One Hand Holding Back Susanoo

A flash of steel.

Another fragment broke off the ninja sword in Shisui's hand.

He retreated with Wind Body Flicker, but Lie Yang did not pursue immediately.

"Kakashi is responsible for observation."

"Might Guy is responsible for close combat."

"Shisui can confront me head-on."

Lie Yang looked at Kurenai Yuhi.

"Why bring along a genjutsu ninja who can't participate in high-speed combat just to die?"

Kurenai Yuhi stiffened.

Those words were more direct than any blade.

She was not angry, nor could she refute him.

During the last encirclement, her genjutsu had been completely useless.

Yet this time, the higher-ups had still assigned her to the team.

Facing an Uchiha with a Mangekyō Sharingan, she did not even dare to launch a mental attack on her own.

"Sorry."

Kurenai Yuhi lowered her head.

"I'm dragging you all down."

"Kurenai!"

Might Guy immediately turned back. "It's not your fault!"

Kakashi also said heavily, "Don't let him affect you."

"But he's telling the truth."

Kurenai Yuhi clenched her hands.

"Yangtai died last time to save you."

"And now, all I can do is stand here and watch you fight."

"Then stay alive and watch it through."

Kakashi cut her off.

"Remember every movement."

"As long as someone can bring the intelligence back to Konoha, you're not useless."

Lie Yang did not continue paying them any attention.

Shisui had already charged in again.

Wind Release chakra wrapped around his entire body.

The damaged ninja sword trailed a long blaze of flame.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

The two figures vanished once more.

Half a minute.

Only half a minute had passed since Shisui took the initiative to engage him.

Yet the battlefield had already been completely transformed.

Broken kunai littered the ground.

More than a dozen fragments of ninja swords were scattered everywhere.

Crisscrossing blade marks cut through the plain, and the short grass had long since been torn up by the violent winds. Scorch marks left by lightning overlapped with the flames left by Sword Leaping Flame, filling the air with a pungent burnt smell.

Kurenai Yuhi could hear only the ceaseless clashing of weapons.

Once.

Ten times.

A hundred times.

The sounds were too dense, eventually merging into an unbroken, piercing roar.

If an ordinary ninja stood here, they would not even be able to tell who had the upper hand.

But Kakashi could see it clearly.

Shisui was losing.

And he was losing faster and faster.

The eighth Wind Body Flicker.

The ninth.

Every time he forcibly accelerated, tiny tears appeared in Shisui's muscles.

Sweat had already soaked through his clothes.

Both hands were covered in blood.

The Mangekyō Sharingan could see Lie Yang's movements clearly, but his body was finding it harder and harder to keep up.

His blinks had grown sluggish.

His breathing had become slow.

Even the sword swings that had long become instinctive now seemed clumsy.

Shisui himself felt it even more clearly.

Pressure squeezed in from all sides.

Lie Yang's blade was too fast.

His footwork was too fast.

His judgment was even faster.

Every time Shisui used the Body Flicker Technique, the other man sealed off his landing point in advance.

Every time he used Sword Leaping Flame, lightning-nature chakra intensified at the instant of collision, forcibly crushing the momentum of his flaming blade.

Technique was meaningless.

Variations were meaningless.

Speed was equally meaningless.

Shisui could only keep driving Wind Release, making his body faster!

"Still not enough!"

Wind-nature chakra exploded from his legs.

Shisui instantly appeared to Lie Yang's left.

His ninja sword swept across!

Lie Yang lowered his head to evade, his blade slicing past Shisui's wrist.

Shisui forcibly turned, caught the falling hilt with his left hand, and slashed upward again.

Lie Yang shifted half a step sideways.

The blade flashed past his chest.

In the next instant, Shisui's ninja sword was cut in two.

Crack!

Half the blade spun away and plunged into the ground more than ten meters away.

Shisui clutched the remaining hilt and staggered back several steps.

His chest heaved violently, cold sweat dripping steadily from his chin.

