Chapter 252: You Think You Can Kill Me?
A colossal half-body giant rose from the earth, wielding a massive spear, encased in heavy armor like a knight — Susano'o manifested before Obito Uchiha.
The Mangekyō born from a will to protect always produced a Susano'o with a distinctive visual signature — and even among Susano'o variants, this one was clearly built for overwhelming defense.
"Not bad, that Susano'o. But how long can you actually sustain that kind of power?"
Obito watched the towering, magnificent figure with cold detachment.
"Heh... heh..."
Blood streaked Sasuke's bloodshot eyes, two lines of crimson tears trailing down his cheeks as he clenched his teeth against the rapid drain of his visual power and chakra.
The knight's spear swung once, tearing through the very air, and slammed down toward Obito with crushing force!
Earth and stone erupted, the impact thundering through the forest.
Obito was sent flying instantly by the blow!
He crashed through more than a dozen trees before finally coming to a stop!
Yet he hadn't died from the strike — only the already-tattered remains of his black, red-cloud-patterned cloak had finally shattered to pieces.
Slowly, he rose to his feet, an unmistakable look of confusion crossing his face.
Just now, he'd felt his Steel Release activate a fraction of a second too slow.
Why?
His Ghost Sprout Technique should have been running flawlessly.
"Heh... you're running. You're afraid."
Sasuke, breathing hard, advanced step by step toward Obito.
"Where's your Kamui?"
"Why aren't you using it?"
As Susano'o advanced, the surrounding trees groaned and shattered under the sheer weight bearing down on them.
"Kamui?"
"Doesn't take that much to deal with you."
Obito brushed off his ruined, tattered cloak, making no move to discard it.
"The Mangekyō is the mirror of the soul."
"Your Kamui is a means of hiding yourself away in another dimension, escaping every possible attack."
"Which tells me — the moment you awakened your Mangekyō, what you wanted, more than anything, was to run. To hide."
"An Uchiha, standing before my Susano'o, and you don't reach for that same power."
"Instead, you chose something else entirely."
"Has Kamui's sense of safety stopped being enough for you to trust it anymore?"
"Just as I thought. Just like your Mangekyō itself."
Sasuke advanced, step by step, closing the distance.
"You're nothing but a coward."
"Running from everything."
Sasuke's words made Obito's expression flicker — just for a moment — before his face hardened again.
"A brat who's only ever survived under Itachi Uchiha's protection, and you dare talk this big?"
But Sasuke, hearing that, went still for a moment, as if he'd just heard something genuinely amusing, and he raised a hand to cover his face.
"Itachi Uchiha?"
"Hah!"
"HAHAHA!"
"HAHAHAHAHA!"
"Arrogant. So arrogant, the Uchiha clan."
"A NEW Uchiha clan will begin with me!"
"A clan built truly on love!"
With that, Susano'o's knight raised its great spear high, bringing it down toward Obito's head!
Obito watched the descending spear with an expressionless face.
Arrogant?
Look at yourself — isn't this exactly the most arrogant kind of Uchiha there is?
Heh. What a tiresome clan.
But just as the spear came crashing down and Obito prepared to activate Kamui —
The spear, built entirely from Sasuke's own gathered chakra, dissolved instantly into nothing!
Everything in this world carried an invisible price tag.
To gain something, something had to be spent in return.
Amatsukami. Kotoamatsukami.
Both eye techniques, so deeply entwined with fate itself, carried a genuinely terrifying cost in visual power.
Manifesting Kotoamatsukami's effect on Obito had required Sasuke to burn through an equally terrifying amount of that reserve.
And unlike before, this time Sasuke hadn't had Sakura on hand to replenish his visual power the way he had against Kakuzu.
In that instant, the third-stage Susano'o dissolved abruptly — the heavy armor and massive spear receding like a retreating tide.
"Damn it!"
Sasuke clutched at his eyes, cursing at the crushing drain of his visual power.
His vision had already started to blur.
"Heh. Looks like you've hit your limit, kid."
Obito gave a cold laugh, already preparing to use Kamui to step directly into the collapsing Susano'o and finish Sasuke off—
When a whistling sound cut through the forest air.
A blade struck the ground directly in front of him, driving deep into the earth.
Obito's steps halted at that.
"Sasuke. This fight of yours has been genuinely disappointing."
A cool, composed woman's voice rang out, drawing closer, and a figure emerged into Obito's field of view.
