Obito tried to extinguish the flames of Amaterasu, only to realize that the black fire could not be put out.
The flames continued to spread relentlessly. Left with no other choice, Obito abandoned his attempt to restrain Itachi and severed his own left arm.
"You really are a terrifying man," Obito said coldly. "To identify my weakness in such a short time… However—can you really stop me from killing the people you're protecting?!"
With that, Obito suddenly rushed toward the Uchiha clan members who were hiding inside the houses.
But halfway through his advance, he discovered that his body would no longer move.
"What's going on?! Why am I caught in a genjutsu?!"
"This is a triggered genjutsu," came the calm reply. "It activates automatically once specific conditions are met."
Obito immediately understood.
"So that's it… When you made eye contact with me using your Sharingan, you had already placed the genjutsu on me. And the trigger was me abandoning our fight to attack the Uchiha clan members!"
"That's right. I don't know who you are, or why you possess the Sharingan—but that no longer matters. Amaterasu!"
Once again, black flames erupted across Obito's body, burning his flesh.
Grinding his teeth, Obito snarled,
"Uchiha Itachi! I'll remember this! I'll let you keep those eyes for now—but the next time we meet, your Mangekyō Sharingan will belong to me!"
Forcing himself free of the genjutsu, Obito phased away using Kamui, his body gradually disappearing.
The use of Mangekyō Sharingan techniques placed an enormous burden on Itachi. He felt an intense pain in his left eye, blood flowing down from the corner of his eye socket.
After wiping away the blood, Itachi found the clan members hiding inside the houses.
Uchiha Mikoto asked anxiously,
"Itachi… is the battle over?"
Itachi nodded.
"Yes. I've driven the masked man away. Let's continue moving."
Meanwhile, at the main battlefield between the Uchiha clan and Konoha, the fighting was unimaginably brutal. The ground was littered with the corpses of Uchiha ninja and ANBU alike.
Konoha's ANBU had clearly come prepared. During combat, they consciously avoided meeting the Sharingan's gaze, and even when someone was caught in genjutsu by accident, nearby comrades immediately helped release them.
In contrast, the Uchiha clan fought almost entirely on their own, with little coordination.
Even so, the Uchiha managed to fight the ANBU to a standstill. But the moment Root joined the battle, the balance was instantly shattered.
Already exhausted from fighting the ANBU, the Uchiha were no longer a match once Root entered the fray.
Like a reaper's scythe harvesting lives, Uchiha clan members fell one after another.
At this point, the Uchiha were facing inevitable defeat. Only Uchiha Fugaku and a handful of others remained, desperately holding the line.
The figures of Danzo Shimura and Hiruzen Sarutobi appeared on the battlefield.
Hiruzen called out solemnly,
"Surrender, Uchiha Fugaku. Your coup has failed. There's no point in continuing this meaningless resistance."
Fugaku looked at the few remaining clan members at his side, sorrow filling his heart.
"And even if we surrender, what then?" Fugaku replied.
"The Uchiha clan is already finished. Besides… would you really spare us? In your eyes, we were never comrades to begin with—were we?"
Suddenly, a jōnin who had been guarding the village appeared beside Hiruzen.
"Hokage-sama! Uchiha Itachi used genjutsu to put all the sentries to sleep! He's already led dozens of Uchiha clan members out of Konoha!"
Hiruzen was shaken to the core.
"What?!"
He immediately turned to Kakashi.
"Kakashi, take a team of jōnin and pursue them! You must stop them!"
Fugaku laughed bitterly.
"Sarutobi Hiruzen! The Uchiha clan will not fade into history! From this day on, the Uchiha will no longer be Konoha's Uchiha!"
"Susanoo!"
Fugaku's eyes transformed into the Mangekyō Sharingan.
A massive skeletal warrior cloaked in yellow chakra enveloped him.
The skeleton rapidly formed meridians and flesh, wrapped in armor-like chakra, and twin blades manifested in Susanoo's hands.
"This is the ultimate power of the Uchiha clan—
and it shall be my final requiem!"
Fugaku violently spat out a mouthful of blood.
Susanoo was both the caster's "guardian deity" and a "grim reaper" that devoured the user's life force.
Already at his limit, Fugaku could not maintain Susanoo for long.
Hiruzen's expression turned grave, and he immediately issued an order:
"All units, scatter!"
Fugaku swung Susanoo's twin blades downward.
The tremendous force split the ground apart, instantly killing those who failed to evade in time.
"Fire Style: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet!"
Hiruzen exhaled three massive streams of flame shaped like dragons, attacking from the front and both sides simultaneously. Yet they failed to leave even a ripple on Susanoo.
Fugaku continued attacking, burning away his very life force.
ANBU and Root suffered devastating casualties.
"Five Release: Great Consecutive Barrage Technique!"
Hiruzen created four shadow clones. Working in perfect coordination, they unleashed fire, lightning, water, earth, and wind techniques at the same time, resulting in a cataclysmic explosion.
Inside Susanoo, Fugaku collapsed to his knees, supporting himself with both hands as he vomited a massive mouthful of blood mixed with fragments of internal organs.
Susanoo's flesh and meridians crumbled away, regressing into a bare skeletal frame.
Fugaku felt the end approaching.
Sensing Danzo's greedy gaze, Fugaku made a decisive choice. While Susanoo could still hold for a short while, he forcibly removed his Mangekyō Sharingan and sealed it inside a summoning scroll.
Seeing this, Danzo panicked.
"All combat-capable units, attack! We must secure Uchiha Fugaku's Mangekyō Sharingan!"
ANBU and Root surged forward once more.
Fugaku summoned a ninja hawk, tied the scroll to its leg, and dismissed the summoning.
Having done everything he needed to do, Fugaku smiled in relief.
"Itachi… the rest is up to you."
His chakra finally failed. Susanoo vanished completely.
Uchiha Fugaku's figure was swallowed by an endless storm of ninjutsu.
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