Awakening the Double Tomoe

Rock Demon's hands flashed through seals, chakra surging wildly.

The ground shook, and an earth dragon made of mud roared up from beneath the ground, its body covered in densely packed explosive tags.

The earth dragon circled once in the air, then opened its huge mouth and charged straight at Arashi and Fujii Yuta!

As it flew, the earth dragon's body kept splitting off small explosive bombs that fell like rain!

The power of this attack was stronger than all the previous attacks combined!

Arashi shoved Fujii Yuta away, while he himself stood where he was, the tomoe in his eyes spinning madly as the Saiyan Chakra inside him erupted without holding anything back!

"You've successfully pissed me off!"

Golden chakra currents rose around his body, and his hair moved without wind.

"Eight Gates Released Formation: Gate of Healing, open!"

Arashi's gaze was icy, carrying unprecedented fury and a trace of... sorrow even he himself had not noticed.

He crossed his hands before his chest, then suddenly spread them to both sides before quickly bringing them together again. Between his palms, a huge spiral-shaped wave of energy began to gather.

Scorching fire chakra coiled around the energy wave, giving off a sizzling sound, while the surface of the wave flashed with red light like explosive tags.

"Fire Release: Galick Gun!"

Arashi roared and slammed the energy wave he had condensed to its limit straight into the Earth Dragon Bullet charging at him!

"Boom--!!!!!"

The golden energy wave and the Earth Dragon Bullet collided in an instant!

There was no suspense at all. Before the Galick Gun, the Earth Dragon Bullet was like paper, blasted apart in an instant!

The explosive tags on the earth dragon's body were also detonated by the energy wave, triggering an even more violent secondary explosion!

A raging shock wave of energy spread in every direction, and all of White Scale Valley seemed to tremble.

The aftershock of the Galick Gun struck Rock Demon hard before he could dodge!

"Ah--!"

Rock Demon let out a shrill scream.

He instinctively raised his right arm to block, but his right arm after Explosive Hardening was like paper, completely unable to withstand the power of the Galick Gun.

"Crack!"

The sound of bones shattering was clearly audible.

Rock Demon's right arm was directly smashed apart by the energy wave, blood spraying together with fragments of stone.

"You... you little brat..." Rock Demon looked at his empty right shoulder, his eyes filled with terror and disbelief.

No matter what, he could never have imagined that a brat who looked only six years old could unleash such a terrifying ninjutsu!

Arashi did not give him any more time to be shocked.

There was only one thought in his mind now: Tear every last one of these bastards to pieces!

"Flying Technique!"

Chakra erupted beneath Arashi's feet. His body hung in the air for an instant, then he charged toward Rock Demon at almost lightning speed!

Seeing this, Rock Demon was scared out of his wits and turned to run.

"Trying to leave? Too late!"

Arashi was far faster than him and instantly circled behind him.

In the palm of his right hand, a bullet of fire-nature chakra condensed!

"Your explosions—I'm giving them back!"

"Fire Release: Saiyan Ki Blast!"

Arashi's voice was icy as he slammed the ki blast hard into Rock Demon's back!

The ki blast actually punched straight into Rock Demon's chest, and Rock Demon's heart was instantly melted by the scorching ki blast.

Arashi flashed back at high speed.

"Boom--!!"

The ki blast detonated in an instant! The powerful explosive force burst directly from inside Rock Demon's body!

His body, like a bomb that had been set off, was blown apart in an instant, turning into a sky full of shattered rock and blood mist!

After finishing Rock Demon, Arashi's gaze turned to the other two Hidden Stone Village chunin, who had also been wounded by Aburame Shibi's self-detonation but were not yet completely dead.

Those two chunin's legs had long since gone weak from fear. When they saw Arashi look over, they were even more scared out of their wits and turned, wanting to form seals and flee.

"Earth Release: Explosive Retreat!"

The ground beneath their feet exploded, and they used the shock wave of the blast to fly backward.

"You think you can escape?"

