Read ahead of public release on P atreon at: p-atreon.com/Knockturn_Alley
Check out Chapter illustrations on Pixiv at unhinged_uchiha
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'Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!'
Rapidly weaving hand signs, Fugaku unleashed a massive fireball toward Might Duy.
In response, Duy formed a strange hand seal resembling a tiger while generating an overwhelming burst of air pressure. The compressed force exploded outward, taking the shape of a gigantic tiger as it charged straight toward the incoming flames and Fugaku himself.
The pressure was monstrous.
The Great Fireball Jutsu was instantly blown apart, its flames completely snuffed out, before the attack continued forward and slammed directly into Fugaku.
"Gaahhh—w-what is this?!" Fugaku cried out in shock.
He couldn't even understand what had hit him. His Sharingan detected no chakra within the attack, yet the impact felt powerful enough to tear his body apart. He was blasted back hundreds of meters before crashing violently into a tree and collapsing to the ground and felt his bones rattle.
"Whew… this Might Duy really is some kind of anomaly," Satoru whistled.
Despite being unable to use chakra properly and not knowing any ninjutsu, Duy was unleashing attack after attack comparable to A-rank and even S-rank ninjutsu through nothing but pure taijutsu and physical strength. If that wasn't an anomaly, Uchiha Satoru didn't know what was.
"He's terrifying…" Kurumi murmured, genuinely unsettled by the sight.
Duy's flushed body, bulging muscles, and veins that looked ready to burst made him seem less human and more like a monster.
At the same time, a troubling thought crossed her mind. "Is it possible… that he's even stronger than Patriarch-sama…?"
"Don't ask such a dumbass question," Satoru immediately snapped at her. "How could he be stronger than Patriarch-sama?"
But Souta didn't think the question was stupid at all. He actually answered it seriously.
"No… maybe he could be," Souta said while staring at Duy. "If he releases all Eight Gates… he might actually be capable of overwhelming Patriarch-sama."
Souta didn't know about Kanzou's Mangekyō Sharingan, so from his perspective, Might Duy at his absolute peak might genuinely possess the power to kill even Kanzou. He hated admitting it, but he couldn't deny what he was seeing either.
His words made Satoru and Kurumi suck in a cold breath.
"Hisss…!"
The two stared at Duy with even greater horror at the same time with relief that their Patriarch has really tamed such a monster.
While Souta, Satoru, and Kurumi casually continued talking among themselves after having dealt with the other ninjas accompanying Fugaku.
Fugaku himself, however, had begun to realize just how bad his situation really was.
"All of them are already dead?" he cursed, gritting his teeth, anger and frustration boiling inside him.
Those were the ninjas Hiruzen had personally assigned to help wipe out these traitorous Uchihas, yet they had accomplished absolutely nothing. Not only had they failed to gain any advantage, but they had been slaughtered with humiliating ease. And then there was that monster called Might Duy, a man who had appeared out of nowhere with absurd, incomprehensible strength. Fugaku couldn't even understand what kind of freak he was fighting. None of Duy's attacks carried visible chakra, yet every strike hit with terrifying, destructive power.
'Can pure Taijutsu even accomplish something like this?' he had a hard time believing what he was experiencing personally.
And as if that situation wasn't already bad enough, another issue was gnawing at Fugaku's mind.
'Where the hell are Danzō's Root ninjas? Weren't they supposed to attack too and back us up?'
According to the original plan, Fugaku and the accompanying ANBU were only meant to act as bait. They would engage the Uchihas openly while Danzō's Root operatives struck from the shadows, resulting in a pincer attack to kill the Uchihas with ease.
But so much time had already passed. Most of the ANBU were either heavily injured or outright dead, yet the Root forces still hadn't appeared.
Fugaku's expression darkened further. 'Did something happen to them?'
At this point, that was the only explanation he could think of. There was no way Danzō's men would simply ignore the operation after things had escalated this badly.
And as it turned out, Fugaku's suspicion was correct.
The Root operatives really had encountered a problem.
A single problem.
A masked kunoichi.
...
Somewhere else in the Land of That—
Boom! Boom! Boom! Bang!
