Upon hearing this, Uchiha Kokuya immediately laughed, the deep purple, abnormal skin on his face appearing particularly ferocious as he shouted, "Then come and try it! See if you can take my life!"
With that, a flame-like chakra once again erupted from Uchiha Kokuya's body, then rapidly expanded, instantly soaring out of the entire forest and growing taller and taller. Such a massive amount of chakra made the surrounding air feel heavy.
Fumori Masaki watched the deep purple chakra surge skyward, knowing this was the Perfect Susanoo. Only by fully utilizing the Mangekyo Sharingan, coupled with immense chakra, could one unleash the true form of Susanoo, the true "Power of a God"!
The Mangekyo Sharingan of ordinary people would lose their light before reaching this stage, thus only the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan could truly manifest the Perfect Susanoo!
In front of the colossal deep purple figure, Fumori Masaki's form appeared exceptionally small. However, in terms of chakra quality alone, the chakra concentrated within Fumori Masaki was in no way inferior to the Susanoo before him.
It was never about who was bigger, but who could achieve victory. In myths and legends, there were countless examples of humans slaying massive monsters.
The Perfect Susanoo, shaped like a Karasu-Tengu, finally materialized, exuding an aura of chilling malice, like a reflection of Uchiha Kokuya's inner world.
Fumori Masaki gazed at the majestic Susanoo, watching it slowly draw its chakra-formed longsword from its waist. This simple action alone caused nearby trees to sway precariously, threatening to be uprooted and flung to unknown distances.
"This is power on par with Uchiha Madara, an incomparable divine power!" A look of ecstasy appeared on Uchiha Kokuya's face. For an Uchiha clan member, nothing was more exhilarating than possessing this power.
The Susanoo slowly lowered its head, looking down at Fumori Masaki on the ground, observing him from above like a god watching an ant. Then, it raised its sword high and brought it down forcefully towards Fumori Masaki.
Fumori Masaki's figure darted away in an instant, almost imperceptible. Even with the Mangekyo Sharingan, one could barely track him. His speed was so great that, over short distances, it was comparable to the Flying Raijin. Uchiha Kokuya couldn't keep up with his speed at all. However, now he had the Perfect Susanoo, an entity of both offense and defense, and the power it could unleash was also incomparable to before.
A simple slash from the Susanoo created a shockwave that uprooted large swathes of trees, leaving deep sword marks on the ground. Its destructive power was enough to leave any ninja dumbfounded.
If this were on a battlefield, this single slash alone would wipe out a thousand-man unit.
However, despite the immense power of this attack, Fumori Masaki showed no signs of distress. The Susanoo's sword speed was also very fast, but his speed was even faster, allowing him to completely evade the direct slash of the chakra katana. The remaining shockwave was also entirely manageable; he simply controlled natural energy to render it harmless.
Indeed, Fumori Masaki's figure was as small as an ant before the Susanoo. However, if Fumori Masaki's speed surpassed that of the Susanoo, then the Susanoo's threat to him was far less than imagined—it's not easy for a giant to hit an ant as fast as lightning.
No matter how powerful the Susanoo was, or how many people one strike could eliminate, if it couldn't hit Fumori Masaki, all of it was meaningless!
Uchiha Kokuya evidently realized this, as he had just attacked Fumori Masaki again, yet failed to even graze him. He immediately became furious, roaring, "Fumori Masaki! Do you only know how to run around like a coward? Is this the Hokage of Konoha Village?"
"Hey, hey, isn't that a perfectly valid choice for a ninja?" Fumori Masaki flashed around like light, forcing Uchiha Kokuya to constantly track him with his Mangekyo Sharingan, while his voice came through clearly.
"Heh heh, didn't you say you'd take my life as an offering to those who perished? How will you avenge them like this?" Uchiha Kokuya sneered, "Or are you saying that even with your Sage Power, you can't destroy this flawless Susanoo?"
"Flawless… there's no such thing as flawless in this world." Fumori Masaki's voice still came through, "Your Susanoo is indeed powerful, but it's not without a weakness."
