you and Kurama—focus and experience it carefully."
Naruto and Kurama nodded solemnly.
At that moment, the flow of Susanoo's chakra, along with the precise positions of Uchiha Obito and Uchiha Itachi, clearly surfaced in the minds of both boy and beast.
"Do you see it now?"
Kazuki, controlling Naruto's body, continued forming hand seals while speaking to the two of them from within: "That red chakra construct—its weakness is at the base!"
"So we need to lift it—let the water flow inside!"
In that instant, beneath the steam-shrouded Susanoo, the ground suddenly shook.
A massive stone fist burst from the earth, lifting the so-called war god high into the air.
Immediately after, the steam and water surged in, slipping through the opening at the base and into the interior of Susanoo.
Uchiha Itachi's senses blared with alarm. Without hesitation, he poured all his remaining ocular power into Susanoo.
In an instant, the warrior form donned armor, and a dangerous gourd materialized in its hand—the Totsuka Blade.
But before Susanoo could fully enter its third stage, the steam and mist that had already infiltrated the interior condensed rapidly around Itachi's body, forming a thin yet incredibly resilient water membrane.
It clung to him like sticky candy, and no matter how he struggled, Itachi couldn't tear it off.
And worse—
From all five of his sensory orifices, that same water membrane began injecting sharp micro-water particles into his body.
The agony of drowning, the sensation of organs being sliced from the inside, the violent disruption of his chakra pathways—
It all hit Itachi at once.
With no power left to resist, he collapsed to his knees, trembling uncontrollably on the ground.
Naruto and Kurama were stunned.
That was it? That's how the mighty war god was defeated?
It had only taken two techniques—one Earth Release to lift Susanoo, one Water Release to neutralize Uchiha Itachi.
The steps sounded simple, looked straightforward, and somehow… actually worked.
On the other side, Uchiha Obito's expression darkened, disbelief creeping into his heart.
Was this a joke?
Just moments ago, he'd felt a twinge of envy toward Itachi for having both eyes and the ability to awaken Susanoo…
And now, in the blink of an eye, Itachi was on his knees—defeated by Naruto?
That brat he once held in his arms… had truly grown into something terrifying.
Uchiha Obito was shaken by Kazuki's performance…
How could Uchiha Itachi's Susanoo fall apart like some kind of joke?
'That brat Naruto… what's going on with him? Could he have seen Susanoo before? No way… Even if Minato left behind some intel, it could've only been about my Kamui…'
'Why does it feel like he's witnessed Susanoo countless times? He found the terrain and the joint gaps—the two fatal weaknesses of a Stage Two Susanoo—almost instantly…'
Obito wracked his brain, but he couldn't understand it.
He did know about Susanoo's weaknesses…
But that knowledge had been personally passed down to him by the Uchiha clan's forefather—Uchiha Madara, who once awakened the Eternal Mangekyō and the Rinnegan—in a private session deep within the cave…
It was a privilege granted to no one else in the entire shinobi world!
In Obito's view, only someone like Madara, with such deep experience wielding Susanoo, could identify these nitpicky flaws in what was already considered a perfected dōjutsu.
But Obito didn't understand one thing…
The ones who understand you best are often your enemies!
Especially when the Uchiha's enemy happened to be a certain white-haired Senju—just as extreme in his own way as Obito and Itachi…
To prevent Kazuki from placing too much faith in the power of Susanoo after awakening his Mangekyō, Tobirama had long ago explained all of Susanoo's weaknesses to him in detail.
Not to mention that Kazuki had now become a Susanoo user whose mastery far exceeded even that of Uchiha Madara...
Even while operating Naruto's body, Kazuki's chakra control, nature transformation, shape manipulation, sensory ability, and technique allowed him to effortlessly detect the weak points within Itachi's Susanoo.
"So… it really is possible? Using just Naruto's chakra and body, Kazuki-sama didn't even rely on his own power—and still managed to take down a Mangekyō Uchiha…"
Kurama stared wide-eyed at the fallen Uchiha Itachi. Wrapped in a clingy film of water like caramel, Itachi looked like he was drowning—collapsed on the ground and struggling desperately…
Through the fox's senses, Naruto's chakra level had remained completely stable. No foreign presence, no added power, nothing unusual.
The only difference… was that Kazuki had taken control of Naruto's body.
"I… I'm this strong? I'm really this strong!"
Seeing his own body pull off something so unbelievable, Naruto shouted with excitement, "No wonder I'm amazing!"
"You brat… forget you—I'm starting to think that even an ordinary Genin could beat a Mangekyō Uchiha with Kazuki-sama at the helm…"
Kurama couldn't help but go full sarcasm: "Do you have any idea how difficult that was? To sense the gaps in Susanoo, lift it with just the right amount of Earth Release using your pathetic chakra, pre-set a chakra-infused water mist, and then remotely control it to strike that Uchiha with a precise jutsu?"
Naruto's eyes suddenly dimmed a little…
What Kurama said was true. Kazuki-nii really did have the power to turn the rotten into the miraculous—while he himself was, in the end, just an ordinary person with average talent.
Even if he trained diligently, could he really ever reach Kazuki's level?
But in that very moment, as if Kazuki had heard the thoughts in Naruto's heart, his calm and encouraging voice gently echoed in Naruto's ears: "Naruto, maybe others can't do this… but you can."
"I'm not joking. Your body holds talent far beyond what I had back then. As long as you keep training with all your heart, there will come a day when you'll defeat Susanoo with ease!"
Kazuki's tone was especially earnest—sincere, unwavering.
Naruto's previously dim eyes lit up again in an instant. "Got it, Kazuki-nii!"
Kazuki had never lied to him. So Naruto didn't take it as empty encouragement or hollow comfort—he truly felt a fire of confidence ignite within him…
If Kazuki said he could do it, then so long as he gave it his all, there was a real chance he could make it happen!
And Kazuki wasn't lying to Naruto either…
The past was the past, and the present is the present. After all, Kazuki had once been the bottom of the class—someone who couldn't even graduate from the Academy at age thirteen during wartime, held back for years…
And even a Naruto who had never been trained by Kazuki would later go on to confront a Perfect Susanoo empowered by the chakra of nearly all nine Tailed Beasts head-on…
So, no—Kazuki wasn't lying. He had merely chosen to speak part of the truth.
One way or another, helping Naruto build unshakable belief in himself was already enough for Kazuki.
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