Under Madara's stunned gaze, the two had no time to react before Mito pressed both hands against their backs.
"Madara, when you captured me, I told you this: one month. If you didn't let me go by then, I'd show you what a family of sealers was capable of!!"
As she spoke, black curse marks spread across Mina and Izuna's back skin like living creatures.
In the blink of an eye, black seals covered their entire bodies, locking down all their Meridians.
"Uzumaki Mito!!" Madara struggled to rise. The bandages slipped from his shoulders, revealing the grotesque skin scorched by the Lightning Release Forbidden Technique. "Three months! You said three months!!"
Mito left the two sealed captives behind and slowly walked toward Madara.
On the blue ribbon woven through her red hair, the Vortex Clan Emblem gleamed coldly in the candlelight.
The Kunai in her hand still dripped with the blood of the two Medical Ninja. A vicious smile curled her lips.
"Is that so? Perhaps I remembered wrong. But now... did it matter?"
Mito turned toward Izuna, her slender fingers gently brushing the blood from the Kunai. "Do you remember when I begged you not to kill my guards?"
The moment the Kunai pierced Izuna's heart, it made a wet, muffled sound.
Madara watched helplessly as Izuna's pupils contracted sharply.
The Two-Tomoe Sharingan in his eyes spun wildly amid overwhelming grief, the tomoe patterns twisting and trembling like flames.
Izuna's gradually unfocused gaze passed over his older brother's trembling body and landed on Mina's face, twisted by the seal. A broken murmur escaped his throat. "Older... brother... Mi... na..."
Blood poured from the corner of his mouth, staining the Uchiha Clan Emblem on his chest dark purple.
Mina's scream was strangled in her throat by the Sealing Technique.
She watched as Mito pulled out the bloodstained Kunai and turned its blade toward her.
"What beautiful eyes, Madara... When you and Kosuke slaughtered my guards, did you ever imagine this day would come?"
Madara's Two-Tomoe Sharingan seemed ready to spew flames, while blood flowing from his nostrils ran down his cheeks.
The Lightning Release wounds beneath his bandages suddenly tore open under the rampage of Chakra.
The flesh that should have scabbed over was disintegrating at a visible rate.
"How dare you!!!"
Madara's roar shook dust from the roof of the tent. His crimson eyes locked onto her slender figure, as if he intended to carve her into his memory forever.
"Oh?" As she spoke, Mito sank the Kunai half an inch into Mina's heart. Her lips curved into a cruel smile. "Why wouldn't I dare?"
Before her words had faded, she caught sight of Madara's violently trembling pupils. The two tomoe spun at high speed amid tears of blood, merging together.
In an instant, they became a black ring of three connected tomoe, their heads transformed into hollow circles, while an eerie crimson glow seeped around the black pupils.
Mangekyō Sharingan!
Vast Dojutsu swept through the entire camp like a tsunami. Outside the tent came wave after wave of collapsing bodies and screams.
"Uzumaki Mito...!!" Madara's body convulsed uncontrollably. His bandages burst apart inch by inch, exposing the Lightning Release scars scabbing over his body. "I, Uchiha Madara, swear that I will erase your Uzumaki Clan from the Ninja World!!!"
Mito's smile did not fade. Under the pressure of Madara's Dojutsu, powerful enough to tear space apart, she drove the Kunai completely into Mina's heart and viciously twisted it several times.
"And then?"
Mina felt a piercing agony erupt in her chest. All strength drained from her body like the receding tide, and blood quickly spilled from her mouth as she silently cried, "Madara... Kosuke..."
"I'll tear you... to pieces! Ah—!"
Madara forced the words through clenched teeth, his voice like the whisper of an asura from hell. Every word came with the grinding creak of his teeth.
With that cruel smile still on her face, Mito turned and calmly glanced at Madara, who was convulsing wildly on the bed. She raised her foot to head for Kosuke's tent, only to suddenly find her limbs nailed in place by an invisible force.
She stared at Madara's eyes in terror.
His fully formed Mangekyō Sharingan had somehow begun spinning at high speed.
Just as Mito felt the restraints around her tighten like steel, Madara's Mangekyō Sharingan burst with bloody light for the first time—then snapped shut as though shattering apart.
His severely damaged body and exhausted mental strength dragged him back into the abyss of darkness, his unfinished roar still lingering.
"Release the illusion!" Mito's face turned pale. Rich green light continued to shine from the Medical Ninjutsu in her palm as she struggled alongside the two equally pale Medical Ninja beside her to stop the blood that kept seeping out. "What kind of genjutsu did you cast on Madara?!"
Mina, supported by Izuna, covered her eyes and slowly walked aside to sit down. She gave a bitter smile. "I merely wove an illusion for Madara... one where you suddenly attacked and brutally killed us."
Mito's healing hand trembled sharply. She turned back in disbelief toward Mina, who had lowered her head and covered her eyes. In such an extreme and horrifying scene, had no one considered her feelings?
Noticing Mito's gaze, Izuna awkwardly scratched his face and gave her an apologetic, bitter smile.
Two days later, the instant Kosuke slowly opened his eyes, Madara in the neighboring tent abruptly opened his eyes as well.
"Uzumaki Mito!!"
Madara's roar instantly reached the ears of the three people in the neighboring tent, who had been rejoicing over Kosuke's awakening.
Unlike Izuna and Mina's reactions upon hearing Madara roar, Mito looked at Mina with a pained expression.
The pattern of the Mangekyō Sharingan suddenly emerged in Madara's dark eyes, and his Dojutsu erupted without restraint.
At that moment, his memories still remained frozen at the time before he lost consciousness.
When he saw Izuna rushing toward him happily, the overwhelming hatred in Madara's eyes suddenly froze.
"This is... genjutsu?!"
Madara immediately forcefully disrupted the flow of Chakra in his body, while the Dojutsu in his eyes surged wildly.
Yet Izuna's figure beside him remained.
Seeing Izuna's grin, Madara understood at once.
Remembering how Izuna had acted in those two seamlessly connected illusions, the light of Madara's Mangekyō Sharingan abruptly faded. He roared, "Get out!"
"Sure thing. Get some proper rest, big brother. Your little brother will come see you later."
It was the same familiar feeling. Madara watched Izuna's gesticulating figure head toward the neighboring tent, then suddenly spoke. "Has Kosuke woken up?"
Izuna's bouncing figure stopped. He turned to look at his older brother, who was lying in bed and trying hard to turn his head. "He has. At the same time you did just now."
"He woke up... Good. Now get out."
"Sure thing!"
Madara wearily closed his eyes and carefully sensed the changes in himself after awakening his eyes just now.
He was certain that his Two-Tomoe Sharingan had completely evolved.
"Hahaha, Little Kosuke, you didn't see it just now. Big brother thought he was still trapped in a genjutsu. The way he roared, he looked like a god of slaughter descending upon the world—terrifying."
Seeing Izuna's excited expression, Kosuke guessed inwardly, He probably took the chance to provoke Madara. Otherwise, why would Madara roar like that?
Before you continue