Joining Forces

The Anbu moved through the ruins like ghosts, trying to guide the trapped villagers to safety;

The Jonin formed hand seals, preparing to unleash Ninjutsu and erect a defensive barrier;

The Chunin and Genin gathered together, staring tensely at the terrifying figure in the sky, their weapons clenched tightly in their hands.

But to Uchiha Genki, their actions looked like a bunch of clowns putting on a show.

"Heh heh heh... hahaha!" Genki threw his head back and laughed even more maniacally. His voice pierced the howling wind and rang across the battlefield. "Another bunch here to die? Fine! Just right... I'll have every last one of you perish along with this hypocritical world! Heh heh hahahaha! Come on! Come on! All of you, come at me!!"

As his voice fell, his strange Mangekyō Sharingan suddenly blazed to life, and the chakra surrounding him surged wildly once more!

The thousand-meter-tall Black Susanoo Armor seemed to receive his command. It slowly raised its massive hand and gripped the Eight-Handled Sword at its waist.

The blade flashed with a cold gleam in the moonlight, and its terrifying pressure instantly locked onto the assembled Leaf Ninja Force below.

Alarm bells rang in Sarutobi Hiruzen's mind, and his pupils contracted. "This is bad! Defend yourselves!"

But his warning came a moment too late. The Susanoo Armor swept its massive arm, and the several-hundred-meter-long sword came crashing down with world-ending force toward the Leaf Ninja Force and the villagers being evacuated!

Elsewhere, when Itachi Uchiha saw the Leaf Ninja Force arriving, he felt no joy at all. Instead, his eyes filled with anxiety.

He knew perfectly well that, given Genki's current strength, these ninja stood no chance. They would only add to the casualties.

He turned to Obito beside him, his voice urgent. "We have to work together! Otherwise, no one can stop him!"

Beneath his mask, Obito's expression was grave as he stared fixedly at the frenzied Genki in the sky. He slowly nodded. "All right. But understand this: our goal is only to stop him, not kill him."

Nearby, Uchiha Fugaku had been left completely stunned.

He looked at the terrifying Susanoo Armor, the panicked Leaf ninja below, and then at Itachi, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. Shock and confusion surged through him like a tide, yet he had no idea how to intervene in a battle that defied everything he knew.

"BOOM!!!"

The several-hundred-meter-long black sword came crashing down with world-ending force, and the Leaf ninja below had no time to form a proper defense.

At the last possible moment, the Jonin forces unleashed their chakra. Hundreds of Ninjutsu took shape at once—raging flames from Fire Style: Great Fire Annihilation, a massive dragon of water from Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet, thick stone walls from Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall, and razor-sharp currents of air from Wind Style: Wind Scythe Technique...

The Ninjutsu of thousands of ninja wove together into a multicolored net of energy, surging up to meet the descending sword.

Yet this power, which would normally have been enough to wipe out an entire nation's army, seemed utterly insignificant before Genki's ultimate Susanoo.

"CRACK—!"

The moment the sword collided with the web of Ninjutsu, an ear-splitting sound of energy tearing apart rang across the world.

The flames were crushed and extinguished in an instant, the water dragon was shredded into mist by the sword's force, the Earth-Style Wall crumbled like paper, and the Wind Cutter currents were scattered before they could even reach the blade.

The defensive net of Ninjutsu lasted barely a second before it completely collapsed. The terrifying aftershock of the sword swept down like a tidal wave, hurling dozens of ninja who couldn't react in time into the air. They spat blood as they crashed into the ruins.

"It's useless! Ordinary Ninjutsu can't hurt him!" Sarutobi Hiruzen's face turned ashen as he rapidly formed hand seals. "Fire Style: Fire Dragon Bullet!"

Two enormous fire dragons burst from his mouth, carrying energy far more violent than an ordinary Fire Dragon Flame Bullet. They hurtled toward the Susanoo Armor's legs.

But this attack was like a stone sinking into the sea. It left only a tiny flicker of flame on the black armor before fading away completely.

"Father!" Taking advantage of the brief opening, Itachi Uchiha rushed to Uchiha Fugaku's side. His voice was so urgent that he had no time to explain, so he shouted only the most important details. "He's Uchiha Genki! The massacre awakened his Special Mangekyo, which lets him devour souls to strengthen himself! His domain can strip away souls, and his Susanoo is a thousand-meter ultimate form! If we can't restrain him, Konoha will be wiped out!"

Fugaku Uchiha shuddered, staring at Genki with even greater shock and disbelief. "Devour souls? A Special Mangekyo? How can an ocular technique like that exist?!"

"Now's not the time to ask!" Blood trickled from the corner of Itachi's mouth again. The side effects of using his Mangekyō repeatedly made his head throb, but he forced himself to keep going. "His power comes from the souls he's devoured. We have to break through his Susanoo and interrupt his domain! Your Susanoo hasn't reached its complete form, but with my Totsuka Blade and Madara's power, we might have a chance!"

Obito moved over in an instant, his Sharingan beneath the mask fixed on Genki's movements. "My ability can only restrain him for a short time. You and your father will have to lead the attack. I'll use Kamui to distort the trajectory of his attacks. Take the opportunity to strike the joints of his Susanoo—that's where the chakra flow is weakest!"

Fugaku Uchiha looked at the ninja falling around him, at the village reduced to ruins, and then at Genki laughing maniacally in the sky, treating life as worthless. His shock and confusion gave way in an instant to resolve.

He swiftly drew the Tachi at his waist. His crimson Three-Tomoe Sharingan snapped open, and chakra surged from him. "All right! We'll join forces!"

"Susanoo Armor!"

Two surges of chakra erupted at once. Itachi's pale-red Perfect Susanoo took shape again. Though it had been severed once before and had lost some energy, it still stood nearly a hundred meters tall, the Totsuka Blade in its hand and its gaze sharp as a knife;

Fugaku's Susanoo was initially only three meters tall, but it quickly expanded into a twenty-meter half-body form. It wielded a long chakra blade. Though far smaller than Genki's Susanoo, it still carried a formidable edge.

"Now!" Obito's figure suddenly blurred. The next second, he appeared in front of Genki's Susanoo Armor.

"Kamui!" His Sharingan glimmered with an eerie light. The trajectory of the Susanoo Armor's next swing suddenly twisted. The sword, which had been aimed at the center of the ninja forces, was forcibly diverted and struck an empty stretch of ruins instead, splitting open another bottomless ravine.

"Go!" Itachi roared, controlling his pale-red Susanoo as it leaped forward. The Totsuka Blade, carrying the power of its seal, thrust viciously toward the Susanoo Armor's knee joint;

Fugaku followed close behind. His chakra blade gathered into a sharp edge and came slashing down toward the other joint.