Until my back took a glare

"Looks like your fight with Uchiha Madara wasn't a very pleasant experience."

Uchiha Mai kept up the trash talk.

"Laugh if you want."

Ōnoki's aged face remained cold as he said, "When I was young, I couldn't fight back against him at all.

"You could even say Uchiha Madara only needed one glance to defeat me back then. But so what? He's dead, and I'm still alive.

"True strength is strength of spirit. It means weathering the lows, seeing the heights, knowing how insignificant you are, and still refusing to give up as you strive to rise.

"I'm grateful to him. If he hadn't shown me how insignificant I was, I wouldn't have studied and trained so desperately in my youth."

What doesn't kill me only makes me stronger.

Uchiha Madara had certainly possessed the power to kill Ōnoki. He had simply disdained to do it back then.

Clap, clap, clap...

Uchiha Mai applauded and sighed. "Never have I met anyone who could dress up a crushing defeat in such lofty terms."

Ōnoki had mocked Uchiha Mai earlier for making running away sound so refined. This was his comeback.

"I couldn't defeat Uchiha Madara back then, but killing you will serve just as well. Now that I think about it, you really do bear some resemblance to the young Uchiha Madara.

"Today, I'll wash away my past humiliation with Uchiha blood."

As Ōnoki spoke, he suddenly raised both hands, forming a gesture much like Tien Shinhan's Tri-Beam and aiming it at Uchiha Mai in the sky.

Holy shit, Dust Release!

Uchiha Mai immediately went on alert. Until now, their exchanges had been indirect. Was he finally about to face Ōnoki head-on?

The clay giant Ōnoki had released earlier couldn't effectively threaten Takuya and the others. The Konoha ninja had already