Dragging his gravely wounded body, Dance King walked toward the others one step at a time.
His bloodstained clothes and broken left arm spoke volumes about how brutal the battle he had fought had been.
Yet Uchiha Madara still wore his usual defiant, arrogant expression. Holding his sword in one hand, he pointed it at Nara Kensuke, whose face had turned ashen.
Behind him, the Akimichi Clan's Jonin lay decapitated.
The sword wound in his chest showed that he had been struck down in a head-on fight.
"How is this possible?" Nara Kensuke looked dazed, unable to believe that his companion had been killed single-handedly by a boy of about ten.
But the imposing aura radiating from the boy left him no choice but to believe what he was seeing.
Behind them, Kyosuke wasn't surprised in the slightest.
That was Uchiha Madara—the current reincarnation of Indra's Chakra.
With the strength of a peak Elite Chunin, was it really that strange for him to fight a Jonin one-on-one and win?
Rather than dwell on how he'd fought, Kyosuke was more interested in the changes in Dance King's eyes.
That eerie light made everyone who met his gaze feel a chill deep in their hearts.
Madara had finally awakened his Sharingan, five whole years earlier than in the original story.
At that moment, Kyosuke understood that the effects of his presence as a butterfly had begun to alter the course of the Shinobi World.
With Madara awakening his eyes early, his strength will surely surpass what it was before. I wonder if Hashirama will still be able to keep him in check this time.
As Kyosuke pondered, Uchiha Madara approached and came to a stop, facing him at a right angle.
The two stared straight ahead, their auras locked firmly onto Nara Kensuke.
With the Ino-Shika-Cho trio dead, the remaining ninja were no longer a threat.
No matter how bloodthirsty the Three Clans were, they wouldn't send a whole group of Jonin to the Uchiha Clan Compound to die.
How could they expect to carry on afterward?
Sending three Jonin on a suicide mission was already their limit. All three had been involved in the attack; if they refused to go, their enraged clansmen would have killed them anyway.
As for the other ninja, no one would be foolish enough to volunteer for a mission certain to end in death.
"You're the last one, scum." Madara held his sword in one hand, his presence growing ever more imposing.
This guy... Kyosuke drew a deep breath. He knew Dance King had already reached the threshold of becoming a Jonin.
After this battle, the Uchiha would have another true powerhouse.
Kyosuke slowly raised his short sword and leaned forward, like a black panther sizing up its prey.
A Jonin was a walking bounty worth thousands of points. If he got the chance, Kyosuke had to steal the kill.
Someone else might resent him for trying, but there was no need to worry about that with Dance King.
Damn it, I'm going all in for those points! He rapidly formed Hand Seals, and the Chakra within him began to churn wildly.
His already aching body now felt as though it were being torn apart.
That was right. To steal the kill, Kyosuke planned to force his Body Flicker Technique.
"If I'm going to die, I'll take you all with me!" Knowing he couldn't escape his fate, Nara Kensuke gave up resisting altogether.
He gathered all his Chakra, and the shadow beneath his feet began to spread wildly in every direction.
Blades of shadow rose from the darkness, piercing everyone nearby, friend and foe alike.
Secret Technique: Explosive Shadow Dive!
"Go to hell with me!" Nara Kensuke had abandoned all defense, which meant he couldn't escape the shadow blades' onslaught either.
Without needing to control their power, the technique spread even faster.
At least one of those two Uchiha brats was going to die here.
"Get back!" Uchiha Madara's expression changed abruptly. Chakra burst beneath his feet as he raced backward.
But the shadow blades were too fast. The moment he leaped, spikes like the scythe of the Shinigami sprang up beneath him.
In just one second, Indra's Chakra could be reincarnated again.
"I, Uchiha Madara, will not die here!" At the critical moment, a mysterious force seemed to surge through him.
He poured his entire frenzied aura into a single slash. The shadow blades, which seemed powerful enough to destroy everything, were reduced to dust beneath his sword.
"Damn it." Nara Kensuke gritted his teeth, knowing he couldn't kill Madara.
So he turned his attention to the younger Kyosuke, fixing him with a vicious stare. He would take the boy with him to the Pure Land.
I'm done for. Kyosuke's eyes felt as though they would split apart, one thought echoing over and over in his mind.
I can't dodge.
He didn't have Uchiha Madara's overwhelming strength. He couldn't cut through a Jonin's last-ditch attack.
And as for dodging—
An explosive Body Flicker Technique demanded that he charge straight ahead. There was no turning sharply or retreating.
In other words, charging forward was his only option.
[System Prompt: Spend 5000 points to raise Shisui Style Body Flicker Technique to Level 2.]
At the brink of life and death, he couldn't afford to think twice. He spent his points to forcefully raise the level of his technique.
"Die!" Sand and gravel burst apart beneath his feet, and in an instant, Kyosuke vanished from where he stood.
In the distance, Uchiha Madara leaned on his sword for support, his eyes burning with fury as if he meant to set the world ablaze.
He swore to himself that if anything happened to Kyosuke, he would slaughter all three southern clans, leaving not a soul alive.
By then, the fighting elsewhere had also ended.
But no one felt any joy. The boy hailed as the most gifted in Uchiha history might have died at the enemy's hands.
"Damn it!" one clansman roared, his eyes bloodshot.
"Big brother!" Along with the familiar cry, Izuna hurried over with a group of Genin.
Seeing the bodies strewn everywhere made Izuna's scalp prickle. Thankfully, his older brother was unharmed, and he finally felt a little relief.
He looked around and remarked, "We have that guy to thank. Otherwise, who knows what kind of chaos would've broken out."
"By the way, where is he? Did he run off in fright?!"
Izuna had meant to crack a joke, but everyone there looked grim, their words caught in their throats.
He paused, gradually realizing what had happened. "No way. How could that guy..."
Madara patted his younger brother on the shoulder and said in a low voice, "Notify the clansmen first."
"No, this can't be happening. I haven't gotten my revenge on you yet, and you dared to go and die?" Izuna lowered his head as negative emotions surged wildly within him.
In the clan, everyone treated him as the Clan Head's son, Madara's younger brother. Only Kyosuke had truly treated him as Uchiha Izuna.
"We agreed we'd fight side by side someday. You lying bastard!" Izuna clenched his fists, and a strange glint seemed to flash in his eyes.
"Izuna." Madara shut his eyes in pain. He wanted to say something, but didn't know what.
Grief spread among them. They exchanged bitter smiles, unable to feel the slightest joy at their victory.
"Hey, have you finished cursing me out, you bastard?" A faint murmur made everyone there draw a sharp breath.
They turned around in disbelief. From the shadowy thicket the enemy had created, a figure stumbled out.
"Quick, give me a hand." Kyosuke laughed bitterly as two pitch-black Tomoe slowly turned in his eyes.
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