The figure of Shisui appeared upon this once incomparably familiar land which at this moment was permeated with gunpowder smoke and blood scent.
Beneath his feet was blood-stained soil, and the flitting-but-not-parting iron rust smell and scorched breath within the air fiercely assaulted his senses.
The scene before his eyes caused that pair of always gentle eyes of his to twitch violently, nearly unable to believe it.
One by one, familiar faces that originally got along day and night and were connected by blood were at this moment meeting with weapons, slaughtering together.
He had heard of the previous conflict from the Fourth Hokage, Minato; that time, although there were injured ones, no one lost their life.
However, at this moment, fresh lives and the blood of the same clan were right before his eyes, passing away and extinguishing one after another.
"You have returned."
Fugaku's low and hoarse voice rang out at the side, carrying a heavy fatigue and a flitting-but-not-parting vicissitude.
This clan head of the Uchiha at this moment appeared as if bearing a thousand-jun burden.
Shisui looked askance, looking at Fugaku's face which was written full of pain yet suppressed to the limit; for a moment, he actually felt words were pale and powerless.
The clan head who witnessed with his own eyes and personally experienced this tragic internal fight was probably the person suffering the most torment at this moment, right?
But the mission was upon him, tolerating no delay.
Shisui took a deep breath, pressing down his surging emotions, and swiftly brought out the entire plan he discussed with the Fourth Hokage in its entirety.
Fugaku's pupils violently shrunk, a sharp brilliance abruptly exploding from the deep part of his dead-silent eyes.
He slowly nodded his head, his voice carrying a kind of determination of smashing the pots and sinking the boats:
"Just right. I have already let Itachi lead an elite team to escort all the old, young, women, and children of the clan who do not possess combat capability to evacuate into the village."
Afterwards, Fugaku's gaze cast toward the core of the battlefield, revealing a thunder-like ruthlessness and towering fury:
"Shisui! Since we are going to do it, then do it thoroughly! We Uchiha... do not need a pack of 'companions' who can swing blades toward their own clan!"
Shisui did not respond further; he merely let out a silent sigh.
Afterwards, his figure had already like a ghost vanished from the original place, appearing at the most intense vortex center of the battlefield.
The slaughtering sounds upon the battlefield appeared to be pressed with a brief pause button.
All the Uchiha clan members in the fierce fight, no matter which side, all keenly captured that figure abruptly inserting into the battle situation.
Shisui! Body Flicker Shisui! That man who opened the legendary Mangekyō Sharingan!
Everyone's gaze instantly focused upon him, carrying shock and doubt, expectation, fear, or fanaticism; they all wished to know what kind of choice this clan member possessing forbidden power would make at this moment?
Shisui stood at the center of the battlefield; under the reflection of the blood moon, before his eyes was the tragedy of clansmen slaughtering each other, and within his ears was the ear-piercing sound of weapons clashing and the death-imminent wails.
His heart, as if repeatedly cut by an invisible sharp blade, was in so much pain it nearly dripped blood.
However... there was no path of retreat.
That pair of jet-black eyes of his, amidst extreme grief and determination, abruptly shed all color, turning into a patch of bewitching blood red.
Three tomoe rotated crazily within the crimson pupils, ultimately connecting and fusing with each other, finally solidifying into a unique pattern resembling a rotating pinwheel blade!
Mangekyō Sharingan, open!
It was not yet finished; for the sake of that heavy plan concerning the future of the Uchiha and Konoha, Shisui took another deep breath.
Immediately following, a violent stabbing pain traveled from both eyes; fresh blood, like tear stains, wound down from the corners of his eyes, dyeing his pale cheeks red.
"Uh-ah!"
A low roar burst forth from his throat! What followed closely behind was a scene that caused the soul to shudder!
A piercing emerald-green light abruptly exploded from within his body!
Countless energy bones flashing with a faint green luster condensed out of thin air, swiftly spreading and combining like possessing life; amidst the tooth-souring "creak" sound, they instantly constructed a giant half-body skeleton frame several meters high that tightly wrapped his entire body within!
That giant skeleton's chest cavity area was covered by eight thick energy armor plates resembling samurai breastplates!
At the same time, a strand of even more matchlessly powerful energy gathered, extended, and shaped within that skeleton's bony palm, ultimately turning into a giant energy spiral sword wrapped with spiral patterns and radiating a destructive breath!
Susanoo!
In an instant, the entire battlefield appeared to be pressed with a mute button.
Leaving behind only that several-meters-high giant energy titan radiating suffocating pressure and majesty, towering like a deity in the center of the battlefield!
