A Step Too Late

On his way there, Xuanhui sensed the battlefield. Quite a few familiar chakra signatures were gathered there.

"Looks like they only started fighting not long ago!"

To get there faster, Xuanhui even used an acceleration jutsu, all so he could reach the battlefield sooner.

"Wait..."

Xuanhui frowned. Something was wrong.

"Why... did all the chakra suddenly become so weak?"

His heart filled with unease, but no matter how much he accelerated, he could not fly.

"No... If they're this weak... can they really still be alive?"

If a person's chakra was a flame, then in Xuanhui's sensory field, a sea of fire was going out patch by patch!

"Only... four left?"

"Damn it!"

Xuanhui's heart rate had already broken one hundred and eighty! Under those circumstances, his vision was starting to go dark!

"No! I have to make it there..."

"..."

"It's right in front of me..."

"Teacher Orochimaru! Lord Jiraiya! Sister Tsunade!"

Orochimaru glanced in Uchiha Uzumaki's direction, then suddenly began coughing violently.

"Teacher Orochimaru... I came too late..."

This kid...

Xuanhui gently released Orochimaru's hand.

"Xuanhui... Cough, cough, cough! Wait..."

The moment Tsunade opened her mouth, she nearly coughed up blood!

"Lady Tsunade! Don't force yourself to speak!"

Slug was so frightened her eyes nearly popped out, hurriedly telling Tsunade not to panic.

"Sister Tsunade... Don't say anything..."

Expressionless, Xuanhui walked over to Uchiha Uzumaki and looked at the man lying face down on the ground.

This man was his father.

"You old bastard... Do you know how hard Mom is to placate?"

This man's heartbeat... could no longer be heard...

Yet Xuanhui's heartbeat grew faster and faster, as though it was about to burst free from his chest.

"You need to go back and placate your own wife! I only just became strong enough to protect you...

If I had just been a little faster..."

Xuanhui's vision went black. His head dropped, and he collapsed straight onto Uchiha Uzumaki's chest.

He had worked continuously for over thirty hours, resting only four hours in between.

He had also exhausted himself sprinting at full speed, his heart rate never dropping below one hundred and twenty.

From joy and excitement, to tension and fear, and finally utter collapse.

His emotions had been in constant turmoil. Without even letting out a cry, Xuanhui lost consciousness.

"Xuanhui! Xuanhui!"

Orochimaru immediately rolled over, only for a wave of excruciating pain to shoot through his body.

"Orochimaru! Don't move too much!"

"I know my limits!"

Orochimaru gritted his teeth and cast the pain aside.

When he crawled to Xuanhui's side and turned him over, his face was covered in rainwater and mud!

But the two streaks of crimson in the furrows beneath his eyes were especially glaring!

"You brat! Always rushing into things!"

Xuanhui felt as though he had been swimming through this darkness for a very long time!

No matter which way he went, there was only bottomless darkness!

He opened his mouth, but could not say a single word!

His head hurt terribly, and his vision blurred again!

"Xuanhui! Are you all right?"

Xuanhui suddenly heard someone calling him, and his gaze instantly swept in every direction.

A patch of light immediately caught his attention.

He swam toward it, but there was some kind of resistance!

It became harder and harder to swim! In the end, he simply closed his eyes.

Who knew how long passed before it felt as though old shackles had been removed from his body? In an instant, he felt completely light and relaxed!

He looked around, and familiar scenery came into view.

"Isn't this my library?

Huh! I can talk again!"

Xuanhui looked around once more. It really was his library.

He pushed open the wooden door, and a blinding light instantly swallowed him!

"Damn! What the hell is this?"

After the light faded, he opened his eyes, looking as though he had just woken up from sleep as usual.

"Xuanhui! You're finally awake!"

Xuanhui turned his head toward the person sitting beside his bed.

The moment he saw him, his heart began racing. He even wondered whether he had failed to wake from the dream!

"Dad? Weren't you dead?"

"Can't you say something nice? Can't you wish me well for once?"

Uchiha Uzumaki raised his hand as if to hit Xuanhui, but pulled it back halfway.

"Dad... This isn't the spirit world, is it..."

"Your old man isn't dead!"

"Huh?"

Xuanhui scratched his head, not quite understanding.

"You brat! That panicked look of yours really takes after your mother!

The antidote Lady Tsunade and Lord Orochimaru made can neutralize salamander poison after being used on us!

But there was limited time for research, so it wasn't particularly effective, and it had side effects.

The main side effect is entering a state of suspended death!

Afterward, saline has to be continuously injected for twelve hours before vital signs can temporarily return, and then you still need half a month of rest!"

"Huh? Damn! You scared me to death!"

"Who wasn't scared? But your old man turned misfortune into a blessing!"

Xuanhui looked at his father's somewhat smug, thoroughly punchable grin.

"What blessing? Let me see!"

"Hehe! Just watch!"

Uchiha Uzumaki mysteriously covered his eyes with his hands.

Holy shit... No way, right?

His hands suddenly dropped, revealing a pair of crimson eyes.

Xuanhui stared closely. There were no tomoe, only four rounded, asymmetrical patterns. They looked a little like a cruise ship's propeller.

It really is a fucking Mangekyo Sharingan!

"I'm telling you, Xuanhui! Your dad really struck gold this time!"

"What can they do?"

Not wanting to hear his father brag, Xuanhui only cared about these eyes he had never seen before.

The moment that came up, Uchiha Uzumaki became even more animated. He rolled up his sleeves and began explaining!

"Your old man's..."

"Get to the point!"

"The ocular jutsu in my left eye is called Mahakala!

It lets the cells and tissues in my body actively adapt to foreign substances that enter it, then digest them into stamina."

"Holy shit!"

Xuanhui could not hold it in and cursed outright.

The ability of the left eye alone was this absurd! Wouldn't that mean he no longer had to fear poison?

"The ocular jutsu in my right eye is called Eight Crossroads!

It can mark up to two people. Even if the marked person is thousands of miles away, I can sense their location and movements!"

"Awesome!"

Xuanhui had nothing to say. The Uchiha Clan's Mangekyo Sharingan were all ridiculously powerful!

They might not be as overpowered as Kamui's intangibility or Kotoamatsukami's ability to rewrite someone's will.

But these support abilities were still more than impressive!

When it came to mechanisms, no one could surpass the Uchiha Clan!

But the reason his abilities were like this was probably because of the intense obsession he had felt when awakening them!

Because he desperately wanted to neutralize the poison and survive, he gained Mahakala.

Because he wanted to return to his mother's side, he awakened Eight Crossroads.

"Does awakening the Mangekyo Sharingan... require going through a life-or-death ordeal?"

Xuanhui sighed, turned over, and found a more comfortable position. Then another question surfaced in his mind.

When the Uchiha Clan faced the loss of someone they loved, weren't they supposed to go berserk and lose control?

Why was Dad all right?