Five Paths Battle Two Elites (2)

At the critical moment, Fugaku kicked Shisui away with all his strength. "Sizzle!" At the same time, his right eye released a crimson glow!!

Rumble...!! Blazing flames from the explosion filled the inside of Susanoo!!!

Visible to the naked eye, it rapidly began to fall apart!!

Shisui's pupils trembled. "Uncle Fugaku!!!"

Sheets of paper fluttered around Konan, waiting for the instant the flames dispersed so she could collect Fugaku's blood...

"Huff, huff, huff..." Unexpectedly, once the flames cleared, Fugaku was still crouching where he stood, completely unharmed. He half-covered his right eye as he panted heavily.

Deva Path Pain lowered his gaze and murmured, "Inside an almost fully enclosed Susanoo, he came out unscathed from that kind of explosion... Unimaginable. Was it his ocular power?"

"Crack!!"

But then... an even more horrifying scene unfolded!!

Pain's Asura Path body... rapidly began to collapse!!

The uncontrolled Iron Sand World Method also reverted to scattered, free-floating Iron Sand!

Deva Path said with a smile, "Heh, confirmed... It was undoubtedly an ocular technique. And it came from his right eye!"

Fugaku raised his exhausted face. Through the gap between his fingers, the glow of his right eye faded, reverting to Three-Tomoe. He muttered in a low voice, "Without this Amenohiboko, I'm afraid I would have been in grave danger."

Just then, Shisui cried out, "Uncle Fugaku, watch behind you!!!"

"Boom!!"

The moment his words fell... Fugaku was lifted into the air!

The Animal Path's chameleon revealed itself, its tongue tightly binding Fugaku...!!

"Now, Konan!!"

Konan swept her hand.

"Whoosh!" "Whoosh!" "Whoosh!"

Sharp paper slices cut across Fugaku's body, staining themselves with blood before whirling back!

"I want to get my hands on his Mangekyō right now!"

"Boom!"

The Naraka Path leaped down, reaching toward the completely defenseless Fugaku...!!!

"Huff." At that moment, Fugaku's left eye suddenly focused!

But... nothing happened.

"Ukanomitama's ocular power... doesn't work on him!?"

"Just now... your chakra gathered toward the pathways of your left eye. Clearly, you used an ocular technique. If it failed, then that technique is either some kind of genjutsu or something aimed at the soul."

"I'll take those eyes..."

The Naraka Path's hand... had already reached before his eyes!!

Fugaku was utterly despairing. "Is this the end...?"

"Slash!" A sharp blade flashed through the air!!

Even though the Rinnegan's shared vision had detected the warning, it still could not effectively evade that incomprehensible body flicker!

The chameleon's tongue... was severed!

Deva Path raised his eyes and swept his gaze around.

Shisui, Shisui... Shisui was everywhere!

The Shisui who had acted just now landed behind the crowd of Shisuis, Fugaku slung over his shoulder!

"Sizzle!" Fugaku had already exhausted all his strength... He could not even maintain his Sharingan. "Shisui... don't worry about me. Run. The Uchiha clan still needs you!"

Shisui said solemnly, "Uncle Fugaku, forgive me for refusing. I cannot let your unborn child lose his father like this!"

Deva Path Pain said, "Both phantoms and physical bodies... the Phantom Body Flicker Technique. Is this where the name 'Body Flicker Shisui' came from?"

The Naraka Path stood in the field, looking at the Preta Path that had been crushed into a bloody pulp, as well as the Asura Path that had been reduced to scraps by the backlash of Fugaku's mysterious ocular technique. Neither of those Paths could be revived now.

"This Preta Path is of no consequence, but it's a pity about that Third Kazekage Asura Path..."

"But no matter. After this battle ends, I'll meet up with Orochimaru and make some adjustments. Then it will be time to head to the Hidden Cloud Village and acquire my most favored Asura Path..."

"Once that Asura Path is complete, it will become the main attacker among the Six Paths of Pain, capable of standing shoulder to shoulder with the Deva Path—no, perhaps even surpassing it in strength!"

"Whoosh!!"

Shisui's pupils narrowed, and every phantom rushed toward the Naraka Path at once!

"Boom!!" Deva Path Pain descended beside the Naraka Path, spreading both hands. "Don't get too arrogant!"

A repulsive field of blurred light... formed into a sphere and blasted outward in every direction!!

Shinra Tensei!!!

Boom...!!!

The level ground rapidly collapsed into a crater, which surged outward as the wildly unleashed force sent every phantom on the field, along with Shisui himself supporting Fugaku, flying backward!!

"Gahhhhh... Is this power from the same type of technique as the one that dragged me over before!?"

The phantoms... vanished.

Deva Path smiled. "Even phantoms with physical form that are said not to disappear cannot be maintained if the original body suffers a sufficiently heavy blow?"

Behind Shisui, Pain Rin formed hand seals with her small hands!

Summoning Technique!

"Poof!"

A rhinoceros charged wildly out of the smoke...!!

Fugaku cried in alarm, "Shisui... put me down, now!!!"

But... Uchiha Shisui closed his eyes at that moment!!

"Sizzle!"

When he opened them again... dazzling four-pointed pinwheel patterns appeared in his pupils!!

Then... emerald-green Susanoo ribs covered his body. "Crack!" "Crack!" An arm condensed beside those ribs, bracing itself against the rhinoceros's body!

Fugaku stared at the sight in shock. "Shisui, you..."

Shisui said calmly, "Uncle Fugaku, I awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan as well. It was during the Battle of the Upper Water Flow, when I witnessed the deaths of my friends and comrades."

"Thanks to your demonstration, I can also barely control the ocular power of this Susanoo!"

"Crack!!"

Near Susanoo's skeletal palm and wrist, a smaller bone hand grew out and seized the rhinoceros's horn. As the main bone hand released it, a curved-blade sword formed and plunged into the rhinoceros's eye with a crunch!!

"Roar...!!" The rhinoceros let out a miserable cry and vanished in a cloud of white smoke!

Nagato murmured, "As expected... Shisui awakened his eyes as well."

Inside Susanoo, Shisui's eyes shifted as he told Fugaku his thoughts. "The two enemies who were killed and the enemies on the field... share many similar traits, and their eyes are highly unusual."

"Though I don't know their exact background, from the exchange just now... I can at least confirm one thing: their vision is linked!"

"The only one who differs is that blue-haired woman. And when Uncle Fugaku was bound by that strange summoned beast, she clearly had the chance to directly attack your vital points. But what did she do instead?"

Fugaku looked at the silent Konan atop the hump and said, "Yes... it is indeed strange. At first, I thought her attack had missed, but now it is hard to imagine an enemy of this caliber making such a low-level mistake."

Shisui said calmly, "At the very least, we can confirm that she is different from the other enemies."

"Yes." Susanoo hurled the sword in its hand toward the hump where Konan stood!

Boom...!!

The hump collapsed amid the roar, and Konan sprang backward!!

"Never mind the enemy's purpose for now... that woman is undoubtedly our breakthrough point!! Whether it is breaking through this killing trap... or uncovering the enemy's plot afterward and turning the tables!"

Fugaku said, "If you have an idea, put it into action. Don't worry about me!"

"Yes, I understand!" Light gleamed in Shisui's eyes as the Susanoo around him rapidly transitioned from ribs into a skeletal form!

"Poof!" He threw a ninja smoke bomb at his feet, leaving Fugaku within the skeletal Susanoo. Then, like an arrow released from its bow, he shot out of Susanoo and charged at Konan at full speed!

I need to save chakra for escape. I only have one chance... I'll use the power of Kotoamatsukami on her!!!