The Truth-Seeking Ball instantly morphed into a black, hovering shield, blocking the surprise assault from the Uchiha guards. Then, with merciless force, it surged forward in a devastating counter.
Wherever the black barrier passed, it left only void—matter disintegrated, chakra unraveled into dust.
The two elite Uchiha guards didn't even manage a cry. The sphere engulfed them mid-jump, and in a silent, eerie blink—poof—they were erased from existence. Not even their ashes remained, no time to activate Izanagi.
Witnessing this horrifying scene, Uchiha Jiri staggered back several paces, slapping a trembling hand over her mouth. Her heart threatened to leap out of her chest. That wasn't ninjutsu. That was pure annihilation.
Behind her, hidden in the dark corner of the damp cell, Uchiha Hikaru hadn't seen it. She still sat behind Uchiha Shin, staring quietly at his back, her mind warring over whether to attack.
She was designed to obey. Engineered to be a weapon, not to think. Not to feel. Yet this—this man—treated her... gently. He spoke to her like she was human.
While she hesitated, the Truth-Seeking Orb silently floated back and reformed into a sphere, lazily circling Uchiha Shin once again.
"Huh? Where'd the guards go?"
Uchiha Hikaru tilted her head in confusion, glancing toward the door, unaware of the horrific death that had unfolded a few seconds earlier. But her attention drifted, and the thought passed.
She quietly curled up in her corner, knees to her chest. Her gaze met Uchiha Shin's for a moment—then dropped.
"If you came to kill me... go ahead."
Her whisper was weak, barely audible, but final. She didn't raise her head again. Her voice was empty, detached.
To her, Uchiha Shin was another executioner. She was their secret, the dirty little bloodline experiment locked in the clan's underbelly. If he was here to finish her off... so be it.
Maybe, she thought, maybe she could finally see her parents again. Her real ones.
The image of her mother's face flickered across her memory, and a hot tear slipped down her cheek.
Uchiha Shin remained silent. He watched the broken girl before him, then knelt slowly.
"Maybe..." he said quietly, "...the reason I came here was to meet you. So why would I kill you?"
Uchiha Hikaru blinked, startled. Her mind couldn't wrap around the idea.
Shin nodded toward the gaping hole in the cell wall, the place where the massive steel gate used to be.
"The gate's gone. You're free. Why not step outside?"
"…"
No answer. Not even a twitch. She kept her head buried, her voice low and monotone:
"Just go out yourself..."
"Huh?"
Uchiha Shin narrowed his eyes, then stood. Hikaru continued to mumble to herself like a broken marionette.
"I'm a weapon... made for the war of the Uchiha... I execute orders, use chakra as told, destroy enemies..."
Her voice trembled, but she forced herself to keep reciting the words that had been drilled into her like poison:
"I do not cry... I do not hesitate... I do not run.
Pain must be endured. Until death.
No movement without command... even if the place burns, I must stay.
This is my mission...
I must obey... I... I..."
Her voice cracked.
Uchiha Shin slowly reached out and lifted her chin. Her face—pale, tear-streaked, beautiful—was twisted in silent anguish.
Her lip quivered. She looked so damn fragile, like one more cruel word would break her forever.
Without thinking, Uchiha Shin pulled her into his arms and held her tight.
"You shouldn't be living in a damn dungeon," he whispered in her ear. "You're not some tool born to kill. You're your own person. You can walk your own path."
His words, soft but firm, brushed past her broken walls and hit her soul.
She trembled in his arms. She didn't want to be an unknown. She didn't want to be a tool. She wanted to be... herself.
For a second—just one—she believed him.
But then the world intruded.
Voices echoed from the corridor above:
"What's happening down here?!"
"Where the hell are the guards?!"
"Is the intruder still inside?!"
Uchiha Hikaru's hopeful spark flickered out. Her hands dropped from his chest.
"You should go... please, just run," she said. "If you stay, they'll kill you."
Uchiha Shin sighed in frustration, letting go of her.
"Always at the worst f**king timing... You people sure know how to ruin a moment. Makes me want to kill every last one of you."
He turned to face the entrance just as Uchiha Yao, the current head of the clan, entered with a platoon of elite Sharingan users.
The smug bastard exhaled in relief when he saw Hikaru still alive in the cell and Uchiha Shin standing there, uncaring.
Then his eyes landed on the trembling Uchiha Jiri.
"Where are the guards?! I left you in charge! How did you let this outsider in?!"
Jiri opened her mouth, face pale as death. "T-The others... they're dead..."
Uchiha Yao narrowed his eyes.
Dead? Impossible. Every Uchiha nowadays knew Izanagi. They should've revived even if they were killed. There were three guards—Jiri, and two others. One had blind Sharingan, but the others were fully capable.
Even if overpowered, they could stall.
Yet now... nothing?
Jiri swallowed hard. "That black orb... it just... swallowed them. Gone. Not even Izanagi worked."
She sounded like a lunatic. But Uchiha Yao could see it in her eyes. She wasn't lying. Something had erased them—completely. A void chakra? Something beyond Kekkei Genkai?
His eyes snapped back to the white-haired intruder.
"I don't know what clan sent you here," Yao snarled. "But you're going to die regardless."
Mangekyō Sharingan bloomed in his eyes, and without hesitation, he unleashed Amaterasu. Black flames ignited on Uchiha Shin's chest.
Flames that could never be extinguished.
But then...
Uchiha Shin casually brushed his fingers over the flames—and they vanished. Snuffed out like a candle.
"Amaterasu, huh?" he muttered. "Why is everyone in your clan obsessed with this one-trick flame?"
Yao's eyes widened. "What...?"
Without a word, he summoned his Susanoo. The massive spectral warrior emerged, black and jagged, and its ethereal sword raised high in a devastating arc.
Inside the cell, Uchiha Hikaru screamed: "NO!"
The cell had a chakra-suppression barrier. Shin couldn't use jutsu here. He was trapped.
Yao smirked. "No matter how strong you are, my Susanoo will cleave you in—"
CRACK!
Uchiha Shin lifted a single finger.
And with a flick, the Susanoo's sword shattered like glass.
Yao's expression twisted from arrogance to pure horror.
Before he could react, Shin burst forward.
A brutal punch connected with Susanoo's ribcage—and shattered it entirely.
The force punched through the chakra armor, caved in Yao's gut, and sent him flying back into the stone wall.
Blood sprayed like mist from Yao's mouth as he slumped, stunned and broken.
Shin stood tall, surrounded by a single Truth-Seeking Orb, eyes cold.
"Next one who opens his mouth dies."
The Uchiha elite froze.
No one dared to speak.
And in that silence... Uchiha Hikaru looked up. Eyes wide. A flicker of hope in the darkness of her hell
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