Opening the Eyes!

"Still not dead?"

The voice from beneath the captain of the guards' mask held a cruel, cat-and-mouse amusement.

He slowly raised his hand, a dazzling spear of lightning condensing in his palm, its crackling current an earsplitting sound in the rainy night.

"Then I'll deal with the fastest runner first."

Before his words even fell, his figure vanished from his spot.

"Minato! Dodge!" Nishikawa Tetsu shouted with all his might, trying to form hand seals to cast a ninjutsu, but the previous blow had already cracked his ribs, the searing pain slowing his movements by half a beat.

Namikaze Minato's pupils contracted sharply, his azure eyes reflecting the rapidly enlarging lightning.

He desperately tried to activate the Body Flicker Technique, but the injury to his leg and the recent impact caused a momentary lag in his neural response.

In a battle of this level, an instant was the difference between life and death.

"Too slow!"

"Puchi!"

The lightning spear pierced Namikaze Minato's right shoulder without any flourish, pinning him against the slippery wall.

The violent Lightning Style Chakra instantly invaded Minato's body, his golden hair turning black and curling, his entire form slumping like a rag doll, his life or death unknown.

"Minato!"

Uchiha Fugaku's eyes widened in fury, and just as he was about to charge forward, he was fiercely engaged by three other Rain Shinobi.

"Don't rush, Uchiha brat, it'll be your turn soon."

The captain of the guards pulled out the lightning spear, looking at the fallen Minato, and disdainfully flicked the blood from his hand.

Then, he turned around, his cold eyes locking onto Nishikawa Tetsu, who was sprawled on the ground.

"As for you, the rat who only knows how to play clever tricks."

The captain walked towards Nishikawa Tetsu step by step.

"In the face of absolute power, your little tricks are nothing but a joke."

Nishikawa Tetsu struggled to get up, reaching for his ninja pouch, where his last explosive flash bomb remained.

But as his hand moved, a foot wrapped in Chakra stomped down hard on his wrist.

"Crack."

The sound of bone shattering was clearly audible.

"Urgh..." Nishikawa Tetsu let out a muffled groan, cold sweat instantly soaking his clothes, but he didn't utter another sound, only staring intently at his opponent.

"Good eyes, unfortunately, too weak."

The captain raised the long sword in his hand, the tip aimed at Nishikawa Tetsu's heart.

"Farewell."

"Stop!!!"

Uchiha Fugaku let out a beast-like roar, ignoring the two ninja swords slashing at his back, enduring the two bone-deep wounds carved into his back, and forcefully breaking through to charge towards Nishikawa Tetsu.

But he was still too late.

The sword light fell.

"Puff!"

The muffled sound of the blade piercing flesh was exceptionally clear amidst the rain.

Nishikawa Tetsu's body trembled violently, blood gushing from the blade, instantly dyeing the accumulated water beneath him red.

His pupils gradually glazed over, and he looked in Fugaku's direction, his lips moving as if to say something, but in the end, he only spat out a large mouthful of blood mixed with internal organ fragments.

Then, the hand that had been tightly clutching the ninja pouch fell limply into the muddy water.

At that moment, the world seemed to stand still.

The sound of rain disappeared, the sound of thunder disappeared.

Uchiha Fugaku froze in place, staring blankly at the boy lying in a pool of blood, a long sword plunged into his chest.

The boy who helped him refine his Fire Style. The boy who always said, "This is science." The boy who told him that strength and merit were the only ways to break through prejudice.

He was dead?

Just like that... dead?

"No, it's impossible."

Fugaku's breathing became rapid and chaotic, his heart feeling as though it were being squeezed by an invisible giant hand, the pain making it impossible to breathe.

A sense of loss and regret, immense and unprecedented, instantly drowned his reason like a black tide.

I am the captain.

I promised Lord Jiraiya that I would bring them back.

I am the young patriarch of the Uchiha, I possess these eyes, yet I couldn't even protect two of my subordinates?!

The oath made at the clan meeting that night, the battles fought side-by-side these past three months, every memory shattered into dust at this moment.

"It's all because I... am too weak."

