Chapter 303 – The Ashura's Battlefield (Part II)
Susanoo's blackened blade slid free from its sheath.
But as Kei's gaze fell upon it, he froze.
The weapon was different.
It gleamed like obsidian,
its edge wreathed in flickering black fire.
For a moment, his mind went blank.
He knew that power.
The Amaterasu flames—the very same he had sealed into his Sharingan through a transcription seal long ago.
The same flames that had vanished without explanation.
And now… they burned along Susanoo's blade.
His breath hitched.
So that's where they'd gone—
the black flames had merged not with his eyes, but with Susanoo's weapon itself.
He focused, sensing the chakra flow through the construct.
No—Susanoo itself wasn't infused with Amaterasu.
Only the sword was.
Curious… and dangerous.
Would those flames burn out eventually?
Could he even control them consciously?
The questions flickered through his mind—
but he dismissed them with a quiet exhale.
It didn't matter.
As long as it worked.
As long as it killed.
"Fine," he murmured. "I'll take it as a gift."
The air trembled.
Hundreds of jutsu exploded toward him in unison—
Fire. Water. Earth. Wind. Lightning.
Kei didn't move.
Susanoo crossed its arms, absorbing the barrage head-on.
The ground quaked under the impact,
but when the dust cleared,
the black giant still stood, unscathed.
Kei, arms folded within the ribcage of chakra,
watched silently as the Mist shinobi faltered again.
He could feel the toll—the slow drain of his chakra,
the faint ache behind his eyes—
but it didn't matter.
He'd endured worse.
And he'd never liked being cornered.
When the last explosion faded, he tilted his head,
studying the bewildered faces of the shinobi below.
Their strongest attacks had done nothing.
Not a scratch. Not even a ripple.
He could almost taste their despair.
From afar, Black Zetsu's eyes widened.
That defense… that's beyond normal Susanoo levels.
This power—its density, its scale—
it was already on the verge of evolving again.
If this continued, Kei's Susanoo might reach its mature form,
a version capable not only of invincible defense but incredible mobility.
"Unbelievable," Zetsu muttered. "That boy's eyes… they're even more dangerous than I thought."
"Had your fun?"
Kei's deep, distorted voice echoed over the battlefield.
"Then I suppose… it's my turn."
"Everyone, attack!" Ao shouted immediately.
"That thing's strong, but it's slow!
Close in—drag him out from inside!"
Kei tilted his head slightly.
"Nice theory."
Susanoo lifted its massive sword,
the Amaterasu flames writhing across the blade.
"But reality," he said coldly,
"is cruel."
The blade came down.
A single, earth-shattering slash tore through the field.
The world itself seemed to split open—
ground quaking, stone shattering,
dozens of Mist shinobi reduced to nothing but ash and blood.
A rift carved its way across the battlefield,
spreading wider and wider,
as screams filled the air.
"Enough," Obito muttered from his vantage point,
watching the massacre through his mask.
"This has gone too far."
He didn't mean it.
Part of him wanted Kei to keep going—
to thin out the ranks of Kirigakure even more.
But he had a role to play.
And that role demanded he act like the bitter enemy of both sides.
His tone turned cold.
"The Fourth Mizukage—send him in."
Even Black Zetsu hesitated.
That thing on the battlefield wasn't a man anymore.
It was a calamity.
Uchiha Kei's power was now on par with a Tailed Beast,
but far worse—because unlike them,
he was in control.
A human mind, cold and calculating,
wielding the power of a god.
It was the perfect storm.
A monster who could think.
Meanwhile, Susanoo rampaged through the Mist's ranks,
its black blade scything through platoons of shinobi like grass.
Even without four arms or twin heads like Madara's,
its destructive power was beyond comprehension.
Each swing cracked mountains, split the forest,
and left scores of shinobi dead.
The battlefield was no longer a fight—
it was an execution ground.
Only Terumī Mei's Lava Release and Boil Release
had any visible effect—brief, fleeting patches of corrosion
against the armor of the black giant.
Kei watched her movements carefully,
his blade always tracking her position.
If not for her speed—and the handful of guards shielding her—
she'd already be dead.
But her comrades weren't as fortunate.
The Mist army, once a disciplined formation,
was now a shattered mess.
If not for Obito's earlier orders pulling out elite jōnin squads,
this battle would've already been a total slaughter.
"Too strong…"
A Mist shinobi dropped to his knees, trembling.
"This kind of power—how do we even fight that?"
One after another, they began to break.
Their comrades' bodies littered the field,
and despair bled into the air like poison.
Even the Mist—trained from childhood to feel nothing—
could not withstand such hopelessness.
Ao gritted his teeth, watching morale collapse.
If even one ninja ran,
the entire force would crumble.
He could already feel it happening.
"Captain! Look—over there!"
A voice broke through the chaos.
Ao turned—
and his eyes widened.
From the rear lines,
a new chakra signature emerged—
vast, heavy, suffocating.
The Fourth Mizukage had arrived.
