Just as the First and Second Hokage had predicted, the crimson tengu Susanoo, which looked far more imposing, was the first to weaken.
The battle between the two Susanoo had lasted only a short time, no more than four minutes at most, yet Uchiha Fugaku was already beginning to feel powerless.
His chakra was nearly exhausted, the ocular power of his Mangekyō Sharingan had been severely depleted, and the stinging pain in his eyes had turned into needle-like agony.
But the battle showed no sign of ending.
Worse still, Uchiha Yoru was steadily gaining the upper hand.
Fugaku could only complain bitterly in his heart.
The fully armed crimson tengu Susanoo indeed possessed a considerable advantage, but naturally, its consumption was several times greater than that of the golden Susanoo.
Once the battle failed to end quickly, Fugaku simply couldn't sustain it.
What puzzled him was that although his opponent had neither armor nor weapons, Yoru's Susanoo was still a first-stage full-bodied Susanoo with legs.
Its consumption shouldn't have been low either.
And equipment wasn't the only thing that increased consumption.
The golden Susanoo's rapid dodging and extraordinarily agile movements consumed enormous amounts of energy as well.
So why could Uchiha Yoru keep going?
After thinking for a moment, Fugaku finally dispelled the nodachi and tengu armor to reduce the burden on himself.
The change in the crimson Susanoo startled everyone.
Jiraiya subtly exerted force beneath his feet and immediately received feedback from Gamabunta.
They were ready to fight.
Jiraiya concentrated all of his chakra into his right hand while desperately suppressing the aura of the barrier.
As for the Gourd Toad beside him, he didn't need to worry about it.
The Gourd Toad possessed a naturally concealed presence.
As long as Jiraiya carefully blocked Uchiha Yoru's line of sight, it wouldn't be discovered.
The Third Hokage was even more alarmed.
He gathered everyone who could still move around him, preparing to respond to any sudden change.
Homura Mitokado said,
"Uchiha Fugaku can't hold out either."
"We have no chance of winning anymore!"
"Hiruzen, retreat!"
"We cannot retreat!"
Uchiha Setsuna exploded in rage.
"Absolutely not!"
"Our Uchiha clan head is still fighting!"
"What right do you have to retreat?"
Homura didn't even look at him.
He continued persuading the Third Hokage.
"Hiruzen, we've lost too many people."
"More importantly, staying here gives us no chance of victory."
"We'll only be waiting to die."
"Our only chance is to return to Konoha, declare Uchiha Yoru a missing-nin, and mobilize the entire village."
"Only then will we have enough power to defeat him."
Uchiha Setsuna shouted furiously,
"You're delusional!"
"Against Susanoo, no matter how many shinobi you gather, it's meaningless!"
"You're sending Konoha's shinobi to their deaths!"
The Third Hokage casually waved his hand.
Two ANBU from the Sarutobi clan stepped forward, seized Uchiha Setsuna by the arms, and dragged him away.
The self-proclaimed hardliner struggled violently.
Yet despite being far stronger than the two ANBU restraining him, he never dared resist.
He allowed himself to be dragged away.
Only then did Hiruzen Sarutobi speak.
"Setsuna's words are unpleasant, but he isn't wrong."
He looked toward the two Susanoo still fighting in the distance and said weakly,
"Against power that surpasses a shinobi's understanding like this…"
"Even if we mobilized all of Konoha, we still wouldn't be able to oppose it."
Homura shook his head.
"You underestimate Konoha too much."
"Our defeat this time came from faulty intelligence, not because Konoha lacks strength."
"We still have the Barrier Team."
"The Sealing Team."
"Hundreds of jōnin."
"And most importantly…"
"We still have the Nine-Tails."
The Third Hokage murmured,
"The Nine-Tails…"
"But Kushina is still…"
Homura sighed.
"She's already twenty-three."
"She has long been capable of displaying sufficient combat power."
"Hiruzen, you're being far too cautious."
"I remember you weren't like this before."
The Third Hokage was startled.
His expression changed slightly.
Yet he still found it difficult to make the decision.
Under everyone's gaze, he continued hesitating.
Whenever something involved Konoha's very foundation, Hiruzen Sarutobi found it difficult to decide immediately.
The decisive Sarutobi Hiruzen that Homura Mitokado and Senju Tobirama remembered still existed.
But his position had changed.
He was no longer merely a jōnin.
As a jōnin, Hiruzen had unquestionably been decisive and ruthless.
Even if his own life had to be sacrificed, he wouldn't hesitate.
