The Absolute Domain of One Millimeter

Every strike of the blade precisely removed a Parasitic Destruction Bug.

Some bugs had already crawled into the gaps in his clothes. Some clung tightly to his wounds. Some were even hidden on his back, beyond the reach of his sight.

Yet Lie Yang did not need to see them.

The airflow caused by the vibration of insect wings, the sensation of sharp mouthparts piercing flesh, the locations where his chakra was being devoured—all of it served as the basis for his judgment.

The short blade flashed repeatedly.

Dense cold glints flickered around his body and vanished.

Dozens of Parasitic Destruction Bugs were all cut down.

His clothes and skin remained completely unharmed!

Ayakawa Yukina's face instantly turned pale.

The Aburame Clan's Parasitic Destruction Bugs were incredibly tiny and moved while clinging close to the human body.

In such circumstances, let alone clearing away the bugs, the slightest mistake while swinging a blade could sever one's own blood vessels.

Yet every one of Lie Yang's strikes was so precise that her scalp went numb.

There had not been even a one-millimeter deviation!

This was no longer something the Sharingan could accomplish.

The Sharingan could see clearly, but it could not make a severely wounded, exhausted body with shattered joints perform such precise movements.

"Monster..."

Ayakawa Yukina instinctively took half a step back.

The thought had barely surfaced when Lie Yang vanished from where he stood.

There was no unnecessary movement.

Nor was there any warning.

One moment, he had still been clearing the Parasitic Destruction Bugs from his body.

The next, he had passed through the swarm and appeared before Ayakawa Yukina.

Too close!

Ayakawa Yukina had no time to use an Insect Clone. Relying solely on instincts honed through years of battle, she raised her kunai and tried to block Lie Yang's blade.

But in Lie Yang's eyes, the movement of her lifting hand was as slow as if time had stopped.

Her shoulder exerted force.

Her elbow bent.

Her wrist turned upward.

The kunai was still seven inches from the blade.

The Three-Tomoe Sharingan saw through every part of the process.

The short blade in Lie Yang's hand swept sideways.

Pfft!

Ayakawa Yukina froze.

Her kunai had only risen to her chest when a thin line of blood appeared across her neck.

In the next instant, blood sprayed out.

Ayakawa Yukina clutched her neck and staggered backward.

Looking at Lie Yang standing within arm's reach, nothing remained in her eyes but terror.

She wanted to speak, but only broken wheezes escaped her throat.

She could not understand.

Just moments ago, she and Takeno Sota had completely driven Lie Yang into a dead end.

Lie Yang had barely any chakra left. Parasitic Destruction Bugs covered his entire body, his body had gone rigid, and he had not even the slightest chance of surviving.

Yet in the blink of an eye, the situation had been completely reversed.

They did not even have the strength to fight back!

Thud!

Ayakawa Yukina fell to the ground.

Blood poured between her fingers. Her body twitched a few times before falling completely silent.

The forest became quiet again.

From Lie Yang breaking through the stone spike blockade to the deaths of two elite Konoha special jōnin, only a few breaths had passed.

He lowered his short blade and let the drops of blood on its tip fall.

His heart remained indifferent.

Killing two companions who had carried out missions with him several times did not shake him in the slightest.

After the Gene Lock opened, all useless emotions had been suppressed to the deepest depths.

All that remained was absolute calm.

Confirm the enemy's death.

Assess his physical condition.

Clear away the traces.

Plan an escape route.

Thought after thought arose and was completed in an instant.

Lie Yang formed a seal with one hand.

The joint in his right arm had already shattered, yet it barely affected his hand signs.

Shadow Clone Technique!

Poof!

White smoke dispersed.

A shadow clone appeared beside him. It first glanced at the two corpses on the ground, then lowered its head to examine the original body.

"Did it work?"

"It worked."

"In that state just now, I could sense the memories, but I couldn't use it."

The shadow clone tried moving its body, then shook its head after a moment.

"Just as expected. It won't work."

Lie Yang said calmly, "The Gene Lock exists deep within the original body's genes. You are condensed from chakra. You can inherit my memories, experience, and ninjutsu, but you do not possess actual flesh-and-blood genes."

The shadow clone looked at Takeno Sota's severed head.

"Just the first stage allowed two elite special jōnin to be defeated without any ability to resist. This miraculous authority is stronger than we originally estimated."

"The cost won't be small either."

"So leave the rest to me."

The shadow clone walked over to Takeno Sota's corpse and took out a sealing scroll, spreading it open.

Neither corpse could be left behind.

Konoha possessed numerous tracking methods.

The Yamanaka Clan could probe the memories within the brain. The Aburame Clan could follow clues based on information left behind by insect swarms. ANBU also had tracking ninja specialized in dealing with rogue ninja.

