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Chapter 70: Fugaku's Right Eye Technique
"Welcome your ass!"
To Itachi's utter shock, Yasushi seemed completely unaffected. He charged forward in a fury, chakra erupting around him as it rapidly formed into a blood-red Susanoo. Its massive fist came crashing down toward Itachi's head.
"How is this possible?"
This outcome completely exceeded Itachi's calculations. He froze for a critical instant, and by the time he tried to dodge, it was already too late.
"Itachi, watch out!"
A black shadow suddenly burst from the side, shielding Itachi behind its body. Enormous energy fists clashed head-on with the blood-red Susanoo's strike.
BOOM!
The collision of fists generated a massive shockwave that swept across the surrounding terrain once more.
Debris and scattered remains were shredded to fragments and blown away by the violent winds, exposing clean, bare earth.
Itachi's eyes widened in astonishment as he stared at the familiar, towering figure before him. His gaze grew distant, as if transported back to his childhood, to his first real battlefield.
Back then, whenever danger struck, Fugaku would appear just like this. That imposing frame stood like a magnificent mountain, firmly blocking all threats from reaching him.
And now, once again, history repeated itself.
The black Susanoo protected Itachi's body completely, standing in opposition to the blood-red Susanoo, preventing even the slightest harm from touching him.
"How can this be?"
Itachi was thoroughly confused, unable to comprehend what was happening.
Just moments ago, hadn't his father wanted to grind his bones to dust?
How had things transformed in an instant, with his father now protecting him instead?
Lost in bewilderment, he heard Fugaku's pained voice from above.
"Yasushi, I know everything you've done for the clan."
"I'm deeply grateful for your profound feelings toward the family, and for your loyalty to the Uchiha."
"But Yasushi, please stop!"
"The Uchiha clan has already fallen. That's an unchangeable objective fact."
"Even if you destroy the village, it won't bring us back to life."
"I remember you had many good friends in the village. Making this choice must be causing you terrible pain too!"
"Rather than letting pain and hatred continue perpetually, why not simply open your heart and let everything pass?"
"Release Konoha, and release yourself!"
Yasushi tilted his head, staring at Fugaku with a peculiar expression. After a long moment, he spat viciously on the ground.
"Fuck!"
"Kotoamatsukami is fucking incredible!"
"Good thing I prepared in advance!"
"Thanks for your eyes, Fugaku!"
From the moment he'd begun opposing Konoha, Yasushi had repeatedly analyzed the village's various forces, carefully cataloging every special individual and ability that might cause his downfall.
Though he'd awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan, he was at best Super Kage level. In a dangerous world like the shinobi realm, that really wasn't particularly formidable.
Even within Konoha alone, numerous threats could potentially destroy him.
Among them, the Kotoamatsukami eye Shisui had left behind ranked near the top.
Yasushi had envisioned multiple contingency plans, including using shadow clones as decoys like Kawaki, or trading with Black Zetsu to have him steal it. But after he'd initially mastered Fugaku's Mangekyo Sharingan techniques, he'd immediately canceled all those previous schemes.
Fugaku's left eye technique was Takemikazuchi, a powerful offensive ability.
But Fugaku's right eye technique proved far more interesting. Its name was Shokugyo no Nie—Devouring Karma's Offering—an ultimate technique of consuming karmic burden through bodily sacrifice.
"Karma" referred to the Buddhist concept of cause and effect resulting from one's actions.
"Nie" meant the sacrificial offerings presented to gods in ancient Japan.
Shokugyo no Nie—the name's overall meaning was "Living Sacrifice That Devours Causality."
The ability's essence was Fugaku offering himself as a sacrifice, absorbing his clansmen's sins in exchange for peace and purification. A form of self-sacrifice.
Practically speaking, the ability allowed Fugaku to bear all damage on behalf of another person.
Any type of damage.
Including dying in someone else's place.
Naturally, when Fugaku absorbed damage, he could reduce it by a certain percentage. Fatal wounds became severe injuries, severe injuries became minor ones.
But if the original recipient faced overwhelming damage, Fugaku would still die all the same.
However, once this technique activated, the protected individual would emerge completely unharmed. All damage transferred entirely to Fugaku.
After thoroughly researching this technique's name and capabilities, Yasushi became increasingly convinced that Fugaku was exactly the indecisive, half-hearted failure he'd always suspected—someone who hesitated endlessly over every decision, forever caught between two choices.
If Takemikazuchi represented Fugaku's extreme regret over failing his responsibilities as clan head, then Shokugyo no Nie represented the other face of his humanity.
This was his guilt over failing to properly educate his son as a father, combined with his love for that son—patient to the absolute extreme.
This wasn't merely a technique's name. It was the summation of Fugaku's entire tragic existence.
On one hand, he hated himself for failing his clan leader duties. On the other, he couldn't bring himself to strike down the son who'd raised a blade against his own people. He'd rather die himself than harm his child.
Always looking backward and forward.
Always hesitating and wavering.
Always wanting both options simultaneously.
Perhaps precisely because of this contradictory nature, he'd awakened this self-sacrificial technique.
Utterly selfless, benefiting only others.
With this technique at his disposal, Yasushi had relaxed completely. He no longer feared Kotoamatsukami in the slightest.
As long as Fugaku placed Shokugyo no Nie on him in advance, all damage would naturally transfer to Fugaku instead.
This naturally included the genjutsu Kotoamatsukami.
His insistence on first destroying Root hadn't been solely about settling his grudge with Danzo. One critical reason was summoning all the Uchiha clan members first.
Certainly, having the entire Uchiha clan participate in Konoha's destruction and avenge their massacred family played a role. But obtaining Fugaku's Shokugyo no Nie was equally important.
The instant Fugaku appeared, Yasushi had controlled him to place Shokugyo no Nie upon himself.
True, having Fugaku's eyes mounted on his right arm meant the technique couldn't unleash maximum power. But what it affected was Fugaku's damage reduction ratio, not the damage transfer effect for the protected recipient.
So what did it matter?
With this technique protecting him, all damage he suffered would transfer to Fugaku.
And Fugaku was a Reanimation. Even fatal wounds absolutely couldn't kill him.
This was basically stepping on his left foot with his right foot and spiraling to heaven.
His careful preparation hadn't been wasted.
After discovering he couldn't easily kill Yasushi, Itachi had decisively extracted Shisui's Mangekyo Sharingan and cast Kotoamatsukami on him.
Then Shokugyo no Nie had passively triggered, transferring all genjutsu damage to Fugaku instead.
Fugaku's thought patterns had been rewritten, transforming him into Konoha's loyal dog.
That's why when Yasushi attacked Itachi, the "reformed" Fugaku had suddenly charged out to save his son, spouting all that perfectly "reasonable" rhetoric.
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