A life-or-death crisis

"Heh, you really are mindless scum. Since you dared to chase me here, none of you are leaving alive!"

Kazuhiko Uchiha stood in the center of the station plaza, coldly watching the Lickers closing in on him from every direction. His eyes brimmed with murderous intent, and he sneered inwardly.

He had avoided powerful ninjutsu earlier because damaging the cramped underground floors might have sealed off his escape route. That was why he had fought them using only taijutsu and swordsmanship. Although he had escaped injury, the fighting had left him somewhat battered.

Now that he had reached this spacious area, those concerns were gone. He could unleash his offensive ninjutsu and wipe them all out.

He returned his bloodstained tachi to his storage space, opened the Gate of Life to increase his total primal energy, and rapidly formed hand seals. Drawing on thirty percent of his primal energy, he unleashed a new Fire Release Ninjutsu.

"Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet!"

Nine streams of flame erupted from Kazuhiko Uchiha's mouth, swelling in the wind into enormous fire dragons over ten meters long. With overwhelming force, they flew toward the Lickers lunging at him from every direction.

Fire Dragon Flame Bullet was the only B-rank ninjutsu Kazuhiko Uchiha's parents had left him. He had spent a month mastering it, and with the enhancement provided by primal energy, which far surpassed chakra in quality, it reached the power of an A-rank ninjutsu.

Although the Lickers had no minds of their own, their animal instincts were exceptionally strong. Sensing the lethal threat of the fire dragons, they leaped aside to dodge.

But Kazuhiko Uchiha controlled these fire dragons with his mental power. They did not simply vanish when their targets dodged. Instead, they changed direction in midair and accelerated toward the Lickers.

Boom!

The nine fire dragons struck their targets with precision. Searing flames engulfed the Lickers' massive bodies, and the foul stench of scorched, rotting flesh filled the station plaza.

The Lickers' formidable physical defenses and regeneration counted for little against flames that clung to them relentlessly. They writhed in the fire, trying to extinguish it, but their efforts were futile. In the end, every one of them perished in the flames.

Highly satisfied with the power of Fire Dragon Flame Bullet, Kazuhiko Uchiha used it again to kill another nine Lickers. The remaining ones posed even less of a threat. With the tremendous speed and strength of the Eight Gates, he cut them down one by one.

After clearing out the Lickers, Kazuhiko Uchiha rested there for a while. Even when his primal energy had almost fully recovered, the assault team still had not returned.

"Good luck to you!"

Kazuhiko Uchiha had no intention of waiting any longer. He set off at once, sprinting along the railway tracks, then passed through the door beneath the villa and emerged aboveground.

Taking the Red Queen's motherboard out of his system storage, Kazuhiko Uchiha sent a signal to summon the Umbrella Corporation's retrieval team and handed it over intact.

After checking the motherboard for damage, the Umbrella Corporation personnel departed by helicopter. At the same time, a mission-completion notification sounded in Kazuhiko Uchiha's mind.

"Ding! Congratulations, host. You have completed the Black Iron-rank mission-[Shut Down the Red Queen]. Commission earned: 10 system gold coins, 9 mission points."

"Ding! Mercenary mission complete. The host may freely choose to leave the mission world within one day. Once that time expires, departure will be forced. You may also spend gold coins to remain in the mission world at a rate of 1 gold coin/day. Time remaining: 23 hours, 59 minutes."

"Danger!"

With the mission complete, Kazuhiko Uchiha had just relaxed and was about to catch his breath when his heart clenched, and a sudden sense of mortal danger surged through his mind.

Without a second thought, Kazuhiko Uchiha immediately used the Substitution Technique to evade the attack. Unfortunately, he was still a moment too slow. A sharp pain ripped through his chest, followed by a wet tearing sound as a massive wound punched straight through it.

It was the first time he had suffered such a grievous injury. The agonizing pain and heavy blood loss made the world spin around him. Fortunately, the shot had missed his heart, leaving him barely alive.

"Damn it! Who was that?!"

Kazuhiko Uchiha tumbled several times in succession, retreating into the villa. The intense pain prevented him from using his supernatural ability to treat the wound. He could only take three Nine-Flower Jade Dew Pills from his system storage and swallow them, then pull out the hemostatic medicine he had bought in Konoha and dump it all over the wound. Even that failed to stop the bleeding.

As his blood rapidly drained away, Kazuhiko Uchiha's consciousness began to blur. He was facing his first life-or-death crisis since his rebirth.

The sniper rifle had blasted a bowl-sized hole in his chest, even destroying small portions of some internal organs. Even if he returned to the Naruto World immediately, it was already too late to get treatment. His only option was a desperate gamble on his luck.

Biting down hard on the tip of his tongue to clear his head a little, Kazuhiko Uchiha immediately used the Clone Technique to create ten clones. They ran in different directions to distract the enemy.

At the same time, he took a vial of concentrated T-Virus from his storage space and injected it into his body.

"Aaargh!"

Pain. Pure, absolute pain, far beyond anything Kazuhiko Uchiha had anticipated.

Thick veins bulged across Kazuhiko Uchiha's body like coiling dragons, and his muscles spasmed violently as though dancing. It felt as if millions of ants were tearing into him from within, as if scorching flames were burning across his flesh. The sensation completely eclipsed the pain of his chest wound. Even with his current willpower, he could not keep himself from screaming.

His genes continually broke down and recombined. The powerful regenerative ability granted by the T-Virus rebuilt Kazuhiko Uchiha's body, and within a few dozen breaths, the wound in his chest gradually closed. Yet the pain throughout his body did not diminish, continuing to torment his mind.

Several minutes passed before the T-Virus finished transforming Kazuhiko Uchiha's body. The pain vanished entirely, and everything fell quiet.

Drenched in sweat, Kazuhiko Uchiha slumped onto the floor amid the filthy blood and opened his tightly shut eyes. A single black tomoe appeared in each blood-red eye.

One-Tomoe Sharingan, awakened!

As the saying went, a misfortune could turn out to be a blessing.

Sensing the change in his eyes, Kazuhiko Uchiha was ecstatic. He had never imagined he would awaken the Uchiha Clan's greatest cheat, the Sharingan, in this way.

That was not all. The T-Virus had further strengthened his body, allowing him to withstand the strain of the third of the Eight Gates and bringing him much closer to opening the fourth. Most importantly, it had given him regenerative abilities far beyond those of ordinary people.

"With the Sharingan awakened, I can use those ordinary genjutsu now, too."

Kazuhiko Uchiha turned his gaze toward the attackers outside the villa and sneered. "As thanks for helping me awaken these eyes, you scum can become sacrifices to the Sharingan."