"Hikaru, huh..."
Sasuke forced his eyes open, straining to look at her.
The instant Hikaru Uchiha arrived, Susano'o dissolved entirely, right on cue.
Just as had been true before — everything in this world had its price, marked invisibly.
Kotoamatsukami had left Obito's Ghost Sprout Technique running unsteadily; Amatsukami had pulled Hikaru here, urged along by Sakura's own sudden instinct.
Manipulating both of these two figures' outcomes had cost Sasuke an enormous amount of visual power.
Because in the original plan, only Sasuke had been sent to support Kakashi's squad.
Not because Sakura believed Sasuke alone would be enough.
But because none of the top fighters from the Wind, Earth, Lightning, or Water factions were still in the Land of Grass — every single one of them had already been dispatched with the Shrine Maiden search team.
Which meant the only reserve strength still available in Kusagakure at all belonged to Konoha.
And Hikaru hadn't been someone Sakura could readily order around — so only Sasuke had been sent initially.
After all, Kakashi, Darui, Deidara, and Temari together already formed something close to an all-star squad. Adding Sasuke on top of that had already felt like overkill.
Hikaru's arrival now had only happened because Sakura, on a sudden and inexplicable jolt of unease, had forcibly pushed her to go.
No clear reason. Just a feeling — an abrupt, unaccountable tightening in her chest.
Something like pure instinct.
Whether Hikaru's arrival was coincidence, Sakura's intuition, or the working of Sasuke's Amatsukami — it was impossible to say for certain.
Everything, perhaps, had simply been arranged by fate itself, unseen.
"..."
Obito watched the girl approaching, step by step, in silence.
So this is the Uchiha woman Black Zetsu described — the one who crushed a jinchūriki's sand flat with a single stomp?
Just looking at her face, Obito instinctively thought of Madara Uchiha.
There was something in her that resembled him.
"You're the accomplice who helped Itachi Uchiha wipe out the Uchiha clan?"
Hikaru Uchiha studied the man before her.
Whether it was his imagination or not, Obito didn't sense much hostility radiating from her at all.
"Hikaru. I don't need your help. I'll handle him myself."
Sasuke, beside her, spoke through labored breaths.
Hikaru glanced sideways at Sasuke, still stubbornly forcing himself upright.
"Oh? Should I just leave, then?"
Sasuke: "..."
"Take me with you!"
"Take me too!"
Deidara, his leg still broken, came hopping over on one foot.
What an inconvenient presence.
Sasuke shot Deidara's pitiful state a glance.
"You can go. I don't want to kill you."
Hikaru waved a hand, apparently intending to let the man before her leave.
He'd done something she'd always wanted to do herself — so she decided to spare his life.
She turned and steadied Sasuke, who was struggling to stay on his feet.
"You think you can kill me?"
Obito's expression turned cold, his voice icy at the sight.
"Why not?"
Hikaru turned back, her eyes twisting into a warped Mangekyō pattern, an indescribably vast visual power erupting outward instantly!
Another Mangekyō!
Obito's chest tightened.
Thinking it over, practically every living Uchiha left in this world carried a Mangekyō Sharingan.
Itachi Uchiha. Obito Uchiha. Sasuke Uchiha. And now, this woman before him — Hikaru.
"We'll meet again."
Obito, visibly wary of Hikaru, activated the warping vortex of his Mangekyō, and his entire body vanished instantly from the spot.
He'd already handed Shion over to Yomi.
That the man had somehow let his own catch slip through his fingers wasn't Obito's problem to solve.
And besides, he had no interest in wasting effort fighting this particular Hikaru over something this pointless.
If it actually came to blows, Obito figured he'd need at least two Sharingan eyes on hand and an Izanagi ready, just to be safe.
Watching Obito vanish, Hikaru turned to Sasuke, her expression carrying open dissatisfaction.
"You couldn't even manage that much?"
"What exactly did you learn these past three years?"
"Why were you this weak against him?"
At Hikaru's words, Sasuke opened his mouth, then closed it again without saying anything.
He simply muttered, sullenly, "I need to get stronger."
Completely outmatched across the board, Sasuke's only real advantage had come from his Mangekyō alone. Even the technique he'd been saving for a critical moment had only lasted an instant — and it had done nothing against Kamui anyway.
"Um, excuse me..."
"Hello..."
A timid voice drifted out from the forest, and two girls, both with cream-colored hair and pale lavender eyes, stepped hesitantly into view.
