Susanoo's blade cleaved forward, shaking the earth to its very core.
An invisible shockwave rippled outward in all directions, forcing the Water Shadow, Yagura, to involuntarily take a step back.
Yet Senju Haruto, relying on his own overwhelming power, stood within a mere fist's distance from that deadly edge—unshaken, untouched.
That crushing force, enough to pulverize a mountain, didn't seem to affect Haruto at all.
Seeing this, Uchiha Kenichi abandoned all caution and pressed the attack.
It didn't matter that his chakra reserves were plummeting.
It didn't matter that his very life force was bleeding away.
Right now, his mind was fixed on only one thought—
dragging Haruto down with him.
But against the raging Kenichi, Haruto didn't even look as if he planned to counterattack.
He simply used his superior speed to evade each and every strike from Susanoo.
Kenichi's eyes twitched with a mix of shock and urgency as he realized—
every single one of his blows was missing by only a fist's breadth.
"Haruto!"
Kenichi's teeth ground together as he roared his opponent's name.
The constant near-misses were fraying his nerves.
If this kept up,
he'd only be wasting chakra for nothing.
He made up his mind. No more wasting time.
"The Mangekyō…"
Kenichi's breathing grew rapid, his face ghostly pale from blood loss.
And yet, in this moment of physical collapse, his mind found a strange clarity.
His thoughts sharpened. His vision focused.
"Haruto's movements…"
Kenichi's Sharingan narrowed, realizing—
this might be his final flash of strength before death.
But he didn't care.
In his mind, as long as he could destroy Haruto and the scroll before he died,
he would win.
Drawing in a cold breath, he stopped the frantic, wide swings of his blade,
and instead began subtly guiding Haruto's landings.
He had noticed it—Haruto only wanted to dodge, not to clash head-on.
"Now!"
Kenichi seized his chance.
Locking eyes with Haruto,
he abruptly halted Susanoo's physical attack—
and unleashed a far more potent assault: genjutsu powered by the Mangekyō Sharingan.
There was no doubt—the Mangekyō far surpassed the ordinary three-tomoe Sharingan.
Even though Haruto was a master of illusions himself,
resisting Mangekyō-level genjutsu was another matter entirely.
And Kenichi didn't even need to control him fully—
he just needed to drag Haruto into his illusion for a single heartbeat.
That would be enough to land the killing blow.
Just as he'd anticipated, once the Mangekyō's illusion struck,
Haruto froze in place.
"Die!"
Kenichi bellowed, raising Susanoo's colossal blade in both hands and
bringing it down toward Haruto's skull.
This time, Haruto didn't move.
He didn't dodge.
It was as if the genjutsu had truly rooted him to the spot.
"The Uchiha… are the—"
But before Kenichi could finish his words,
his voice cut off.
His Sharingan widened in disbelief.
The enormous Susanoo blade—mere inches from Haruto's head—
shattered midair into fragments of blue chakra.
Not only that,
but as the weapon dissolved, the disintegration spread upward,
devouring the entire Susanoo—
its armor, its flesh, its bones—until it was gone.
Then came the agony.
A searing, tearing pain exploded in Kenichi's eyes.
"Aaaaahhhh!"
His scream split the air as his knees buckled.
He collapsed with a dull thud.
Pfft!
A mouthful of blood burst from between his lips.
Even his organs were at their limit.
"Whether it's Susanoo or Mangekyō-level genjutsu," Haruto said evenly, looking down at the half-kneeling Kenichi,
"both drain chakra at an enormous rate."
"Even if I stood here doing nothing, you wouldn't be able to maintain Susanoo for long."
Kenichi's pupils trembled. Realization hit him.
"You… you didn't fall into my genjutsu… you just… calculated… my chakra… down to its limit…"
His voice was ragged, each word dragged out, his heart pounding in shock.
This man… had been able to gauge his chakra reserves with such terrifying precision?
If Haruto had been wrong by even a sliver,
that blade would have cleaved him in two.
"You could put it that way," Haruto admitted with a slight nod.
In truth, he'd simply seen it.
While the Sharingan's ability to perceive chakra flow wasn't as detailed as the Byakugan,
it was still enough to read the general picture.
In Kenichi's final strike,
his remaining chakra would have been just enough to land the blow—
but he'd spent it instead on casting the genjutsu to immobilize Haruto.
"Why… didn't… my genjutsu… work on you…"
Kenichi coughed up another spray of blood.
The world around him spun.
His body felt unbearably heavy,
his thoughts fading into darkness.
"Nothing strange about it," Haruto replied mildly.
"My Sharingan simply surpasses yours."
Kenichi's vision collapsed into blackness.
His body slumped forward and hit the ground with a dull thump.
Haruto stepped forward immediately, intending to claim his Mangekyō Sharingan.
Though there were many Sharingan in the shinobi world,
Mangekyō were rare indeed.
But just then, Yagura suddenly leapt in,
landing between Haruto and Kenichi's body.
Weapon in hand, the Mizukage took a battle stance.
Mist-nin surrounded him instantly, shielding their leader.
"You have a sharp mind," Yagura said in a deep voice,
locking eyes with Haruto.
Whether it was a Mangekyō or even a normal Sharingan,
Yagura had no intention of letting it return to Konoha.
And Haruto's talent…
was even more dangerous than he had imagined.
If allowed to grow,
Haruto would one day become a threat to the Hidden Mist.
After careful thought, Yagura decided—
eliminating him here was the wisest move.
"But your fight with Kenichi… has already exposed your weakness."
Haruto: "???"
Weakness?
I have one of those?
Wait—
I didn't even do anything just now…
Question marks filled Haruto's mind.
"When he first attacked, you deliberately used Wood Release to defend yourself.
If I'm not mistaken, that was your way of gauging the strength of his strikes."
"After that, you never used ninjutsu again."
"And that… is your weakness."
In Yagura's eyes, Haruto's behavior made perfect sense:
He was wary of Yagura's power,
so he conserved his chakra after testing Kenichi's strength.
As for the Wood Release,
it was meant to both probe Kenichi and intimidate Yagura—
to make him think twice about attacking.
Once Yagura saw through that bluff,
it was obvious.
Haruto's show of composure…
was nothing more than an act.
Haruto: "???"