Chapter 178: Fugaku: “i Sense Betrayal From My Family!”
After two grotesquely shaped puppets were released from the scroll by Scorpion, chakra threads invisible to the naked eye emerged from the two puppets and connected to the Hiruko he controlled.
One resembled a multi-legged spider, covered in spikes and holes, with a ninja sword protruding from each hole—over a dozen in total.
The other stood upright like a mantis, its double arms replaced by huge steel scythes, with a long tail dragging behind, tipped with a small scythe.
Invisible to the naked eye, the highly condensed chakra threads instantly shot out from Hiruko, precisely connecting to the key nodes of the two puppets.
“Let me see why those few in the organization are so wary of you.”
Scorpion’s voice transmitted through Hiruko: “I suggest you go all out right away. I don’t want to wait around for you to beat around the bush with me here.”
“I don’t like waiting for people, nor do I like making others wait for me. That’s one of my principles in life and one of my ninja ways.”
As soon as the confident words fell, the two grotesquely shaped puppets, under his exquisite control, became killing machines imbued with evil life.
The puppets’ joints emitted “creak creak” friction sounds as they charged at Uchiha Ikeizumi’s wood style clone and Juzo Biwa at astonishing speeds!
This scene made Juzo Biwa’s eyelids twitch, his face turning extremely ugly.
Cold sweat instantly soaked his back.
“Damn it! Does this ‘Jade’ guy really see me as a complete Akatsuki rogue ninja? Didn’t he see I was already preparing to turn and leave?”
“Sending out two puppets—one to deal with Uchiha Ikeizumi, and the other to clean me up?!”
Juzo Biwa cursed inwardly.
Seeing a multi-legged spider-like puppet crawling swiftly like a real venomous spider.
Its sharp limbs struck the ground, emitting a heart-palpitating “tap tap” sound.
Ignoring whether this puppet was charging at Uchiha Ikeizumi or himself, Juzo Biwa gritted his teeth fiercely, his face muscles twitching as he unleashed the ferocity of a Hidden Mist rogue ninja!
“Don’t underestimate a Blood Mist ninja, you bastard!!”
He let out a roar, wielding the huge executioner’s blade with both hands, accompanied by a heavy whistling sound tearing through the air.
Carrying force like splitting mountains and cracking rocks, it slashed heavily down at the spider puppet.
Clang—!!!
A piercing metallic clash exploded! Sparks flew everywhere!
Juzo Biwa’s powerful, heavy slash did sever one of the over a dozen ninja swords protruding from the spider puppet.
But the other intact dozen ninja swords, like a steel forest, firmly blocked the heavy executioner’s blade.
“Hmph!”
Scorpion, not far away, let out a disdainful cold snort, his voice transmitting through Hiruko full of indifference: “Looks like you’re sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong. Then I’ll treat you as an enemy and eliminate you too!”
The next moment, the spider puppet’s body interior suddenly emitted dense mechanical whirring sounds.
The part struck by the executioner’s blade contracted sharply, while the rest spun wildly like high-speed rotating blade wheels.
The dozen sharp ninja swords turned into a storm of death, tearing through the air with shrill whistling, suddenly twisting toward the nearby Juzo Biwa.
Juzo Biwa’s pupils contracted sharply to pinpoints.
An intense premonition of death surged his adrenaline; without hesitation, he abandoned the stalemate, kicked off the ground with both feet, and retreated backward in a wretched scramble!
Rip—!
Though his reaction was extremely fast, the edge of the rotating blade still dangerously grazed his abdominal clothing.
The sturdy ninja garb was easily torn open like thin paper, a long gash appearing.
The icy blade wind even made his abdominal skin sting.
Juzo Biwa landed with lingering fear, glanced down at his torn clothes, cold sweat beading on his forehead.
Damn it!
If he’d retreated even 0.1 seconds later, he’d probably have been gutted on the spot!
This bastard is for real!
He gripped the executioner’s blade tightly, his gaze growing even more grave and vicious, staring deathly at the spider puppet readjusting its posture, poised like a venomous snake.
……
Meanwhile, the other mantis scythe puppet controlled by Scorpion ignored Juzo Biwa, still charging at extremely high speed toward Uchiha Ikeizumi’s wood style clone, which remained standing motionless in place.
Its double arms’ two huge steel scythes gleaming with cold light dragged behind.
Carving two deep furrows in the sandy ground.
Whoosh!!!
Whoosh!!!
As it neared the wood style clone, the mantis puppet’s double arms crossed and swung fiercely.
The two huge scythes, with a screech tearing everything apart, drew two deadly silver arcs in the air, crisscrossing toward the wood style clone’s neck and waist.
The wood style clone’s expression remained calm.
In the instant the scythes were about to strike, its feet pushed off lightly, body leaping backward weightlessly.