All the Uchiha clan members upon the battlefield, regardless of enemy or ally, were all thoroughly robbed of their minds by this scene transcending common knowledge and shocking the soul!
Their pupils shrunk due to extreme horror, and then were ignited by a kind of reverence and fanaticism toward extreme power originating from the deep part of their bloodlines!
"This... this is..."
"The legendary... power of the Mangekyō Sharingan?!"
"What kind of... what kind of strength!"
The giant green Susanoo stood silently, the spiral sword in its hand pointing obliquely at the earth, coldly looking down upon the battlefield below that fell into dead silence and boiling because of it.
Shisui stood at the core of Susanoo, both eyes streaming blood, his countenance cold and stern.
It is... about to begin!
Shisui took a deep breath, and then manipulating that giant Susanoo, raised the spiral sword.
The direction the sword edge pointed at was precisely those faces of clansmen who once got along with him day and night and were connected by blood.
At this moment, those faces were written full of shock and despair.
"Shisui! Have you forgotten the Uchiha glory flowing within your bloodline?!"
A shrill interrogation tore through the air, attempting to awaken his final strand of hesitation.
"Glory?" Shisui's pupils shrunk under the rotation of the Mangekyō, "Those who swing blades toward brothers and clansmen... what glory is there to speak of!"
His hoarse voice carried a heart-piercing and bone-stabbing sorrow, "Including myself!"
However, his movement did not have the slightest delay; the spiral sword, wrapped in a destructive storm, decisively chopped down!
"Traitor! Shisui, you shameful traitor! Why did it have to be you... who awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan!"
"Where is the Mangekyō on our side?!"
Upon the battlefield, wails and angry curses interwoven; those former comrades-in-arms at this moment wished to swallow him alive and skin him active.
And at the other end of the battlefield, another portion of the Uchiha clan members stood dumb as wooden chickens, gazing at this scene akin to divine punishment descending.
The previous second they were still fighting with their lives against enemies; the next second, the center of the entire battlefield appeared to leave behind only that emerald-green titan.
All their fierce fighting, before that absolute power, instantly became pale and powerless, as if becoming an inconsequential background.
"This... this is the power of the Mangekyō Sharingan?"
A thought quietly drilled into the bottom of some clan members' hearts; that world-destroying power actually caused them to ridiculously understand a strand of the radical faction's fanaticism in pursuing power.
But the next second, they shook their heads violently in horror, dispersing this terrifying thought.
The clan head Fugaku was similarly deeply shocked by the scene before his eyes, his eyes dead-staring at that giant samurai titan appearing as if stepping out from mythology.
"Susanoo... is this the capability recorded in the ancient books?" he murmured in a low voice, his voice carrying an unprecedented heaviness.
He had only read scrap words and broken phrases regarding it within the yellowed clan secret scrolls; seeing it with his own eyes today, the overwhelming power it displayed far transcended any imagination he could construct according to text!
He saw the ninjutsu the radical faction elites exerted with all their might—violent Fire Release, sharp Wind Blades...
These attacks, sufficient to tear apart common powerhouses, bombarded upon that emerald-green energy armor, yet were like a clay cow entering the sea, merely stirring up insignificant ripples before being swallowed clean in an instant.
Looking conversely at Shisui's every single sword swing and every single step, they all appeared like a natural disaster descending, wrapped in an unrivaled power, easily tearing apart defensive lines; every single time an attack fell, it was bound to be accompanied by the withering of life.
"This... is fundamentally an ultimate weapon born only for war!" Fugaku's inner heart surged with shocking waves, his cognition toward this power thoroughly refreshed.
However, as the head of a clan, rationality swiftly pressed down the shock; he forced himself to calm down.
"Although the power is strong, it has ultimately not yet experienced the life-and-death test of truly top-tier powerhouses."
He sighed within his heart; this seemingly intense riot, if it were not happening within the proud yet fragile Uchiha interior, causing Konoha to be unable to fully exert itself, otherwise resolving this riot would be as easy as turning a palm.
He suddenly remembered that the Mangekyō Sharingan, other than this Susanoo, by right should still harbor a unique and matchless pupil art profound mystery.
It was just that Shisui kept this a deep secret, never revealing a single fraction to the family.
Fugaku did not know that the only one in this world who knew the secret of Shisui's Mangekyō was the Fourth Hokage, Minato, alone.
The instant Minato learned the truth of that capability, he let Shisui absolutely never tell his capability to other people.
Perhaps in this lifetime, other than Minato, there was also only that Takuno who knew the truth harbored by Shisui's Mangekyō Sharingan.
