The snowstorm was intensifying, with the flakes growing larger—from tiny, easily blown apart by the wind, to hexagonal flakes the size of fingernails. As the cold wind hit their faces, the sharpness of winter was unmistakable.
"Damn this weather," Uchiha Fugaku muttered, exhaling into his hands, seeking some warmth.
They hadn't anticipated snow so early in the Land of Hot Water. Normally, snow wouldn't arrive for another month or two due to the region's typically warm climate. The unexpected snowfall caught them off guard, and they hadn't prepared for the cold.
"Honestly, Fugaku, this weather plays to our advantage," said Uchiha Yatsushiro as he approached, sword in hand.
"Yatsushiro… you're right," Fugaku admitted.
The growing snowstorm worked in favor of the Uchiha. While the blizzard severely hindered the vision of ordinary people, the Uchiha's Sharingan was less affected by such conditions. In fact, in heavy snow, rain, or fog, the Hyūga clan's Byakugan wasn't hindered at all, making them the ideal choice for battling the Mist Village. Unfortunately, due to internal village politics, the Uchiha frequently found themselves clashing with the Mist shinobi instead.
"They're here! Of course, the Cloud-nin wouldn't retreat so easily."
"There aren't many of them," Yatsushiro added after peering into the distance.
In the direction he looked, flashes of lightning zigzagged around the ongoing battle between Susanoo and the Eight-Tails, racing toward them.
"Fewer numbers don't mean they'll be easy to handle. The Cloud-nin coming now are likely all elites. Pass the order—anyone below Jōnin must retreat," Fugaku commanded.
"That'll make it harder for us!" Yatsushiro protested.
"Don't worry. We won't lose. And besides, Chūnin and Special Jōnin would only last a few minutes in this fight, if that. There's no need to waste their lives. Many of them have bright futures ahead—it would be a shame for them to fall here."
Fugaku took a breath and spoke decisively.
Yatsushiro paused for a moment, glanced thoughtfully at his clan leader, and then turned to relay the orders. The Uchiha formation, once two hundred strong, thinned out to about sixty, with more than forty of them being Uchiha Jōnin—the elite of the Uchiha clan.
"Prepare for battle!" Fugaku shouted from atop a rock, watching the approaching Cloud-nin. He waited for the right moment before giving the command:
Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique
Wind Release: Great Breakthrough
Two rows of twenty Uchiha Jōnin alternated their attacks. The front row unleashed the Great Fireball Technique, while the back row cast the Great Breakthrough Technique. The wind amplified the flames, creating a towering, seven to eight meter-high wall of fire, rushing forward like a crimson tsunami toward the advancing Cloud-nin.
Every Uchiha Jōnin was skilled in at least two chakra natures. Fire techniques were fundamental to the Uchiha, and wind techniques, as the perfect complement to fire, were a common choice for Uchiha Jōnin. Furthermore, many techniques in Uchiha swordsmanship required wind chakra, so it wasn't unusual for Uchiha to be proficient in wind-style jutsu.
Thus, the Uchiha greeted the incoming Cloud-nin with an extremely "warm" welcome.
"Four of them... that's not bad."
"Don't get cocky. If the Cloud-nin were that easy to beat, we wouldn't have taken so many losses before," the Uchiha Jōnin murmured amongst themselves.
Even the intense flames couldn't obscure the vision of their Sharingan, allowing them to clearly observe the swift reactions of the Cloud-nin. Except for four who couldn't avoid the fiery onslaught, the rest split up instantly, dodging to the left and right, flanking the Uchiha.
But one of them—no, not all of them—charged forward even faster, wrapped in blinding lightning, emerging unscathed from the flames.
"Taking down four Jōnin in one attack is already an achievement. Fall back! Retreat!" one of the Uchiha Jōnin yelled in shock. The combined fire-wind jutsu, capable of melting stone, had been pierced through by someone charging straight through.
The answer was yes—it was the Raikage himself!
A charged figure burst out of the sea of fire. His body crackled with electricity, his hair standing on end. He was in his strongest form, the Lightning Release Chakra Mode. In this state, both his speed and defense were at their peak.
Before most of the Uchiha could even react, the Raikage hooked his arm around Uchiha Toshiro's neck. With immense strength, he snapped it effortlessly. The next moment, Toshiro's world spun like a jar, and then everything plunged into darkness.
"Toshiro!" Fugaku let out an anguished, heart-wrenching roar. Read complete version only at novelꞁire.net
But no matter how much rage Fugaku felt, it wouldn't change the fact that Uchiha Toshiro had died. Toshiro, a loyal and talented young shinobi who had been one of Fugaku's closest allies, had fallen, his life cut short before he could even marry.
How could Fugaku face Toshiro's father, who had died to save him?
Gazing at Toshiro's headless, still-bleeding body, flames of unimaginable anger ignited in Fugaku's heart. Toshiro's father, an elder Uchiha who had been older than Fugaku, had sacrificed his life to save him in battle. At his grave, Fugaku had sworn to protect Toshiro.
And now that vow had been shattered.
In Uchiha Fugaku's scarlet eyes, the black tomoe were spinning rapidly, and in an instant, they fused together, transforming into a strange shape—three thin, curved black blades, with three black dots between them...
From his body, a purplish-red light began to emerge, and a giant arm reached out towards the Fourth Raikage, who was dashing like lightning. A hit from A's head smashed into the skeletal arm, shattering the fingers wrapped in the ethereal, purplish-red flames with his terrifying strength, capable of breaking steel.
"No way... Even Elder Fugaku..."
