Beyond Direct Sight

Boom!!

The mental space was instantly split into two colors.

A blackish-purple aura surged like ocean waves, seeking to drown the blazing crimson volcano.

"Who are you?!"

"Why do you have such terrifying chakra?!"

"Why... do you know my name?!"

The Four-Tails sensed the extreme chill within that chakra. This feeling...

It had seen Indra in his youth, the ancestor of the Uchiha clan.

The purity of this brat's Yin Release had already come incredibly close to Indra's back then!

That was the Sage of Six Paths' direct bloodline. How could this brat possibly...

Kagami Uchiha stepped directly onto the Four-Tails' head, his spiritual energy materializing into a massive Windmill Shuriken.

Humans did not regard Tailed Beasts as guardians. They saw them as natural disasters—things to fear, dread, and Seal.

Kagami Uchiha knew the truth, but he would not try to reconcile with the Tailed Beasts as Naruto had.

Because he knew very well that he was exactly the kind of person Tailed Beasts hated most.

He would not treat Tailed Beasts as companions. He only wanted to borrow their power.

The Windmill Shuriken spun at high speed, carrying extreme cutting force as it mercilessly slashed toward the Four-Tails' neck.

"You damn brat! Don't look down on me!"

"Lava Release—Mount Huaguo!"

The Four-Tails desperately struggled against its chains as extreme heat erupted from its body, forming a sea of lava.

Boom!!!

The lava exploded violently, forcefully withstanding the giant Windmill Shuriken.

But the stalemate did not last long. Grim ocular power continuously poured into it, until the Windmill Shuriken swelled to several hundred meters in size!

Boom!!

The Four-Tails' body crashed to the ground. The Windmill Shuriken was like a stone-cutting blade, pressing down inch by inch.

"A natural enemy, huh..."

Because he was borrowing Sukuna's Cursed Energy, the Seal could not completely shut him away. He had seen Kagami Uchiha's actions as well.

The Sharingan's basic abilities were similar to the Six Eyes, giving Sukuna a point of reference.

Yet Sukuna felt that even Satoru Gojo, who possessed the Six Eyes, would not have found it easy to deal with this monster.

Judging solely by the energy he had seen, this monster was far stronger than Jogo, who possessed the same attribute.

Unlike the Six Eyes, of which only one appeared in each generation, this brat's clan had many people with these eyes...

Could this clan be the legendary divine clan?

Did they possess some special suppression against monstrous beasts and evil creatures?

Could it be that he had come here because this clan's ancestor had Sealed him inside this brat's body?

Sukuna had never stopped thinking about how to escape, analyzing information about Kagami Uchiha.

There was one thing he had not guessed quite right.

Normally, the Uchiha's Three-Tomoe Sharingan was ineffective against Tailed Beasts.

Even after evolving into the Mangekyō Sharingan, it might work on ordinary Tailed Beasts, but controlling the Nine-Tails was impossible.

The fact that Obito could briefly control the Nine-Tails was likely due to a method Madara had left behind.

With any power, the most important thing was still its user.

The Nine-Tails had already given the answer as to why Kagami Uchiha could suppress Tailed Beasts.

Ocular power!

Ocular power was also a form of chakra, except it focused more on spiritual energy.

The so-called Mangekyo was essentially an evolution that occurred once spiritual energy reached a critical point.

Kagami Uchiha's current ocular power had already surpassed that threshold. He could evolve into a Mangekyo at any time.

He simply had not yet solved the Mangekyo's drawbacks.

Excessive use would lead to blindness.

Why could Mangekyo ocular power not be restored?

Because the bodies of the Uchiha clan were too weak compared to the Mangekyō Sharingan.

Indra, the Sage of Six Paths' eldest son, naturally had no such concern. But his descendants lacked bodies capable of bearing the Sage's eyes.

Even Uchiha Madara could no longer bear the Rinnegan after growing old.

To keep the Rinnegan from withering away—and to avoid being drained dry by it—he selected Nagato, a descendant of the Uzumaki clan, as a vessel for the eyes.

According to Kagami Uchiha's estimates, his body would need at least another year before it could withstand the pressure of the Mangekyo.

Ideally, he would capture a White Zetsu soon, directly seize Uchiha Madara's research results, and obtain Hashirama Cells.

Obtaining Hashirama Cells would not grant him the Rinnegan. That was exclusive to the Sage's sons, and Obito had already proven it.

