"Let go of my father!"
Several youths leaped out from behind. The one at the front charged straight at Shin'yu without hesitation.
That reckless, unstructured move was full of openings in Shin'yu's eyes. With a sweeping kick, he struck the youth across the face, sending him flying more than ten meters with a bang.
"Hiruzen!"
"Monkey!"
The youths behind him cried out in alarm.
"Young Master!!"
The voice came from the other side. It belonged to the only Jonin left on the field, and he was surprisingly a ninja from the Sarutobi Clan.
As his voice drew closer, he charged in with a Kunai in hand. Black Qi flashed around Shin'yu, and the outline of a skeleton flickered into view. With a ding, the Kunai snapped in two.
"What?!" Shock filled the ninja's eyes. The next second, a pitch-black giant hand seized him and raised him high into the air.
Yet Shin'yu did not even spare him a glance.
Because at that moment, only one figure remained in his eyes.
It was a black-haired youth whose height and features bore more than a passing resemblance to his own.
"B-Brother..." Uchiha Kagami stared blankly at Shin'yu, his steps inexplicably unsteady.
Shin'yu simply stared at him for a long while before revealing a wicked smile. "You've grown quite a bit taller, my good younger brother."
Kagami stood frozen in place, at a loss. He had imagined countless scenes of the brothers meeting again, but no matter what, he had never expected that when he saw his brother once more—saw that familiar yet unfamiliar face, and those ever-mocking eyes—he would simply freeze.
He forgot to breathe. Only his heart kept pounding.
That back, those eyes, that Mangekyo Pattern... the last time he had seen them was on that full-moon night five years ago.