Chapter 266: Interlude – The Fall of Hell!
As this group of people, who were never meant to survive until the original storyline began, stood beside him, Uchiha Ci felt something stir within him. He struggled to lift his head—
And saw an old man with a thin frame and resolute posture step forward, drawing his sword and shielding him.
"Great Elder..."
Uchiha Ci was momentarily stunned, an inexplicable panic rising in his heart.
Without turning his head, Uchiha Setsuna suppressed his exhaustion and spoke calmly:
"Ci—"
"You've already done enough."
"Wait..."
Uchiha Ci couldn't hear what the old man was saying, but he still gritted his teeth slightly, staring at him with wide eyes.
Uchiha Setsuna, who had awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan but had forgotten his unique dōjutsu, Ten no Jōritsu, and had permanently lost sight in one eye due to using Izanagi—
He couldn't manifest the legendary third power: Susanoo!
Not even in its skeletal form.
Even though the Mangekyō Sharingan had enhanced his genjutsu, chakra reserves, and perception, it only barely allowed him to reach the threshold of Kage-level. Even against an expert like Kakuzu, he would struggle.
Yet now, this old man stood before him, facing the pinnacle of Kage-level power—Third Raikage.
And the only technique he could use was—
"Great Elder, you—"
Uchiha Ci wanted to dissuade him.
Just leave him.
Escape from here.
Just hold on a little longer. Someone would come to save them.
But—
Uchiha Setsuna cut him off without looking back.
"You should remember what I once told you on the volcano, right?"
"I once said—"
"You have strong will and far-reaching vision. Compared to an average man like me, you have a much greater chance of reaching the other shore, of shouldering the clan's future. You—are the one who deserves to live!"
"And now, you've already proven yourself capable of doing so."
"And the last lesson I wish to teach you is—"
Uchiha Setsuna took a deep breath. His lone eye locked onto the Third Raikage as he gripped his long blade tightly, his voice ringing with determination:
"True victory is not about defeating the strong—"
"But about protecting what is precious to you until the very last moment."
"That—is victory!"
The moment his words fell, fire and lightning roared in unison!
Blazing flames illuminated the night sky as Uchiha Setsuna ignited both his heart and his blade.
Fire Release: Chakra Mode—Activate!
With a firm step, he raised his sword to his chest—then suddenly thrust forward!
Boom!
In an instant, his long blade transformed into a massive, flaming greatsword, its searing length extending wildly as it stabbed towards the incoming Third Raikage, whose Hell Stab: One-Fingered Nukite was charging straight at him!
During this exchange—
The sword in Uchiha Setsuna's hands melted instantly. But without hesitation, he formed hand seals with remarkable speed—
Hare – Ram – Boar!
Forbidden Technique—Izanagi—Activate!
Fire Release: Chakra Mode was a technique that allowed an ordinary body to erupt with Kage-level power. But that didn't mean it could defeat a Kage. At its core, it was simply a forbidden technique that exchanged life force for attack power.
And this technique had a limit.
Uchiha Ci had already demonstrated that limit earlier—
With just Hell Stab: Two-Fingered Nukite combined with his signature Black Lightning, the Third Raikage had crushed this technique!
Now, facing the even stronger One-Fingered Nukite, Uchiha Setsuna's flaming sword was instantly pierced through and shattered into four fiery beams that streaked past the Raikage.
Raikage A was barely hindered, only slowing for a moment before charging forward with unstoppable force!
Shlkk!
The concentrated lightning at his fingertips pierced straight through Uchiha Setsuna's chest!
Even though Uchiha Ci knew the old man had activated Izanagi in advance and wouldn't die from this blow, he still clenched his fists tightly, unable to suppress his emotions.
But at this moment—
Uchiha Setsuna fixed his lone eye on the Raikage at point-blank range, his expression ruthless.
"Now!"
"Do it!"
The next instant—
Thanks to the moment Uchiha Setsuna had bought with his flesh and blood—
The Konoha ninja standing by didn't hesitate to strike!
"Eight Trigrams Vacuum Wall Palm!"
Two Hyūga ninjas executed an Eight Trigrams Vacuum Wall Palm simultaneously, merging their attacks into the powerful Eight Trigrams Vacuum Wall Palm, a technique capable of deflecting even the Ten-Tails' assault!
A powerful shockwave struck the Raikage, halting his momentum once more!
Immediately after—
Konoha's elite Jōnin, clad in their standard vests over black underclothing, leaped into action—
"Eight Trigrams: Mountain Crusher!"
"Secret Technique: Insect Bog!"
"Secret Technique: Insect Spear!"
Hyūga Hizashi led the attack with Eight Trigrams: Mountain Crusher, unleashing a focused chakra blast akin to a massive energy beam that shot toward A's chest.