In the original history, more than ten years later, the Third Hokage had likewise made the decision in a very short time to sacrifice himself in exchange for Orochimaru's life and protect Konoha.
But if the decision would alter the fate of the entire Sarutobi clan, he could no longer act with the slightest decisiveness.
And asking him to gamble the fate of the entire village was even more difficult.
He could only hesitate.
And hesitate again.
After repeatedly hesitating, he would eventually make an unreasonable decision.
Sometimes—
A brutally cruel one.
For example, sending ten-year-old children, or even children younger than ten, onto the battlefield because the adult shinobi were maintaining Konoha's operations, and deploying them might inflict greater losses on the village.
But at that moment—
The crimson Susanoo, stripped of its armor, finally failed to withstand the pressure.
The golden Susanoo landed two brutal punches directly into its chest.
The violent impact and chakra shock caused Uchiha Fugaku, positioned inside the head, to suffer terribly.
He spat out blood.
Together with his Susanoo, he toppled backward and smashed into a vast stretch of forest.
Compared to Susanoo, even hundred-meter-tall giant trees looked thin and fragile.
Entire swathes of forest collapsed beneath the impact, creating an enormous clearing.
The battle between the Susanoo giants was now displayed even more clearly before everyone.
Everyone could see it.
The golden giant was beating the crimson Susanoo.
Like a healthy young man beating a sluggish old man.
Or perhaps—
Like a powerful samurai beating a dog.
It was horrifying.
The Third Hokage's expression changed drastically.
At last, he made his decision.
"Retreat!"
"We're returning to Konoha!"
He decided to release Konoha's jinchūriki and have her deal with this terrifying Uchiha shinobi.
As for whether the Nine-Tails jinchūriki, after clearly recognizing her own strength, might develop ambitions of her own—
He wasn't too worried.
After all, his grand-disciple had that little girl completely wrapped around his finger.
At worst—
At worst, he could simply let Minato Namikaze become the Fourth Hokage.
Although it would be unfair to Orochimaru, once the Nine-Tails jinchūriki defeated Uchiha Yoru, she would no longer merely be Konoha's strongest combat force.
She would also know that she was the strongest.
In that case, the person closest to the Nine-Tails jinchūriki could only be the Hokage.
Otherwise, how could they possibly keep that hot-tempered little red pepper under control?
The Third Hokage sighed internally.
The greater good came first.
Orochimaru would understand.
Yet no matter how much he trusted Orochimaru, the Third Hokage wouldn't leave everything unprepared.
Especially since that rebellious disciple had caused him no shortage of trouble over the past few months.
He had pushed him hard enough.
Without realizing it, Hiruzen's thoughts began drifting.
He started considering how to suppress Orochimaru.
Or exile him.
Should he treat Orochimaru the same way he had treated Sakumo Hatake—
Keeping him constantly moving between battlefronts so he could never stop long enough to build stable superior-subordinate relationships?
Or should he recall Orochimaru to the village and assign him some unbearably tedious position, keeping him so busy that he could no longer interact with other jōnin?
Suddenly—
Hiruzen's eyes lit up.
He remembered the boy they had retrieved from Root.
The boy who had successfully survived the transplantation of Wood Release cells.
After witnessing Wood Release and Susanoo today, and reliving the terrifying pressure he hadn't felt in thirty-six years, his obsession with Wood Release reached a new peak.
All he needed to do was tell Orochimaru about what happened today.
Orochimaru would definitely become extremely interested.
Then he would be unable to restrain himself from conducting research.
Hiruzen could hand him the Root boy.
Root's research records.
Even Uchiha Yoru's corpse.
He could give all of it to Orochimaru and let him research to his heart's content.
That would give Hiruzen enough time to arrange for Minato Namikaze to build his reputation on the battlefield.
Then he could spread a few rumors and damage Orochimaru's reputation.
Everything would naturally fall into place.
The Third Hokage finished constructing the entire plan and felt quite satisfied.
Konoha would return to the correct path.
Everything would return to the state he was familiar with.
Unfortunately—
What the Third Hokage didn't realize was that Uchiha Yoru had never devoted all of his attention to the battle.
Half of his attention had remained fixed on his primary target.
The moment Hiruzen began withdrawing with the others, Uchiha Yoru noticed.
Without hesitation, he abandoned Uchiha Fugaku.
He completely ignored the crimson Susanoo, which was already covered in cracks and on the verge of collapse.
The golden Susanoo leaped high into the air.
Then landed directly in the Third Hokage's retreat path.
