Boom!
He clearly stood still, yet the earth around his feet seemed to bear invisible pressure, rapidly splitting with huge cracks.
Deep within his consciousness, the Fortune Balance shook violently.
The pan representing Lie Yang himself was sinking!
The Second-Stage Gene Lock fully unleashed his body's potential.
His physique improved.
His muscles underwent a second growth.
His bone density increased sharply.
His blood flow, neural reactions, and internal organ strength transformed simultaneously.
His body weight was skyrocketing!
The pan that had been completely suppressed by Kotoamatsukami and Konoha's side pressed down on the other end for the first time!
Rumble!
The other side of the balance suddenly rose.
A mysterious tide that could neither be sensed with chakra nor seen by the Sharingan appeared out of nowhere, pouring down from above the balance.
Whoosh!
The tide washed over Lie Yang's entire body.
It was neither cold.
Nor scorching.
Yet it carried countless unfamiliar yet familiar presences.
Figures of Uchiha clansmen flashed through his perception one after another.
Some wore armor from the Warring States Era, gripping ninja blades as they slaughtered Senju clan members amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood.
Some stood at the dawn of Konoha's founding, looking up at the First's rock monument.
Some entered the Konoha Police Force, the Uchiha fan crest printed on their backs.
There were even more clansmen, young and old, strong and weak. Their faces were blurred, leaving only pairs of scarlet Sharingan lighting up one after another within the tide.
Those figures did not speak.
Nor did they linger.
Together with the mysterious tide, they passed through Lie Yang's spirit and body before finally merging into the deepest part of him.
Thump!
His heart beat for the third time.
All the figures vanished at once.
His muscles stopped growing.
His bones stopped cracking.
The Fortune Balance settled firmly into place.
The transformation of the Second-Stage Gene Lock was complete!
A kilometer away.
Large numbers of Konoha ninja gathered on hillsides and among the upper branches of the forest, staring from afar at the plain that had become ruins.
They did not approach immediately.
The disturbance caused by that battle had been too terrifying.
The ceaseless thunder had carried for dozens of miles.
The piercing roar of clashing weapons had lasted a full half-minute.
Then the green skeletal giant had appeared, forcing every ninja who came to provide support to stop a kilometer away.
Each time that enormous figure threw a punch, the ground shook violently.
Broken stones were hurled high into the sky.
Gales flattened vast stretches of grass and trees.
When dozens of green arrows fell at once, the entire plain seemed to be covered by war-grade Ninjutsu. The trembling ground even left some weaker Chunin unable to stand steadily.
A Konoha ninja swallowed hard.
"That was Susanoo?"
The Uchiha clansman beside him stared fixedly at the center of the battlefield.
Even from a kilometer away, he could still feel the pressure originating from deep within his bloodline.
"No mistake."
"Only those who awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan can wield that kind of power."
Another person's voice was dry.
"That giant was already covered in muscle and fascia."
"Shisui actually developed Susanoo to such a degree?"
No one answered.
They had seen the green giant rise from the ground.
They had seen Susanoo swing its massive fists, smashing the earth into deep craters.
They had seen that colossal being continuously crack apart amid Earth Release, lightning, and Wind Release explosions, only to reform again and again.
This sort of battle had long surpassed the level ordinary ninja could intervene in.
An ANBU raised a hand to his mask, his voice low.
"The most terrifying one isn't Shisui."
"It's Uchiha Lieyang."
"Shisui already used the Mangekyō Sharingan's ultimate ocular technique."
"Yet Lieyang never activated his own Susanoo."
The surrounding ninja all caught their breath.
Only now did they truly realize it.
Lie Yang also possessed the Mangekyō Sharingan!
But against that godlike chakra giant, he had fought without retreating, relying only on his body, blade techniques, and Ninjutsu.
He had even blocked Susanoo's massive fist head-on with one arm!
That scene had been too far away for most people to see clearly.
But the Hyūga ninja with the Byakugan had seen everything.
The veins around his temples bulged, and his voice still carried barely concealed shock.
"He didn't use any special Ninjutsu."
"Lie Yang blocked Shisui's Susanoo with his right arm alone."
Several ninja beside him turned their heads at once.