Arashi snorted coldly and flicked both hands in succession. Several ki blasts shot toward the two chunin like homing missiles.

"Bang, bang!"

The ki blasts struck them precisely one after another, and the explosions rang out almost at the same time.

The two chunin followed in Rock Demon's footsteps as well, blown into pieces.

The battle was finally over.

Arashi slowly landed on the ground. The chakra inside him had been greatly depleted, leaving him somewhat drained.

He panted and looked around.

It was a complete mess.

Yamashiro Aoba and Inuzuka Tsume lay on the ground, motionless.

Aburame Shibi had already been reduced to char.

And the "bait" they had protected with their lives, Fujii Yuta, had also had his chest pierced through by flying rubble during the battle just now, dying with his eyes open.

Not a single survivor remained.

Rain suddenly began to fall from the sky, pouring down as if doing everything it could to wash the ground clean, to erase the stench of blood completely from the world.

Arashi stood where he was, looking at the tragic scene before him, and suddenly felt an inexplicable irritation and emptiness.

He had won.

He alone had dealt with one jonin and two chunin.

But so what?

His teammates were dead, and the mission target was dead too.

It was empty. Nothing had been left behind.

Just then, a sharp pain suddenly stabbed through both his eyes!

It was several times more painful than when he had first awakened the One-Tomoe Sharingan!

"Guh, ah--!"

Arashi could not help crying out in pain, both hands covering his eyes.

His vision began to blur, then became incomparably clear again.

Everything before his eyes seemed to slow down.

The bloody smell filling the air, the scent of gunpowder smoke, the scattered stones on the ground, the bloodstains, even the fine patterns on the distant cliff walls—he could see them all with perfect clarity.

He could feel that his Sharingan was undergoing some kind of change.

The pain gradually faded.

Arashi slowly lowered his hands and looked at his reflection on the ground.

In those pitch-black pupils, there had originally been one tomoe in each eye.

But now, in each eye, there were two tomoe, slowly rotating.

The Double Tomoe Sharingan.

After witnessing the sacrifice of his teammates, after experiencing the sorrow of being a "ninja" in this world, his Sharingan had evolved.

Arashi looked at the Double Tomoe Sharingan in his reflection, his eyes complicated.

Just then, a violent explosion sounded from not far away.

"So we were only used to draw fire, so another team could destroy the real target?"

Heh, so this is the world of ninja?

Using flesh and blood and lives as tools, where all free will and love for life are not allowed.

Maybe this is why all the strong people in this world are so insane.

He remembered Yamashiro Aoba's final words: "The meaning of a ninja's existence is to complete the mission..."

The corner of Arashi's mouth curled into a cold sneer.

Bullshit meaning.

He lifted his head and looked in the direction of Konoha.

Third Hokage, Danzo...

You can spare no cost to achieve your goals, but why is it that you yourselves are never that cost?

One day, I'll make you understand just how stupid it was to treat me as a tool.

I will grant you eternal judgment!

He turned around, no longer looking at the corpses on the ground, and no longer caring about the failed mission.

Right now, he only wanted to return as quickly as possible and continue training.

Only by becoming stronger, strong enough to crush everything, could he pursue his own will in this bullshit world!

As for those dead teammates...

A trace of pain that was hard to notice flashed through Arashi's eyes.

"When you're dead, there's nothing left..."

After cursing under his breath, he quickened his pace and disappeared into the depths of White Scale Valley.

On the top floor of the Hokage Office Building, in the office that symbolized Konoha's highest authority, the air seemed to have frozen.

Uchiha Arashi stood before the huge desk, the traces of battle on his body long since washed clean by the rain.

His head was slightly lowered, his soaked hair hanging down and covering part of his face, making it impossible to see his current expression clearly.

Behind the desk, the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, that kind and wise old man, was looking at Arashi with those eyes that had seen the vicissitudes of life.

Smoke curled up from his pipe, blurring his expression.

"...That is everything that happened during this mission."