That stunned everyone present.
What happened next stunned them even more.
The golden Susanoo clasped its hands together.
Then suddenly unleashed a Wind Release technique on the scale of a natural disaster.
Crescent-shaped wind blades, each the size of a building, flew from between the golden Susanoo's hands alongside the raging storm.
They skimmed over the shinobi's heads.
Entire sections of forest were instantly erased.
The retreating remnants were completely exposed.
Uchiha Yoru ended the technique.
Only then did he sneer.
"Third Hokage."
"You started this."
"How can you simply walk away?"
"Once I've beaten everyone into submission, I'll naturally come have a proper 'talk' with you."
"I absolutely won't let you run back to the village and start scheming again."
As he spoke—
The Susanoo's right hand swept beside its ear.
Powerful senjutsu chakra condensed into a long strip of energy.
Then—
Using that long strip of energy—
The Susanoo drew an enormous circle across the ground.
The circle encompassed the entire battlefield.
Its size was almost identical to the previous barrier.
Uchiha Yoru spoke with murderous intent.
"This circle I drew…"
"Anyone may enter."
"No one may leave."
"Especially you."
"Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi."
"If you dare step outside this circle—"
"I will abandon everything else and hunt you until you are dead!"
"And don't think about sneaking away."
"I'll prepare an alarm system."
The golden Susanoo clapped its hands together once more.
Powerful Wood Release chakra poured into the ground.
Along the circular line Yoru had drawn—
Strange, lightweight trees rapidly sprouted and grew.
These slender trees reached several dozen meters in height.
Their trunks were unable to support their own weight and bent downward.
Huge unopened flower buds at their crowns drooped toward the earth.
"These are alarm trees."
"Whoever crosses the boundary will trigger them."
"They'll produce an enormous noise."
"And release a massive amount of pollen."
"The amount of pollen is so great, and its spread so wide, that with your abilities, none of you can avoid it."
"Once the pollen gets on you, you'll never be able to hide again."
"And I will hunt down anyone stained by that pollen without regard for anything else."
"Until they die."
The golden Susanoo spoke calmly.
Dozens of ANBU shinobi turned deathly pale.
Homura Mitokado and Hiruzen Sarutobi both wore expressions as dark as storm clouds.
Yet neither dared talk back to Uchiha Yoru.
Through a very short battle—
Yoru had completely proven his strength.
Because his fist was so large that no one could withstand it—
His words naturally possessed unquestionable persuasive power.
Even after the golden Susanoo finished speaking and left—
Not one of the dozens of shinobi dared move.
None dared approach the alarm trees.
They even clustered around the Third Hokage and quietly shifted farther away from the boundary to prevent a fatal accident.
…
Uchiha Yoru's brief departure gave Uchiha Fugaku a chance to catch his breath.
But his condition didn't improve.
Instead—
He became even weaker.
For an ordinary Mangekyō Sharingan, the burden of Susanoo was absolutely unbearable.
Far greater than even the unique Mangekyō ocular techniques.
After all—
The path ordinary Uchiha followed was to stimulate their nerves with negative emotions, generate Yin Release chakra, and use that chakra to assault the Sharingan and force it to evolve.
Such an evolution was self-harm.
It severely damaged vitality and consumed enormous potential.
Aside from miraculous protagonists with seemingly infinite potential, no one could avoid physical damage.
Although an evolved Sharingan would feed power back into the body—
That feedback was nowhere near enough to compensate for the losses incurred beforehand.
By the time the Mangekyō Sharingan awakened—
The body was no longer sufficient to support eyes that had become excessively powerful.
It was like a peach tree with a trunk as thick as a thumb—
Yet somehow bearing two peaches the size of papayas.
Those fruits naturally hung precariously.
Even left untouched, they could fall at any moment.
Let alone after enduring the violent storm of battle.
At this moment—
Uchiha Fugaku's face was covered in bloody tears.
His vision was blurred.
The stabbing pain in his eyes had developed into unbearable agony.
It felt as if someone were thrusting red-hot senbon directly through his eyeballs.
The pain penetrated straight into his brain.
But strangely—
That intense agony awakened the ferocity buried deep inside Uchiha Fugaku.
Ever since awakening the Mangekyō Sharingan, he had read the clan's secret stone tablet.
He knew that without a brother, his path to greater power had reached its end.
Because of that—
More than half of Fugaku's ambition had disappeared.
Coincidentally, that was around the time he was elected clan head.
His entire heart gradually became invested in clan affairs.
