This isn't right!
This was not what he had anticipated at all. He fully understood how difficult it would be to deal with Konoha; otherwise, he wouldn't have brought a massive force of six thousand n to provide reinforcents. He knew all too well the strength of Konoha, which is why he gave it his all, playing every card he had.
Yet, the reality of the situation seed even worse than the worst-case scenario he had imagined.
A was growing increasingly restless.
His younger brother, Killer Bee, the Jinchuriki of the Eight-Tails, was entangled in a fight with Uchiha Shisui. His vast army was isolated on the other side, unable to co to his aid. His own battle was also going poorly. Uchiha Fugaku, who didn't seem very formidable at first, was proving to be a stubborn headache. A had already given everything he had, but the dawn of victory remained out of sight.
What made him even more anxious was that his subordinates hadn't been able to make any breakthroughs either. Despite overwhelming numbers—four against one, sotis five against one—they still couldn't finish their fights. Instead, they seed to be getting bogged down by Konoha's ninja.
This sense of unease hit its peak when C shouted, "Konoha's reinforcents are here!"
"CRACK!!"
The sound of thunder echoed across the battlefield.
A's figure once again slipped from Uchiha Fugaku's sight, but Fugaku didn't seem panicked. After fighting for a while, he had developed a rough understanding of the Fourth Raikage's combat style. Much like the late Third Raikage, the Fourth Raikage had honed Cloud-style taijutsu to its peak!
The key was in two words: speed and power!
Other than that, there wasn't much to worry about. A didn't have any strange techniques to surprise him with; as long as Fugaku focused on these two points, he could manage. That said, A's attacks were far from harmless—the speed of his movents was so fast that even Fugaku's Mangekyo Sharingan struggled to track him, making even a mont of carelessness fatal.
Moreover,
A's brutally powerful attacks had shattered Fugaku's Susanoo defense multiple tis…
Lightning Release: Heavy Thunderstorm
Fugaku's eyes widened as A appeared to his left, his lightning-charged elbow smashing through Susanoo's ethereal ribs like they were nothing. However, the shattered Susanoo had bought Fugaku just enough ti.
He quickly retreated, barely dodging the follow-up strike from the right.
Unlike space-ti ninjutsu, A's speed was purely physical, reaching an extre where even Fugaku's Sharingan couldn't keep up with his movents. However, this ca with a small flaw: A's speed made it difficult for him to change direction quickly while moving.
He had to stop to change directions.
This created a brief pause in his onslaught, unlike the continuous pressure of space-ti techniques. Uchiha Fugaku, far more experienced than his inexperienced, battered son in the future, had survived countless battles. His vast experience allowed him to seize upon A's openings, holding his ground against the Raikage.
However,
Just as A missed yet another chance to defeat Fugaku, he suddenly roared:
"Toroi!"
Fugaku's heart skipped a beat as he sensed danger from behind him. Susanoo still needed two more seconds to fully regenerate. With no ti to waste, Fugaku dove forward, rolling to narrowly dodge a massive, four-pointed shuriken that ca flying at him.
His eye twitched.
That shuriken was so large it could probably cut soone in half, right?
However,
Just as Fugaku thought the attack was over and was preparing to counter A's next move, the shuriken that had flown past him suddenly spun back, returning in an instant and heading straight for him again.
At that mont,
Susanoo was still not ready!
Fugaku's mind went blank. He couldn't understand what was happening. How could a shuriken that had flown past him suddenly reverse direction? Even the Uchiha clan's shurikenjutsu relied on techniques like kunai clashing mid-air to change trajectory—this was beyond reason!
Was this the end?
Just as that thought crossed his mind, sothing unexpected happened.
Eight Trigrams: Vacuum Palm!
A shockwave blasted through the air, knocking the massive shuriken away just as it was about to strike Fugaku, saving him from a near-death situation. Fugaku wasted no ti, quickly turning to face the direction from which the shuriken had originally been thrown.
He spotted a Cloud ninja holding two identical four-pointed shurikens.
Toroi, surprised that his sure-kill move had failed, instinctively looked up. Their eyes t mid-air, and the mont Toroi realized his mistake, he quickly tried to look away.
However,
It was too late!
Fugaku, having just escaped death, was not going to hold back. His blood-red eyes glead with a strange light. Not wanting to risk using ordinary genjutsu against elite Cloud ninja, Fugaku activated the secret technique of his Mangekyo Sharingan that he had never shown before!
Its na was—
Huanggenzun.
This was an illusionary technique of the Mangekyo Sharingan.
Its effect was simple and straightforward.
Fear.
That was the power of Huanggenzun.
Instead of lowering his head, Toroi stared boldly at Fugaku, as if filled with adrenaline, and threw the two shurikens in his hands once more. Combined with the shuriken that had been knocked away earlier, three massive four-pointed shurikens were now flying toward Fugaku, all under the control of Toroi's Magnetic Release.
But,
Their aim was off.
The shurikens didn't hit Fugaku. Instead, they slamd into the lightning bolt charging toward him—A, the Fourth Raikage! The spinning, four-pointed shurikens, empowered by the repelling forces of the Magnetic Release, had incredible force.
Although they didn't slice A into pieces,
They did halt his charge.
"Toroi? What are you doing?"
A's roar received no response.
Toroi was giving it his all, using his specially crafted, incredibly sturdy shuriken to launch a fierce attack on A. This... wasn't the power of Huanggenzun. In that brief mont when Toroi locked eyes with him, Uchiha Fugaku used Huanggenzun to suppress the fear Toroi had toward the Sharingan.