Fugaku deeply looked at the once high-spirited family elites currently falling one by one beneath the feet of the titan Shisui transformed into, falling beneath the strongest power of the same clan.
Every single time a miserable shriek traveled over, it was like a heavy hammer striking upon his heart, bringing deep pain and regret along with powerlessness.
But his clenched fists' knuckles were already white, and his inner heart was also extremely clear.
For the sake of the Uchiha's continuation, to thoroughly resolve the immediate problem... these sacrifices were the price that must be paid!
...
In a corner of the battlefield.
"This... is the legendary Susanoo?" The Sharingan beneath Obito's mask shrunk slightly, a strand of difficult-to-conceal marvel mixed within his low voice.
That titan standing tall between heaven and earth was precisely one of the materializations of the supreme power of the Uchiha clan.
"That's right, it is precisely Susanoo." Black Zetsu responded hoarsely at the side; he similarly stared tightly at that shocking scene far away, a smear of recollection color quietly flitting across.
"Furthermore, what Shisui is displaying at this moment is still far from its ultimate form of the complete body... Truly never expected that after an interval of many years, I would actually be able to witness this power once more."
Obito was silent, a strand of complex regret panicking up his heart.
This by right should be power belonging to a holder of the Mangekyō Sharingan, yet he was unable to use it.
Black Zetsu timely answered his confusion, his voice carrying a few points of regret.
"Your inability to master Susanoo lies fundamentally in the fact that you only possess a single Mangekyō Sharingan; your ocular power is not complete.
Your dual-eye capability was forcibly severed; a portion of the power is here with you, while the other portion of the capability is lodged within that left eye held by Kakashi."
He paused slightly and continued, "According to deduction, only when these two Mangekyō Sharingan of the same origin combine back into one can their holder possibly truly ride and control the complete power of Susanoo."
This was also merely a guess; after all, in the past, there had never been any Uchiha who opened the Mangekyō Sharingan and only possessed one eye.
But speaking from theory, this guess was also extremely rational.
However, there was not half a strand of thought of seizing Kakashi's eye within Obito's heart.
Despite the fact that with his current strength, if he wished to forcibly take that eye, it was merely a matter as easy as turning a palm.
But that eye was a gift he personally bestowed to Kakashi, the witness of his youth-era friendship.
Since it was already sent out, there was absolutely no reason to take it back.
This stubborn persistence was deeply hidden at the bottom of his heart.
Black Zetsu saw all of this in his eyes, and his inner heart could not help but let out a sigh.
Deep within his inner heart, he hoped Obito could regain the complete Mangekyō.
The Kamui capability displayed by Obito's single eye was already infinitely promising and its power astonishing;
If the dual eyes gathered together, his power would bound to welcome a qualitative leap, stepping onto a completely new stage.
This, regarding their long-premeditated plan, was undoubtedly an inestimable massive help.
Pity, Obito's will allowed no shaking.
Black Zetsu deeply knew that even if he took matters into his own hands and snatched back the other eye from Kakashi on behalf of Obito, if the person himself refused to use it, everything would also be in vain.
Even worse, this action was extremely possible to cause the other party to become alienated from him.
Weighing the pros and cons, Black Zetsu could only bury this thought deeply at the bottom of his heart, not daring to materialize it into action.
He also felt a bit of lament; the Obito before his eyes, even having witnessed such world-startling power as Susanoo, his inner heart was actually unruffled.
This stubbornness truly caused Black Zetsu to feel extremely troublesome.
...
In the center of the battlefield where gunpowder smoke permeated, that Susanoo titan stood proudly.
Shisui stood at the peak of the titan, blood continuously welling out from that pair of his once clear Mangekyō Sharingan.
That piercing crimson wound down along his cheeks, dripping upon Susanoo's chakra armor, instantly evaporated, turning into a thread of difficult-to-notice blood scent.
This blood tear was already impossible to distinguish whether it was the backlash of using Susanoo, or the materialization transformed from his inner heart's pain.
Even possessing the barrier provided by Susanoo, he appeared as if still able to feel the hatred within those gazes.
However, duty and faith let his blood-stained hand raise once more.
Along with his movement, Susanoo's incomparably massive giant arm also subsequent to it reached toward heaven, tightly gripping that spiral giant sword wrapped with a destructive breath.
Upon the sword body, terrifying chakra pulled, compressed, and condensed!
The air emitted a sharp howl; a chakra whirlwind visible to the naked eye rapidly took shape at the sword edge, rolling the broken stones and dust upon the ground.
No words, no hesitation; Shisui tightly closed his bleeding eyes, pouring that portion of sorrow in its entirety within this single sword strike.
Toward those rioters, decisively chopping down!