Clearly, these were Shion and Tarusuke — the two Deidara had risked his life to save.
More precisely, Shion was the priority — Tarusuke had only been carried alongside her because, using her clan's secret technique to become Shion's exact double, she'd served as Deidara's decoy against Obito.
"Mm."
Hikaru answered flatly, unbothered.
She'd run into this Shrine Maiden along the way and simply intercepted her without much thought.
She already understood the full situation.
As for this Shrine Maiden's own reckless decision-making, which had backfired so badly — Hikaru had nothing much to say about it.
But what was done was done. Dwelling on it further wouldn't accomplish anything now.
The priority was getting Deidara and Sasuke back for treatment as quickly as possible.
As for Kakashi and the others?
Hikaru had zero interest in personally throwing down against a hundred-thousand-strong terracotta army.
Especially since she hadn't wanted to get dragged into this whole mess in the first place.
If Sakura hadn't specifically played the "Sasuke" card, Hikaru wouldn't have bothered coming at all.
—
Fortunately, Deidara's leg was broken but his hands weren't, and after flying through the night, the group of five made it back to Kusagakure quickly.
The Five Kage's residence
Sakura frowned, staring at the wreck that was Deidara, and at Sasuke — visual power drained dry, ribs cracked by Obito's kick — utterly at a loss for words.
Shion stood quietly off to the side, not daring to speak up.
After all, everything that had happened was the direct result of her own reckless decision.
"Hokage. This kid's going to be all right, isn't he?"
Ōnoki, wearing a pained expression, looked at Deidara, unconscious from both his injuries and the all-night flight back.
"He's fine."
Looking at Deidara, Sakura took hold of his broken leg and, with a sickening, teeth-grinding crack, snapped the twisted limb straight back into place.
Ōnoki's mouth twitched at the sight.
Thank god the boy's unconscious. Otherwise he'd have plenty to say about the total absence of anesthetic.
Sakura's hand, now pressed over Deidara's leg, began to glow with a golden light, flowing steadily into the injury.
Not just the leg — the extensive burns covering his body were visibly receding too, in real time.
Given Deidara's exceptional aerial strike capability and wide-area combat potential — crucial assets for the coming fight against Mōryō's army — Sakura didn't hesitate to pour Yang-Release energy into the treatment.
Deidara, still unconscious, felt warmth spreading through his entire body, as if soaking in a hot spring, and let out a faint, contented moan.
Ōnoki immediately slapped him across the face.
Heal him, sure — but what's with the noises, you brat!
Perhaps from sheer exhaustion, Deidara didn't even stir despite the slap.
Sakura, unbothered by Ōnoki's outburst, simply continued the treatment.
The healing properties of Yang Release combined with Sakura's medical ninjutsu meant the shattered leg was restored to perfect condition in no time at all.
As the old saying went — a broken bone takes a hundred days to heal.
That saying simply didn't apply to Sakura.
Delivered today, healed today.
Once satisfied Deidara was out of danger, Sakura moved on to Sasuke.
The boy watched her expectantly, clearly hoping that beyond fixing his broken ribs, she might top off his depleted visual power while she was at it.
She placed one hand over Sasuke's chest, and golden Yang-Release chakra surged into him like a flood — and Sasuke very nearly let out the same contented sound Deidara had, before catching sight of the handprint still fresh on Deidara's face, glancing over at Hikaru beside him, then back at Sakura, and thinking better of it, forcing the sound back down.
"Hokage. What now?"
With Deidara confirmed safe, Ōnoki finally relaxed enough to ask.
"Trade her for them."
Sakura, still treating Sasuke, glanced at Shion as she spoke.
Not a shred of hesitation in her voice, as though nothing about the idea seemed remotely questionable.
"But..."
Ōnoki hesitated, glancing at the silent Shion, then back at the calm Hokage, clearly wanting to say something and holding back.
"I know what you're going to say."
"Something about the bigger picture. The greater good. All that."
Sakura glanced at the visibly conflicted old man beside her, moving her hand from Sasuke's chest up to his eyes.
"But. I'm the Hokage."
"I don't abandon my own people."
"And right now, that's not just Kakashi. Darui of Kumogakure, Temari of Sunagakure — as far as I'm concerned, they're my people too."
Ōnoki looked at Sakura and let out a wordless sigh.
Young. Still so young.
Youth makes people rash.
(End of chapter)
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