Shūichi Uchiha had just sneaked back from Orochimaru's Base. The moment he opened his front gate, he saw Uchiha Itachi lying unconscious in the courtyard.
Shūichi Uchiha already knew how the battle had ended, thanks to the information he'd obtained from Orochimaru.
More importantly, he knew that Uchiha Itachi had reclaimed Uchiha Shisui's Kotoamatsukami.
"What is this? I just got home, and there's a huge gift waiting right at my door?"
Shūichi Uchiha's voice held the delight of someone who'd just found money on the road. And not a hundred or two hundred yuan, either—more like an entire snakeskin sack stuffed with cash.
He didn't waste time talking. He immediately searched Uchiha Itachi from head to toe, and soon found the other Kotoamatsukami Mangekyō Sharingan.
"Thank goodness Uchiha Itachi didn't stick this Mangekyō into the eye of his Crow Summon. Otherwise, I would've had to waste one use of Kotoamatsukami first."
After murmuring a couple of words, Shūichi Uchiha broke into an immensely excited smile. He picked up the Mangekyō and, without a moment's hesitation, gouged out his own left eye.
Shūichi Uchiha's left eye was the Kamui Sharingan he'd obtained from Hatake Kakashi. In terms of sheer absurdity, Kamui was every bit as powerful as Kotoamatsukami, if not more.
Kotoamatsukami had an astonishing effect, but its cooldown was extremely long. The Kamui Sharingan, on the other hand, was the strongest of all known Sharingan in terms of combat power.
With just one Kamui Sharingan, Uchiha Obito had been able to wreak havoc across the Shinobi World and even fight his own teacher, the Fourth Hokage, the Yellow Flash.
If he'd had both eyes and enough Dojutsu Power, even the Fourth Hokage might not have been able to beat him.
Especially in the final battle, Kakashi, equipped with both Kamui eyes, had been able to join the fight between the Child of Prophecy and Kaguya Otsutsuki. That alone showed how powerful they were.
However, he only had one Kamui Sharingan. And with Mangekyō Sharingan, having one eye was an entirely different matter from having both.
Two Kotoamatsukami Mangekyō Sharingan meant Shūichi Uchiha could awaken the Uchiha Clan's strongest power—Susanoo!
Though Susanoo was an ability inherent to all Mangekyō Sharingan and might seem commonplace, commonplace didn't mean weak. It could just as easily mean honed through countless battles and impossible to replace.
Susanoo was precisely that kind of irreplaceable ability. No matter how bad a Mangekyō Uchiha's luck was, or how useless his awakened Mangekyō abilities seemed, Susanoo gave him a solid foundation. When unleashed at full power, he was guaranteed to rank among the very strongest at Kage Level!
Forget whether a Mangekyō would go blind after unleashing its full power. Just answer this: when one went all out, wasn't a Mangekyō Uchiha powerful?
Shūichi Uchiha had never awakened the Mangekyō himself. The two Mangekyō he possessed had been taken from two different Mangekyō Uchiha, so he had never awakened Susanoo.
But now, he had both of Uchiha Shisui's Mangekyō. And after his body's genes had been modified, he could fully assimilate the Kotoamatsukami Mangekyō. With both eyes in place, there was a very good chance he'd awaken Susanoo.
Shūichi Uchiha pressed the Kotoamatsukami Mangekyō into his eye. A moment later, it had completely fused with him.
The two Mangekyō immediately resonated in a strange way. Shūichi Uchiha could feel that with both eyes in place, Kotoamatsukami itself had grown more powerful.
More importantly, a special force began flowing out from the pair of Mangekyō. Shūichi Uchiha understood at once: this was the Mangekyō Dojutsu he'd been hoping for.
"Susanoo!"
A faint green light enveloped Shūichi Uchiha's body, instantly forming a set of ribs made entirely of condensed Chakra.
The Chakra ribs looked a little translucent. Shūichi Uchiha drew a Kunai and tapped it lightly a few times. As he gradually increased his strength, the Kunai finally snapped with a sharp creak.
The Kunai was standard-issue equipment for Konoha ninja. The world of Naruto wasn't some ancient era; technology had already reached a near-modern level. As the official military force of the Land of Fire, Konoha naturally had high-quality weapons.
Normally, even a Kunai made from less-than-pure iron ore could pierce three inches into something under Shūichi Uchiha's hand. Susanoo's strength certainly hadn't disappointed him.
Shūichi Uchiha also checked how much Dojutsu Power his eye was using. Thanks to his enhanced White Zetsu Cells, the rib-cage stage of Susanoo didn't put any strain on him.
Muscles grew over the ribs, and the rib cage itself expanded. A skull and arm bones appeared... A moment later, a green upper-body giant, covered in muscle and looking like a skinless anatomical model, took shape.
Though it was only half a body, the Chakra giant still stood seven or eight meters tall. If Shūichi Uchiha hadn't lived in a remote corner of the Uchiha Clan Grounds, the other Uchiha would probably have spotted it already.
"At this stage... the Chakra consumption isn't small, but my Dojutsu Power can still keep up. In other words, this level of Susanoo is basically just a normal attack for me."
As for the next level—a third-stage Susanoo with skin and armor covering its body—that would probably count as a special move. It should put some strain on Shūichi Uchiha's pair of Kotoamatsukami Mangekyō, too.
Still, thanks to White Zetsu Cells, even if his Dojutsu Power dropped, he could recover after resting for a while.
"I should be able to take Susanoo up to the stage where it has legs. But I'm not sure about the final Susanoo with wings..."
The fourth stage of Susanoo was also called Complete Body Susanoo. At this stage, it grew legs and became a fully armed Chakra giant. An ordinary Mangekyō user could reach this stage by unleashing their full power, but even a single use came at the cost of going blind.
Even with White Zetsu Cells, using Susanoo at this level would make Shūichi Uchiha shed tears of blood and temporarily lose some of his eyesight. But that was still far better than what other Uchiha could manage.
This was, after all, Uchiha Clan territory. Even on the outskirts, Shūichi Uchiha didn't intend to summon Complete Body Susanoo. He hadn't even used the third stage; he simply withdrew his Dojutsu Power.
Then he lowered his head and looked at the unconscious Uchiha Itachi. He'd already received the big gift. Now it was time to deal with the situation at hand.
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