"Dodged it? "
Dozens of meters away, Shisui Uchiha realized that nothing had happened to his body and breathed a sigh of relief.
Fortunately, he had reacted in time, narrowly evading the enemy's ocular jutsu.
Every Mangekyō Sharingan technique was lethally dangerous—one misstep could mean instant death.
"So fast, as expected! "
Seeing Shisui reappear dozens of meters away in an instant, Fugaku Uchiha arched an eyebrow.
Shisui's Body Flicker Technique was second only to that of the Second and Fourth Hokage, both masters of the Flying Thunder God Technique—among Konoha's shinobi, Shisui's speed was unrivaled, surpassed only by those two.
Who was faster, he or the Fourth Raikage? Only a duel between the two could decide.
"But even if your Body Flicker is fast, my True Illusion triggers faster."
Fugaku's lips curled faintly.
Though Shisui had escaped at incredible speed, he had already been ensnared in Fugaku's True Illusion—its deception was so perfect that Shisui hadn't yet realized it.
"Eight Gates Release Formation—Sixth Gate, Gate of View, open.
Seventh Gate, Gate of Wonder, open.
Eighth Gate, Gate of Death, open! "
Fugaku's skin split and cracked, his entire body wreathed in a crimson mist. His eyebrows and hair turned blood-red.
In sheer speed, he couldn't match Shisui. But to make himself fast enough to catch Shisui, he had a way—by opening all Eight Gates within the True Illusion.
In truth, when he'd first learned the forbidden Eight Gates Technique, it had been with Shisui's lightning-fast speed in mind as his hypothetical opponent.
Whoosh—
Radiating an aura like an erupting volcano, Fugaku lunged toward Shisui.
"He opened the Eight Gates, all the way to the Gate of Death… How can he dare? "
Shisui's expression darkened.
As an ANBU, he had never trained in the Eight Gates, but he knew its power—and the fatal cost of opening the Gate of Death.
Whoosh!
In an instant, weighing his options, Shisui flickered away.
Boom—
A moment later, the ground where he had stood shattered like a spiderweb, leaving a crater several meters deep and tens of meters across.
In its center stood Fugaku, still wreathed in blood-red steam—destruction born of a casual stomp.
Fwoosh—
He vanished from the crater, a streak of crimson chasing the flickering form of Shisui.
"No… he's even faster than me! "
Shisui's face twisted in shock. Even at his fastest, Fugaku was gaining ground.
Boom—
Fugaku's punch tore through the air, striking toward Shisui.
Shisui brought up his blade to parry.
Crack—
The sword snapped in half. Fugaku's fist barreled onward.
"Susanoo!"
Blood streamed from Shisui's eyes as a green Susanoo enveloped him. This was its second form: complete with sinews and muscle and wielding a spiraled blade in its right hand.
Boom—
Fugaku's fist slammed into the Susanoo, forcing the towering avatar back, deep cracks spreading from the impact point.
Even this advanced defensive form couldn't fully withstand the blow—and this was only one of Fugaku's basic attacks.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Susanoo's spiraled blade spun, firing a storm of emerald arrows.
"Evening, Elephant! "
Fugaku hurled a barrage of punches into the air.
Boom, boom, boom!
The compressed air itself became visible, forming straight, destructive shockwaves like super-compressed shells.
The green arrows shattered instantly. The invisible shells roared forward, crashing into Susanoo.
Crack, crack, crack—
Under the relentless barrage, Susanoo's shell fractured like fragile pottery.
"Third form—! "
Shisui's face hardened. Pouring more ocular power into his Mangekyō, his Susanoo sprouted an armored carapace, its defenses dramatically increasing.
Only then did it hold back the crushing assault, though the sheer force still drove it backward, splintering entire rows of trees in its path.
"Even now, opening all Eight Gates, I'm nowhere near Might Guy in his prime," Fugaku panted, pain wracking his body.
Summoning every ounce of his power, he prepared his most devastating and final attack.
"Might Guy! "
The blood-red mist around him coalesced into the head of a colossal dragon. With a chilling roar, the dragon lunged for Shisui.
Sensing the terrifying might of the attack, Shisui gritted his teeth within his Susanoo, meeting it head-on with the spiraled blade.
Kaboom—
Fugaku's kick met the spiraled sword with a deafening, cataclysmic impact like a meteor strike.
The blade shattered; Fugaku's kick drove on, slamming into Susanoo itself.
Web-like cracks spread across Susanoo's surface before it shattered entirely, leaving Shisui exposed.
"I'll have to use Izanagi—no, wait! "
Without Susanoo's protection, even Shisui's body would be obliterated in an instant by Might Guy, reduced to nothing but blood mist. He was about to invoke Izanagi—when a spark of clarity flashed in his eyes.
True Illusion, no matter how convincing, was still a genjutsu.
And his own Mangekyō, specialized in illusions, granted him extraordinary perception and resistance to genjutsu.
At last, he saw the truth behind the world around him.
"Break!"
Pouring his ocular power into resisting the illusion, he forced his Mangekyō's resistance to its limit.
Crack—
The world around him fractured like a spiderweb and shattered—True Illusion collapsed.
Might Guy never landed.