*Whoosh!*
The Grass Village hospital was only about three meters tall.
But the fourth form of Susanoo? A towering forty meters!
As dark red chakra flames surged, the hospital's ceiling was ripped apart. The walls, already crumbling from the "Judgment" technique, collapsed in seconds. Huge chunks of debris crashed down, swept outward by the overwhelming force of the chakra, sending nearby Grass ninja flying. They scrambled to their feet, staring in shock.
In just a dozen seconds, the entire hospital was reduced to rubble!
"What… what *is* that thing?!"
The Grass ninja were dumbfounded.
They'd never seen Susanoo before.
But those eyes—those *Sharingan*—they recognized.
"Uchiha… from the Leaf Village! Why are they here?!"
"Is the Leaf planning to attack Grass Village?!"
"An Uchiha and an Uzumaki together… that red thing, could it be a Tailed Beast?!"
The moment they saw the Sharingan and Susanoo, most of the Grass ninja felt their courage crumble. They were used to preying on the weak, their earlier arrogance fueled by the sight of two seemingly delicate girls, Uchiha Hikari and Eri. But now, faced with terms like *Sharingan*, *Uchiha*, and *Leaf Village*—symbols of overwhelming power—they were terrified, barely able to muster the will to fight.
"How pathetic," Hikari muttered.
From her vantage point high above, she scanned the crowd with cold, indifferent eyes.
Anyone who met her gaze trembled, their pupils shrinking, before collapsing to their knees in terror. In moments, dozens were kneeling.
The elder holding Karin Uzumaki hostage was shaking, collapsing to the ground. His already aged face seemed to wither ten years in an instant.
*—Tsukuyomi Seal!*
A few with stronger mental resistance tried to stand and slip away.
But as the tomoe in Hikari's eyes spun, everyone felt their chakra drain rapidly. Their bodies went limp, and they collapsed again, unable to even twitch a finger.
"Damn it… why can't I move?! Is this that Uchiha's doing?!"
*—"Yachihoko."*
Using the seal as a conduit, the *Yachihoko* technique drained the chakra of nearly a hundred marked Grass ninja in an instant. For the first time, these greedy, arrogant shinobi experienced what it felt like to be utterly helpless.
Susanoo drew its dark red greatsword.
Under the force of Hikari's ocular powers, black flames ignited along the blade.
Though they didn't know *Amaterasu*, the sight of a fifteen-meter-long sword wreathed in otherworldly black fire filled the Grass ninja with dread, a fear that sank deep into their souls.
But with their strength sapped, they couldn't even beg for mercy. They could only watch as Susanoo raised the dark red blade high, pointing it to the sky.
"This strike…" Hikari exhaled softly, "is called *Heaven's Punishment*!!!"
With those words, the sword swung down.
A black-and-red sword arc sliced through the air, carving a massive dark ring around the hospital ruins. In that instant, nearly a hundred Grass ninja were cleaved in two, their bodies ignited by the black flames. At thousands of degrees, they burned to charred husks in seconds, screaming in terror.
And then…
Even those charred bones were consumed by Amaterasu's relentless flames, reduced to piles of black ash that scattered in the wind.
The air filled with the heavy smell of burnt flesh.
*One strike, a hundred lives—bodies burned to ashes!!*
"!!"
As the only survivor in the chaos, Karin Uzumaki stood wide-eyed, frozen in a daze, staring at the scene.
It wasn't until Hikari dispelled Susanoo and walked over that Karin snapped out of it, looking like she'd just woken from a dream.
"You… I mean, you…" Karin stammered, unsure what to say.
Hikari just patted her head and nodded toward the ruins. "Go check on your mom. I don't know if she's still alive."
Before activating Susanoo, Hikari had raised a Blood Coral barrier to protect Eri and the red-haired woman, ensuring they weren't harmed by the collapsing hospital.
As Karin ran to her mother, embracing her and sobbing loudly, Eri approached Hikari with a worried look. Her dark eyes fixed on Hikari's hand, tears streaking her face. She held up her little notebook: *"Is Hikari's hand still hurting?"*
"Nah, it's fine. See?" Hikari smiled, raising her fully healed left hand.
Eri scribbled again: *"I'm sorry, it's my fault. I thought they were going to hurt you… you were bleeding, and I felt so bad."*
"Hm?" Hikari paused, caught off guard.
She'd assumed Eri's actions were driven by anger at the horrific scene in the hospital corridor. But in truth…
Eri probably hadn't thought that deeply.
She'd simply believed the Grass ninja, who'd bitten people to death, were coming for her and Hikari. In a panic, she'd acted to protect them—though her idea of "self-defense" was a bit too devastating for normal people.
"It's okay," Hikari said. "They were the ones in the wrong. You were just trying to protect me. But that power puts too much strain on your body. Don't use it again without my permission, alright?"
She smiled, wiping the tears from Eri's face and patting her head. "Also, your voice is actually really nice."
"…But I can't talk," Eri wrote, pressing a finger to her lips. She bent her knees slightly, leaning into Hikari's touch, her pale cheeks flushing faintly.
While they spoke, Karin's sobs suddenly stopped, replaced by a cry of joy: "Mom!"
Compared to typical patients, the red-haired woman had lost nearly all her blood, her body and organs on the brink of failure. Even a senzu bean couldn't heal her instantly.
Hikari had been prepared to handle her funeral arrangements, even carrying crystal coffins from the *Dragon Ball* world in her universal capsule—previously used to preserve Tanjiro's family.
But…
The red-haired woman's will to live was strong. Her faint, threadlike breathing steadied, and her stiff muscles began to soften.
"Karin, right?" Hikari said, walking to the hospital room and checking the woman's condition. She extended a hand. "Nice to meet you. I'm Uchiha Hikari, and this is Uesugi Eri."
"I-I'm Karin Uzumaki, and this is my mom, Miya Uzumaki…"
read more inpatreon
belamy20