Takeno Sota and Ayakawa Yukina had personally witnessed Lie Yang's battle after he opened the Gene Lock.

Even though they were dead, their corpses could still leak intelligence.

The shadow clone dragged Takeno Sota's headless body to the center of the scroll.

"Seal!"

The formula spread out. The corpse turned into smoke and was drawn into the scroll.

Then came the head.

After that, Ayakawa Yukina's corpse.

The shadow clone handled everything meticulously, leaving behind no blood or scraps of clothing scattered nearby.

Lie Yang stood where he was, his Three-Tomoe Sharingan still slowly turning.

A power he had never felt before suddenly surged from the depths of his eyes.

The three tomoe spun faster and faster.

Everything in his vision began to change.

Lie Yang could clearly feel his ocular power growing at an astonishing speed. His Three-Tomoe Sharingan, which had already reached its limit, seemed to break through some kind of boundary.

The three tomoe gradually stretched.

The black patterns extended into one another, eventually forming three long wheat-grain shapes evenly arranged around his pupils at one hundred and twenty degrees.

Mangekyo Sharingan!

The shadow clone had just put away the sealing scroll when it looked up and saw the change in Lie Yang's eyes.

It stared at those brand-new eyes for two seconds, and delight appeared on its face.

"After the Gene Lock, now the Mangekyo."

"This gamble paid off big."

Feeling the ocular power in his eyes, far beyond what he had possessed during the Three-Tomoe stage, Lie Yang finally felt somewhat reassured.

Mangekyo Sharingan.

The true pinnacle power of the Uchiha Clan.

There were still several years until Shippuden. As long as he did not deliberately provoke those at the peak of the ninja world, these eyes alone would be enough to give him ample means of protecting himself.

The shadow clone walked up to him.

"Excessive use of the Mangekyo will cause vision to deteriorate, eventually leading to complete blindness."

"Our next step is to find a way to obtain Hashirama Cells."

"There aren't many people within Konoha who can access Hashirama Cells. Danzō and Orochimaru are the most direct targets. The risks are not small, but it is more realistic than replacing them with a pair of a biological brother's Mangekyo."

Lie Yang did not answer immediately.

After opening the Gene Lock, an indescribable intuition told him that he did not need Hashirama Cells, nor did he need to transplant another pair of Mangekyo.

He had another way to resolve the hidden danger of blindness.

The feeling had no clear basis, yet it was incomparably strong.

"Not for now."

The shadow clone frowned. "You have another way?"

"Just a feeling."

"An intuition brought by the Gene Lock?"

"Perhaps."

Lie Yang did not explain further.

Now was not the time to study the Mangekyo.

This place was not far from Konoha, and the battle had caused quite a commotion. They had to erase all traces as quickly as possible.

The shadow clone had already finished sealing the corpses.

Lie Yang raised both hands.

Under the Gene Lock's effects, his fingers moved so fast that only afterimages remained.

Six hand signs in one second!

Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!

A massive fireball burst from his mouth and crashed into the forest ahead.

Boom!

Tree trunks exploded, and dead leaves were ignited in an instant.

Lie Yang changed direction and formed seals again.

Another massive fireball struck the forest behind him.

The flames rapidly spread, swallowing the bloodstains, insect corpses, cloth scraps, and traces left by ninjutsu throughout the battlefield.

The heat rose continuously.

Thick smoke surged into the night sky.

The entire forest soon became a sea of flames.

The shadow clone put away the sealing scroll and hurried to Lie Yang's side.

"It's time to go."

Lie Yang tore off a small piece of cotton cloth from his clothes, folded it, stuffed it into his mouth, and bit down hard.

The Gene Lock could not possibly come without a cost.

Ever since the battle ended, he had been able to feel the pain building within his body.

It was only that the Gene Lock state had suppressed those reactions.

Now, his body had reached its limit.

Lie Yang voluntarily exited the Gene Lock state.

Boom!

The accumulated backlash erupted completely at that moment.

His skin swiftly turned crimson. Every blood vessel on his forehead and neck bulged. The muscles throughout his body began trembling violently beyond his control, while his limbs convulsed in an instant.

Excruciating pain surged from the depths of every cell.

His genetic sequence fell into disorder.

His cells rapidly deteriorated.

The shattered joint in his right arm, the wound along his waist cut open by stone spikes, the flesh gnawed by Parasitic Destruction Bugs—all of the pain intensified at once.

Lie Yang sank his teeth fiercely into the cotton cloth.

A stifled groan, suppressed to the limit, squeezed from his throat.

His legs completely lost their support, and his body fell forward.

The shadow clone stepped forward and caught the original body, hoisting him onto its back before rushing into the night and swiftly retreating from the scene.