Everything happened too fast!
From Fugaku's body exploding to the appearance of the pale figure and then Obito being blasted in the head...
The entire process took only a single breath!
"Is... Madara dead?"
It was only then that Shisui Uchiha and Itachi Uchiha snapped out of their shock. Their twin Mangekyō Sharingan eyes were fixed on the tall figure that was slowly straightening up.
A flash of lightning turned the night sky into a blinding white. The shadows of everyone on the ground stretched out long and demonic. That fleeting white light revealed every detail of the scene, reflecting the figure's appearance and imprinting it on the two men's retinas.
The pale, two-meter-tall body was covered in a layer of bone-like armor on its hands and feet. Raindrops fell on it, evaporating into tiny wisps of white steam as if they had hit a hot iron. Its form was slender and eerie, with inhuman, powerful muscles outlined beneath its pale skin, like a sculpture meticulously polished by an artist.
Shisui Uchiha and Itachi Uchiha were certain they had never seen a humanoid creation with such a perfect form. It was made for killing, a born killing machine! The only "flaw" was a circular hole in the center of its throat, with edges so smooth it seemed to have been erased by an invisible force.
The hole did not diminish its terror. Instead, like a broken arm on a masterpiece that gives it a unique, tragic beauty, it added a chilling, eerie quality.
"What is that thing?"
Itachi Uchiha watched in disbelief as the figure, which had been crouching in the crater, slowly straightened up. He watched as its face slowly revealed itself in the pouring rain.
That face was not human!
It was a pale, bony mask covering its face!
Only two long, narrow, abyssal slits were left for eyes. Within those slits burned a pair of crimson eyes, filled with hatred and the desire for destruction.
Those eyes...
"Mangekyō Sharingan?"
Shisui Uchiha's voice was hoarse and dry, and a look of unconcealed horror gradually appeared on his face. As he looked at the completely unfamiliar pattern of the Mangekyō Sharingan and felt the twisted yet slightly familiar aura, a terrifying thought took shape in his mind.
This guy, this monster... is it...?
Just as that terrifying guess formed in his mind, the pale figure's eyes turned slowly, emotionlessly, and fixed on Shisui.
Swoosh!
All that could be heard was a sharp sound of something cutting through the air. It was as if the distance between them had been erased, or as if the process between "starting" and "arriving" had been deleted.
This is a ocular jutsu?!
Shisui Uchiha's Mangekyō Sharingan couldn't even track any movement. The pale figure appeared out of thin air, just inches in front of him like a ghost!
A hand covered in pale bone armor, carrying a terrifying force, slammed down toward Shisui's face! The air was compressed, producing a muffled sonic boom!
The scent of death instantly choked Shisui's throat!
Shisui Uchiha's Mangekyō Sharingan constricted. In that split second, survival instincts took over. He desperately funneled his ocular power and let out a hoarse roar!
"Susanoo!!"
Buzz!
A thick, emerald-green chakra instantly surged from his body. Around him, a massive, vaguely defined rib-like bone structure was hastily solidified!
Bang!
Crack, crack, crack!!
The pale bone fist slammed into the green ribs. Like a heavy hammer hitting rotted wood, an ear-splitting, heart-stopping sound of shattering rang out!
The ribs of the Susanoo's initial form lasted less than half a second before shattering under the brutal force. Shisui Uchiha felt a terrifying force transmit through the Susanoo and smash into his chest, squeezing all the air out of his lungs. He couldn't even let out a grunt as his body became an uncontrolled blur, flying backward at a terrifying speed!
But as Shisui's body was still flying through the air, unable to adjust his posture or brace himself, the figure that had just sent him flying disappeared again. It reappeared in the rain above him, moving faster than Shisui's backward momentum, and its bone-armored arm slammed down once more.
This strike was faster, more solid, and more brutal than the last!
Shisui Uchiha had no time to react. His vision was filled with the rapidly expanding shadow of death!
Boom!!!
The heavy punch landed squarely on the shattered Susanoo skeleton, making a dull, thunderous sound like a cannon blast hitting the ground! Shisui Uchiha's body was slammed into the rain-soaked mud like a nail being hammered into the ground with unimaginable force!
Rumble!
A crater filled with spiderweb cracks formed instantly. Dirt and gravel sprayed into the rain like a fountain, mixed with the blood that gushed from Shisui's wide-open mouth.