But they would certainly greatly alleviate the Mangekyō Sharingan's side effects.

Otherwise, with how often Obito used Mangekyo ocular techniques, even if Kamui was incredibly energy-efficient, he should have gone blind long ago.

Of course, if some life-threatening danger arose, he could still tell which was more important: dying or suffering some physical damage.

Simply put, he was suppressing his realm in hopes of achieving a more perfect breakthrough.

Besides, he had another possible solution to this flaw...

Reverse Cursed Technique.

By manipulating Cursed Energy to convert it into positive energy, it achieved healing.

Applied to chakra, that meant converting Yin-natured chakra into Yang-natured chakra...

The idea was feasible, but it would certainly be far more difficult than simply reversing Cursed Energy.

The Four-Tails howled miserably as the Windmill Shuriken cut into it, cursing furiously.

It was useless.

If he had not been Sealed, he might have been able to trade blows with Kagami Uchiha. But now...

It was like two people, one holding a whip and the other tied up. This had never been an equal battle.

An endless stream of Four-Tails chakra was carved away and collected by Kagami Uchiha, while blazing currents of flame spread across his body.

Tailed Beasts were chakra given physical form. After having a large amount of chakra extracted, the Four-Tails visibly grew thinner.

Kagami Uchiha could clearly sense that compared to an ordinary ninja's chakra, Tailed Beast chakra was on an entirely different level in both "quality" and "quantity."

Especially the Four-Tails' understanding of Lava Release contained within its chakra. After only this brief contact, he had already gained ideas for developing Lava Release.

At that moment, a furious shout rang through the empty mental space.

"Dismantle!"

Kagami Uchiha felt a powerful force trying to forcibly eject him from the mental space.

After giving the emaciated Four-Tails one final glance, he said indifferently:

"Red-Haired Gorilla, stop pretending to be the Monkey King."

"Goodbye, Four-Tails."

What do you mean pretending...

The Sage of Six Paths gave me that name!

Why are you so hostile toward me?!

Gah...

The principle behind genjutsu was mainly to disrupt another person's chakra flow through chakra, thereby affecting the target's five senses.

The reason a perfect Jinchuriki could not be controlled by genjutsu was that when the Jinchuriki was controlled, the Tailed Beast would help break it.

Likewise, if the Tailed Beast within was controlled, the Jinchuriki could also dispel the genjutsu.

Kagami Uchiha's main goal had been to enter the mental space where the Four-Tails was imprisoned. His genjutsu could not control Roshi for long.

A perfect Jinchuriki was defined as someone who had reconciled with the Tailed Beast inside them. Roshi had not achieved that.

It was simply that his Kekkei Genkai was also Lava Release, like the Four-Tails'. He had forcibly seized the Four-Tails' power.

Just like when Naruto first defeated the Nine-Tails and gained its chakra.

It was a case of a slave turning into the master.

The moment Roshi regained his senses, he noticed the abnormality within his body. Seeing that something was wrong, dispelling the genjutsu first had definitely been the right move.

Whoosh—

A puff of green smoke reappeared atop the giant eagle, revealing Kagami Uchiha.

He looked down at Roshi, who had already released his Tailed Beast transformation.

So the Four-Tails would not be able to recover its chakra for a while.

"You just..." Shibi Aburame seemed to recall something. What had happened just now greatly resembled a secret technique used by an elder he had seen before.

"The Spirit Transformation Technique, with no physical weakness!"

"Don't make it sound like I copied it, Senior Shibi."

Kagami Uchiha turned to look at him. "Don't tell me you didn't use Kikaichū to attack him when you had such a good opportunity just now."

"Uh..."

Shibi Aburame's sunglasses and face mask did a fine job of concealing his embarrassment.

"Sorry, it happened too suddenly... Actually, you only disappeared for a few seconds..."

"No need to explain."

Clang—

Kagami Uchiha drew his blade and leaped down, charging straight at Roshi.

"I'll deal with the Jinchuriki. Just stand there and watch."

"Like the useless spectator you are."

Do not... look directly into the Sharingan.

After what had just happened, Roshi did not dare underestimate this Uchiha youth in the slightest.

No matter how unwilling he was, faced with the descending Kagami Uchiha, he could only lower his head and avoid meeting his gaze.

As though stretching out his neck to be slaughtered.