"Then show me. All talk is useless," Uchiha Kokuya said dismissively.
"It seems that fully unleashing your Susanoo has greatly boosted your confidence. Very well, you've used quite a few moves. Now it's my turn."
No sooner had his words fallen than Uchiha Kokuya keenly felt the surrounding air gradually distort. This wasn't the phenomenon caused by his Susanoo earlier, but rather other forces at play.
"This is—?" Uchiha Kokuya looked up, only to see the sky gradually darken, as if a storm was about to break.
Fumori Masaki wasn't just running away; he needed to create a suitable environment to unleash his secret technique. This would allow him to achieve twice the result with half the effort, and not consume too much chakra. It was like Uchiha Sasuke using Chidori to draw lightning from the sky for the S-rank Lightning Release: Kirin, where the unleashed power far surpassed the chakra Uchiha Sasuke expended.
Even the steadfast Susanoo trembled slightly at this moment. This alone startled Uchiha Kokuya. He watched as the surrounding air rapidly twisted, and the debris of trees, clumps of earth, and other objects on the ground were pulled upward, quickly becoming indistinct.
If anyone were watching, they would see a powerful vortex suddenly rise from the ground, enveloping the Susanoo. The debris on the ground made the vortex murky, completely obscuring the scene inside, though faint flashes of electricity could be seen darting within.
Following the same principle as Uchiha Sasuke's Kirin, Fumori Masaki leveraged natural phenomena, using his own jutsu as a catalyst to unleash immense power akin to the wrath of nature. Any ninja facing such a force, seemingly an embodiment of natural law, would feel powerless—ultimately, for a human, facing nature always feels insignificant. No matter how much one closes the gap, the difference in scale always remains.
The twisting tornado slowly changed its form, becoming like a true "dragon." In the past, Fumori Masaki had used this Wind Release jutsu called "Azure Dragon." In his current state, this technique was stronger than ever, both in its completion and its power.
Even the Susanoo, hailed as the "Power of a God," had to become cautious when facing this technique. Uchiha Kokuya, while in the center of the tornado, hadn't felt much trouble, but the moment he saw the tornado transform into a dragon and descend from above, a look of alarm appeared on his face.
The "Sage's Eye" inherited from the Sage of Six Paths, upon evolving into the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, meant that every action possessed immense power equivalent to the wrath of heaven and earth. Otherwise, it wouldn't be called the "Power of a God."
Just as Uchiha Sasuke's Kirin, when facing Uchiha Itachi's third-stage Susanoo, also ended in failure—though the Yata Mirror, a spiritual defense tool, might have played a part.
However, Fumori Masaki's Azure Dragon was even more powerful than Kirin. At this very moment, it possessed immense power equivalent to the "Power of a God," which made it impossible for Uchiha Kokuya to remain calm.
Previously, being able to use the Perfect Susanoo had greatly boosted Uchiha Kokuya's confidence. He truly believed that even if Fumori Masaki possessed a stronger Sage Mode than before, he might not be able to defeat this War God. But now, he no longer had that confidence.
Because Fumori Masaki had already proven that the power he could unleash in his current Sage Mode was enough to manipulate the truths of heaven and earth, manifesting immense power on par with the Susanoo.
Facing the oncoming Azure Dragon, Uchiha Kokuya controlled the Susanoo and swung his sword forcefully. The moment they collided, a massive impact and a deafening sound erupted. The Azure Dragon's form expanded further. Although pierced by the chakra longsword, the ensuing explosive impact still caused the Susanoo's body to reel backward, and cracks began to appear on its surface.
Uchiha Kokuya coughed. He had not expected Fumori Masaki's Wind Release to be so powerful that even the Susanoo took damage. However, using such a powerful jutsu, Fumori Masaki's own chakra consumption must be significant—one must remember that this was a traditional Five Elements Release jutsu, unlike his own, which had the Mangekyo Sharingan as a driving aid, meaning the chakra expended didn't necessarily have to match the Susanoo's strength.