Extreme grief and rage generated special chakra in his brain, frantically assaulting his optic nerves.

The originally scarlet Three Tomoe Sharingan, stimulated by this surge of negative emotion, began to tremble violently, fuse, and transform.

"Aaaaaaaaah!!!"

Uchiha Fugaku let out a sky-piercing roar, two streams of blood flowed from the corners of his eyes, tracing down his cheeks and dripping into the rain.

Those eyes had changed.

No longer three separate tomoe, they connected, forming a bizarre pattern resembling a black shuriken.

Mangekyo Sharingan!

"Hm?"

The captain of the personal guard sensed the bone-chilling chakra fluctuation behind him and instinctively reached for his sword, preparing to retreat.

But the instant he drew his blade, a tangible surge of black chakra erupted from Fugaku's body.

"Boom!"

This wasn't ninjutsu; it was the pure materialization of chakra.

A colossal skeleton, engulfed in black flames, appeared out of thin air around Fugaku, enveloping him tightly.

The initial form of Susanoo.

"What kind of monster is this?"

The remaining three Rain shinobi retreated in terror. The ninjutsu they launched struck the black skeleton like raindrops on rock, utterly ineffective.

At this moment, Uchiha Fugaku slowly raised his head.

The Mangekyo Sharingan in his eyes were as cold as ice, as if he were looking at a group of corpses.

"You will all die."

His voice was hoarse, like a demon from hell.

"Wh--"

Before the captain of the personal guard could speak, a flash of purple light flickered before his eyes.

The black skeletal arm instantly elongated, moving so fast that even he, a master of Lightning Style, couldn't react. It grabbed his neck.

"Crack."

No wasted words, no fancy techniques.

Just the brute force of Susanoo's grip.

The captain, a powerful elite shinobi, had his neck snapped. He was flung aside like a dead chicken, smashing heavily against the wall before sliding down, lifeless.

"Captain?!"

The remaining three Rain shinobi were terrified out of their wits and turned to flee.

"Run?"

The pattern in Uchiha Fugaku's eyes spun wildly as his gaze focused.

"Amaterasu!"

Fugaku's right eye focused sharply, and where his gaze fell, black flames ignited out of thin air.

The screams lasted only a few short seconds before the three Rain shinobi turned to ash in the inextinguishable black flames.

Annihilated.

Silence returned to the alley, only the black flames continued to burn quietly in the rain.

Fugaku deactivated Susanoo, his body swaying violently. The intense pain from his eyes nearly made him faint.

He staggered to Nishikawa Tetsu and Namikaze Minato, then knelt in the muddy water.

Minato was pinned to the wall, his breathing so faint it was almost imperceptible.

Nishikawa Tetsu lay prone on the ground, the wounds on his back a horrifying sight, the blood beneath him having spread into a large pool.

"Wake up... don't sleep..."

Fugaku's trembling hands reached out, wanting to check their injuries, but stopped midway, afraid to touch.

He was afraid.

Afraid of touching cold corpses.

The young patriarch of the Uchiha, who had always presented himself with arrogance and coldness, now had a tearful tremor in his voice.

However, just as his hand was about to touch Nishikawa Tetsu.

The young man who should have been "stone dead" suddenly coughed violently, then sharply pulled out the long sword lodged in his chest--

Only the hilt and half of the blade remained.

"Cough, cough... It hurts so much..."

Nishikawa Tetsu spat out a mouthful of clotted blood and, with some effort, opened his eyes. He looked at Fugaku, whose face was covered in blood and tears and whose eyes had changed drastically. He weakly tugged at the corner of his mouth.

"Senior, are your eyes crying because I scared you?"

At this moment, beneath Nishikawa Tetsu's torn clothes, a thick metal chest plate that had been pierced was revealed, along with several burst blood packs.

He had specially added the armor to his chest to prevent sneak attacks, and it had unexpectedly saved his life.

Uchiha Fugaku: "..."

He looked at the blood pack in his hand that was still dripping "fake blood," then at Nishikawa Tetsu's face, which was pale but clearly still alive.

His grief instantly froze, followed by an urge to kill, and... the elation of surviving a disaster.