Chapter 40: The Eternal Mangekyo and a Visit to Ōnoki
"Do you want to die that badly?" a voice said, laced with amusement. Tenchi stood there, looking at Tsunade with a slight, knowing smile.
"Tenchi! Are you dead too? I didn't expect we'd all end up here together!" Seeing him, Tsunade assumed he had also been killed. Overwhelmed, she threw her arms around him.
"Uh... take a better look around. We're not dead," Tenchi said awkwardly as she hugged him.
"Huh? We're not?" Tsunade blinked and looked around. The battlefield was the same, and Jiraiya and Orochimaru were staring at her from where they lay.
"It seems we're really not dead... Ah!" Realizing she was alive and actively hugging Tenchi, she let out a small yelp, her face turning bright red as she jumped back.
Tenchi rubbed the back of his neck, slightly embarrassed. "You all did well. Leave the rest to me."
The remaining rogue ninja watched the new arrival warily.
"Oh, just a bunch of rookies," Tenchi said, his voice dripping with disdain. He brought his hands together in a series of seals. "Fire Style: Dragon Flame Singing Jutsu!"
From four different directions—up, down, left, and right—four roaring fire dragons erupted from his mouth, engulfing the group of ninja. The attack had near-perfect accuracy, reminiscent of a more advanced version of the Great Fireball technique.
In an instant, every single rogue ninja on the battlefield was eliminated. The one who had tried to sneak attack Tsunade was dealt a final, decisive blow before he could even react.
Afterward, the shadow clone led Tōka to free the enslaved people of the Land of Rice. Tsunade and the others were taken by Tōka to a safe room to rest and recover.
The real Tenchi, meanwhile, was busy hunting down the fleeing stragglers. He wouldn't stop until he heard the system confirm his mission's completion.
"Thousand Birds: Sharp Spear!" With this final technique, Tenchi eliminated the last escapee. The system's voice chimed in his mind immediately.
***Ding!***
**Congratulations, Host, on completing the mission. Reward: 30 System Points. One chance for Sharingan Evolution.**
Seeing his point total jump to 31, Tenchi didn't hesitate. He spent 20 points to exchange for the Eight-Tails, Gyūki, and another 10 points for the Six-Tails, Saiken.
"Now I only need the Seven-Tails. After the Second and Third Great Shinobi Wars, as long as the system keeps giving me missions, I'll be able to exchange for everything. I will sit firmly on the throne as the strongest in the ninja world. The Otsutsuki clan and the Six Paths will be nothing but little brothers to me." A confident smirk spread across his face.
"Now, to upgrade the Sharingan." He selected the upgrade option in the system. A beam of white light shot into his eyes, and an immense, surging wave of pupil power flooded his mind.
The violent influx of energy made his head spin violently. Tenchi clutched his dizzy head and collapsed to the ground.
"Whoa... This is intense. I didn't expect the pupil power of the Eternal Mangekyo to be this strong..."
As he lay there disoriented, the shadow clone he had left with the team vanished with a soft *poof*.
"Huh? Where did Brother Tenchi go?" Jiraiya asked, looking at the spot where the clone had been standing moments before.
"It must have been a shadow clone all along," Orochimaru deduced, a look of profound shock on his face. "To think the one who was protecting us, who seemed so powerful, was just a clone... Just how strong is the real one?"
*'He's incredible,'* Tsunade thought, her face flushing again as she remembered her impulsive hug. *'Grandmother Mito was right. Tenchi, you are truly amazing.'*
***
Meanwhile, the real Tenchi staggered to his feet, the clone's memories now his own. "I didn't expect Tsunade and the others to get hurt. As their captain, I'm ashamed. I couldn't even protect my subordinates properly. This is all that bastard Ōnoki's fault. This time, I'm going to teach him a lesson he'll never forget."
"Time to test the power of the Eternal Mangekyo."
He blinked, and the three tomoe appeared in his eyes. They spun rapidly, morphing into his familiar Mangekyo pattern. But then it evolved further. Intricate lines appeared around the windmill design, connecting its points and solidifying its form. The Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan was now his.
"Susano'o!" he roared.
A torrent of blue energy erupted around him, lifting him into the air. A massive skeleton began to form, with Tenchi at its very center.
"The first form is complete. Now for the second." He channeled more chakra.
Muscle and sinew wrapped around the skeleton, followed by a skin-like coating. The skeletal form was now completely obscured. A face formed on the back of the head, and two additional arms sprouted from the torso.
"The second form is done. Next..." Tenchi unleashed an even greater wave of chakra.
The colossal Susano'o was clad in samurai-like armor. Two of its hands remained empty, while the other two gripped massive, glowing swords. Enormous wings sprouted from its back, capable of flight. Tenchi himself rose from the chest into the head of the construct.
The energy stabilized. The Complete Body — the Perfect Susano'o — was fully formed, standing a staggering 830 meters tall.
"Uchiha Madara once said that the appearance of the Perfect Susano'o means someone must die. Today, I won't kill anyone. I'm just here to fight you, Ōnoki."
"But I still need to test its power. Let's use those nearby mountains for target practice." With that thought, Tenchi willed the Susano'o to draw one of its colossal swords. The blade, hundreds of meters long, slid from its sheath.
"A simple swing..." The Susano'o executed a horizontal slash. A terrifying arc of pure energy shot forth.
***BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!***
The devastating sword energy cleaved straight through four distant mountain peaks, slicing them clean in half.
"Holy...! So this is its power?!" Tenchi was utterly stunned. He had intended to cut one mountain, but the sheer force of the attack had obliterated several.
"No wonder my old man was so arrogant, daring to challenge Hashirama Senju. With this kind of strength, I'd dare to fight him too! And with the Tailed Beasts as my chakra batteries, even a resurrected Hashirama might not be my match. This... this is the confidence that true power brings." He looked at his hands and clenched his fists.
"Now, it's time to pay Ōnoki a visit." With that, he dismissed the Susano'o and vanished from the spot using Kamui.
Kamui possessed a space-time ninjutsu ability similar to the Flying Thunder God, but it was incredibly taxing on his eyes. Before obtaining the Eternal Mangekyo, he had rarely used it for long-distance travel. Now, with his new power, he could use it freely.
After several consecutive spatial jumps, it took him only an hour to travel from the Land of Rice to Iwagakure, the Village Hidden in the Stone, located in the Land of Earth.
"So this is Iwagakure. You can tell it's the Stone Village just by looking at all the rock buildings," Tenchi mused, standing near the main gate.
"If I just sneak in, the village barrier will detect me. Causing a scene to see Ōnoki would be a hassle. I'll just use Kamui." After a moment's thought, he used his ability to teleport directly inside the Tsuchikage's building.
***
In his office, the newly appointed Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki, was poring over documents when his eyelid began to twitch. A sense of foreboding washed over him.
*'Huh? Why do I have such a bad feeling all of a sudden? Am I just tired, or is something about to happen?'* he wondered, a puzzled look on his face.
A spatial vortex swirled into existence in front of his desk. A voice echoed from within it. "You have good instincts, Ōnoki. You sensed me before I even arrived."
Tenchi stepped calmly out of the vortex and into Ōnoki's office.
"Hmm?! A Konoha ninja? How did you get in here?" Ōnoki demanded, seeing the Leaf Village headband.
"Why am I here? It's because of you," Tenchi stated, looking down at the shorter man with an arrogant tilt of his head.
"Because of me? What have I done? I have no business with Konoha."
The Tsuchikage studied Tenchi's face. He looked familiar, but Ōnoki couldn't quite place him. A deep, unsettled feeling began to grow in the pit of his stomach.