Ao exhaled shakily. Relief and dread mixed in his chest.
Finally, the Mizukage himself was entering the battle.
And perhaps, just perhaps,
they still had a chance.
The chaos of battle raged on, and Ao's thoughts were spinning as fast as his Byakugan.
All of this… all because of him.
Because the Fourth Mizukage had sealed off the Land of Water from the world,
their isolation had drawn predators—
nations and mercenaries that smelled blood in the water like sharks drawn to a wound.
But now, something else was wrong.
Ao blinked, focusing his Byakugan on the Mizukage's chakra flow—
and his heart sank.
The chakra he saw was… wrong.
Chaotic, overlapping, like several currents fighting each other.
The distinct signature of the Fourth Mizukage was there,
so was the chakra of the Three-Tails…
but beneath that—something else.
Something alien.
A third presence.
And in that moment, a chilling thought crossed Ao's mind—
one he didn't dare finish.
"Captain, watch out!"
The warning came a heartbeat too late.
Ao's instincts screamed, and he turned just in time to see it—
the colossal black giant,
its blade already descending toward him like a thunderbolt.
The air itself screamed.
The ground split apart,
and from the arc of the strike, black flames erupted—
flames that devoured everything they touched.
They didn't just burn—they consumed.
The water on the battlefield boiled away in an instant,
feeding the flames instead of quenching them.
Ao threw himself aside, barely escaping with his life.
The shinobi beside him weren't so lucky—
their bodies shredded by the shockwave,
then instantly set ablaze.
In seconds, nothing remained—
no ash, no bone, not even shadow.
The black fire spread on its own,
crawling across the ground like a living organism,
cutting through ranks of Mist shinobi and devouring the battlefield.
The war zone had truly become a hellscape—
a realm of fire and despair.
Ao coughed, forcing himself up, every muscle aching.
He could still see a few survivors nearby—
a small mercy amid the carnage.
But even that flicker of relief made his heart ache.
This is our home, he thought bitterly.
The Land of Mist—our domain. And now… I'm grateful just to see survivors.
"Captain."
Terumī Mei's voice snapped him out of his thoughts.
She pointed toward the sea of flames not far away.
"There—look!"
Ao activated his Byakugan again—
and froze.
Through the black inferno, a gap had opened—
and through it, the masked man was walking toward them,
slowly, steadily,
as if the fire itself parted for him.
The dark giant had vanished,
but neither Ao nor Mei felt any relief.
If anything, the tension sharpened.
Because his chakra… was still enormous.
Steady. Controlled. Terrifying.
He wasn't weakening—
he was adapting.
Ao's mind raced, analyzing everything he'd seen.
When the giant—Susanoo—was active,
the enemy's speed dropped drastically.
But in return, his defense and attack power became overwhelming.
Now, in his normal form, that monstrous armor was gone.
His destructive range had lessened.
But his movements would be far faster, far more unpredictable.
It was a trade-off.
A potential weakness.
If they could exploit it…
"Finished analyzing?"
The distorted voice came from within the smoke.
Kei's footsteps echoed closer, measured and calm.
"You've been watching me this whole time with those pretty eyes," he said softly.
"Trying to find a weakness, weren't you?
Tell me—how's that going?"
Ao straightened his back, meeting the masked man's gaze.
"You're strong," he admitted grimly.
"Stronger than anything I've ever seen.
And knowing you're from the Uchiha clan only makes it worse."
Kei chuckled quietly. "And?"
"You have two states," Ao continued.
"The giant form—impenetrable, overwhelming.
Our ninjutsu can't touch it.
But in your normal form, you move faster—much faster.
Your offense and defense drop, though… just enough to make you mortal."
He didn't say more, but his meaning was clear.
Behind him, the remaining Mist shinobi stiffened,
understanding instantly.
If the monster was vulnerable in this form,
then now was their only chance.
Even if they couldn't kill him outright,
they could hold him off—
long enough for the Fourth Mizukage to arrive.
And once the Mizukage joined the fight,
they believed,
this nightmare would finally end.
Kei tilted his head slightly, unimpressed.
So that was it.
That was the best their "analysis" could give them.
He exhaled, amused.
Not wrong… but not nearly enough.
Without understanding Susanoo's nature,
their conclusions meant little.
Still, it was a decent effort for someone without Sharingan.
Maybe he'd let them hope a little longer—
before crushing that hope completely.
The battlefield crackled with the hiss of black flames.
The Mist shinobi regrouped, Mei standing near Ao,
their eyes fixed on the approaching figure.
Kei stopped just at the edge of the scorched ground,
his chakra still burning faintly in the air.
He was waiting.
For the Mizukage.
For the next move in his experiment.
Time to see, he thought,
whether Amaterasu can still answer me without Susanoo.
The black fire flickered faintly in response,
as though it heard his will.
Kei's masked face tilted upward.
Somewhere far off, he could already sense another chakra signature approaching—
vast and violent,
familiar, and yet… wrong.
A cruel smile touched his lips.
"So," he murmured.
"The puppet finally moves."