Rock vs. Lightning-Let's Settle This in One Strike!

The golden light drew everyone's attention, including Uchiha Izumi's.

She froze for a moment. Then her expression changed, and she immediately stopped and hurried backward.

Pfft!

The next second, a stone pillar more than two meters tall burst from the ground where she had been standing.

Then came a series of pfft-pfft sounds as one stone pillar after another rose from the earth, like the spines along a dragon's back. They looked dangerous enough to make anyone wary.

"An Eye of God?"

Izumi stopped and asked, both astonished and delighted.

"Yeah."

Uchiha Arashi was just as delighted. He never would've expected the Eye of God to resonate with him at a time like this.

He simply didn't want to lose. He never would've thought that such a simple wish would make the Eye of God react.

Looking at the Eye of God now, he saw that it had gained a stone emblem—just like the one in Liyue.

At the moment, the Eye of God associated with Yin Release was the only one with a unique pattern of Tomoe inside it. The other three—the Lightning and Fire Eyes of God, along with Uchiha Arashi's Rock Eye of God—had the exact same designs as in the game.

At the same time, after resonating with the Eye of God, Uchiha Arashi could clearly feel a connection forming between him and the earth beneath his feet.

Simply put, he could control stone at will, shaping it however he wanted and using it to attack or defend.

As far as he knew, though, the Eye of God itself didn't possess any power. It was merely an external organ that allowed its user to guide elemental energy more effectively. In other words, the people in the game who possessed Eyes of God relied mostly on their own talent in battle.

The Eye of God merely brought out their talent and allowed it to be converted into combat power more smoothly.

So that means I actually have a talent for using Earth Release?

Uchiha Arashi thought.

This was one possibility he'd considered before. Fire was the Uchiha Clan's primary chakra nature, and they were the best fire users in the Ninja World. Uchiha Arashi's body did indeed have Uchiha blood, so Fire Release was his strongest element, too. He hadn't yet tried developing a second nature outside of Fire Release, but he'd originally thought Wind Release or Lightning Release would be good options.

He never would've expected it to be Earth Release.

"Looks like we're back on an even footing. Sharingan, ninjutsu, Eyes of God... Now this is a real fight."

Izumi smiled faintly, her eyes alight with fighting spirit.

Her little junior had gone from someone she needed to look after to someone she could rely on, and now he was a ninja who could match her. It felt... pretty great.

Her face even flushed a little at the thought, because something else had crossed her mind—something she couldn't say out loud.

"Yeah, I didn't expect things to turn out this way, either. So, Izumi, are you ready?"

Uchiha Arashi nodded and slowly raised his right hand. The ground around him began to tremble, and a few small stones floated into the air.

"I've been ready for ages. I should be the one asking you that!"

Uchiha Izumi lowered her stance, then transformed into lightning once more and shot forward.

Uchiha Arashi narrowed his eyes. As he did his best to track Izumi's movements, he controlled the nearby stones, forming a band of flying rubble around himself as a defense.

The stones weren't large, but they formed a dense ring. Anyone trying to force their way through would be attacked by the stones first.

"Won't work!"

Uchiha Izumi abruptly stopped and flung a Kunai at Uchiha Arashi. Lightning crackled around it, making it shoot forward even faster.

Uchiha Arashi hurriedly controlled the stones to form a rock shield and block the Kunai.

But everyone knew Lightning countered Earth, so the Kunai pierced the rock shield with ease. The shield had only slowed it down a little.

"You still have a lot to learn about basic elemental matchups."

Uchiha Izumi appeared inside the defensive ring as if she'd teleported.

Uchiha Arashi had left a gap in the ring when he formed the rock shield, and she'd seized the opportunity.

Izumi snatched the Kunai out of the air and looked down at Uchiha Arashi. Lightning crackled through her hair and eyes and over her entire body, making her look like the God of Thunder had descended.

"Even with your Eye of God awakened, little Arashi, you're still going to lose to me today!"

"Is that so? Not necessarily!"

Uchiha Arashi abruptly clenched his right fist. Five enormous pillars burst from the ground around them, shaped like giant hands as they reached for Uchiha Izumi.

At the same time, a layer of stone formed over Uchiha Arashi's body. With its help, he sank underground at an incredible speed.

Lightning could counter Earth under certain conditions. But if an Earth Release user had already sunk beneath the ground, Lightning Release would be all but useless against them.

Besides, rock itself could conduct lightning. So elemental matchups were nowhere near as simple as they sounded.

The attacks were closing in, and most of Uchiha Arashi's body had already sunk beneath the earth, but Izumi wasn't worried. She didn't even look concerned.

She grinned.

"Then let's settle this in one strike!"

She gathered all the lightning she could muster into the Kunai, twisted her waist, and hurled it at Uchiha Arashi with all her strength.

The Kunai became a streak of light and pierced straight through the two giant pillars in front of it.

Having completely abandoned her defense, Izumi was struck by the three remaining pillars and sent flying.

The Kunai, meanwhile, followed Uchiha Arashi underground, then exploded beneath the surface, sending dust and shattered stone billowing into the air.

The younger brothers and sisters nearby retreated again and again as they watched their older siblings' fierce battle. There was almost too much to take in.

They'd never seen a fight on this scale before.

Even on the night of the clan's massacre, when Uchiha Itachi killed their parents, it was usually over in an instant. Their parents had been no match for Itachi. There had never been anything resembling a fair fight.

Naturally, there had been no grand spectacle, either.

But now Uchiha Arashi and Uchiha Izumi were showing them, right before their eyes, the full spectacle of a ninja battle.

Of course, compared to a truly grand battle, theirs was still small-scale. But the little ones had never seen anything like it. What they were seeing now was already enough to leave them stunned.

Still, alongside their astonishment, they couldn't help worrying that Uchiha Arashi might get hurt—or even die by accident.

Thankfully, their fears were clearly unnecessary. As the dust gradually settled, Uchiha Arashi soon reappeared before them.

He stood there with the sleeve of his right arm torn. A huge wound gaped across his arm, deep enough to expose the bone.

Blood dripped steadily down his arm.