The Sandaime Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, observed the scene with a mixture of awe and solemnity before closing his eyes in contemplation. He couldn't deny it—the aura radiating from Mikami, forged in suffering, resonated with a profound truth he knew too well.
Pressure breeds motivation. A flower battered by storms grows stronger and more resilient than any nurtured in a greenhouse, for it learns the harsh impermanence of the world and the cruelty of fate.
"That speed… Is that a Space-Time Ninjutsu?"
Namikaze Minato's voice cut through the silence, his blue eyes wide with shock and analytical excitement. Mikami had vanished and reappeared in the span of a blink, materializing twenty meters behind Uchiha Fugaku. It defied normal perception.
If not for the faint, golden afterimage lingering in the air over the distance he'd crossed, anyone would have sworn it was teleportation. Yet the truth was even more staggering—it was sheer, unadulterated speed.
"How can a shunshin reach that velocity?" Jiraiya muttered, his usual bravado replaced by sheer incredulity.
Orochimaru's golden, serpentine eyes narrowed thoughtfully as he observed. "The boy's physical form… it seemed to phase, as if becoming light itself for a moment." He paused, a flicker of scientific fascination in his gaze, then dismissed the thought as absurd. Become light? Preposterous.
Tsunade remained stoic, though her eyes lingered on Mikami's composed, sharp-featured face with an unreadable intensity.
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SHIIING!
The Kusanagi Sword in Mikami's hand descended in a lethal arc. Fugaku barely managed to flash back, putting distance between them, his mind reeling.
So sharp… A flicker of avarice and heated desire lit in Fugaku's eyes as he stared at the golden blade. A weapon like that… it was a treasure.
"Is this all the famed Patriarch of the Uchiha is capable of?" Mikami's chuckle was soft, derisive. He ignored Fugaku's covetous gaze. The Sword of Kusanagi was formed of pure photonic energy—a weapon only he could wield in this world.
"Hah! You failure… I underestimated you." Fugaku gritted his teeth, the three tomoe in his scarlet eyes spinning rapidly. A glint of malice flashed within them. If physical speed fails… then the mind will break him.
Genjutsu: Sharingan!
In the mental realm, Mikami's spirit-form was instantly bound by invisible chains, crushed by immense pressure. Excruciating pain lanced through his phantom limbs, paralyzing him.
"How does it feel?" Fugaku's spectral voice echoed with vindictive pleasure. "Don't worry, I won't let you die so easily. I will make you suffer until your spirit shatters—"
CRACK.
A sound like shattering glass echoed in the psychic plane.
Fugaku froze, confusion dawning. He looked toward Mikami's bound form.
The illusory chains and bindings around Mikami began to spiderweb with fractures. Piece by piece, they splintered and dissolved into nothingness until the mental prison vanished entirely.
"Pathetic," Mikami's voice was cold amusement in the void. "You think your pitiful eyes can ensnare me? How laughable."
Back in reality, Fugaku's eyes widened in shock. Before him, Mikami stood unharmed—and now, his own eyes swirled with the crimson of the Sharingan, three tomoe spinning with a deeper, more profound darkness than Fugaku's own. A wild, untamable smile played on Mikami's lips.
Fugaku was speechless, his thoughts a storm of fury and a sudden, piercing regret.
I regret it.
If he had treated this boy with even a shred of decency from the start… perhaps Mikami would have become his most powerful asset. Instead…
He must die. If he lives, his future threat is immeasurable. He could even challenge my position as clan head!
The Uchiha revered strength above all. An incapable leader was deposed. It was their way. Taking a shuddering breath, Fugaku's resolve hardened into something frantic and desperate. The hatred between them was an ocean, with no shore of reconciliation in sight.
Mikami, unconcerned with Fugaku's internal crisis, didn't give him time to recover. He focused his will and launched a psychic counterattack—a crushing wave of mental force channeled directly through his own, superior Sharingan.
THUD!
In the real world, Uchiha Fugaku staggered as if struck by a physical blow. A trickle of blood escaped the corner of his mouth. He stared at Mikami with undisguised horror, his face ashen. The three tomoe in his eyes spun erratically before stilling, dimmed.
His body trembled uncontrollably, his spine seeming to lose its strength, leaving him swaying like a willow in a storm.
"Sandaime-sama, he…" Minato looked from the suddenly broken Fugaku to the composed Mikami, his face a mask of confusion. One moment, Fugaku had been a pinnacle of focused power; the next, he looked like a hollow shell.
"Fugaku… he just tried to trap the boy in a genjutsu," Hiruzen said, taking a slow draw from his pipe. He exhaled a cloud of smoke, his voice tinged with certainty and wonder. "But his illusion was shattered… and he suffered a severe mental backlash."
Even as he said it, the Hokage himself was stunned. The genjutsu of the Sharingan was legendary. For Mikami to not only resist it effortlessly but to reflect the damage back onto the caster…
It meant one of two things: Mikami's prowess in genjutsu was monstrous… or the potency of his ocular power far outstripped Fugaku's.
"You truly are pathetic, Uchiha Fugaku."
To punctuate the Sandaime's thoughts, Mikami's own Sharingan blazed openly—three tomoe spinning in a pool of crimson so deep it seemed to drink the light around it, terrifying and awe-inspiring to behold. A single glance into those eyes promised a vertigo-inducing plunge into an abyss.
"Such potent ocular power…" murmured Danzō Shimura from the shadows, his single visible eye gleaming with a rapture that was almost religious. He and Hiruzen were among the few still living who had witnessed the true, wind-swept terror of the Uchiha at their peak. And in this boy… he saw an echo of that storm.