Kamihane gripped Kagami's neck with one hand, lifting him slowly as if he were a chick.
This grand battle between brothers soon came to an end, like a fleeting meteor, arriving and departing in haste.
"The outcome is decided. It's time for you to surrender your eyes."
Kamihane smiled as he raised his hand, his slender fingers reaching towards Kagami's eyes.
"Buzz—"
The moment his fingertips touched Kagami's eyelid, his body rippled with distortion, the afterimage coalescing to absorb all kinetic energy from the contact.
Kamihane's brows furrowed slightly as he silently increased the pressure, yet no matter how much force he exerted, he couldn't pierce through Kagami's eye.
His body was like a resilient yet pliant wall—any contact would dissipate all momentum, absorbing every ounce of kinetic energy.
"You!"
Kamihane's gaze turned icy, his tone losing all patience. "Lift this technique, or you'll go blind."
Kagami opened his blood-red eyes. Even though he could no longer clearly see Kamihane's face, even as his vision blurred and faded, he stubbornly maintained the 'Garuda' technique.
"Brother, this is the future I have chosen." The corners of his lips curled into a tragic smile.
Kamihane let out a cold snort and slammed him onto the ground with a thunderous crash, leaving a human-shaped crater in the earth.
Kagami raised his head shakily, his face covered in blood, feeling as if every bone in his body was about to fall apart.
Although he was using the energy absorbed by 'Garuda' to heal his injuries, he still didn't even have the strength to get up.
The amount of energy 'Garuda' could absorb had its limits, and the massive kinetic force from those three powerful kicks earlier nearly overwhelmed him to the point of bursting.
If he hadn't promptly used 'Susanoo' to release the energy, the surging power within him would have backfired, causing him to explode into annihilating golden flames!
This is also the fatal flaw of the 'Garuda' eye technique.
He knew very well that Kamihane's attack had been 'gentle' enough. If he had unleashed the overwhelming power he used against Hashirama, he would have been instantly annihilated without a doubt, and his left eye would have gone blind immediately.
But clearly, his gamble had paid off.
What Kamihane needed was a pair of intact, fully functional Mangekyō Sharingan.
As long as he desperately maintained 'Garuda,' Kamihane wouldn't deliver a fatal blow.
This was the strategy he had agonized over for three full days to devise.
Fight my brother? Are you kidding? He didn't even draw his sacred blade!
That's the man who rightfully defeated Lord Hashirama, now standing at the pinnacle of the shinobi world!
If Kamihane truly had killing intent, he would've been obliterated instantly. He knows full well that every breath he takes now is by his brother's mercy!
"You… really don't want me to have your eyes, do you?"
Kamihane stepped on Kagami's chest, his handsome face flashing with a tyrant's coldness, his clear eyes reflecting an icy mountain.
Kagami shivered as an overwhelming murderous aura surged toward him, the bone-chilling cold gnawing at him. He could do nothing but tremble in fear.
"Good, little brother, wait here obediently."
He gazed at the azure sky, "I'll bring your companions to you soon—every last one of those Konoha shinobi. Of course, I mean their heads."
Just as Kamihane was about to step forward, a desolate laugh suddenly echoed from behind him.
"Brother, if that were the case, I would destroy my own eyes without hesitation."
Kagami smiled self-deprecatingly: "I can't stop anything, I can't protect anything, but this is the last thing I can do for the village."
As he spoke, he drew a kunai from his waist pouch, its sharp tip aimed directly at his own eyes.
Kamihane slowly turned his head. "Do it."
"Thud."
Kagami acted like an emotionless, painless machine, decisively executing the command by piercing through his own right eye.
He pulled out the kunai, and a splash of scalding blood spilled out. Seizing the moment, he then pierced his own left eye.
Blood gushed out as Kagami propped up his upper body, attempting to locate Kamihane with his hollowed-out eyes.
A surge of inky black energy erupted, and a massive hand wreathed in dark mist shot out like a striking python, crushing Kagami's mangled body within its grasp.
However, Kamihane's emotions were unexpectedly stable, not flying into a rage as Kagami had seen in the future. Instead, he pulled Kagami close, lost in thought.
"I must say, for a dog of Konoha, you're truly loyal."
Kagami tilted his head to listen as the breeze carried the unmistakable sound of mockery. He turned his face toward the source of the voice.
"Brother, compared to my eyes, the lives of those villagers mean nothing to you, don't they…" he spoke weakly.
The ocular technique 'Garuda' vanished along with the destruction of his left eye, and the energy within his body dissipated as well, no longer healing his injuries.
Kamihane smiled meaningfully. "You dare destroy your own eyes in front of me? It's only fair that I vent my anger by killing a few of your companions, don't you think?"
"Reasonable." Kagami's breath was visibly weak. "But then, you'd miss the optimal time to restore my eyes. The disadvantages outweigh the benefits—it's not worth the loss…"
"Hmph, so you even foresaw this scene? No, wait…"
Kamihane stroked his chin. "It's precisely because you saw this moment that you dared to destroy your own eyes so brazenly."
"Brother, I'm just proving my resolve—the resolve to sacrifice everything."
Kagami whispered, "I know. If I don't let you have your way this time, you'll truly raze the village to the ground… And that's an outcome neither of us wants to see."
"Then you should choose a win-win outcome—give me the eyes and keep Konoha intact." He stared at Kagami's body, the skeletal arm of his Susanoo swaying slightly. "Name your terms."
"Cough cough, as expected of my brother, you saw right through me…"
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