It looked as though Uchiha Fucheng had killed Salamander Doshin with a single glare.
That was just a "smokescreen" Uchiha Fucheng had used to put pressure on the Rain Ninja across from him.
The battlefield was filled with thunder and rain.
Fucheng appeared to have effortlessly controlled his opponent with genjutsu and made him kill himself.
But before the genjutsu took hold, he had used the lightning as visual cover to launch a sneak attack on Salamander Doshin with his Mangekyo Eye Technique.
[Right Eye: Takemikazuchi]
First, he activated the Takemikazuchi Realm to enhance his own lightning abilities.
Then he used the active attack ability [Eight Thunder Arrows] to mark his enemy. Lightning attacks would actively track their targets within a thousand meters.
Fucheng had simply used the lightning in the sky to cleverly conceal his Eight Thunder Arrows.
After he reduced the power of [Eight Thunder Arrows], the skill became very subtle to use.
As lightning flashed across the sky, Fucheng successfully struck Salamander Doshin's brainstem.
Before the Sharingan Genjutsu took control, Salamander Doshin's body was already beyond his control.
The Mangekyō's special eye technique was comparable to Uchiha Itachi's Amaterasu. Using it also made blood tears stream from the eyes.
But Fucheng had the Kamui Dimension, a reward from the system.
He cleverly used this mini Kamui to silently hide the blood that flowed after he used his eye technique.
What did people mean when they said Kamui couldn't hide tears?
That simply didn't apply to Uchiha Fucheng.
As he hid the blood tears, he was surprised to discover that this small personal Kamui space seemed to be able to grow larger.
"Could Ajisai's reward just now have increased my space-time talent a little?"
Fucheng's mini Kamui Dimension had already grown beyond its original one cubic meter.
It was now about 2×2×2 meters, more than eight times its original size.
As his space-time talent improved, he could sense the space much more clearly.
Using [Eight Thunder Arrows], hiding the Mangekyō's blood tears, making it look as though he'd used genjutsu to take control...
All those complex, delicate steps had been part of Fucheng's carefully staged "performance."
The final heart rupture was just another hole he made while controlling Salamander Doshin's body, which was already on the verge of brain death.
Even now, no one had noticed the trick.
On the back of Salamander Doshin's head was a charred mark about the size of a quarter, giving off the hot smell of scorched flesh.
All the remaining Rain Ninja had been captured.
The three White Zetsu hiding nearby still hadn't shown themselves.
Misaka Sister 007 surfaced!
Uchiha Fucheng looked at the muddy ground, where the water had risen above his ankles, and smiled as he waved to the Uchiha and the Misaka Sisters.
The covert battlefield hand signal: [Leave Ground]!
The precise signal sent the Uchiha Ninja into motion.
They brought the surrendered Rain Ninja with them and leaped onto the tall wall formed by the Earth-Style Wall.
Misaka Sister 007 also climbed to the top of a large tree.
The Mangekyō Sharingan began to spin, and Fucheng's right eye, [Takemikazuchi], activated once more.
This time, he didn't use Eight Thunder Arrows against a specific target. Instead, it transformed into a lightning dragon that spiraled through the air.
Carrying the electric charge from the clouds, the several-meter-wide bolt of lightning split into eight and slammed down like a giant net.
[Mangekyō · Eight Thunder Arrows · Cloud Thunder Flash]
Unlike Eight Thunder Arrows' direct attack,
Fucheng drew on the natural lightning energy in the clouds. The effect was very similar to Sasuke's [Lightning Style Kirin].
As the eight bolts struck the ground, they spread out through the rain-soaked soil.
Crackling!
Electricity hissed without end.
The three White Zetsu hiding underground were caught completely off guard by the sudden lightning!
Their milky-white bodies were now charred black. Like fish pulled from the water, they emerged from the ground.
They writhed and convulsed before collapsing onto the muddy earth.
All three White Zetsu had been taken out.
