At the Valley of the End, atop Hashirama's statue, the two brothers stood facing each other.
Uchiha Kagami exuded an imposing aura, appearing composed as he wielded the power of the Mangekyō Sharingan for the first time.
"Using my own power against me?"
Kamihane calmly flexed his wrist, shaking his head with a light sigh. "A pity. Even I find it difficult to breach my own physical defenses, let alone you borrowing such methods. Don't even dream of it."
"Brother, my mission has always been to protect my own eyes," Kagami said slowly. "As long as I remain undefeated, that is enough."
"An invincible position?" Kamihane flicked back his hair, a vicious smile curling at the corner of his lips. "Who gave you that illusion?"
As he spoke, his right eye swirled, his entire demeanor instantly reaching its peak. The bloodshot veins covering the whites of his eyes completely receded, leaving them clear as flawless jade.
In the next instant, he vanished on the spot, replaced by hundreds of identical black-clad figures appearing simultaneously around Kagami.
"Leaf's Autumn Dew · Chaotic Blade Style · Raging Fang Burst!"
The sword gleamed like crystal, its jade-green sword energy overwhelming the sky, casting a ghastly green pallor over Kagami's face!
"Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh!"
The air tore apart, the ground was shaved inch by inch, thick smoke surged into the sky, and within just a few breaths, half of Hashirama's statue head was gone.
Chaotic currents danced wildly as Kagami bathed in the storm of sword energy, his body swaying and undulating with it. His two crimson Mangekyō spun eerily, the left eye streaked with bloodshot veins piercing the pupil, while the right eye gushed with fresh blood.
"Garuda" allowed him to absorb all kinetic energy the moment the sword energy struck, protecting him from harm. Under the enhancement of "Takamagahara," he captured every afterimage in midair, his mind running through countless possibilities—the "future" was constantly being rewritten.
"Aaaaaah!"
Kagami let out a long roar to the sky, his entire body leaping up as he swung his blade. A certain afterimage instantly solidified, and a shockwave swept through the air.
"Clang!"
The blade sliced through the molecular barrier of water, striking Kamihane squarely on the forehead.
A metallic hum echoed—his longsword wailed in agony. Though the contact with the opponent's body lasted but an instant, the immense force it endured caused the jade-steel forged blade to tremble violently before shattering into pieces.
In stark contrast, the opponent's body remained completely unharmed.
Kagami had anticipated this outcome. The moment the blade trembled violently, he swung his left fist, only for Kamihane, with a smile on his face, to tilt his head back and evade it.
Two figures descended from mid-air, their trajectories intertwined with countless afterimages of punches and kicks.
Kagami showed no sign of discouragement. The energy accumulated within his body made his movements incredibly swift, and in terms of pure taijutsu power, he had already surpassed the shadow level.
Yet he didn't even manage to touch the hem of his opponent's garment!
Kamihane leisurely rested his hands behind his head, in no hurry to attack, merely dodging with graceful movements, effortlessly predicting all of Kagami's strikes as if he were the true practitioner of 'Takamagahara'.
'No, it's impossible. Defeating him is nothing but a delusion!'
Kagami's expression visibly turned grave. He was already pushing his pupil technique to the limit, yet in the future seen by his right eye, Kamihane had no possibility of being hit!
'So even that last slash was something he deliberately took!'
As thoughts of retreat surfaced in his mind, Kagami's punches lost their sharpness, and his once aggressive footwork slowed down noticeably.
"Tsk, can't handle it already? Put in more effort."
Kamihane unconsciously curled his lips, showing a look of disdain. "Someone who gives up so easily could never become strong."
Back when he was sparring with Lord Madara in taijutsu, he kept throwing punches even after getting beaten to a pulp.
"At this level, you can't protect anyone!"
Kamihane grabbed Kagami's wrist with a reverse grip, pulling and twisting his waist to build momentum while silently chanting, 'Third Life Gate.' With an explosive burst of air, he unleashed a vicious liver punch!
The force was so immense that his knuckles left five scorching, distorted trails in the air!
"BOOM!!!"