Of course, Uchiha Kokuya didn't know that a part of Fumori Masaki's Wind Release was also borne by natural phenomena, and similarly didn't require a matching amount of chakra for its intensity.
However, to knock the Susanoo to the ground and even crack it, Fumori Masaki had indeed exerted considerable effort, but for now, it was still within acceptable limits.
The impact generated by the Susanoo and the Azure Dragon was felt even by Konoha forces far away. Shimura Danzō naturally saw it clearly, understanding that Fumori Masaki and Uchiha Kokuya had begun their battle—as far as he knew, only Fumori Masaki possessed such a Wind Release.
Based on Fumori Masaki's earlier statement, Shimura Danzō considered it for a moment and decided not to send others to help, leaving Fumori Masaki to handle it entirely himself. Danzō's only responsibility was to seal off the perimeter, leaving the rest of the ground for the two to fight.
From that recent scene, Shimura Danzō recalled the past battle between Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama, sighing with emotion. The current Uchiha Kokuya, with his Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, could be seen as Uchiha Madara of that era, while Fumori Masaki, possessing Sage Power, seemed to be the Senju Hashirama of that era. This was like a reenactment of the Valley of the End battle—of course, this place was not the Valley of the End.
But if this continued, perhaps this place would suffer destruction on par with the Valley of the End, and might be given similar significance in the future—although Shimura Danzō disliked Uchiha Kokuya and held no respect for him, judging by the series of events Uchiha Kokuya had instigated, he would certainly be written about significantly in historical records.
Shimura Danzō thought to himself: Masahiro, you must make this guy die a terrible death. Don't let him leave this world with any dignity; he doesn't deserve it!
At this moment, apart from Fumori Masaki and Uchiha Kokuya, there were no other superfluous people in the entire forest, only one person who wasn't entirely superfluous was still within this area.
This person was Uchiha Kagami. After Fumori Masaki used the Flying Raijin to jump away, Namikaze Minato immediately found Uchiha Kagami and teleported him along. Because Fujimura Yūki and Uchiha Ken had already moved some distance away, Uchiha Kagami, upon arriving at the destination, immediately rushed towards the battle site of Fumori Masaki and Uchiha Kokuya.
After using Susanoo to block the impact, Uchiha Kagami finally arrived at the battleground. His strength was sufficient to protect himself, but he wasn't here as a spectator; he had other objectives.
Fumori Masaki had previously discerned the secret of Uchiha Kokuya's dōjutsu. Although it was confirmed in this battle, the speculation had begun in the past. Due to Fumori Masaki's excellent sensory abilities, combined with Uchiha Kagami's Mangekyo Sharingan, the combined information led to the conclusion that the secret of Uchiha Kokuya dodging fatal attacks was related to souls.
But at that time, he hadn't fully grasped the extent of Uchiha Kokuya's abilities, so it was hard to say. It wasn't until Fumori Masaki personally confirmed that Uchiha Kokuya's dōjutsu was indeed a substitution jutsu using souls as a medium, that he became furious about the cost of using this dōjutsu. At the same time, he became certain of one thing: to crack (break) Uchiha Kokuya's dōjutsu, Uchiha Kagami's power was needed.
Whether it was fate or not, Uchiha Kokuya's ability was indeed terrifying. Under normal circumstances, it might truly require exhausting all of Uchiha Kokuya's soul reserves to completely eliminate him. However, with Uchiha Kagami present now, such a price would not be necessary.
Uchiha Kagami's dōjutsu, Yomotsu Hirasaka, was precisely the bane of Uchiha Kokuya's dōjutsu. And Uchiha Kokuya seemed unaware of all this. Although he was somewhat shocked after seeing Fumori Masaki's power, he still felt he had room to maneuver.
However, when Fumori Masaki sensed Uchiha Kagami's arrival nearby, he became certain that Uchiha Kokuya had no chance of leaving alive. He was destined to die here.