Thirty-five: Awakening

The rain poured down in torrents.

Blazing flames surged against countless Water Style ninjutsu, generating massive clouds of white steam. This excess vapor drifted through the village like fog, but it was quickly scattered by the downpour, failing to provide Uchiha Sakuya and his companion with any suitable cover for evasion.

"The rain is getting heavier, Sakuya."

Watching the deluge around them, Tsunade bit her lip, her heart filled with anxiety.

During the gap Uchiha Sakuya had carved out earlier, she had successfully used Katsuyu to purge the Salamander poison from her body, but her injuries were too severe; she still lacked the strength to fight.

To break out from this endless sea of ninjas, they still had to rely on Uchiha Sakuya alone.

Yet human strength had its limits, especially since Uchiha Sakuya was a Fire Style user. In this torrential downpour, the power of his ninjutsu would be significantly diminished, not to mention the fact that he was carrying her.

The toad oil Jiraiya had pre-planted had been completely exhausted during their earlier rampage. Now, with the rain pouring down, whenever Uchiha Sakuya used fire, the rain alone would extinguish most of it, to say nothing of the endless swarm of ninjas surrounding them.

"Lady Katsuyu! Are my injuries not healed yet?"

Tsunade looked anxiously at Katsuyu, who was perched on her shoulder providing treatment.

"It is not enough, Lady Tsunade. Your injuries are too severe. Both your nerves and blood vessels were ravaged by the Salamander poison. Although the toxin was expelled, some residue remains. If you attempt to use chakra, the remaining toxins will instantly erupt and invade your internal organs."

Katsuyu sounded equally anxious: "It will take at least five hours—five hours for your body to return to a normal state. It is simply impossible for you to help right now!"

"Damn it!"

Tsunade gritted her teeth.

She knew a few Water Style techniques herself. If she still had the strength to fight, she could at least defend Uchiha Sakuya from one side in this environment, making things easier for him.

"Don't be afraid."

Sensing Tsunade's anxious mood, Uchiha Sakuya turned his head and offered her a smile.

"It's no big deal. Just stay quietly on my back and focus on healing. Hold onto me tight, and don't let go."

"Sakuya..."

Tsunade stared blankly at Uchiha Sakuya's face.

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

Usually, Uchiha Sakuya always wore a very indifferent expression.

It seemed as if it were difficult for anything to move him.

Even during that incident in the Land of Fang, he had never shown such an expression.

But this time, he was showing it.

However... it looked so warm.

It was just like the sun.

Tsunade subconsciously tightened her arms around Uchiha Sakuya's neck.

She pressed her body firmly against his back.

It felt as if she were in the middle of a cold winter, being tucked into a kotatsu by her grandmother.

It was... truly so warm.

"Can we... escape?"

Tsunade whispered.

There were so many enemies.

Let alone them.

Even if Hiruzen Sarutobi, the strongest Hokage, were here, he would likely be drowned by such a sea of people.

"It's alright."

Uchiha Sakuya looked back at Tsunade.

"I said we would escape."

"Sakuya..."

Tsunade looked up, staring blankly at Uchiha Sakuya's profile.

His rain-drenched hair rested lightly against his brow, and his scarlet eyes were currently radiating the brilliance of the sun.

Those red suns were so dazzling that they almost overshadowed 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 shifted from the Three Tomoe into a pattern resembling the sun.

Such a bright, Such a scorching pattern.

It was truly, so beautiful.

Tsunade was momentarily dazed by the sight.

But soon, she realized something.

According to legend, beyond the tomoe types, there existed a mythical form of the Uchiha Sharingan.

Since the era of the hidden villages, it was an eye that had only appeared in the man who stood on equal footing with her grandfather.

An eye with a pattern completely distinct from the Three Tomoe, possessing the power of a "god."

"Mangekyo... Sharingan."

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

"Ah, my eyes."

When did they evolve from the Three Tomoe?

Sakuya did not know.

Ever since he learned that Tsunade was trapped in Amegakure, ever since he broke into Amegakure again and saw Tsunade kneeling there, covered in wounds.

The Yin-attribute chakra in his eyes had been surging wildly.

It took only a very short time.

The Yin-attribute chakra in his eyes had already surged to several times its original level.

But.

This power.

This authority.

It was not enough! Not nearly enough!

Genjutsu was completely useless against a crowd like this!

The Fire Release he took pride in would be extinguished by the heavy rain.

Every ability I possess is countered by this downpour!

I need a more special flame! I need more powerful strength!

The sun within his pupils was burning.

The heat radiating from it was rising.

Sakuya raised his hand, and following his will, that streak of pitch-black flame ignited in his palm.

"So that's how it is, is this the ocular technique?"

He murmured.

The endless, inexhaustible Eternal Burning Flame.

A surging, furious flame that could burn everything to ash!

The Mangekyo ocular technique he had simulated this time: Amaterasu.

Yes, if he wanted to break through this curtain of rain, there was no ocular technique more suitable than Amaterasu.

His body... was getting hot.

Did the heavy rain stop?

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

She clearly felt it.

The torrential rain that had been pouring down vanished the moment Sakuya's eyes transformed into sun-like patterns.

No... it was evaporated!

A pitch-black dragon of fire spiraled up around them, like an abyss capable of devouring everything, isolating the heavy rain, the Water Release techniques launched by the Rain ninja, the shuriken... everything was kept outside the fire.

No, it was igniting everything, burning everything to nothingness!

This ominous flame raised the temperature around them by dozens of degrees the instant it appeared.

In a flash, it shifted from freezing cold to scorching heat.

"Burn... to ash!"

Sakuya violently crushed the black flames in his hand.

Under his control, half of the black flames spilled from between his fingers and spread across his body.

Finally, it extended from his left shoulder, forming an entirely new black arm.

The other half of the black flames swirled in front of him, eventually forming a large bow, a full two meters long.

Sakuya gripped the bow with his right hand, pulled the string with his black-flame left hand, and his chakra, wrapped in the black flames, gradually gathered to form a black arrow.

He aimed the bow and arrow toward the sky.

The Fire Release technique he had been thinking about how to create became instantly clear the moment he obtained Amaterasu.

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

It did not bear the prefix of Fire Style like ordinary ninjutsu, for this was no ordinary technique.

It was a technique unique to Sakuya, unique to this body, and unique to the Eye of Amaterasu.

The arrow of pitch-black flame shattered the dark clouds that had swirled over Amegakure for who knew how many years.

The next moment, the jet-black inferno transformed into an ominous black rain, plummeting from the heavens.

This was a natural disaster.