Kagami's eyes widened as a fierce force surged through his body, the overwhelming kinetic energy instantly surpassing Garuda's absorption frequency. His left eye turned blood-red, vision blurred by gushing blood.
He was sent flying like a ragged sack, smashing through the ground in succession before being violently embedded into the stone sculpture on the opposite shore.
As fate would have it, that spot was precisely where Uchiha Madara's chest had been—the very place where Hashirama's flesh had once been transplanted.
"Oh dear, how inauspicious," Kamihane scratched his head, looking somewhat troubled. "This piece of flesh took Lord Madara six whole years to fully heal."
Within the crevice of the stone wall, Kagami was still processing the chaotic energy surging through his body when his pupils abruptly constricted.
The next second, he eerily appeared beside Kamihane, struck by an unavoidable kick that sent him crashing into the ground with tremendous force, the impact rippling through the entire statue and cracking it with countless fissures.
"Little brother, is this the future you chose?"
Kamihane looked down at Kagami from above, tendrils of azure energy curling around him, his vermilion-jade eyes shimmering with an eerie, soul-piercing glow.
Another foot came down, striking the same spot with the same brutal force!
"Boom!"
The ground caved into a massive crater. Kagami coughed up a mouthful of blood, his ribs shattered one by one, feeling as if his internal organs were being displaced.
Seeing his opponent's foot rise once more, he blasted energy into the ground, hoping to propel himself out of the deadly pit. But his vision blurred—he found himself back in the same spot again.
"Boom!"
The statue of Hashirama began to violently shake, cracks appearing from top to bottom, fissures spreading across its entire body from head to toe. Fragments of stone fell, splashing water everywhere as dust filled the air.
"Ahhhhh!"
Amidst Kagami's roar, the long-accumulated energy erupted in full force. A golden light shot forth from within, its blazing radiance swiftly morphing into a ferocious skeletal form. The shockwaves surged skyward, tearing even the clouds to shreds.
"Susanoo!"
Golden energy gushed forth like a fountain, blasting the unprepared Kamihane away in an instant.
Yet, in the next instant, he adjusted his stance, using the water barrier as a stepping stone, diving down like a peregrine falcon!
The dust was torn apart by the force of the punch, revealing a colossal golden skeleton roaring at the sky. Countless veins instantly filled the gaps between its bones, transforming into solid flesh. Its body grew larger, radiant as gold, shimmering with a clear and brilliant light.
Kagami clutched his chest, swaying unsteadily within the Susanoo. His eyes were already filled with blood, his vision blurred. In that hazy sight, a figure came charging at him with explosive speed!
The golden half-bodied giant swung its mighty fist, colliding with Kamihane's punch in a powerful clash.
There was no earth-shattering impact as expected—only a fleeting, crisp 'crack,' like the sound of shattering glass.
Kamihane's body seemed forged from divine iron, every inch of his muscles crystalline as jade, indestructible and overwhelmingly powerful.
He didn't even bother to condense a water molecule barrier, opting instead for the most primitive method—like a ferocious cannonball, he smashed straight through Kagami's Susanoo and drove his fist into his abdomen.
The force of the punch erupted, a surging shockwave roaring past as Kagami's body folded in half instantly before being blasted back into the water's surface.
Kamihane raised his hand, making a grasping motion at the empty air before him. His right eye's hyper-long-distance vision instantly locked onto Kagami's submerged position. As crimson light flared, he seized Kagami by the throat from thin air.
"Oops, I hit too hard."
He carefully examined his younger brother's face, or more precisely, his eyes.
The left eye, which had been maintaining the 'Garuda' form, was now filled with blood vessels, bleeding profusely.
The right eye that unleashed 'Takamagahara' was also crimson, the blood on his cheek even showing signs of drying up.
"Little brother, the power of the pupil is limited. The more you unleash it, the faster the darkness will consume you."
As he spoke, 'Ame-no-Tokotachi' was quietly activated.
Kamihane gave a light chuckle as the state of the "Third Life Gate" dissipated, his pupils clear and pristine as usual, all injuries completely reset to zero.
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