The Uchiha clan's Jonin barely had time to mourn Uchiha Toshi's death before they were stunned by the clan leader's display of power. Apart from a few like Uchiha Hachida, most were left in shock by what they had witnessed.
"Just as I thought!" murmured Uchiha Hachida. "You've awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan too!"
"The Mangekyō Sharingan... It's amazing!!!" Uchiha Meirei gazed longingly at the purple-red Susanoo that had only revealed its upper half, a burning desire in his heart like never before. When only the clan leader had awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan, Meirei had felt only awe. But after discovering that Shisui had also awakened it, a stirring desire began to grow.
Now, seeing that even former clan leader Uchiha Fugaku had awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan, that desire within had become even more intense!
It wasn't just Uchiha Meirei—Uchiha Inoka, Uchiha Tetsuka, Uchiha Hokuto... at that moment, many of the Uchiha clan's Jonin couldn't suppress their longing. The Uchiha, who revered power and strength, had an unyielding obsession with becoming stronger, deep within their very bones.
"Damn it! How infuriating!"
At that moment, Uchiha Fugaku was filled with extreme frustration.
Once again, he deeply resented his cautious nature. Even though he knew they were about to face enemies several times stronger, even though he had resolved to give everything for the clan, when the time came, he still hadn't acted fast enough.
The result of this hesitation? The death of Uchiha Toshi!
Not just Uchiha Toshi—four Uchiha Jonin, including Toshi, had already died at A's hands. It was all his fault—his reluctance had killed these clan members, who might have survived or at least not died so futilely!
Guilt, regret, self-blame, anger, rage... all these emotions swirled within him, making him fixate on the Fourth Raikage, preparing to battle to the bitter end.
Fortunately, his reason had not been entirely drowned by those emotions. Susanoo remained in its first stage, its purple-red flames entwining around the ribcage that protected him, a massive half-formed skeleton nearly shielding him completely, save for a small gap at his feet.
But this form was enough.
It offered sufficient defense without exhausting his ocular power too quickly. Unlike Shisui, who had the Shark Skin blade in hand, Fugaku had to carefully manage his limited power. Unfortunately, his Mangekyō Sharingan's ability wasn't suited for physical attacks but rather genjutsu, which required direct eye contact to be effective.
However, the Fourth Raikage was clearly wary of Uchiha's genjutsu, keeping his eyes low and fighting by observing movements and body language, never making eye contact, preventing Fugaku from unleashing his eye techniques. He had no choice but to rely on Susanoo for combat.
"I'll handle the Fourth Raikage. You all deal with the other Cloud ninja—kill them all! Wipe out these bandits!"
The former clan leader and current elder's orders rang in the ears of the nearby Uchiha Jonin. Without a word of protest, they immediately scattered, disengaging from Fugaku and A's battle, moving to confront the elite Cloud ninja who had broken through the sea of fire.
The battle quickly escalated into a brutal, bloody conflict, with 200 Cloud Jonin against 60 Konoha Jonin.
Though outnumbered four to one, Konoha had grown accustomed to this. Konoha ninja were often forced to fight against greater odds, always battling on multiple fronts. Even though Konoha's forces could outnumber any village, they never fought a single opponent at a time.
Even when it seemed like they were only fighting one village, they still had to leave many forces guarding the borders against sneak attacks from others. The other villages didn't have the same burden—at most, they guarded against one or two neighbors, or sometimes none at all.
At least until the Stone Village's surprise attack on the Cloud Village, every village had always gone all-out against Konoha. Otherwise, the Cloud wouldn't have been so devastated by the Stone Village's assault, losing their Third Raikage in the process.
The sixty Konoha Jonin, with the Uchiha leading the charge, held off the onslaught of more than 200 Cloud Jonin. Most of the Uchiha were fighting two-on-one, with their Sharingan's genjutsu being so feared that few dared to engage them in one-on-one combat, unless they were confident in their own abilities.
However, aside from the Uchiha Jonin, among the non-Uchiha Jonin, the Blue Beast of Konoha, Might Guy, shone once again. Guy opened the Sixth Gate of the Eight Inner Gates Technique, moving faster than the Cloud ninja using their Lightning Chakra Mode. At the start of the battle, he defeated two Cloud Jonin with the Reverse Lotus technique and wasn't stopped until three Cloud Jonin teamed up to temporarily stall him.
While Konoha and the Cloud clashed, the battle between Uchiha Fugaku and A had reached its boiling point. Fugaku had unleashed his ultimate technique, Susanoo, while A had pushed his Lightning Chakra Mode to its peak, both determined to bring down the other.
Their reasons were clear.
Fugaku sought revenge for Uchiha Toshi and the others he believed had died because of his hesitation, and he had to stop the Fourth Raikage from using his blinding speed to cut down more of their forces.
A, on the other hand, was fixated on Fugaku because he hadn't expected another Uchiha to possess the overwhelming power of Susanoo. He feared that if Fugaku and Shisui teamed up, his brother, Killer Bee, wouldn't be able to hold them off by himself.
If that happened, the 6,000 Cloud ninja he'd brought would be nothing more than wheat waiting to be harvested!
Both men, driven by different motives, resolved to defeat each other. Each used their ultimate techniques, exchanging hundreds of blows in mere minutes.
Susanoo had been shattered many times.
However, unlike his second son, Fugaku was a battle-hardened veteran. Even though he couldn't keep up with A's speed, his vast experience allowed him to evade A's attacks with precise footwork whenever Susanoo was shattered, narrowly escaping danger. He quickly channeled his ocular power to reform Susanoo, while constantly seeking opportunities to use his Mangekyō Sharingan's eye techniques.