Explosions continuously echoed across a clearing not far from the ambush site where Fugaku was fighting Might Duy. Trees were blasted apart one after another, the ground was torn open with deep craters, and smoke mixed with dust covered much of the battlefield.
"Dammit… who in the world is she?" one of the masked ninjas cursed while clutching his bleeding side.
The man wore a hooded cloak similar to the others, but it was already soaked with his own blood. His breathing was ragged, and his eyes were filled with frustration and disbelief as he stared at the lone kunoichi standing against them.
The problem was that she too wore a mask and a cloak, making it impossible to identify her.
Normally, that wouldn't have mattered. If some random shinobi got in their way, they would simply kill them and continue the mission. But this woman was different. The strength she displayed was absurd. Even with two full Root squads attacking together, they were still struggling to suppress her.
What terrified them most was the strange chakra manifestation surrounding her body.
None of them had ever seen a technique like it before.
Intense violet and pink chakra coiled around her like a living serpent. At times, it resembled a beast growling through the battlefield, at other times, it acted like long whips lashing out violently, then it would take the forms of giant swords crushing trees, after that, shields blowing away attacks, and then into something again, forcing even elite Root operatives to retreat repeatedly.
With her ability to shape Chakra itself into whatever form she wanted, she was overwhelming them alone.
They were supposed to be reinforcing Fugaku and the ANBU by now, but instead, they had been trapped here the entire time by a single masked kunoichi.
The injured ninja coughed up blood before turning toward one of his companions.
"Hey… Wasp…" he growled, his voice strained. "Can't your insects eat away the chakra surrounding her body?"
"The chakra coating her body… there's something wrong with it," the Root ANBU ninja wearing the wasp-shaped mask replied grimly. "My insects mutate the moment they start feeding on it. Their bodies swell, twist apart, and then they die."
Even he couldn't fully understand what was happening. The only explanation he could think of was that her chakra possessed some kind of poisonous property.
And honestly, he wasn't entirely wrong.
The only difference was that the chakra itself wasn't poisonous.
It was radioactive.
The insects feeding on it were being bombarded with radiation, driving rapid mutations throughout their tiny bodies until they could no longer survive. Their cells spiraled out of control before collapsing altogether.
It was almost like cancer. Insect cancer.
But while the Root ninjas struggled to understand what they were dealing with, the masked kunoichi had already understood everything, and decided to no longer drag this battle out.
'In my current condition, I can't handle a prolonged fight anyway,' she thought coldly. 'I need to end this quickly.'
She immediately formed a series of hand seals.
The next instant, an enormous amount of dense violet chakra erupted from her body. Her veins glowed with a dark purple light that looked almost poisonous as the chakra surged violently through her system. The pain was intense, so intense that her body trembled under the strain, but she ignored it by gritting her teeth and forcing the technique forward.
The chakra exploded upward.
It twisted and condensed into the shape of an enormous serpentine dragon rising behind her, its massive body made entirely of violent violet chakra.
'Ninja Art: Kujaku: Dragon!'
ROAR!!!
The gigantic dragon made entirely of chakra roared violently, its deafening cry shaking the entire forest. Trees trembled under the pressure alone, branches snapping apart as waves of violet chakra spread across the battlefield.
"W-what the hell is that?!" The Root ninjas stared in horror.
None of them had ever seen anything like this before. The sheer density of chakra pouring out of the dragon made their hearts pound wildly in fear. Every instinct in their bodies screamed the same thing, 'Run!'
If this had been a direct mission target, they would have fought to the death without hesitation. That was how Root operated. But this situation was different. They didn't even know who this masked kunoichi was. Their mission had been to eliminate the Uchihas, yet this woman clearly wasn't one of them.
Dying here against some unknown monster made no sense.
So they turned and tried to escape.
But escaping was never going to be that easy.
The massive chakra dragon suddenly opened its jaws wide and inhaled sharply.
A terrifying suction force erupted from its maw.
The surrounding air twisted violently as dirt, rocks, broken branches, and the Root ninjas themselves, were dragged toward it against their will.
"Shit—!!"
Two of the operatives lost their footing entirely. Before they could even react, they were pulled straight into the dragon's mouth.