Perfectly dodging the crisscross strike capable of shattering boulders.
At the same time, its right arm’s sleeve writhed.
A scroll emerged from its forearm like a living thing.
Firmly caught in the wood style clone’s hand.
Then, under Scorpion’s somewhat astonished gaze through Hiruko from afar, this “Uchiha Ikeizumi” completely ignored the puppet behind raising its scythes again, preparing a second attack.
He made an extremely bold, even insane move—completely defenseless, exposing his entire back to the powerful scythe puppet.
Recklessly charging toward Scorpion’s main body!
“Ignoring my artwork… trying to capture the king before the thieves? Naive!”
Scorpion sneered coldly, feeling the opponent’s tactic was an insult to his puppet art.
At the same time, the mantis puppet behind the wood style clone immediately pursued like a ghost.
Its double arms’ huge scythes raised again, carrying terrifying kinetic energy, slashing crosswise viciously at the wood style clone’s back heart and lower back!
Pfft!
Pfft!
This time, the wood style clone did not dodge.
The two huge scythes sank deep into its body almost unhindered, carving two gruesome, nearly bisecting wounds on its back.
For a normal flesh-and-blood body, such injuries would be instantly fatal, completely destroying the spine and organs!
However…
“Hm?!”
Scorpion immediately sensed something wrong!
The feedback through the chakra threads felt no resistance of cutting flesh and bone, but rather like chopping into a tough wooden structure!
And… no blood sprayed out!
“No blood? A puppet too?”
Scorpion instantly grew alert but immediately denied it: “No… this sensation… more like some special bloodline limit clone! Taking such a heavy hit without dispersing—definitely not an ordinary shadow clone jutsu!”
Scorpion realized the “Uchiha Ikeizumi” before him wasn’t the real body!
He’d been distracted entirely by a clone!
He’d been tricked!
In that split-second realization, the wood style clone, nearly severed into three pieces, surged forward with its final momentum, boldly entering within twenty meters of Scorpion!
It abruptly unfurled the scroll gripped tightly in its hand.
—It was a fire sealing scroll!
Sealed inside was Uchiha Itachi’s Mangekyo Sharingan dojutsu!
Amaterasu’s black flames!
This terrifying flame had been sealed by Uchiha Ikeizumi into two scrolls.
One given to Uchiha Izumi, the other carried by the wood style clone.
“Amaterasu!!!”
The wood style clone used its last strength to issue the icy declaration.
At the same time, the mantis puppet behind caught up again, mercilessly slashing down with two more blades!
Bang—!!!
The wood style clone could no longer maintain its form, instantly bursting into a cloud of thick white smoke and vanishing.
In the same instant the wood style clone disappeared!
At the center of the fully unfurled fire sealing scroll, the black curse mark patterns ignited like fire.
A fist-sized mass of pitch-black flames, exuding ultimate ominous destruction, shot like a demon escaping the abyss of hell.
Toward the nearby Hiruko with thunderous speed.
“Hmph, mere parlor trick.”
Scorpion scoffed disdainfully through Hiruko.
Though surprised it was just a clone and the weird attack method.
But he had absolute confidence in his defenses and puppets.
He didn’t even move Hiruko’s main body, just willed it, controlling Hiruko’s scorpion-like steel tail to whip forward fiercely!
The chain-like tail extended instantly, stabbing precisely toward the incoming black flames!
In Scorpion’s view, this unremarkable black flame would be easily scattered or blocked by the sturdy puppet tail.
Pfft!
The black flames contacted Hiruko’s metal tail.
No explosion, no violent energy clash.
The black flames, like living viscous asphalt, stuck firmly to Hiruko’s metal tail surface!
“Hm?”
Scorpion paused slightly, trying to swing the tail to shake off the weird flames.
However, no matter how hard he whipped, shook Hiruko’s tail, or smashed it against nearby rocks, the black flames clung like maggots to bone.
Showing no sign of extinguishing or weakening!
Instead, they slowly spread along the tail toward Hiruko’s main body.
The metal tail began to glow red and deform under the flame’s burn!
“Lord Scorpion! Uchiha Ikeizumi just used a fire sealing seal to release this flame—we can use a fire sealing seal to reseal it!”
Yakushi Kabuto suggested rapidly.
“…” The already sullen face on the Hiruko puppet suddenly grew even uglier.
Scorpion ignored Yakushi Kabuto.
At the critical moment just before the black flames reached Hiruko’s main torso.
Click!
A faint mechanical sound echoed from Hiruko’s chest cavity.
A scroll shot out from Hiruko’s torso instantly and unfurled with a “whoosh” in midair!
Bang!
A puff of white smoke exploded, and a bizarrely shaped puppet holding a huge broken blade appeared out of thin air.
