"Useless."
Danzō's figure appeared out of thin air for the third time.
That also meant the third Sharingan on his arm had closed.
Such a wasteful use of Sharingan made Fugaku silently curse him.
Damn it, those aren't your eyes! You just throw them around like that? Forget the first Fire Release—what about those shuriken just now? Couldn't you have just moved your feet and dodged instead?
The Sharingan on Danzō's arm came from the Uchiha recovery squad.
As the name implied, that unit's duty was to collect Sharingan left behind on the battlefield and return them to the clan for proper safekeeping.
When facing Orochimaru, Fugaku had no choice but to suppress the clan's outrage and share some of their stored Sharingan with him.
Fugaku was just about to move, preparing to flank and attack Yōwan from the side, when he suddenly realized that his feet seemed to be bound by something.
At first, he thought it was one of Yōwan's tricks—until he saw what exactly was holding him.
"Ice!" he exclaimed.
Hearing Fugaku's voice, everyone present suddenly realized that the ground beneath their feet had somehow been covered in a thick layer of ice.
No one knew when it had happened—but Takeshi had frozen the entire city.
"What terrifying range..."
Surrounded and besieged, Yōwan felt a chill of fear in his heart.
For this mission, he had transplanted Setsuna's Sharingan and even brought the corpse of a female Uzumaki with him. He hadn't expected Takeshi to go even further—bringing with him several of Konoha's elite jōnin.
That brief moment of distraction gave Jiraiya his chance to strike.
"Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld!"
The female corpse, unable to move freely, was caught and restrained in the mud.
Yōwan relied on Susanoo to barely break free.
"Earth Release: Earth Dragon Bullet!"
Hiruzen, taking advantage of the terrain his disciple had created, launched the Earth Dragon Bullet.
"Susanoo!"
Fugaku also summoned his own Susanoo, ramming Yōwan back by sheer force.
"Wind Release: Vacuum Serial Waves!"
"Massive Rasengan!"
Besieged on all sides, Yōwan—without his full-body Susanoo—could only watch helplessly as the chakra armor protecting him shattered piece by piece.
As a crack opened in his defense, Uchiha Hikari, who had been waiting for this moment, seized the chance.
"Amaterasu!"
Black flames ignited on Yōwan's right arm, spreading rapidly across his body.
"Damn it!"
The pain of being burned by the black flames was excruciating, but no matter how he struggled, the fire clung to him like a curse, impossible to extinguish.
His vision blurred. He didn't know how much time had passed when suddenly, the scene before him changed—the battlefield vanished, replaced by what looked like a spiritual realm.
Hiruzen, Danzō, and the others were nowhere to be seen. Standing before him was only Jiraiya.
"This is the Illusion. From here on, you can only watch as your body is devoured by the black flames—unable to move."
Jiraiya watched Yōwan cautiously, afraid that he might once again vanish into one of those strange space-time rifts.
Seeing that Yōwan stood motionless, several Uchiha hidden in the shadows tried to rush in to save him.
Unfortunately, Danzō and Hiruzen gave them no chance.
The battle between both sides had turned into a one-sided massacre.
Is this the end... ?
Yōwan's consciousness began to drift.
Fragments of his past flashed before his eyes like a revolving lantern—his grandfather, his parents, Uchiha Madara...
Jiraiya ignored the chaos around him, focusing all his attention on Yōwan.
He was guarding against Izanagi.
Or rather—he was certain the enemy would use Izanagi.
But what came instead wasn't Izanagi.
It was a sudden missile.
It launched from Yōwan's right arm.
His right arm had lost all human form, twisted into something that looked like deformed steel.
"Emergency Mode: D4C."
An emotionless electronic voice echoed.
Then, the supposedly inextinguishable black flames began to fade, revealing Yōwan's pink, raw flesh—and in some places, charred bone gleaming white.
The illusion that had bound him also dissipated at that moment.
Fortunately, the tracking missile was intercepted by Jiraiya's counterattack before it could cause any harm.
When the enemy's weak, finish him off.
Though Jiraiya didn't understand what Yōwan's arm had just done, he didn't hesitate. He charged straight in and pummeled him with taijutsu.
And Yōwan—contrary to expectations—didn't counterattack. Jiraiya's flying kick landed squarely on his face, and the arm that had extinguished Amaterasu reverted to normal.
Rolling across the ground, Jiraiya quickly formed hand seals, whipping his hair forward to grab Yōwan and tightly bind him.
"Wild Lion's Mane Technique!"
"Damn it! Let him go!"
Yakume, who was fighting Minato, saw this scene and roared in fury, his eyes bloodshot.
Minato, of course, wouldn't miss such an opportunity—striking in that moment of distraction.
His kunai flashed through an unexpected angle, slicing across Yakume's neck.
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