"Are you sure?"
"I'm sure."
The Hyūga ninja spoke with difficulty.
"His chakra only erupted after the fist came down."
"At the instant he caught it, he relied entirely on physical strength."
The group looked at one another.
Someone sucked in a breath.
Others instinctively tightened their grips on their weapons, though cold sweat had already soaked their palms.
Catching Susanoo's giant fist with one hand.
Was that strength a human could possess?
"Then what use are we if we go over there?"
"In this kind of battle, getting close means death!"
"Can Captain Kakashi and the others really win?"
Before the discussion could settle, the green Susanoo completely collapsed amid the explosion of the Wind Release: Rasenshuriken.
Immediately after, Lie Yang's chakra rapidly weakened.
At last, even his life force began to decline.
The Hyūga ninja pushed his Byakugan to its limit and continued observing the battlefield.
A moment later, he suddenly shouted.
"Kakashi's Lightning Cutter pierced Lie Yang's lung!"
"Shisui's ocular technique hit too!"
The people around them were instantly invigorated.
"Did it work?"
"Lie Yang has been controlled?"
"How is his condition?"
The Hyūga ninja stared at Lie Yang's chest.
It had been pierced through from front to back. Lightning Release had torn apart his lung, and blood mixed with fragments of internal organs continuously flowed out.
"His presence is very weak."
"His body is heavily injured as well."
"His chakra is nearly exhausted."
As those words fell, the fear weighing on everyone's hearts rapidly dissipated.
A Root ninja immediately said, "The battle is over."
"Shisui's ocular technique struck successfully, and Kakashi completed the fatal attack."
"The Konoha squad won."
"Everyone, enter the battlefield immediately!"
The order spread.
Large numbers of ninja no longer lingered, rushing from the hillsides and forest toward the plain.
Some prepared to support Kakashi's group of four.
Some took out sealing scrolls.
Several medical ninja rushed toward the center of the battlefield at full speed.
The tension they had held in for so long was finally released.
"That was a battle between two pairs of Mangekyō Sharingan!"
"Captain Kakashi and the others really won!"
"Lie Yang killed so many of our comrades. He's finally been captured!"
Figure after figure leaped down from the treetops.
Chakra erupted one after another.
Everyone believed the battle was over.
Only Nara Shikayū did not speed up.
He stood toward the rear of the group, his gaze fixed on the blood-soaked figure in the distance.
It had gone too smoothly.
Not that the battle had not been brutal enough.
On the contrary, Kakashi's group of four had nearly been pushed to their limits.
Might Guy's Achilles tendon had ruptured.
Shisui's Susanoo had collapsed.
Kakashi and Kurenai Yuhi had also expended a tremendous amount.
The battlefield itself had been utterly destroyed.
From every angle, this was a victory won at a terrible cost.
Yet the unease in Shikayū's heart did not fade.
Instead, it grew stronger and stronger.
A ninja traveling with him noticed his pace.
"Lu You, what's wrong?"
"Nothing."
"The medical ninja are already ahead of us. We need to hurry too."
Shikayū fell silent for a moment, then suddenly asked, "Why do you think Lie Yang lost?"
That ninja froze for a moment.
"Shisui used Susanoo and Kotoamatsukami."
"And Kakashi pierced his lung from behind with Lightning Cutter."
"How could he possibly not lose under those circumstances?"
"I'm asking why he forced himself into this situation."
The other man frowned.
"What do you mean?"
Shikayū stared into the distance.
"Lie Yang has the Lightning Body Flicker."
"In the white mist, he could easily shake off his pursuers."
"During a direct battle, ordinary sensory ninja couldn't lock onto him either."
"Even if he couldn't defeat Susanoo, he could have left completely."
"But he hadn't."
"He had been clashing head-on with Shisui the entire time."
The joy on the accompanying ninjas' faces gradually faded.
"Perhaps he believed he could win."
"Lie Yang never overestimated himself."
Lu You recalled the last encirclement.
From using Earth Rising Spears to alter the shuriken's trajectory,
to taking advantage of Might Guy leaving the treetops to force Kakashi back to support,
to having the Hidden Mist Technique blanket the battlefield and precisely killing the sensory ninja.
Before you continue