Crunch!
The dragon bit down savagely, crushing their bodies apart in an instant. Blood sprayed everywhere as their screams were abruptly cut short.
The remaining four Root ANBU immediately gathered chakra into the soles of their feet and anchored themselves to the ground to resist the pull.
But at that exact moment, the dragon swooped downward while continuing to inhale violently, making the situation even worse for them. Trees were uprooted, the earth cracked apart beneath their feet, and the surviving ninjas struggled desperately just to avoid being dragged into the monster's jaws next.
"Kill them all!" the masked kunoichi ordered sharply.
The gigantic chakra dragon obeyed immediately, lunging forward and swallowing another Root operative whole. The remaining three reacted in panic, unleashing their individual ninjutsu at the dragon while simultaneously trying to target the masked woman herself.
But their attacks were meaningless.
Against that enormous dragon made of dense violet chakra, their techniques looked pathetic. Fireballs, wind blades, and projectiles vanished the moment they collided with the monstrous chakra surrounding it.
The dragon retaliated instantly.
Its jaws opened, and several compressed bullets of chakra shot out like cannon fire. One of the Root ninjas barely had time to widen his eyes before his chest exploded apart under the impact, killing him on the spot.
Pufff!
Now only two remained.
The surviving Root operatives exchanged a quick glance. No words were needed. They both immediately understood what had to be done.
One of them charged directly toward the dragon, intending to distract and stall it.
The other turned and fled in the opposite direction.
Such a monster appearing out of nowhere and specifically targeting them was not normal. No matter what happened, Danzō needed to be informed about this masked kunoichi and her terrifying abilities.
Unfortunately for him, he didn't get very far.
After casually dealing with the Root ninja who had rushed forward to occupy the dragon, the masked kunoichi coldly issued another command, "Finish this with a breath attack."
The dragon opened its massive maw.
Violent chakra from the rest of its body rapidly gathered into its throat, compressing into a blinding sphere of violet energy before erupting outward as a devastating beam.
The fleeing Root operative sensed something behind him and instinctively turned his head.
"Huh—?" That was all he managed to say as the beam swallowed his entire body instantly.
BOOOOM!!!
A massive explosion tore through the forest as the chakra blast obliterated everything in its path, leaving behind nothing but scorched earth and shattered trees.
As the smoke from the explosion slowly cleared, the masked kunoichi scanned the devastated battlefield and murmured to herself, "That should be all of them, I guess…"
Even so, she didn't lower her guard immediately.
These were Root operatives. There was no telling that they might have some special skill up their sleeves that might have allowed one of them to remain alive, faking their death, and later escaping.
She didn't want to be careless and let a loose end run away, so she carefully checked the battlefield one more time, making sure every single Root ninja was truly dead and that none of them were barely clinging to life somewhere beneath the rubble.
Only after confirming it did she finally relax slightly.
"Alright… with this, the mission Kanzou-sama entrusted to me is complete…"
As she spoke, the violent violet chakra surrounding her body began receding back into her. The massive dragon-shaped manifestation dissolved into streams of energy before disappearing entirely. At the same time, she lowered the hood of her cloak, revealing long maroon hair spilling down her back.
Without question, the masked kunoichi was none other than Natsuhi of Hoshigakure, whom Kanzou had secretly sent here to support Souta and the others.
"Now then…" she muttered while suppressing the pain spreading through her body because of using the power of the Star. "Let's seal the corpses first… then I'll go check whether they have finished things on their side."
She immediately took out sealing scrolls and began storing the bodies of the dead Root ANBU one after another.
Once that was done, she wasted no further time and hurried toward Souta's battlefield.
...
Back on Souta's side, Fugaku's situation was becoming increasingly desperate under Might Duy's relentless assault. Every exchange pushed him further into a corner, and there was still no sign of Danzō's Root ANBU arriving to support them. At this point, even a fool could tell that something had gone wrong on that side as well.
'This mission… It's a complete failure…!' Fugaku thought bitterly while gritting his teeth.
The thought of having failed the mission infuriated him.
