Awakening

The rain poured down.

Blazing flames clashed with countless Water Release Ninjutsu, producing vast clouds of white steam. The excess vapor drifted through the town like fog, but the heavy rain soon scattered it, leaving Sakuya and Tsunade no room to dodge.

"The rain's getting heavier, Sakuya."

Watching the downpour around them, Tsunade bit her lip, her heart pounding with worry.

She had managed to purge the Ibuse poison from her body with Katsuyu during the opening Sakuya had created by cutting through the enemy ranks, but her injuries were too severe. She still couldn't fight.

Even now, breaking through the endless swarm of ninja depended entirely on Sakuya.

But even he had his limits. He was a Fire Release specialist, and the torrential rain would greatly weaken his techniques. On top of that, he had to carry her.

The Toad Oil Jiraiya had planted beforehand had all been used up during the earlier fighting. With the rain pouring down, the downpour alone would extinguish most of Sakuya's flames. And there were still more ninja surrounding them than the eye could see.

"Katsuyu! Am I still not healed?"

Tsunade anxiously watched Katsuyu, who was treating her from her shoulder.

"I'm afraid not, Lady Tsunade. Your injuries are too severe. The Ibuse poison ravaged your nerves and blood vessels. Even though we forced most of it out just now, some remains. The moment you use chakra, the residual poison will flare up and invade your internal organs."

Katsuyu sounded just as anxious. "It will take at least five hours for your body to recover to normal. There's no way you can help right now!"

"Damn it!"

Tsunade gritted her teeth.

She knew some Water Release Ninjutsu, too. If she were still able to fight, she could at least hold off the enemies on one side in these conditions and make things easier for Sakuya.

"Don't be afraid."

Sensing Tsunade's anxiety, Sakuya looked back at her and smiled.

"It's nothing. Just stay on my back and focus on healing. Hold on tight. Don't let go."

"Sakuya..."

Tsunade stared blankly at his face.

It was the first time she had seen him smile so warmly.

Uchiha Sakuya usually wore an impassive expression.

It seemed like nothing could move him.

Not even what had happened in the Land of Fang had ever brought out a look like this.

But now, he was smiling like that.

And... he looked so warm.

Like the sun.

Tsunade instinctively tightened her arms around Sakuya's neck.

She pressed herself close against his back.

It was like being in the cold of winter, then having Grandma bring her to the kotatsu.

He was... so warm.

"Can we... get out of here?"

Tsunade whispered.

There were so many enemies.

It wasn't just the two of them.

Even the strongest Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, would probably be swallowed up by such a vast sea of people.

"It'll be all right."

Sakuya looked back at Tsunade.

"I told you. We're getting out."

"Sakuya..."

Tsunade looked up, staring blankly at his profile.

His rain-soaked hair lay lightly against his brow, and his scarlet eyes now shone with the light of the sun.

Those red suns were so dazzling they almost obscured Uchiha Sakuya's handsome face.

"Sakuya... your eyes... your eyes..."

Only then did Tsunade realize what had happened.

At some point,

Uchiha Sakuya's Sharingan had changed from Three Tomoe into a pattern like the sun.

So luminous,

so fiery.

They were truly beautiful.

Tsunade was entranced for a moment.

But soon, she realized what it meant.

According to legend, besides the tomoe-patterned Sharingan, the Uchiha possessed another kind of eye.

Since the era of the hidden villages began, only one man had ever awakened it—the man who stood alongside her grandfather in legend.

An eye with a pattern utterly unlike the Three Tomoe, and the power of a "god."

"Mangekyō... Sharingan."

Tsunade hesitantly spoke the name of those eyes. "Sakuya, your eyes have..."

"Yeah, my eyes."

When had they evolved from the Three Tomoe?

Sakuya didn't know.

Ever since he'd learned Tsunade was trapped in Amegakure, ever since he'd charged back into the village and seen her kneeling there, covered in wounds,

the Yin Release Chakra in his eyes had been surging wildly.

It had taken only a short time.

The Yin Release Chakra in his eyes had already multiplied several times over.

But...

This power.

This authority.

It still wasn't enough! Not nearly enough!

Genjutsu was useless against a crowd like this!

Even the Fire Release he prided himself on would be doused by the rain.

Everything I can do is countered by this downpour!

I need a more special kind of flame! I need greater power!

The sun in his pupils burned.

Blazing heat surged from his eyes.

Sakuya raised his hand, and at his will, a wisp of black flame ignited in his palm.

"So that's it. This is the Mangekyō ability?"

He murmured to himself.

An endless, undying Eternal Burning Flame.

A surging, furious blaze capable of consuming everything!

The Mangekyō ability he had simulated this time: Amaterasu.

Yes. If he wanted to break through this curtain of rain, there was no ability more suitable than Amaterasu.

Her body... was getting hot.

Had the rain stopped?

Tsunade, who had been staring at Sakuya's eyes, suddenly shuddered.

She could feel it clearly.

The moment the patterns in Sakuya's eyes became suns, the torrential rain around them had vanished.

No... it had been evaporated!

A black dragon of flame coiled up from around them, like an abyss capable of swallowing everything. It kept the rain, the Water Release and Shuriken hurled by the Rain Ninja... everything, at bay.

No, it set everything alight. It burned everything to ashes!

The ominous flames raised the temperature around them by dozens of degrees the instant they appeared.

In a flash, the bitter cold became searing heat.

"Burn... to nothing!"

Sakuya clenched his fist, crushing the Black Flame in his hand.

At his command, half the flames seeped through the gaps between his fingers and spread across his body.

At last, they extended from his left shoulder, transforming into a brand-new black arm.

The other half of the Black Flame swirled before him, finally forming a great bow two meters long.

Sakuya gripped the bow with his right hand and drew the string with his left hand of Black Flame. His chakra gathered within the flames, condensing into a black arrow.

He aimed the bow at the sky.

The Fire Release technique he had been trying to devise suddenly became clear to him the moment he gained Amaterasu.

"Thou art the Vermilion Light that Burns the Heavens."

Unlike ordinary ninjutsu, he didn't prefix its name with Fire Release. This was no ordinary technique.

It belonged only to Sakuya, only to this body, only to the Eye of Amaterasu.

The black arrow of flame shattered the clouds that had circled above Amegakure for who knew how many years.

The next moment, the black flames became an ominous rain, falling from the sky.

This was a natural disaster.