After this new puppet appeared, its first action under Scorpion’s control wasn’t to attack distant enemies but to swing the huge broken blade without hesitation.
The broken blade whistled shrilly through the air, slashing viciously at the connection point of Hiruko’s burning black flame tail!
Clang—!!!
Crack!!!
A piercing metal fracture rang out! The huge broken blade shattered a section in collision with Hiruko’s sturdy body.
But it successfully severed Hiruko’s burning tail at the root, along with the clinging black flames!
The black flame-seared tail segment fell to the sand, still burning quietly, melting and crystallizing the surrounding sand and stones.
Scorpion quickly controlled the now tailless Hiruko body, retreating over ten meters in some disarray.
He eyed the black flames still burning on the sand with shock and doubt.
Only after the flames fully vanished did he finally look away.
Then, he coldly told Yakushi Kabuto: “Suggest something meaningless like that again, and I’ll kill you first.”
Yakushi Kabuto: “???”
Wait…
Is this guy insane? I was just kindly reminding him… wait, could he not know fire sealing seals?
Yakushi Kabuto’s mouth twitched imperceptibly.
As expected of these Akatsuki guys—one after another, all so eccentric.
If you don’t know, just say so?
Lord Orochimaru’s undercover mission for me is really tough!
At this moment, Yakushi Kabuto’s peripheral vision caught something; he noticed the puppet attacking Juzo Biwa had been destroyed at some point, and Juzo Biwa’s figure had long vanished without a trace.
Probably, while Scorpion was urgently handling the weird black flames, he had no time to control that puppet.
Allowing Juzo Biwa to seize the chance and destroy it.
Then the guy just ran off.
Yakushi Kabuto thought for a moment but didn’t say, “Looks like we botched the hunt.”
Otherwise…
This prideful guy might really kill him.
“Hmph!”
Scorpion watched as the black flames incinerated half of Hiruko’s body to ashes before vanishing.
He coldly tossed out a phrase.
“Let’s go back!”
……
“Puppet master… so it really is that Red Sand Scorpion from Sunagakure. Didn’t expect this guy to be one of Akatsuki’s core cadres. As a taijutsu specialist, I hate these cowardly hiding puppet masters most—not tangling with him was wise.”
From afar, the long-escaped Juzo Biwa found a decent excuse for his retreat.
No choice.
Uchiha Ikeizumi’s wood style clone was already chopped up; continuing would mean facing the entire Akatsuki alone.
Juzo Biwa had no suicidal tendencies; he felt his life was still quite important at times.
Especially after seeing the ninja world might one day truly be changed by absolute justice.
Juzo Biwa wanted to witness that day with his own eyes.
He even sometimes thought of participating personally.
“Seems like nowhere to go! Can’t stay in Akatsuki anymore. And there’s no need to return to the current Blood Mist Hidden Village.”
Juzo Biwa shouldered his executioner’s blade, looking around.
He dashed straight in one direction.
That direction…
Was toward the Land of Fire!
At this point, besides throwing in with that man Uchiha Ikeizumi, what other choice did he have?
……
The next day.
Konoha.
Uchiha Fugaku woke early as usual.
Same as always: wash up, change, eat breakfast, head out.
But halfway there, Fugaku suddenly froze, his steps halting. Like a wooden block rooted in place, drawing puzzled glances from many Uchiha clan members.
The reason Uchiha Fugaku acted so unusually was he suddenly remembered the clan had forced him out yesterday.
He was no longer Uchiha Clan leader nor Konoha Military Police Force captain.
So why get up so early?
And where was he going now?
Suddenly at a loss, Fugaku couldn’t easily turn back home, so he expressionlessly left the Uchiha Clan Compound, bought a bunch of white flowers from the Yamanaka Clan’s flower shop, then went to Konoha’s public cemetery, to Uchiha Itachi’s cenotaph.
Gently placing the white flowers in hand down, Fugaku slowly straightened, face stern as he said expressionlessly to the gravestone: “Itachi, looks like both father and son have failed.”
“You took an extreme path for Konoha’s future; I endured humiliation for the Uchiha’s future. Yet in the end, both you and I were defeated.”
“The one who defeated us father and son is Uchiha Ikeizumi’s absolute justice. His justice has even extended into our home, affecting our family.”
“Your younger brother, your mother. One a believer in absolute justice, the other slightly favorable to it. They betrayed everything you and I stood for.”
“The two of them went against you and me. If their bodies were still alive, perhaps it wouldn’t be like this.”
“Hah…”
Uchiha Fugaku exhaled heavily. In that instant, terrible thoughts flashed in his mind, making Fugaku realize it was the Uchiha Clan’s extreme mindset at work.
……
Meanwhile.
Uchiha Ikeizumi and three Uchiha jonin had returned to Konoha.
……
……