The more cautious Black Zetsu, however, escaped unharmed.
He'd been lost in thought, pondering how the Mangekyō had killed the Rain Ninja in an instant. He hadn't expected Fucheng to suddenly attack the ground.
Black Zetsu had been a little farther away, and the lightning had lost much of its power as it passed through the earth.
Otherwise, even with his unique means of staying alive, this level of Lightning Release would have left him with a few scars.
"Quick, run!"
Black Zetsu absorbed most of the injuries into himself and directed the other half of the White Zetsu body to flee toward the Land of Earth with all its might.
Fucheng hadn't noticed Black Zetsu. He was casually poking at the charred White Zetsu bodies with a stick.
"All three are intact. They're just a bit overcooked. I wonder if Mikoto can still convert them?"
Fucheng felt he might have overdone it. The attack had also drawn on the natural energy in the clouds, and its power had clearly spilled over.
The Uchiha Ninja had almost been caught in the Lightning Release, too.
Next time, he could dial back the power a little.
At that moment, Uchiha Kaen watched the mass of lightning surge around him, feeling tense as every hair on his body stood on end.
Lightning filled the sky and hammered the ground. This overwhelming natural energy was beyond anything he'd ever imagined about ninja, ninjutsu, or destructive power.
The might of nature shook him to his core.
He couldn't help trembling all over.
After awakening his Three-Tomoe Sharingan, Uchiha Kaen had been filled with pride.
But beneath the overwhelming force of Eight Thunder Arrows, the arrogance that had only just surfaced was instantly swept away by admiration.
"Jonin are nothing!"
"Three-Tomoe are nothing!"
"With the clan head's strength, he could practically take on an entire nation by himself!"
At last, he understood why Uchiha Jonin became so arrogant after awakening the Three-Tomoe Sharingan.
He finally understood, too.
Why, in the Warring States era, there had been so many Uchiha Jonin with Three-Tomoe, yet not one of them had dared show even the slightest defiance toward Uchiha Madara, their clan head at the time.
The other Uchiha felt the same way as Kaen!
A light rain fell, but its chill couldn't dampen the fire in the Uchiha Ninja's hearts.
They were excited not only by their clan head's strength, but also by their newfound understanding of the kind of power that surpassed even the elite Jonin.
The proud young Uchiha had thought the Three-Tomoe made them top-tier Jonin.
Now that they had witnessed a level of strength far beyond that of an elite Jonin, their desire to reach it burned brighter than ever.
With no Rain Ninja left to ambush them, the town had become a secure rear base for the Konoha Ninja.
Fucheng organized his people to interrogate and keep watch over the surrendered Rain Ninja. He also arranged the transfer of supplies belonging to Konoha's logistics unit.
"Without me, Uchiha Fucheng, Konoha would fall apart!"
Leaning back with his feet up, Fucheng listened to the rain and drank tea, thoroughly content.
He felt as though he'd returned to Li Village, relaxing like a wealthy landowner.
After Fucheng eliminated Salamander Doshin, the resistance in this part of the Land of Rain had clearly begun to falter.
Mikoto pointed behind her. "This row is the new batch of Misaka Sisters I converted, numbers 0014 through 0027."
Following her finger, Fucheng looked at the identical Misaka Sisters. Three of them were noticeably shorter, which seemed a little out of place.
"What about those three?"
Mikoto chuckled and rolled her pretty eyes. "Those three White Zetsu you accidentally overcooked with lightning. The conversion worked perfectly, but once their charred outer shells came off, their bodies looked especially tiny."
Fucheng laughed, too.
"Looks like the conversion takes the original White Zetsu's body into account. Did you get any useful information out of them before the conversion?"
Mikoto nodded firmly. "White Zetsu are terrible at keeping secrets. Of the White Zetsu we captured earlier, four had been assigned to monitor a single family. That family includes the red-haired child you've been looking for." Fucheng's eyes lit up. "Red hair? Is it Nagato?"
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