Xuanshi Arrives

Time seemed to freeze at that moment.

The enormous Nine-Tails Fox held the posture of its claw swiping down. That sharp claw, large enough to cover half the street, hovered less than two meters above the ground.

And beneath that claw, there was only one person.

Uchiha Xuanshi raised one hand above his head, palm upward, steadily holding up that force of ten thousand tons.

There was no Susanoo skeleton.

No complex barrier.

Even the ground beneath his feet had not caved in too much.

He was like a divine pillar that stilled the sea, forcibly holding back this monstrous tidal wave.

"Roar?"

A confused growl came from the Nine-Tails' throat.

It could sense that what blocked it was not pure strength, but an extremely high-level repulsive force field. That power was like an invisible wall, isolating its claw from that tiny human.

What made it even more uneasy was the chakra aura emanating from that person.

Cold, domineering, full of pressure.

It had only felt this kind of aura from two people before.

One was Indra.

The other was Madara Uchiha.

"Pretty strong."

Xuanshi slowly raised his head, those crimson Mangekyo Sharingan flashing with an eerie light in the shadows.

"Too bad. Didn't eat?"

Before his voice had even fallen, the repulsive force in Xuanshi's palm erupted.

"Almighty Push: Modified!" (Note: This was the repulsive effect Xuanshi simulated using his Mangekyo ocular technique.)

Boom!

A terrifying backlash of force spread through the Nine-Tails' entire body along its claw.

The Nine-Tails' massive body was actually knocked back by that power, staggering several steps and nearly falling over.

In the instant the Nine-Tails lost its balance, Xuanshi's figure vanished from where he stood.

The next second.

He appeared on the tip of the Nine-Tails' nose.

He was less than half a meter from those enormous crimson beast pupils.

Man and beast stared at each other in midair just like that.

"Look at me!"

Xuanshi shouted.

Two streams of bloody tears flowed from his eyes, and the triangular patterns in his pupils spun wildly, as if they were going to suck in the space around them.

A red-black spiritual shock wave, like a tangible sharp sword, stabbed straight into the Nine-Tails' brain.

"Awooo—!!"

The Nine-Tails let out a shrill wail.

It felt as though its spiritual world had been viciously torn open by a pair of invisible hands. Those eyes seemed to have become two enormous black holes, trying to devour its will completely.

Its originally frenzied gaze went blank for an instant.

Its massive body froze in place, its nine tails drooping weakly, as if someone had pressed pause.

"Damn it!"

Obito, standing atop the Nine-Tails' head, could no longer sit still.

He could clearly feel his control over the Nine-Tails being stripped away. That guy called Uchiha Xuanshi actually had ocular power this overwhelming!

"This guy... can't be allowed to live!"

Killing intent surged in Obito's eyes.

If he did not deal with Xuanshi, forget destroying Konoha—even the Nine-Tails would be taken from him.

A black chakra rod appeared out of thin air in Obito's hand.

Kamui activated.

A spatial vortex appeared behind him, and another appeared behind Xuanshi.

It would only take an instant.

As long as he drove this black rod into Xuanshi's back and disrupted his chakra flow, everything would be over.

Obito's figure vanished, instantly appearing behind Xuanshi.

The black rod stabbed down with a whistle as it tore through the air.

"Die!"

However, just as the black rod was about to touch Xuanshi's spine.

Clang!

A crisp metallic collision rang out.

A short blade appeared out of nowhere, steadily blocking Obito's black rod.

A green flash of chakra passed by.

Shisui Uchiha appeared before Obito, his Mangekyo Sharingan staring fixedly at Obito's lone eye.

"Don't even think about disturbing Big Brother Xuanshi!"

At the same time.

"Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Flower Nail Crimson!"

Several shuriken wrapped in blazing flames flew in from the side, sealing off all of Obito's escape routes.

Itachi Uchiha stood on the Nine-Tails' ear not far away, his young face filled with cold killing intent.

Three against one.

Xuanshi did not look back.

He still maintained his posture of staring down the Nine-Tails, forming hand seals with both hands as he continuously strengthened his suppression of the Nine-Tails.

"Obito."

Xuanshi spoke faintly, his voice so calm it made one's heart tremble.

"Your opponents are them. I don't have time to play with you."

Obito looked at Shisui before him, then at Itachi in the distance, then at Xuanshi, whose back was turned to him, who clearly did not take him seriously at all.

An unprecedented sense of humiliation surged in his heart.

There had been a time when he thought that once he grasped Madara's power, he could look down on the entire shinobi world.

But now, in this tiny Uchiha Clan, he was actually being treated as a "grunt" to be dealt with?

"Good... very good..."

Obito laughed from sheer fury.

"Then I'll kill these two brats first, and then I'll kill you!"

Xuanshi ignored the battle behind him.

The Nine-Tails had already been temporarily suppressed. Although its body was still trembling, trying to resist, under the absolute pressure of the Mangekyo, it could not move.

The time was ripe.

Xuanshi took a deep breath, feeling the boiling chakra within his body.

Through the chakra link he had established earlier, he transmitted his voice into the mind of every Uchiha clansman.

"Everyone, heed my command!"

On the ground.

Three hundred Uchiha elites had long since made their preparations.

They stood at their respective formation nodes, forming hand seals with solemn expressions.

Fugaku had fallen with grave injuries. Now, Xuanshi was their only king.

"Bring your chakra, your anger, your will..."

Xuanshi's voice echoed through the night sky, carrying a magic that set blood aflame.

"Gather it all to me!"

"Yes!!!"

Three hundred furious roars merged into a single clap of thunder.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Three hundred pillars of chakra shot into the sky from the ground.

Red, blue, green... chakra of every attribute intertwined and fused in the air, finally converging into a vast ocean of chakra.

That ocean poured madly into Xuanshi's body.

Xuanshi's body trembled violently.

Even with a body strengthened by Hashirama Cells, enduring such a massive amount of chakra was an immense burden.

His skin began to split, blood staining his combat uniform red.

But he was laughing.

Laughing arrogantly, laughing without restraint.

"Come! Let the world see..."

"The true power of the Uchiha!"

Rumble—

The Susanoo skeleton around Xuanshi began to expand at incredible speed.

It was no longer an ordinary skeleton form. Instead, flesh and armor rapidly grew over it.

Its color was changing as well.

From its original deep blue, it gradually became a dark gold filled with divinity and majesty.

A dark-gold giant even taller than the Nine-Tails slowly took shape in the night sky above Konoha.

It wore heavy armor, had twin wings on its back, and held a giant sword that seemed capable of severing mountains and rivers.

Xuanshi stood within the crystal on the giant's forehead, looking down at the tiny Nine-Tails and Obito beneath his feet.

"Susanoo Resonance Formation..."

"Open!"