Kakashi immediately shouted, "Shisui, enough!"

"Your body is already at its limit!"

Shisui slowly raised his head.

The Mangekyō pattern remained clear.

His fighting spirit had not faded in the slightest.

"Not yet."

He released his grip.

The damaged hilt fell to the ground.

"I can keep going."

Lie Yang stopped opposite him.

"Without a sword, what will you use to continue?"

"The true power of the Uchiha has never been ninja swords."

Shisui's eyes flew wide open.

His ocular power erupted completely!

Vast, chilling chakra burst from his body, and the ground around him instantly sank. Invisible pressure swept across the plain, and Kakashi and Kurenai Yuhi both felt a weight press down on their chests.

Shisui did not begin condensing it from its initial form.

Green chakra directly formed into a massive skeleton around him!

Ribs rose.

A spine ran through it.

Thick arms and pale finger bones rapidly took shape.

Boom!

A green skeletal giant dozens of meters tall rose from the earth, its enormous upper body enveloping Shisui as Mangekyō ocular power spread outward like waves.

Kurenai Yuhi raised her head, her pupils widening continuously.

"What is that?"

Might Guy even forgot his injuries.

"Chakra... turned into bones?"

"Susanoo."

Kakashi raised a hand to cover his bleeding left eye, his voice exceptionally grave.

"The ultimate ocular technique exclusive to the Mangekyō Sharingan."

"It materializes immense ocular power into a chakra giant that combines offense and defense."

Kurenai Yuhi looked at the green skeleton blocking out a vast stretch of sky.

"This is only the skeleton?"

"Yes."

Kakashi said solemnly, "Susanoo has different stages."

"At first, it only forms partial ribs and arms."

"The first stage possesses a complete skeletal upper body."

"As it continues to grow, muscles and fascia cover the skeleton, further increasing both its defense and strength."

"When ocular power is developed to an even higher level, Susanoo will also don armor and wield divine weapons condensed from chakra and ocular power."

Might Guy's Adam's apple bobbed.

"What about the complete form?"

Kakashi stared fixedly at Shisui.

"A true complete Susanoo possesses power comparable to a god's."

Kurenai Yuhi's breathing tightened.

The first stage alone made her unable to even consider facing it head-on.

If the complete form Kakashi described truly existed, how terrifying would that power be?

Yet Kakashi showed no joy at all.

Shisui had skipped the most basic form and directly condensed a complete skeletal upper body, which meant he had already been pushed to his limit.

The consumption of this ocular technique would never be small.

Every second it remained active could worsen the burden on his eyes and body.

And Lie Yang still had not activated his own Susanoo!

"Lie Yang!"

Standing protected within the green bones, blood continuously seeped from Shisui's eyes.

The giant skeletal arm rose with him.

Its five fingers curled inward.

A colossal fist that blotted out the sky crashed down with terrifying wind pressure!

Boom!

The earth shook violently.

The spot where the fist landed instantly caved in, cracks spreading madly outward like a spiderweb. Vast amounts of earth and stone were forcibly crushed, and the impact kicked up smoke and dust dozens of meters high. The gale forced Kakashi and the other two to retreat again and again.

Kurenai Yuhi raised an arm before her face.

"Did it hit?"

No one answered.

Shisui maintained his punching stance, his chest rising and falling violently.

Kakashi's Mangekyō stared fixedly at the center of the dust cloud, not daring to miss even the slightest chakra fluctuation.

The sound of wind gradually weakened.

Rubble fell to the ground one after another.

The smoke and dust filling the battlefield slowly dispersed.

The enormous green fist bones stopped above the ground.

Lie Yang stood proudly beneath the fist, several tears ripped into his clothes by the impact, while only a broken hilt remained in his hand.

His right arm was raised high.

His palm pressed steadily against Susanoo's giant fist.

That green skeletal fist, capable of shattering the earth, was held completely still by his single arm just centimeters before his forehead.