Today was supposed to be the day these subordinates of Kanzou were going to be wiped out. Instead, those bastards were still alive and standing right in front of him. Fugaku hated the idea of letting this opportunity slip away because he knew very well that after today, dealing with these traitorous Uchihas would only become even harder.
If it were up to him, he would slaughter every single one of them here and now.
But reality was cruel.
The monster called Might Duy had completely overturned the battlefield. Fugaku could already feel it, if he stayed here much longer, he was genuinely going to die at the hands of that taijutsu freak.
And Fugaku had no intention of dying here... He can't die without exacting his vengeance and taking back what rightfully belongs to him.
'Retreating is the only option left,' he thought.
The problem was actually escaping.
Just because he wanted to retreat didn't mean these people would let him go so easily. Souta, Satoru, and Kurumi were all watching him carefully. All three were jōnin-level shinobi, while Souta and Satoru in particular had strength approaching the level of elite jōnin. Not to mention this Taijutsu freak.
Trying to escape from all of them at once was easier said than done.
But Fugaku no longer cared.
'I need to get out of here… I absolutely cannot die here!'
With that thought, his eyes landed on the carriage packed with explosive tags, the same trap the Uchihas had completely ignored until now.
Without hesitation, Fugaku pulled out a kunai tied with an explosive tag and hurled it toward the cart before immediately turning around and sprinting away from the battlefield.
Tuk!
Hissss—
BOOOOMMMMMM!!!!
A deafening explosion erupted instantly.
The blast violently shook the entire bridge and rattled the surrounding rocky mountains. The shockwave swept through the battlefield as the bridge groaned dangerously, threatening to collapse altogether. At the same time, massive boulders from the surrounding cliffs began trembling loose as if another landslide was about to crash down on everyone below.
The expressions of Souta, Satoru, Kurumi, and the others changed immediately.
"That bastard is trying to escape!"
"We have to pursue him!"
"No, don't be an idiot, don't you see what's about to happen. Pull back quickly!"
"Might Duy, retreat! Forget about that fucker!"
Hearing the warnings, Might Duy stopped pursuing Fugaku and immediately jumped back as enormous boulders began crashing down across the battlefield.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Massive rocks continued raining from the mountainside, smashing apart sections of the bridge and tearing through the surrounding forest. Dust and debris exploded everywhere as the entire area descended into chaos.
Duy burst out from the collapsing zone and landed beside Souta, Satoru, and Kurumi, who had already begun retreating from the danger zone.
"I… I failed to kill or capture him…" Duy admitted, sounding genuinely guilty.
"Don't worry about it," Souta said dismissively while continuing to run. "That was never the mission anyway. You beat the shit out of him and injured him badly enough." He smirked slightly. "I saw that bastard limping while he ran away, and one of his arms is definitely broken, too. That's more than enough for now."
Then he added casually, "Besides, Patriarch-sama wants to keep him alive anyway, so there's no problem."
Hearing that, Duy finally relaxed and released the Eight Inner Gates.
The moment he did, "Ouch! Ouchhhh!!"
Intense pain exploded throughout his body instantly. His muscles screamed in agony, and his legs nearly gave out beneath him. After forcing his body beyond its limits for so long, the backlash finally caught up to him.
"I got you," Satoru said casually before grabbing Duy by the collar and dragging him along as they continued retreating at high speed.
The group kept moving until they completely escaped the region where the boulders were crashing down relentlessly.
...
"Haah… haaah… we escaped…" Satoru let out a long breath of relief while patting Might Duy on the shoulder.
The slap immediately made Duy twitch in pain again, yet the man still broke into a wide grin. Despite the agony running through his body, his eyes were shining with excitement from the experience he had just gone through.
"So… this is what missions are like?" Duy asked enthusiastically.
"Not always," Souta replied with a snort. "But… sort of."
Kurumi suddenly narrowed her eyes and looked off into the distance. "Someone's coming," she warned, immediately becoming vigilant again.
"No need to worry," Souta said calmly. "It's her."
And just as he said that, Natsuhi arrived moments later, still wearing the mask that concealed her face.
"I got worried for a second after seeing all that chaos," she said while glancing toward the destroyed area now buried beneath fallen boulders and shattered debris.