The tremendous impact created a wave of mist and dust that spread out like a violent tide.
"Shisui!"
Witnessing this utterly brutal scene, Itachi Uchiha's heart felt as if it had been tightly squeezed. He instinctively let out a cry of fear.
But from the mist and dust, a pained roar from Shisui was heard:
"Run!!"
At this, Itachi Uchiha turned around without hesitation. He grabbed the unconscious Sasuke on the ground, ready to flee this battlefield where he couldn't help. He had only just awakened his Mangekyō Sharingan, and had only developed the ocular jutsu of his left eye, Tsukuyomi. This jutsu could trap an enemy's mind in a genjutsu space, where the caster controlled time, location, and mass.
But the prerequisite for this jutsu was that the target had to look into Itachi's eyes.
Yet the monster's speed was completely beyond his ability to track!
Forget seeing its eyes, it was hard enough to even catch a glimpse of its figure!
Staying here would only get in Shisui's way. He had to escape. At the very least, he had to get Sasuke to a safe place before coming back to help!
However, just as Itachi Uchiha had this thought and turned to grab Sasuke, a terrifying, cold aura descended upon him from behind. In an instant, the hair on the back of his neck stood on end.
The pale figure, completely silent yet exuding a palpable, cold pressure, was now standing directly behind him!
Its hand was raised, fingers spread.
Itachi Uchiha's Mangekyō Sharingan spun wildly in his eyes. His blood felt like it had been completely frozen by that cold aura.
But in this critical moment,
Rumble!!
A giant emerald-green bone arm reached out, tearing through the mist and rain with immense force, and slammed toward the white figure behind Itachi!
The white figure's motion to strike Itachi froze. It turned its head to face the massive bony hand and raised its own bone-armored fist to meet it.
The giant green bone fist and the pale figure collided head-on, two terrifying but completely different forces clashing with a mighty roar.
Bang!!
A deafening sound erupted.
Itachi Uchiha used this opportunity to disappear from the spot without hesitation.
As the visible shockwave exploded outward, a furious blast of air swept across the entire courtyard like a hurricane, finally dispersing the mist and dust.
The view instantly became clear.
At the edge of the massive crater created by the white figure, Shisui Uchiha was kneeling, disheveled and covered in blood. But his body was now protected by an even larger entity. A humanoid upper-body skeleton made of thick, emerald-green chakra now enveloped him, guarding him firmly within its ribcage!
Susanoo: First Form.
Flames burned in the eye sockets of the grotesque skull. The giant ribs and spine were clearly visible. The earlier strike had come from its bony right arm.
However...
"Huff! Cough, cough!!"
Shisui Uchiha's chest heaved as he gasped for air, his eyes fixed on the spot where his bone hand had landed.
Crack, crack!
The white figure stood beneath the hand, having endured the blow head-on. It only lowered its center of gravity, and the ground beneath its feet cracked and sank from the immense force.
Seeing this, Shisui Uchiha's expression grew even more solemn.
No ninjutsu or taijutsu was needed. It was using its own body to withstand the Susanoo's first form? How could a human possess such terrifying physical strength and speed? And he had clearly seen the monster born from Fugaku's body.
It couldn't be human.
It was a monster!
A monster resurrected by hatred!
"Lord Fugaku, I don't know why you've become like this, and I don't know what went wrong with the Kotoamatsukami, but..."
Shisui Uchiha stared intently at the pale figure in the distance, took a deep breath, and said in a low voice, "I'm sorry, but I'll have to kill you one more time."
As he spoke, the emerald-green skeletal giant exerted more force. The bony hand on the figure in the distance clenched, as if to grab and crush it, as if it would turn into a lump of flesh in the next second.
However, the white figure simply looked at the green skeletal giant, the crimson light in its mask-like eye sockets flickering slightly.
Then, it spoke.
"Shi... sui..."
Its voice was hoarse and broken, as if it hadn't spoken in a very long time.
Shisui Uchiha's pupils constricted. Before he could react, the white figure spoke again, hoarsely: "Ita... chi..."
"You two..."
"Are... both... to die..."
The words it spoke became more coherent, gradually turning into a venomous, hateful roar:
"You two are both to die!!"
"Kill!!"
The words roared from the white figure's mouth were a terrifying chorus of countless different voices, like a physical, cold wind from the depths of hell. The pure hatred and desire for destruction contained within them made the hair on Shisui Uchiha's body stand on end.