The three men were shocked to see the Sharingan in Izuna's eyes.
Although their generation hadn't participated in the wars as a ninja clan, they had traveled across the sea to the lands that would become the Land of Fire on business. They had, of course, heard of the Uchiha clan's Sharingan.
"It's an Uchiha!"
Qizhi spoke in a low voice to his companions. "Be careful. I've heard about the Sharingan's abilities from Lord Hihiko. The most important thing is not to look into his eyes!"
"Got it," they replied in unison.
In the next moment, each of the three formed a different hand seal.
The two on the sides pressed their palms together, while Qizhi in the center clenched both fists and brought them together, palms facing up.
*They're from the same clan, but their hand seals are different?*
From his past life's memories, Izuna recognized the seal used by the two men as the one Senju Hashirama used to enter Sage Mode, while Qizhi's was the one Uzumaki Naruto used.
Both were reincarnations of Asura, and their Sage Modes were different.
*Does this mean that Sage Mode varies depending on the user?*
Izuna used his Sharingan to carefully observe their hand seals and the subsequent flow of their chakra.
Once the Two-Tomoe Sharingan was active, he could see the chakra flow that was invisible to the naked eye.
He watched as the blue chakra common to all ninja surged within the three men. At the same time, an external energy from the surrounding air seeped through their skin, gathered in their dantian, and merged with their own chakra.
Then, their bodies began to change.
The bodies of the two men on the sides turned black and purple, and goat-like horns sprouted from their foreheads.
But they didn't fully transform into the grotesque figures of Orochimaru's Cursed Seal users. About forty percent of their bodies remained human.
Qizhi, however, grew a tail, his face elongated into a snout, and his tongue lolled out. He shot up from two meters to two-and-a-half meters tall.
He looked like a salamander.
*Two of them are in a partial Sage Mode, and Qizhi has fully transformed? Based on Jugo's case, the more complete the transformation, the easier it is to lose control. So the other two should be weaker,* Izuna thought.
In comparison, the future Senju Hashirama and Uzumaki Naruto only developed markings on their faces when they entered Sage Mode, with no other physical mutations.
Fukasaku of Mount Myoboku had called that a perfect sage transformation.
"There's so much to study," Izuna sighed in frustration. If the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan didn't require so many Skill Points, he wouldn't have gone to all this trouble to find Sage Chakra just to avoid going blind before he could obtain it. He could have just waited for Senju Hashirama to develop it.
But now that he had seen how they circulated their Sage Chakra, it was time to fight.
His opponents weren't fools. The moment they entered Sage Mode, they launched a coordinated attack.
"Dance of the Salamander!"
"Yin Release: Ghostly Shadow!"
"Water Release: Thousand Waters, Thousand Kills!"
The attacks were at least B-rank in power. Dark shadows and waves of water converged on him from both sides.
Meanwhile, Qizhi, in his salamander-like Sage Mode that resembled Kimimaro's Cursed Seal form, charged forward.
They were clearly a seasoned team with excellent coordination.
*Swish!*
Izuna threw all six of his Flying Thunder God kunai.
With their senses greatly enhanced by Sage Mode, the three of them anticipated the kunai's trajectories the moment they left Izuna's hand.
They sidestepped gracefully, dodging the projectiles with minimal movement.
"Don't underestimate Sage Mode, Sharingan user!" Qizhi roared, his tail whipping toward Izuna with enough force to snap steel.
*CRASH!*
The three attacks landed simultaneously, carving a trench over twenty meters long and a meter deep into the ground.
"Did we get him?!" the two men behind Qizhi shouted excitedly.
Qizhi's brow furrowed. *No. I didn't feel my tail hit anything.*
"Flying Thunder God: Second Step—Twin Rasengan!"
Before Qizhi could warn his partners, Izuna's voice echoed, accompanied by two surges of incredibly powerful chakra.
Stunned, Qizhi whipped around.
Somehow, Izuna had appeared behind the other two men, a sphere of brilliant blue energy swirling in each of his palms.
By the time Qizhi turned, the spheres had already slammed into their backs.
"He teleported!?" Qizhi was aghast. He suddenly noticed the custom three-pronged kunai embedded in the ground behind him.
There were special seals written on their handles.
*Could it be... that jutsu?*
It was just a guess, but he had to try.
Qizhi formed a hand seal and slammed his palms onto the ground. "Sage Art: Inorganic Earth Tremor!"
Through his Sharingan, Izuna saw earthquake-like tremors emanate from Qizhi's palms. Waves of chakra pulsed through the ground, intent on shattering everything on the surface—including Izuna's leg bones and the Flying Thunder God kunai.
"Did you learn that move from Whitebeard?" Izuna said, a comment that meant nothing to Qizhi. As a sharp pain shot through his feet, he made his move.
*This might be overkill, but if those fools I tricked come back now, it'll be an even bigger pain!*
With that thought, the three tomoe in Izuna's right eye spun rapidly, merging into a unique, three-bladed shape.
A tear of blood trickled from his eye and dripped onto the ground.
*Amaterasu!*
"Gaaahhh!"
As the black flames engulfed his body, Qizhi could no longer maintain his jutsu. He collapsed in terror, coating his hands with chakra and trying to beat out the flames.
But his efforts only caused the fire to spread faster across his body until, in excruciating agony, he lost consciousness.
The moment Amaterasu hit, Izuna paid Qizhi no more mind and sprinted to the old man Hihiko's house.
From his earlier observations, the old man served as a teacher in the village.
A village this small was unlikely to have a dedicated scroll repository like the Uchiha or Senju.
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