"It was that bastard Fugaku," Satoru spat with clear annoyance. "The fucker pissed himself and ran after blowing everything up."
Natsuhi tilted her head slightly. "Should I chase after him?"
With her current strength, she genuinely believed she might still be able to catch Fugaku—and possibly kill him.
But Souta shook his head.
"No need. Patriarch-sama wants to send a message to Sarutobi Hiruzen too… so letting Fugaku crawl back alive works better for us."
In other words, Fugaku himself would become the messenger carrying news of their complete failure back to Hiruzen.
"Understood," Natsuhi nodded before moving on to the next matter. "Then what about the mission?"
After all, despite everything that had happened, they still hadn't completed their main objective.
"It's fine. You don't need to worry about that," Souta said confidently. "Leave the rest to us."
In his opinion, the remaining part of the mission wasn't difficult at all. Even after all the chaos, they could still complete it without much trouble.
"Alright then… I won't interfere," Natsuhi replied before deciding to step aside and let them handle the rest.
Meanwhile, Souta, Satoru, Kurumi, and an exhausted Might Duy moved to complete the actual mission by eliminating the so-called representative.
For a group with their strength, it wasn't particularly hard. The opposing side did have shinobi protecting the target, but after everything that had already happened, those defenses were nowhere near enough to stop them. Natsuhi quietly observed the situation from a distance and watched the operation proceed rather smoothly.
And in the end, the deaths were conveniently blamed on the massive rockslide and collapsing bridge.
Honestly, it worked perfectly for them.
With that, the mission was finally complete.
After wrapping everything up, everyone began returning to the village. Natsuhi also headed back toward the Land of Fire, but she didn't enter Konoha. Instead, she stayed at a hot spring inn in a small town, which is not too far from Konoha.
"I hope Kanzou-sama comes to visit me later…" she murmured softly, a faint blush spreading across her cheeks.
After all, it had been a long time since she last spent any real time with him, and she was feeling rather thirsty.
...
A few days later, Souta, Satoru, Kurumi, and Duy entered Konoha through the main gate. But instead of heading toward the Hokage Building like normal shinobi returning from a mission, they went straight to the Police Station to submit their report.
Naturally, even though the three Uchihas and Might Duy never stepped near the Hokage Building, news of their return still reached it before they could even arrive at the Police Station.
"What?" Hiruzen was visibly taken aback as he looked at the Eagle-masked ANBU reporting to him. "Uchiha Souta, Uchiha Satoru, Uchiha Kurumi, and Might Duy have returned?"
"Yes," the Eagle-masked ANBU replied. "They are currently heading toward the Police Station."
"How is that possible…?" Hiruzen muttered, his expression darkening. "Did something go wrong on Fugaku's side…?"
A bad feeling suddenly rose in his chest.
...
Around the same time, inside the Police Station, Kanzou, while sipping the tea Hazuki had prepared, welcomed his subordinates back.
"Since the four of you came back in one piece," he said lazily, "I'll assume things went well."
Souta nodded. "Yes, Patriarch-sama. Everything happened more or less similar to what you predicted." Having said that, he took out the report he had prepared beforehand and handed it over. "Here's the mission report."
Hazuki stepped forward, took the scroll from Souta, and respectfully passed it to Kanzou.
"Hmm… let's see," Kanzou murmured. Setting down his teacup, he unfolded the scroll to read the report.
As his eyes moved across the contents, the corners of his lips slowly curled upward into a smile, "Fufu… interesting."
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Remember that I wasn't well recently and couldn't post for a while? Well, the medical report says that I am suffering from popularity deficiency, and I am in serious need of this story gaining a higher ranking.
To beat this severe popularity deficiency, I need all the comments, reviews, and, of course, powerstones from my readers. Especially power stones.
A Power Stone a day keeps the lack of motivation (aka... hiatus) away.
So, gimme Powaaahh Shtoness!!!
Of course, you may also read ahead of public release on P atreon at: p-atreon.com/Knockturn_Alley
Check out Chapter illustrations on Pixiv: unhinged_uchiha
If you like this story, then you might also like my other story: One Piece: The Incubus' Adventure. Give it a try.