From then onward—
The shinobi who had once stood alongside the "White Fang of Konoha" in reputation—
The man known as "Wicked Eye" Fugaku—
Disappeared.
In his place appeared an excessively conservative, timid clan head.
That change wasn't caused solely by the loss of ambition.
It also came from his excessive investment in the clan—
And from the Mangekyō technique that he never truly adapted to.
Amano-Tokotachi.
The technique Uchiha Fugaku understood as "seeing the future" frequently showed him images of what was to come.
After verifying those images several times—
He began treating them as absolute truth.
From then on—
He never dared cross the boundaries shown to him.
As a result—
His behavior became increasingly conservative.
Increasingly rigid.
Until he gradually became the man he was today.
Perhaps because not enough time had passed—
And the problem had not yet seeped into his bones—
The crushing defeat he suffered today unexpectedly awakened the bloodlust buried deep within him.
The crimson Susanoo stood again.
The whites of Fugaku's eyes were completely bloodshot.
The Mangekyō pattern was blurry.
Yet it spun even faster.
As tremendous chakra and ocular power poured into it—
The crimson Susanoo once again donned its tengu armor.
The nodachi reappeared in its hand.
Relying on the stronger defense provided by the armor—
The crimson tengu abandoned all defense.
It charged the golden Susanoo with everything it had.
Then unleashed its fiercest horizontal slash.
Uchiha Yoru jumped high into the air.
He easily avoided the strike.
But he hadn't expected—
After completing the slash—
The crimson tengu directly discarded its nodachi.
Then threw its entire body forward.
Its arms wrapped tightly around the golden Susanoo.
Uchiha Yoru reacted instantly.
At the final moment before being caught—
He raised both arms overhead.
He prevented them from being completely restrained.
Then—
Two brutal elbow strikes slammed downward.
The tengu's long nose and mask shattered immediately.
But Uchiha Fugaku tightened his hold even further.
The golden Susanoo's waist was squeezed inward.
Dense, ice-like cracks spread across its surface.
Seeing that his restraint was effective—
Fugaku shouted,
"Jiraiya!!"
At that moment—
Gamabunta appeared behind the golden Susanoo.
His head was level with Susanoo's chest.
Standing atop Gamabunta's head—
Jiraiya was now directly eye-to-eye with Uchiha Yoru inside the Susanoo.
Jiraiya grinned widely.
"Beautifully done, Fugaku-senpai!"
"Leave the rest to me!"
With that—
Jiraiya thrust his right hand forward.
Dense sealing runes spread from his palm across Susanoo's chest.
Barrier Technique: Toad Gourd Prison!
The barrier unfolded.
Within the shinobi world—
There was one category of technique that stood above all others.
Whether ninjutsu—
Senjutsu—
Or even the divine techniques of the Ōtsutsuki clan—
None could ignore the effects of sealing techniques.
Admittedly, sealing techniques were extraordinarily difficult to execute.
Their preparations were often absurdly complicated.
But once successfully deployed—
They possessed absolute priority.
And barriers—
Were an upgraded form of sealing techniques.
Susanoo's energy failed to block the sealing technique.
As the runes invaded—
Uchiha Yoru felt a tremendous pulling force.
It was the force of space-time dragging him away.
Powerful.
And irresistible.
In the next instant—
Uchiha Yoru vanished from within Susanoo.
When he reappeared—
He found himself inside a cramped space.
Beneath his feet was a thick pool of green, viscous liquid.
It emitted an unsettling, nauseating stench.
Uchiha Yoru remained suspended in the air.
He didn't fall into the liquid.
He looked around.
Very quickly—
He determined where he was.
The internal barrier space of the Gourd Toad.
"Looks like Jiraiya didn't come in with me."
Uchiha Yoru scratched his chin.
He quickly guessed Jiraiya's intention.
"He probably doesn't believe he can defeat me."
"So he decided to trap me inside this barrier and take me back to Myōboku Mountain for them to deal with slowly."
"Maybe the plan is simply to keep me trapped here for ten days or half a month."
"Wait until I'm starving, dehydrated, and weakened…"
"Then release me and let the toads surround and attack me?"
Uchiha Yoru repeatedly nodded in approval.
"I have to admit…"
"Jiraiya is very capable."
"He seized the opportunity perfectly."
"The plan is clever."
"And practical."
"The only problem is…"
"I'm not the main body."
"I'm a shadow clone."
"Heh."
"I'm rather curious…"
"How is the main body going to beat the hell out of Jiraiya now?"
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