Going All Out, Never Giving Up

After a few exchanges, Uchiha Arashi leaped backward.

"Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique!"

A serpent of fire raced along the ground toward Izumi, who stood some distance away.

Lightning crackled around Izumi.

The next moment, she turned into a bolt of lightning, tracing a wide arc across the ground as she charged diagonally toward Uchiha Arashi. Her kunai was wreathed in lightning too, and she thrust it fiercely at Arashi's throat.

Uchiha Arashi hurriedly drew a kunai and blocked Izumi's attack.

But reinforced by lightning, Izumi's kunai was even sharper. Uchiha Arashi could only watch as his own kunai was slowly sliced apart.

He kept retreating.

He released his right hand, then risked injuring his left as he pressed it against the side of his kunai, barely slowing Izumi's attack. That gave him enough time to draw a second kunai with his right hand.

After one quick block and then another, he finally managed to stop Izumi's kunai—but that was far from the end of her attack.

While Uchiha Arashi focused entirely on her electrified kunai, Izumi had already prepared her next move.

"Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique!"

As more than a dozen fireballs burst from her mouth, she flung over a dozen bolts of lightning into them. Lightning immediately crackled across their surfaces.

"What are you doing? Playing with overload?!"

Uchiha Arashi shouted and tried to knock the fireballs away with Fire Release Ninjutsu.

But the Phoenix Flower Fire was simply too fast. And since he was so close, he didn't have time to make the Hand Seals. All he could do was watch as the fireballs flew straight at him.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The explosions were far more powerful than before. The resulting blast of air made the younger siblings watching instinctively take two steps back.

Then they immediately fixed their eyes on the site of the explosion, their faces tense.

"Cough, cough..."

Coughing soon came from within the smoke. Before long, it cleared, revealing Uchiha Arashi kneeling on one knee before everyone.

He didn't seem to be hurt, just a little battered and covered in soot.

Izumi tilted her head.

"Didn't we agree not to use the Mangekyo?"

"If I don't, you'll beat me to death!"

Uchiha Arashi couldn't help complaining.

"Very well. You have an advantage I lack. Perhaps that can make up for the difference between us."

Izumi assessed him calmly.

The next moment, without warning, her eyes suddenly widened.

"Yomotsu Hirasaka!"

The surroundings changed at once, shifting from Shadow Space to the Uchiha Compound.

Uchiha Arashi had lived two lives, and there wasn't much that had truly caused him pain. If he had to name something, the Uchiha massacre and the Nine-Tails' rampage were perhaps his most painful experiences.

The former was because he had been powerless to change history and could only watch himself lose his greatest support.

The latter was because, before his memories of his past life had awakened, he had seen his parents die.

But once those memories returned, the pain quickly faded.

So Yomotsu Hirasaka's ability to inflict pain had little effect on Uchiha Arashi. The only real threat was the spatial manipulation!

Whoosh!

The next moment, Uchiha Arashi abruptly leaped backward. A kunai appeared out of thin air where he had been standing and plunged into the ground.

This Mangekyo ability, Yomotsu Hirasaka, could alter and control space. The space here was entirely under Izumi's control.

Uchiha Arashi's pupils darted rapidly as he tried to catch sight of Izumi.

"It's no use!"

Without warning, Izumi appeared out of thin air behind Uchiha Arashi.

"Got you!"

"Don't mess with me!"

Uchiha Arashi stamped hard on the ground and twisted around, trying to block Izumi's attack.

But the instant he turned, space shifted again. What had been in front of him was now behind, and Izumi appeared behind him once more.

"What about this time?"

Her kunai gleamed coldly as it thrust toward Uchiha Arashi's back.

Uchiha Arashi's eyes widened. The rotation of his left eye was faster than ever.

"Kamui!"

The kunai sliced through the air, and Uchiha Arashi vanished.

Before the others could react, he reappeared behind Izumi and launched an attack in the same way.

The exchange was so swift that Izumi didn't have time to change the space again. She could only turn and block, just as Uchiha Arashi had done.

Their kunai clashed, throwing off sparks, and after a brief standoff, they separated again.

Izumi's breathing finally grew a little heavier.

"Using Kamui this often—is it really okay?"

"You know I can handle this level of strain now. It's just a shame these aren't my own eyes, and my ability is incomplete. Otherwise, I wouldn't be at a disadvantage."

Uchiha Arashi gave an awkward laugh.

Though they had started out just sparring to test their abilities, as they fought, he couldn't help going all out.

He had even exceeded his previous limits, using Kamui twice in quick succession to make an instantaneous short-range jump.

In the past, that maneuver would have made him suffer. He wouldn't even have considered trying it; it would have drained his Mangekyo's potential in advance, and the cost wouldn't have been worth it.

But ever since he made a deal with Orochimaru, he had secretly transplanted some Hashirama Cells into his arm. A palm-sized white patch had now appeared on his right arm, the result of the cells spreading through his body. Fortunately, as a Uchiha, he could withstand the spread. He didn't need a large number of Sharingan to suppress it, the way Danzo did.

And in turn, the vitality provided by the Hashirama Cells let him use his ocular abilities more freely, without worrying that his eyes would quickly go blind.

Even so, what he had just done put tremendous strain on him. Unless he could replace half his body like Obito, he would never be able to use Kamui as effortlessly as Obito did.

"The test of our strength should end here..."

Izumi nodded and walked toward Uchiha Arashi.

"But I really want to know just how far you can go, Arashi. Do you remember? Back when you were still in school, you used to come challenge me all the time."

"I remember. I used to lose a lot."

"That's right. I always thought of you as a little brother, and if you were in danger, I wanted to protect you. It wasn't until... that night that I realized you were even stronger than I'd imagined. That's good, but it still isn't good enough. So, Arashi, show me more of your potential!"

Izumi suddenly charged forward, activating another Mangekyo ability at the same time: Life Thread.

Almost in that same instant, Uchiha Arashi was suddenly overwhelmed by weakness and helplessness.

The feeling came and went quickly, and he returned to normal at once. But Izumi had already reached him. That moment of hesitation had robbed him of any chance to dodge or fight back.

As the kunai drew closer, Uchiha Arashi's eyes widened.

His eyes grew hotter and hotter, and the Eye of God at his waist finally began to react.

"I really should do better... So I absolutely won't lose!"

Uchiha Arashi growled, and golden light suddenly burst from the Eye of God.