Dragging his grievously wounded body, the Dance King walked toward them one step at a time.
His bloodstained clothes and broken left arm were enough to show how brutal his battle had been.
Yet Madara Uchiha remained as proud and defiant as ever, holding his blade in one hand and pointing it at the grim-faced Nara Kensuke in the distance.
Behind him, the Akimichi Clan's Jonin lay decapitated.
The blade wound in his chest showed that he had indeed been mortally wounded in a head-on fight.
"How is that possible..." Nara Kensuke looked dazed, unable to believe that a boy of around ten had killed his companion single-handedly.
But the formidable aura radiating from the boy forced him to accept the truth before his eyes.
Behind them, Kyosuke wasn't surprised in the slightest.
That was Madara Uchiha, the current reincarnation of Indra's chakra.
Was it really so strange for someone at the peak of Elite Chunin strength to kill a Jonin alone?
Rather than how the fight had unfolded, Kyosuke was more interested in the changes in the Dance King's eyes.
That eerie gleam sent a chill through everyone who met his gaze.
Madara had finally awakened his Sharingan, a full five years earlier than in the original story.
At that moment, Kyosuke realized that his butterfly effect had already begun to alter the course of the Shinobi World.
With Madara awakening his Sharingan early, his strength will definitely grow faster than before. I wonder whether Hashirama will still be able to stay ahead of him this time.
As he pondered this, Madara Uchiha slowly approached, taking up a position at a right angle to Kyosuke.
Both stared straight ahead, their attention locked firmly on Nara Kensuke.
With the Ino-Shika-Cho members falling one after another, the remaining ninja were no longer a concern.
No matter how badly the Three Clans wanted them dead, they couldn't send a whole group of Jonin to die at the Uchiha Clan Compound.
How would they carry on after that?
Sending three Jonin on a suicide mission was already their limit. All three had been involved in the attack, and if they hadn't come, the furious clansmen would have executed them anyway.
As for the other ninja, none would be stupid enough to volunteer for certain death.
"You're the only one left, scum." Madara Uchiha raised his blade in one hand, his aura growing sharper still.
This guy... Kyosuke drew a deep breath, knowing that the Dance King had already reached the threshold of Jonin.
After this battle, the Uchiha would have another truly powerful fighter.
Slowly raising his short sword, Kyosuke leaned forward slightly, like a black panther studying its prey.
A Jonin was a juicy prize worth thousands of points. If he got the chance, he had to steal the kill.
Anyone else might resent him for that, but with the Dance King, there was no need to worry.
"Damn it, I'm going all out for those points today!" His hands rapidly formed hand seals as the chakra inside him surged wildly.
His already aching body now felt as though it were being torn apart.
That's right. To steal the kill, Kyosuke intended to force his Body Flicker Technique into action.
"Even if I die, I'm taking you with me!" Knowing there was no escape, Nara Kensuke abandoned all resistance.
Gathering every last bit of his chakra, he made the shadow beneath his feet spread wildly in every direction.
Shadow blades rose from the darkness, impaling friend and foe alike within their reach.
Secret technique: Explosive Shadow Submersion!
"Come to hell with me!" Nara Kensuke had completely abandoned his defenses, which meant he couldn't escape the shadow blades either.
With no need to restrain its power, the technique spread even faster.
At least one of those two Uchiha brats would have to leave his life behind.
"Fall back!" Madara Uchiha's expression changed abruptly. Chakra erupted beneath his feet as he desperately retreated.
But the shadow blades were too fast. He had barely leaped into the air when spikes like the Shinigami's scythe rose beneath him.
In just one second, Indra's chakra could be reincarnated again.
"I, Madara Uchiha, will not die here!" At that critical moment, a mysterious surge of power seemed to well up inside him.
All that raging energy poured into a single downward slash. The shadow blades, seemingly capable of destroying everything, were reduced to dust beneath his sword.
"Bastard." Nara Kensuke gritted his teeth, knowing he couldn't kill him.
Instead, he switched targets, fixing his vicious gaze on the younger Kyosuke, ready to take him to the Pure Land with him.
I'm done for. Kyosuke's eyes strained wide as a single thought echoed endlessly in his mind.
I can't dodge it.
He didn't have Madara Uchiha's raw strength and couldn't cut through a Jonin's final, desperate attack.
As for dodging...
The burst-style Body Flicker Technique was all about charging straight ahead. There was no making a quick turn or retreat.
In other words, he had no option now but to charge forward.
[System notification: 5,000 points consumed. Shisui-style Body Flicker Technique upgraded to level 2.]
With his life hanging in the balance, he couldn't afford to worry about anything else. He spent his points to forcibly raise his ninjutsu's level.
"Die!" Gravel shattered beneath his feet, and in an instant, Kyosuke vanished from where he stood.
In the distance, Madara Uchiha propped himself up with his sword, the fury in his eyes fierce enough to set the world ablaze.
He silently swore that if anything happened to Kyosuke, he would slaughter the Southern Three Clans and leave nothing alive.
By then, the fighting elsewhere had also ended.
Yet no one felt the slightest joy. The boy hailed as the greatest talent in Uchiha history might have died at the enemy's hands.
"Damn it!" a clansman roared in fury, his eyes blood-red.
"Brother!" With that familiar cry, Izuna hurried over with a group of Genin.
The sight of corpses strewn across the ground made Izuna's scalp prickle. Fortunately, his older brother was unharmed, allowing him to breathe a little easier.
Looking around, he said with feeling, "Thank goodness for that guy. Who knows how bad things would've gotten without him?"
"Speaking of which, where is he? Don't tell me he got scared and ran away?!"
Izuna had meant to crack a few jokes, only to find everyone looking grave, as though they wanted to speak but couldn't.
He froze for a moment, gradually realizing something. "No way. How could that guy possibly..."
Patting his younger brother's shoulder, Madara said in a low voice, "Notify the clansmen first."
"Impossible. How could this happen? I haven't gotten my revenge yet, and you dared to die..." Izuna lowered his head as negative emotions surged wildly within him.
Within the clan, everyone treated him as the clan leader's son or Madara's younger brother. Only Kyosuke had truly treated him as Uchiha Izuna.
"We promised we'd fight side by side someday, you bastard who can't keep his word!" Izuna clenched his fists, a strange gleam seeming to flash through his eyes.
"Izuna..." Madara closed his eyes in anguish. He wanted to say something, but didn't know how.
Grief spread through the crowd. They exchanged bitter smiles, unable to feel any joy in their victory.
Until...
"Hey, you bastard, are you done cursing me?" That barely audible murmur made everyone's breathing quicken.
They turned in disbelief as a figure staggered out of the Shadow Forest the enemy had created.
"Quick, give me a hand..." Kyosuke said with a bitter smile, two pitch-black tomoe slowly revolving in his eyes.
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