Fugaku's Pride and Joy: His Strength

Du Yang said no more and drew his ninja blade from his waist.

Uchiha Fugaku stared at him coldly. "Arrogant. Do you think that just because you were able to kill my son, you can kill me too?"

The Uchiha Clan had produced powerful shinobi in every generation, with no shortage of prodigies.

To become the Uchiha Clan Head, awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan, and suppress all those powerful shinobi, Fugaku could hardly be an ordinary man.

And yet some brat dared to say he was going to kill him.

At the very least, it would have to be Danzo or Hiruzen coming after him.

Uchiha Fugaku fixed his gaze on Du Yang and continued coldly, "You think a pair of Mangekyō Sharingan can change everything?"

"Then let me tell you: even among Uchiha who have awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan, there are differences in strength."

Before he had even finished speaking, the three tomoe in Fugaku's eyes abruptly shifted and connected, transforming into a pair of equally intricate Mangekyō patterns. Their ocular power was cold and domineering.

For a moment, two powerful currents of ocular power filled the room.

The air seemed to freeze and warp under the tension between them.

"Finally, you've awakened them."

Du Yang remained expressionless.

Since Uchiha Fugaku had been killed by Itachi Uchiha without putting up a fight, Du Yang had no idea how strong he really was.

But it didn't matter.

Fugaku definitely couldn't beat him.

Fugaku activated the ocular technique housed within his Mangekyō Sharingan.

"Divine Wheel!"

At that instant, Du Yang clearly felt as if someone were spying on him.

And yet there were only the two of them in the room.

Fugaku said coldly, "These eyes of mine can see you, no matter where you are—even in the past or the future."

Fugaku's figure abruptly vanished. It wasn't the Body Flicker Technique, but another of his Mangekyō's ocular techniques: "Shadow Realm."

He seemed able to briefly merge with the shadows of objects in the room, attacking while almost completely ignoring ordinary physical obstacles.

Fugaku emerged from the shadow of a wardrobe behind Du Yang. A Kunai had appeared in his hand at some point, and it was infused with highly compressed Lightning Release Chakra as he thrust it toward Du Yang's back.

The strike was fast, precise, and ruthless.

But Du Yang formed Hand Seals in an instant, and his body immediately turned into white qi. The Kunai pierced the white qi as if passing through air, causing him no harm.

Fugaku missed and immediately retreated into the shadows.

After all, that was exactly how he had seen things end in the future.

The next moment, he dropped headfirst from the shadow on the ceiling, forming Hand Seals with both hands. "Fire Release: Blast Wave Wild Dance!"

Instead of shooting straight forward, the scorching flames formed countless spinning fire tornadoes that swept toward Du Yang from every direction, leaving him nowhere to dodge.

Du Yang formed Hand Seals again in an instant. A brilliant white light flared around him, and he actually charged straight into one of the fire tornadoes. The moment the raging flames touched the light, they melted away like ice dropped into boiling water.

Even then, Fugaku didn't panic.

Everything was unfolding just as the Divine Wheel had shown him.

All he had to do was keep fighting according to plan. Sooner or later, his opponent would slip up.

And Fugaku had countless chances to try again.

But then Uchiha Fugaku suddenly realized something, and his heart jolted.

From the beginning of the fight until now, his opponent hadn't even moved his feet.

And that was despite Fugaku having chances to try again.

"White light, white qi—what kind of ninjutsu is that?" Fugaku demanded, his hands never stopping.

In an instant, he hurled dozens of Shuriken attached to Explosive Tags.

At the same time, the ocular power of his Mangekyō Sharingan locked onto Du Yang again, and he rapidly formed Hand Seals. "Genjutsu: Hall of Yama!"

In the next moment, Du Yang seemed to find himself inside a grotesque, blood-red hall. All kinds of bloodstained torture devices filled it, and countless hideous ghostly figures prowled around, baring their claws as they charged at him.

Uchiha Fugaku was every bit the seasoned shinobi one would expect from his wealth of combat experience. His first attack targeted both mind and body at once.

And, after the Divine Wheel's countless attempts, this was an outcome that couldn't go wrong.

If ordinary physical attacks didn't work, then the Explosive Tags' blasts would surely give Du Yang a hard time.

But as far as physical defense went, the white light surrounding Du Yang suddenly burst outward in a purifying ripple. It disrupted the Chakra markings on the approaching Shuriken and their Explosive Tags, causing them all to fizzle out and fall to the ground.

In his Triple Inverse Life state, Du Yang's will was like "fine gold," and this Genjutsu couldn't shake it in the slightest. With just a passing thought, the blood-red hall before him vanished.

Uchiha Fugaku's eyes widened in disbelief. His ninjutsu—not just the Genjutsu, but even his thrown weapons—had all been neutralized with such ease.

What was his opponent, exactly?

Du Yang glanced at the Uchiha Clan Head.

Uchiha Fugaku certainly lived up to his title. Not only could he appear and disappear without a trace, he could also seamlessly unleash all kinds of practiced, ruthless Nintaijutsu and powerful Genjutsu. His attacks came like fire.

What a shame that such a powerful member of the Uchiha Clan had been driven into this state by Konoha and his own clansmen. He wasn't quite right in the head.

Of course, it was precisely because Uchiha Fugaku wasn't quite right in the head that his ocular power seemed far stronger than that of an ordinary Uchiha.

The powerful shinobi produced by the Uchiha Clan were often all a little crazy.

Uchiha Fugaku really had been holding back.

But even if you were strong, when facing me, Uchiha Fugaku, you had no room to fight back.

The game was over.

Du Yang formed Hand Seals again in an instant and used the Clone Technique.

An identical Du Yang immediately appeared at his left. Then his entire body transformed into pure white light, like a white dragon coiling around Du Yang's ninja blade, gleaming bright and sharp.

"What was that?" Fugaku's heart jolted.

White light wrapped around the ninja blade like layers of pure white feathers, yet it seemed to make space itself tremble.

Fugaku instantly activated his Susanoo. A skeleton enveloped him, and its sinews, flesh, and armor formed in rapid succession. In an instant, it burst through the house.

Only a few seconds later, a Susanoo resembling a colossal warrior stood before Du Yang, having burst through the building.

Uchiha Fugaku felt slightly reassured. A fierce glint flashed in his eyes as ocular power seemed to pour madly into his Mangekyō pattern.

The pattern seemed to come alive, projecting countless phantom images of ancient bronze mirrors that instantly filled the space around Du Yang.

An ancient bronze mirror also appeared in the colossal Susanoo's hand.

Every mirrored image reflected Du Yang. The next moment, countless solid-looking Black Thorns of Yin Release Chakra shot out from every reflection at once, covering him from every angle.

Clearly, this was Uchiha Fugaku's killing move, much like the Totsuka Blade.

But in the next instant, Du Yang's long, powerful fingers closed firmly around his ninja blade.

He stepped forward without hurry and swung down with all his strength.

A razor-sharp blade of white light struck in an instant, as if carrying Evolutionary Power that could melt the void. It descended from the colossal Susanoo's shoulder, cleanly slicing through its armor like scissors cutting through a sheet of white paper. The enormous gash stretched from its head all the way down to its abdomen.