Death

Finally dead!

Watching Uchiha Chen lying decapitated before him, the heart that had been pounding in Uchiha Fugaku's chest finally settled back into place.

He knew that back when he had used Susanoo to foresee the future, it was his own negligence that had led to him being manipulated by Uchiha Chen's Mangekyō Sharingan, turning him into a mere puppet.

It was precisely because he had seen those events that he harbored such bone-deep hatred for the Uchiha Chen who had controlled him.

Furthermore, seeing in that vision that his wife, Mikoto, had also been controlled filled him with fury and resentment. But it was fine now; with the perpetrator dead, the ocular jutsu controlling Mikoto should have automatically dissipated, right?

Determined to seal away everything he had seen and heard over this past month, Uchiha Fugaku couldn't wait to return to the peaceful life he once knew.

He stepped toward the lonely head and slowly crouched down.

He reached out his right hand to gently cover the dead man's eyelids, preparing to gouge out those precious Mangekyō Sharingan to keep as replacements for when his own eyes eventually went blind from overuse.

Yet, at that very moment, the unexpected occurred—the head that had been resting there just a moment ago suddenly began to blur and turn illusory. Not only that, but the corpse lying in the dirt pit also vanished into thin air!

Witnessing this bizarre scene, Uchiha Fugaku felt a jolt of electricity explode from the top of his head, surging through his entire body and making his hair stand on end.

His mind flashed with the memory of a forbidden jutsu that had been sealed away by the Uchiha clan for years: Izanagi!

It was an ultimate ocular jutsu capable of turning any unfavorable situation into a dream, at the cost of sacrificing a Sharingan!

Realizing that Uchiha Chen might not be dead, Fugaku's face turned paper-white, as if coated in a thick layer of flour, devoid of all color.

His mind replayed that heart-stopping moment—he had exhausted his chakra in a desperate, all-out bombardment.

Realizing the gravity of the situation, Fugaku decided to retreat immediately, but as he tried to stand, he discovered with horror that he had lost all control over his body, as if pinned to the spot by an invisible force.

Unwilling to sit and wait for death, Fugaku gritted his teeth and desperately channeled his remaining chakra, preparing to use an ocular jutsu to break free from this eerie restraint.

Just as he focused his energy, the surrounding space underwent a strange transformation; the scene before him gradually blurred and dissipated.

In the blink of an eye, Fugaku felt the world spin. When he regained his senses, he found himself tightly bound to a massive cross, while Uchiha Chen approached him step by step, brandishing a blade that shimmered with a cold light.

Uchiha Chen thrust the blade forward. Facing the sudden, sharp pain, Fugaku's face twisted slightly.

As an elite ninja who had survived countless battles and the clan head of the Uchiha, he had endured innumerable life-or-death trials. This level of pain was still within his tolerance.

He stared fixedly at the man who had plunged the blade into his abdomen, enduring the agony.

He heard the man speak with a smile, though his voice was chillingly ruthless: "Clan Head, welcome to my Tsukuyomi space."

"Come to think of it, this Tsukuyomi should have been controlled by your son; mine was a gift from Mikoto."

Before Uchiha Fugaku could ponder what this had to do with Mikoto and Itachi, he heard the other man continue:

"Here, I control time, space, and all matter." He raised three fingers and added, "By the way, three days here is one second in the outside world. Please, enjoy the time ahead; use this pain to pay for the life you took."

Before the words had even faded, Uchiha Chen's blade continued to twist and pierce through Fugaku's body.

Outside, a scream erupted from Fugaku's throat. The man who had been crouching on the ground, intending to flee, stumbled and fell.

Uchiha Chen walked over with steady steps. His gaze locked onto the unconscious Uchiha Fugaku as he whispered, "Thanks to you, I discovered a loophole regarding Kotoamatsukami."

"So, when Izanagi takes effect, it can refresh Kotoamatsukami."

"It's a good thing I'm always cowardly and afraid of death. I felt something was off the moment I saw you, so I set up Izanagi in advance. Otherwise, I might have met my end today."

"I wouldn't dare test whether I could still use it after my head was severed." As he said this, he couldn't help but reach up and touch his neck, as if he could still feel the terror of that brush with death.

However, after only a moment, Uchiha Chen's gaze sharpened once more.

The light of Kotoamatsukami flickered in his eyes again as he glared at the unconscious Uchiha Fugaku, saying with resentment, "Hmph! I'd like to see if you have a shadow clone to jump out and take the hit for you this time!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a trail of blood tears slid down Uchiha Chen's cheek.

At the same time, the will of the unconscious Uchiha Fugaku began to be rewritten, bit by bit.

All of this signaled that the Uchiha clan had become Uchiha Chen's prize.

Uchiha Chen walked forward and effortlessly hoisted his future subordinate onto his shoulder. Looking around at the dilapidated, ruined house, he couldn't help but furrow his brows.

Fortunately, the original owner possessed an eidetic memory, having deeply imprinted all that important knowledge into his mind, so even as he watched the house being destroyed, he felt no great regret or pain.

He turned silently and began to walk, arriving shortly at the spot where Uchiha Fugaku had set up the barrier.

Standing before the barrier, the doubts that had filled his mind vanished in an instant.

"No wonder no one came to investigate for so long; it turns out there's a barrier here!"

He mused to himself. It made sense; after all, this matter involved the two highest combat powers of the Uchiha—both possessing Mangekyō Sharingan—killing each other. Naturally, he couldn't let the people of Konoha find out.

Even if the current Hokage was on good terms with Uchiha Fugaku, he had just taken office and lacked significant power.

If he hadn't killed him and had instead been forced to go to the Third Hokage or Shimura Danzō, the consequences would have been unimaginable.

After all, neither he nor Uchiha Fugaku would ever want word to leak out about his manipulation of Mikoto.

His gaze fell on the Uchiha Fugaku slung over his shoulder. He didn't need to guess; although the man also possessed a Mangekyō Sharingan and hadn't suffered fatal injuries under the fierce onslaught of Tsukuyomi, he clearly wouldn't be waking up anytime soon.

He tossed Uchiha Fugaku aside and quickly formed hand seals, intending to test the strength of the barrier with a few jutsu.

The result was as expected: it was useless, and the barrier only grew brighter as it absorbed his chakra, which was truly vexing.