Yes, the ability of Huanggenzun is to control fear. Normally, one might think it amplifies the fear in an enemy's heart, thereby breaking them down ntally. However, Uchiha Fugaku did the opposite—he suppressed Toroi's fear of the Sharingan.
As a result, Toroi, no longer afraid of the Sharingan's genjutsu, boldly made eye contact with Uchiha Fugaku. He was then easily controlled by Fugaku using another genjutsu: Magical Art: This Is Not That Technique, which makes the target mistake one person for another.
For instance, right now, in Toroi's eyes, Uchiha Fugaku and the Fourth Raikage have swapped identities!
This explains Toroi's current behavior.
In effect, it seems sowhat similar to the Yamanaka Clan's Mind Confusion Jutsu.
It's also important to note that genjutsu cannot overlap. Once soone is under one genjutsu, they shouldn't fall for a second one. The reason Uchiha Fugaku can combine Huanggenzun and This Is Not That Technique is because both Huanggenzun and Shisui's Kotoamatsukami are techniques that influence and alter a person's consciousness.
Once the alteration is complete, it ends Huanggenzun or Kotoamatsukami.
However, the result of the change remains, allowing the target to be manipulated by genjutsu again.
Uchiha Fugaku had never revealed Huanggenzun's abilities in front of others, but that didn't stop him from researching it privately. From the day he first awakened it until now, it's been seven or eight years. Over this ti, he figured out many ways to use Huanggenzun in battle.
Erasing an enemy's fear, as he did now, was one such application.
People praise courage and overcoming fear… Fear doesn't seem like sothing people enjoy. But in reality, fear isn't entirely bad. In fact, it's because of fear that humans have survived in this dangerous world.
Fear fire, and naturally, you won't reach out to touch it.
Fear a blade, and you won't test its sharpness on your neck.
Fear all deadly dangers, and you avoid them accordingly. But what happens if you lose that fear? You'd see fire and calmly reach out to touch it, or stand before a blade and not dodge...
Fear—
It's a very powerful force!
But Uchiha Fugaku always rembered that eye power is limited. Using Huanggenzun requires consuming that power, and the more changes he makes, the more eye power it consus. So, he found a balance between power usage and the effect of the technique.
For now, he only erased Toroi's fear of the Sharingan, without making more changes!
And judging by the results, it was a wise choice.
With no fear of the Sharingan, Toroi was easily controlled by genjutsu and turned into an ally for Uchiha Fugaku, joining him in attacking the Fourth Raikage. This almost made A cough up blood. Even though he knew deep down that Toroi had probably fallen under so kind of technique, the outco was still hard to swallow.
What frustrated him even more was that Konoha's reinforcents had arrived!
Earlier, C had sensed a large number of chakras approaching quickly and issued a warning in advance. Now, Konoha's reinforcents had officially reached the battlefield. Just a mont ago, it was Hyuga Hizashi's intervention that disrupted the coordination between A and Toroi, allowing Uchiha Fugaku to escape and launch an incredible counterattack.
A's skin was naturally dark,
But now, it was clear his face had turned even darker!
To be honest, the situation wasn't all that bad. Konoha's reinforcents were few in number, with less than a hundred jonin on the battlefield. Cloud still had the upper hand in terms of troop strength. Even though Konoha's jonin were individually stronger than Cloud's, their numbers ant Cloud wouldn't be easily defeated.
Earlier, Konoha's jonin had been holding on by a thread. Now, with the reinforcents, they'd only managed to break even, barely achieving a balance.
But for A,
Failing to wipe out Konoha's forces before their reinforcents arrived was a defeat in itself.
He felt a surge of frustration rising within him. Although the situation was generally balanced, with Cloud even holding a slight nurical advantage, they'd been unable to crush that small group of Konoha shinobi despite having such a huge edge before. Now that Konoha's reinforcents were here...
Whether he liked it or not, he had to admit that their chances of victory were dwindling.
If they kept fighting like this, the most likely outco would be a pyrrhic victory for one side. Cloud had a slightly better chance, but Konoha could still inflict heavy losses. The simplest example: if Uchiha Fugaku, like Shisui, summoned the massive Susanoo, Cloud's forces would suffer. After all, their Jinchuriki for the Two-Tails wasn't present.
If that happened, Cloud would face catastrophic losses.
Thinking it over,
A began to consider retreat.
As Raikage, he couldn't just charge ahead blindly. The ability to assess the situation was essential for any Raikage. Given the current situation, continuing to fight wouldn't bring much benefit. So, he thought, rather than letting both sides suffer, it might be wiser to retreat for now.
They hadn't brought the Two-Tails' Jinchuriki along this ti. Moreover, the lack of experience in coordinating large forces with a Jinchuriki had cost them the advantage of their numbers. If they learned from this, they could co back stronger next ti.
Just then,
A suddenly noticed the shadow overhead growing darker!
He turned his head slightly, carefully avoiding the nearby Uchiha clan shinobi, and raised his eyes just enough to see a towering crimson Susanoo rising from the ground. It held a massive katana, standing like a mountain giant on the battlefield. Its enormous form was on par with another, erald-green Susanoo.
The crimson Susanoo brandished its massive katana, lifting its foot and charging toward the Eight-Tails, which was locked in battle with the green Susanoo. The katana flashed through the air like lightning, slicing off one of the Eight-Tails' octopus-like tails while also cleaving the ground below, leaving a deep chasm!
The tremor,
Accompanied by either fear or excitent, was felt by every Konoha and Cloud shinobi standing on the ground.
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