Chapter 23 : Shin'en no Shoumei!!

"Game?"

The nameless Uchiha girl heard the word and her eyes blazed with fierce hatred. "Do you think that all of this, everything I've been through, is just a game?!"

Uchiha Sogetsu's seemingly casual remark struck a deep chord with her, stirring up old wounds and unresolved pain.

Her rage and anger burned fiercely, scorching the remnants of her already shattered heart. Her subconscious mind was in tatters, each fragment an echo of the pain she carried.

"I meant—"

Uchiha Sogetsu didn't get to finish his sentence before he was cut off.

Hand signs blurred in the air.

Wind Style: Vacuum Sphere!

The girl moved so quickly that even the Sharingan couldn't track her movements. Wind Chakra-based projectiles shot from her mouth, leaving vacuum-like streaks in the air.

At point-blank range, Uchiha Sogetsu could only dodge by a hair, avoiding a critical hit.

Thud, thud!

The chakra projectiles pierced his left shoulder, right abdomen, and calf, leaving holes as wide as a thumb.

Despite his injuries, Uchiha Sogetsu managed to close the distance. With his fist covered in fine dragon scales, he focused his chakra into one point and launched a powerful punch.

Though it couldn't compare to Tsunade's formidable strength, his punch was still devastatingly strong.

Boom!

The impact echoed like a clap of thunder, tearing through the air. The shockwave sent rubble flying for dozens of meters, and deep fissures spread outward from their feet.

Around the girl, blood-red chakra solidified into the shape of a skeleton. Her intense emotions had activated the Mangekyō Sharingan in both eyes, unleashing the Uchiha clan's ultimate technique—Susanoo!

"Susanoo, huh?" Uchiha Sogetsu wasn't surprised to see the layer of blood-red bones forming around her.

"Shut up!" 

Fueled by her hatred, the skeletal arm of her Susanoo swung wide, ready to strike.

**Boom!** 

Large chunks of debris and ruins were crushed by Susanoo.

Uchiha Sogetsu, who was flying through the air, narrowly avoided the sweeping attack. As he glanced at the massive handprint left in the rubble below, he couldn't help but marvel at the destructive power of Susanoo in its original form. 

This was truly the 'God of Destruction,' and its might was well beyond the capabilities of an ordinary Jonin to handle.

With excellent defense and overwhelming destructive power, Susanoo could be considered a perfect ninjutsu that combined both offense and defense seamlessly.

Especially for Uchiha Sogetsu, with his current skill set, there were almost no ninjutsu that could penetrate Susanoo's defense.

"The Spectator pathway is too weak at its early stage," Uchiha Sogetsu muttered to himself, having distanced himself from the chaos. 

The situation was getting a little tricky, and he frowned slightly. "It looks like if I want to end this, I'll have to close the distance and use... that."

While he strategized, the unnamed Uchiha girl clenched her fists, her chakra boiling with intense energy.

"AAAAAAH!!!"

Fueled by hatred, Susanoo grew even further.

What was initially a partial skeleton expanded into a complete humanoid form, mirroring the girl's agony. It stretched out like a wild beast, standing on all fours, roaring with unrestrained rage.

The blood-red chakra emanated a sinister aura.

**ROAR!!!**

With a mighty bellow, Susanoo became even more bestial, with violent chakra gathering in its gaping maw.

"Now!" Uchiha Sogetsu saw his chance and instead of retreating, he dashed toward Susanoo.

"DIE!!!"

**BOOM!**

The compressed chakra exploded outward like a cannonball.

The shockwave in the air caused a temporary vacuum to form around Uchiha Sogetsu.

The deafening roar of the explosion generated thunder, and the blood-red chakra tinted the sky. In a blinding flash, the unleashed energy tore through the atmosphere like a torrent, creating a vacuum corridor that sucked everything in its path.

Uchiha Sogetsu, who was in mid-air, had no room to dodge and was swallowed by the bloody surge.

**Rumble.**

Smoke and dust filled the air, blotting out the sun. A deep trench was gouged through the forest, with ancient trees burning to cinders.

The blistering heat permeated the surroundings as the beast-like Susanoo looked to the sky and let out a feral roar. The burning blood-red chakra seemed to be an outpouring of the unending rage and torment in the Uchiha girl's heart.

Susanoo slowly dissipated, leaving the girl unsteady on her feet. She swayed weakly, almost collapsing to the ground from exhaustion.

"No, this isn't over," she declared, her voice filled with hatred. "Uchiha ninja. I'll destroy everything!"

But before she could muster her strength to continue, a calm voice came from behind her.

"It's taken me quite a bit of effort to get this close to you."

Startled, the girl spun around to find Uchiha Sogetsu standing there, unharmed. Her eyes widened in disbelief. "Impossible! I hit you! I saw it!" 

That wasn't some illusion or a substitution technique. Her Sharingan could see through those. How could he still be standing?

"I had to use a special item to get this close," Uchiha Sogetsu explained. "To be precise, I used the 'Moon Paper Figurine.' It's an item that can take a fatal blow in your place."

That explained his presence. With the Moon Paper Figurine, he could survive a deadly strike and still appear perfectly unharmed.

"While rage might fuel your Susanoo, your actions are just reckless outbursts," Sogetsu continued. "Your chakra reserve seems low. Can you even use Susanoo a second time?"

His words hit a nerve. The girl had been expending a lot of chakra, and it was clear she couldn't summon Susanoo again. Sogetsu had taken a calculated risk, using the Moon Paper Figurine to get close when she was at her weakest.

"How dare you! Don't lecture me!!!"

Uchiha Sogetsu's words, with their constant undercurrent of mockery, pushed her to her limit. The girl's rage boiled over, chakra erupting from her like a fiery explosion. "Do you think you can beat me without Susanoo?!"

Her chakra roared like a flame, but Sogetsu seemed unimpressed. He had gambled everything on this moment, knowing full well that she was at her breaking point. 

The battle was far from over, but he had the upper hand, at least for now.

Tsukuyomi!

The Mangekyou Sharingan, a manifestation of pure hatred, released its unique ocular technique.

In an instant, Uchiha Sogetsu was helplessly drawn into a spiritual world crafted by the girl's power.

The blood-red sky was drenched in torrential rain. A full moon loomed high, casting its ghostly light over towering piles of corpses, and weapons strewn across the landscape, forming a chaotic mountain of blades.

"I want you to experience the ultimate pain!" she declared, standing barefoot atop the grisly corpse mountain, her long black hair billowing wildly. 

The windmill-like pattern of her Mangekyou Sharingan spun rapidly, reflecting the eerie full moon above. "I'll show you another power of my Mangekyou—one that even the Uchiha clan fears!"

Buzz.

The full moon, hanging in the blood-red sky, mirrored the swirling pattern of the Mangekyō Sharingan.

Instantly, an enchanting purple moonlight poured down like a torrent from the sky, descending in a surge of silvery mercury, flooding every corner of the Tsukuyomi realm.

Uchiha Sogetsu couldn't escape the purple glow as it washed over him.

"This is my ocular technique—Shin'en no Shoumei!" she said, her cold eyes locked on him as she clenched her slender fingers. "Any object that touches my chakra is marked with the 'Shin'en no Shoumei' seal. Once marked, I control everything about it."

"Ah," Uchiha Sogetsu muttered, piecing it together. "When Tsunade repaired the seal, she came into contact with your chakra, and you used that moment to mark her with your ocular technique."

"Exactly," the girl sneered, her voice laced with cold malice. "But don't worry, soon you'll be under my complete control, just like that woman."

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