"What—? Gentle Fist? Pressure Point Attack?"
The Raikage was shocked. The impact not only pierced through his Lightning Release Armor, but also struck the Tianchi Acupoint near the wound on his left chest, disrupting the lightning armor in that area and significantly weakening its strength!
At that moment—
Aburame Ryōma's Secret Technique: Insect Bog surged forward, entangling the Raikage's limbs.
Simultaneously, Konoha's elite martial artist, Teacher Chen, executed a powerful spinning kick—Konoha Dragon God!—smashing into the weakened part of the Lightning Armor!
With a resounding explosion, the Raikage's lightning armor was momentarily breached—
"It has to hit!"
"Go, my insects!"
Aburame Shikuro bit his lip, planted his feet, and formed the Ram seal. Using nano-scale venomous insects, he formed his Secret Technique: Insect Spear!
The Insect Spear spun like a drill, piercing through Uchiha Setsuna's chest before continuing its momentum—
Straight for the Third Raikage's heart!
Raikage A's eyes narrowed. A sense of overwhelming danger surged in his chest!
This coordinated assault was too fast, too well-planned.
Clearly, while he had been engaged in battle with Uchiha Ci, this group had been preparing a strategy to take him down!
But—
"Lightning Release: Black Panther!"
With a furious roar, black, jagged lightning surged from his body!
This was an advanced nature transformation of Lightning Release—akin to Kakashi's future Purple Electricity after losing his Sharingan—far surpassing ordinary Lightning Release in power.
In an instant, black lightning erupted indiscriminately, disintegrating the Insect Spear before it could reach his heart!
The Konoha ninja surrounding him were also blasted away by the shockwave, thrown violently into the air!
Yet—
At that precise moment—
The mortally wounded Uchiha Setsuna suddenly flickered and vanished.
That was—Izanagi!
By sacrificing a Sharingan, this forbidden dōjutsu rewrote reality, turning any fatal injury into an illusion—retaining only beneficial outcomes, rendering the user invincible for a limited duration!
Unlike how Danzō had demonstrated it in the anime—where each eye represented a single extra life—within the active duration of Izanagi, the user essentially had unlimited respawns.
Now—
Emerging from the liminal space between fantasy and reality—
Uchiha Setsuna bypassed the Raikage's black lightning barrier—
Appearing directly in front of him—
A blinding white sword in hand—
Plunging straight for A's heart!
"He's still not dead?!"
A's pupils contracted sharply. He didn't have time to wonder why this old man was still alive.
Pa!
His hands, crackling with lightning, suddenly clapped together, firmly catching the blazing white sword and halting its momentum. Then, he twisted his body and, with a swift hand strike, split the old man's skull apart.
In the next moment, Uchiha Setsuna abruptly vanished—only to reappear again.
However, with no other Konoha shinobi creating opportunities for him, even if Uchiha Setsuna could keep resurrecting, he could no longer launch a fatal attack on the Third Raikage.
All he could do was harass.
But for Uchiha Setsuna, that was enough.
His sole objective was to prevent the enemy from approaching Uchiha Ci—until the very last moment!
For a while, the battlefield fell into a stalemate.
The Third Raikage had no choice but to stay on guard against the endlessly dying and reviving Uchiha Setsuna.
After all, the white-hot sword that Setsuna had replicated from Uchiha Ci was indeed capable of threatening his ultimate Lightning Release Armor!
At that moment, a bright blue flash lit up the sky—
And then—
BOOM!
Thunder roared.
Dark clouds, layered thick in the sky, suddenly released rain.
Large raindrops poured down, pitter-pattering against the scorched ruins below—like mourning whispers, like sorrowful weeping, evoking a deep, chilling sense of melancholy.
Watching the scene unfold before him, despair slowly seeped into Uchiha Ci's eyes.
The forbidden technique Izanagi had a time limit.
For different users, this so-called "invincible" duration varied.
In the future, Danzo Shimura, after transplanting ten Sharingan and Hashirama's cells, could extend Izanagi for one minute per eye. Uchiha Obito, however, could maintain it for five minutes.
But Uchiha Setsuna—who did not possess the power of the Senju—how long could his single Mangekyō Sharingan last?
Once time ran out, they would still die.
And there were still over ten minutes left before Minato's promised arrival.
Everything—
Was futile.
Ci couldn't understand why this old man would go to such lengths for something so meaningless.
He counted the seconds in his mind, his gaze growing vacant, his expression turning wooden.
Watching Uchiha Setsuna charge in repeatedly, only to be swatted away like a fly over and over—
At that moment—
What welled up from deep within him was neither rage nor sorrow—
But despair.
A suffocating, all-consuming despair, spreading like a heavy, boundless tide—chilling to the bone, crushing, leaving only emptiness and utter isolation.
