God's Power

"Elder Setsuna, what is the Mangekyō?"

Yashiro and the others were confused, and hurried forward to ask.

Setsuna looked at his clansmen, his expression grave and solemn as he told them:

"The Mangekyō Sharingan is the next stage of evolution after the Three-Tomoe Sharingan. It is the Uchiha's ultimate power! Lord Madara Uchiha possessed a pair of those eyes."

Setsuna had been one of Madara's followers. When he was young, he had naturally seen Madara's Mangekyō.

"The Mangekyō..."

The dozens of clansmen present murmured those three words.

Only today had they learned that the Three-Tomoe Sharingan wasn't the Sharingan's final form. There was another stage beyond it: the Mangekyō.

Madara Uchiha had possessed the Mangekyō, too.

Even though none of them had witnessed its power, who among them hadn't heard the legends about Madara, their former Clan Head?

He had stood at the pinnacle of the Ninja World, a powerful man surpassed only by the God of Shinobi, Hashirama Senju.

Although Madara had abandoned the Uchiha, many clansmen were still proud of him to this day and aspired to follow in his footsteps.

Because he had been so strong.

And now, Elder Setsuna was saying that Shisui possessed the same Mangekyō Sharingan as Madara.

At the thought,

the clansmen all turned to stare at Shisui's eyes. He hadn't even revealed any of the Mangekyō's power yet, but their gazes were already filled with awe.

"So I lost because of the Mangekyō. Looks like I'm not too weak—Shisui's just too strong."

Yashiro still managed to find an excuse for himself, hoping to save some face.

No one paid him any attention.

Even Inohi and Tekka beside him were staring fixedly at Shisui's eyes, their own filled with longing and yearning.

The battle between Dan and Shisui had finally reached its most thrilling moment.

Shisui fixed his gaze on Dan and spoke slowly:

"You're too strong—terrifyingly strong. Right now, the only way I can think of to defeat you is to use that technique. I have to stop you, Dan!"

His words showed that he recognized and admired Dan's strength, but above all, they revealed his resolve to defeat him.

To save the Uchiha Clan.

"Come on." Dan still had only those two words.

He knew Shisui's Mangekyō technique was Kotoamatsukami, which could permanently alter another person's will, but it took more than a decade to recharge after a single use.

The "technique" Shisui meant probably wasn't Kotoamatsukami. After all, what he had to do was defeat Dan in front of all the clansmen.

That left only Susanoo.

Was Dan afraid?

He wasn't.

Whoosh.

He pushed off the ground and shot toward Shisui like a cannonball, throwing a punch that sent a gale surging around him.

Shisui's gaze sharpened as his Pupil Power burst forth.

The next second,

a huge green hand, four or five meters long, abruptly appeared behind Shisui. It clenched into a fist and punched forward.

Bang!

The enormous fist, taller than a person, collided head-on with Dan and sent him flying back several meters.

Thud, thud, thud.

Dan steadied himself and shook out his hand. His arm felt a little numb, but it wasn't serious.

He looked at Shisui again.

"Ha!"

Shisui let out a fierce shout and formed the Tiger Hand Seal. An enormous mass of Chakra, so dense it had become tangible, surged out of his body.

Starting with the green hand,

Chakra rose from the ground behind Shisui, taking shape as several rows of ribs, a spine, and a skull, until at last—

it formed a nearly seven-meter-tall, translucent green skeletal giant.

But it wasn't over yet.

Next, sinews and flesh appeared inside the skeleton. A Chakra Cloak enveloped its body and formed a breastplate, while a spiral-shaped long sword appeared in its right hand.

At last,

a majestic, half-bodied, armored Susanoo stood before Dan and all the Uchiha clansmen.

"So this is the God's Power Shisui was talking about?"

Itachi was utterly stunned.

At that moment, through his Sharingan,

the green giant seemed to be made entirely of tangible Chakra. It shone brilliantly like the sun, and its power was beyond anything he could imagine a ninja wielding.

Among the crowd, Uchiha Setsuna called out the giant's name:

"Susanoo! That's right—it's Susanoo!"

The clansmen came to their senses, still stunned, and hurriedly asked Setsuna what Susanoo was.

When Madara Uchiha had left Konoha, he had taken many of the clan's books and secret techniques with him.

Since then, the Sharingan's secrets—the Mangekyō and Susanoo—had all but vanished from memory. Only the Clan Head and elders like Setsuna knew anything about them.

"Susanoo is the ultimate ocular technique that only Uchiha Ninja who have awakened the Mangekyō can use.

"Can you see it? Shisui has given form to his Pupil Power and summoned a guardian deity outside his body. It possesses absolute defense and unparalleled offensive power.

"Back then, Lord Madara Uchiha used this very Susanoo to battle the First Hokage's Wood Style at the Valley of the End.

"This is the Uchiha's God's Power. Any enemy who has seen it with their own eyes on the battlefield has met their end."

Pointing at Shisui's Susanoo, Setsuna excitedly explained it to the clansmen.

Ultimate power, the ultimate ocular technique, God's Power!

The words made everyone's heads buzz.

In the distance,

Kakashi, hiding in a tree, touched his left eye.

So the eye Obito had given him held such incredible potential? It was hard to believe.

He suddenly felt that he had wasted its gifts all these years, using the Sharingan only to copy Ninjutsu and wield Chidori.

If that guy Obito were still alive, perhaps... he, too, could have awakened these eyes known as the Mangekyō.

After all,

although people had always called him a dead-last, Kakashi, as his teammate, knew that Obito was actually a genius.

In the clearing,

Shisui moved.

As he walked forward, the enormous Susanoo moved in sync with him.

Susanoo had several forms, ranging from its initial form through the first, second, third, and fourth stages, all the way to the final Perfect Susanoo.

The form Shisui had mastered was the Second Form, a half-bodied, armored Susanoo. Though it wasn't as powerful as the later forms, it had the best balance.

Shisui had deliberately kept Susanoo's height to seven meters, four times his own height. It wasn't too tall or too short.

That made it easiest to control.

He had to defeat Dan as quickly as possible.

Dan had punched Shisui, leaving him in poor condition. He couldn't keep Susanoo up for long, but this God's Power would let him finish the fight quickly.

With that thought in mind,

whoosh.

Shisui sent Susanoo into action. The Spiral Sword in its right hand spun at high speed and thrust toward Dan like a giant drill.

Dan's gaze finally sharpened. This time, he didn't dare take the blow with his bare body.

He pushed off the ground and darted to the side, barely avoiding the Spiral Sword's thrust.

Rumble!

The Spiral Sword missed and slammed into the ground, punching a hole several meters deep. Its violent force spread underground, all the way to a point dozens of meters away.

Countless rocks flew into the air.

Seeing the incredible destruction, Fugaku furrowed his brow and shouted to the clansmen around him, "Everyone, spread out! Be careful not to get caught in it."

At the Clan Head's command, the clansmen hurriedly retreated twenty or thirty meters, content to watch from a distance.

Whoosh.

After dodging Susanoo's sword, Dan didn't keep dodging or retreating. Instead, he charged straight at Susanoo.

In his view,

Shisui had been too fast before, making it difficult to keep up with him. But now that he had brought out Susanoo, his mobility had dropped sharply, and he had become clumsy.

At last, Dan had taken the initiative and could attack freely.

Yes, he was going to attack.