Then—
Crack!
A flash of lightning tore through the sky.
The pale lightning illuminated the world—
And amidst the downpour, a sudden sound of footsteps echoed in the ears of the Konoha shinobi.
Step. Step.
Boots crushed dust beneath them, kicking up a thin haze of ash.
A fiery blade had just carved a gash straight into the heavens—
Moonlight poured through the opening.
The wounded, fallen shinobi on the ground struggled to lift their heads—
And they saw him.
Bathed in moonlight, a tall man strode forward—
A rogue ninja headband from Takigakure on his forehead, a black mask concealing his face, his entire body wrapped in a long black cloak. His eerie green eyes glowed in the darkness.
At the sight of his appearance, the Konoha shinobi felt their hearts sink into an even deeper abyss.
This man—
Was the S-rank rogue ninja of Takigakure.
The most infamous bounty hunter in the ninja world.
Kakuzu!
At that moment, A—locked in combat with Uchiha Setsuna—immediately recognized him.
Decades ago, during the First Great Ninja War, Takigakure had cooperated with Kumogakure. Back then, Kakuzu was still a loyal shinobi of Takigakure, fighting alongside the Gold and Silver Brothers to conquer small nations.
But later, the Gold and Silver Brothers staged a coup.
And this man—
Had slaughtered all of Takigakure's high-ranking officials and defected.
He had mastered Earth Grudge Fear, a secret technique even Kumogakure coveted—
Becoming an undisputed powerhouse, with strength on par with the Kage!
After all these years, of all times—A never expected to see him again now, at this exact moment—when he himself had been gravely wounded by Uchiha Ci.
Though A was confident he could take on Kakuzu, today's unexpected variables had already piled up enough. He did not want any more complications.
Frowning, he fixed his gaze on the approaching man.
"Kakuzu?"
Kakuzu's cold, indifferent gaze swept over the battlefield—
Until it landed on the collapsed Uchiha Ci.
A chilling smile crept onto his face.
Then, he continued striding forward, his voice echoing toward the Raikage:
"Raikage—"
"Does our previous contract still stand?"
At those words, A's mouth twitched. He had nearly forgotten—
A month and a half ago, Sunagakure's elder, Chiyo, had hired this S-rank rogue ninja through the underground bounty exchange—tasking him with assisting Kumogakure in ambushing Konoha's reinforcements.
But later, Uchiha forces had captured Kakuzu.
Yet judging by his current unharmed state, it seemed there was more to that capture than met the eye.
This greedy bastard—he must have been waiting for this exact moment to extort them!
Realizing this, A narrowed his eyes, leaped back to avoid Setsuna's flaming sword, and shouted:
"Kakuzu!"
"I don't need your help. Whatever Sunagakure paid you, I'll match it!"
"Now—leave!"
"Tsk, tsk. That won't do."
Kakuzu continued his slow advance, eyes half-lidded in amusement.
"Taking money and doing the job—that's the rule of our trade."
Then, he added in a low, calculating voice:
"But, now that I think about it—"
"This brat's head—"
"Is worth sixty million ryo."
"The bounty exchange offered me thirty million. Add that to the sixty million, and that makes ninety million."
"That's a lot more than the sixty million you're offering, Raikage."
"Now, let me think—"
"If I took this kid and delivered him to the Uchiha—how much would they pay me?"
"Would it—"
"Be even more than ninety million?"
Hearing this, and reading his lips, A's expression darkened.
This bounty ninja—who had no loyalty to anyone—just might actually do it.
His voice turned ice-cold:
"If you want to die—"
"Try it."
Kakuzu narrowed his eyes as if weighing his options.
After a brief pause, he finally murmured,
"Raikage, don't joke. I wouldn't do something like that."
Then, his expression shifted.
"I can kill this brat for you."
"But I want everything—"
"The sixty million from the bounty exchange, the thirty million from Sunagakure—"
"And your sixty million!"
He paused, drawing out his next words.
"Otherwise…"
"Hmph!" A let out a cold snort, furious at being extorted.
But he didn't refuse.
Kakuzu's lips curled ever so slightly.
And in the next instant—
He exploded into motion, lunging forward!
The Konoha shinobi watched in horror, their eyes wide with rage—
But not one of them could stop him!
Thud. Thud. Thud!
The ground trembled with his rapid footsteps.
The vibration jolted Uchiha Ci from his daze—
His internal count reached exactly three minutes!
And then—
He saw—
Uchiha Setsuna, wielding a sword of roaring flames, his crimson three-tomoe Sharingan—
Suddenly fade into a lifeless white.
As if a string had snapped.
Like a bird with broken wings—
Like a hawk falling from the sky—
Uchiha Setsuna plummeted.
And was caught—
By the throat—
In the iron grip of the Third Raikage.
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