Chapter 50: A Test of Power
"The Sage of the Six Paths? That's just a myth. There's no proof he ever existed, Tenchi. The more you talk, the more far-fetched it gets," Hiruzen Sarutobi dismissed the idea. Zhan nodded in agreement; he didn't believe it either.
"Believe what you want. I'm telling you the truth. This world is far more complicated than you think. Anyway, I'm full. Let's go." With that, Tenchi stood up and walked out.
"Hey! Wait! The two of us haven't even eaten yet! You finished everything!" Hiruzen yelled, realizing Tenchi had devoured all the food while they were talking.
"Come on, a little exercise after a meal is good. Let's see if the Hokage's skills have gotten rusty. I also want to check your current strength." Tenchi looked at the two men who had just finished paying and issued a challenge.
"Fine." The three of them didn't head to a public training ground. Instead, they went to the dense forest behind the Hokage Mountain. A fight between shinobi of their level would easily destroy a standard training field.
"You first, Zhan. Let me see your current strength. I'll save the match with Brother Sarutobi for last." Tenchi beckoned Zhan forward.
"Then allow me to test the number one Uchiha. Let's see what you're made of." Zhan's eyes shifted, the three tomoe of the Sharingan spinning to life. He launched himself at Tenchi.
The two began a fierce taijutsu exchange, trading blow for blow. With the enhanced dynamic vision granted by his Sharingan, Zhan was able to hold his own against Tenchi for a while.
"Not bad. You can keep up with me in taijutsu. But how are your ninjutsu skills?" As soon as the words left his mouth, Tenchi's hands flew through a sequence of seals.
"Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!" Tenchi used a standard Fire Style technique. However, with the sheer volume of his chakra, the power of the fireball swelled visibly, transforming the C-rank jutsu into an A-rank threat.
"Impressive! To amplify a C-rank jutsu to A-rank power! But I'm not so easy to deal with! Fire Style: Fire Dragon Bullet!" Zhan countered, his own hands forming seals to release the genuine A-rank technique.
The two fire ninjutsu collided mid-air. The temperature around them spiked, and the opposing forces canceled each other out in a burst of steam and heat. The two shinobi stood facing each other, the confrontation unresolved.
*'An Uchiha using an A-rank jutsu just to counter Tenchi's C-rank... It seems Tenchi's power may have already surpassed the Kage level,'* Hiruzen analyzed silently as he watched.
*'I can't match him in ninjutsu. My only chance is taijutsu,'* Zhan decided after their brief clash.
Seeing Zhan abandon ninjutsu and try to close in for close-quarters combat again, Tenchi smiled slightly. "So, ninjutsu is no good, and you think taijutsu will win? I'll humor you."
He watched as Zhan launched a powerful kick. At the perfect moment, the pattern in his eyes shifted to the Mangekyo Sharingan, and he activated the intangibility of Kamui.
Zhan saw his kick was about to connect and allowed himself a smirk. *'Taijutsu really is his weak point. He can't dodge at this range.'*
His triumph was short-lived. In the next instant, his foot passed straight through Tenchi's torso as if he were kicking a ghost.
Tenchi, watching Zhan's leg phase through him, simply reached out and grabbed Zhan's ankle. "Got you! Time to wake up, Zhan!" He tightened his grip and, using Zhan's own momentum, swung him through the air and hurled him into the forest. Zhan crashed through five trees before finally skidding to a stop.
"Cough... cough... What was that just now?" Zhan clutched his chest, spitting out a mouthful of blood.
*'Hmm! Zhan's attack passed right through him! What kind of bizarre ability is that? It nullifies all physical attacks? With a power like that, no wonder he could attack the Land of Earth and return unscathed. But a heaven-defying technique like that must have a cost or a weakness.'* Hiruzen observed intently, his analytical mind working overtime.
"Zhan, you thought you could beat me with taijutsu? Looks like you miscalculated," Tenchi said, a confident smile still on his face.
"I didn't expect you to have such a miraculous ability," Zhan admitted, struggling to his feet. "If you keep using that, I truly have no chance of winning. If you didn't use it, I might not have lost." He was unconvinced; he hadn't lost to Tenchi's skill, but to that strange, unfair power.
"Is that so?" Tenchi looked at the defiant Uchiha. A trickle of blood escaped from the corner of his left eye. "Tsukuyomi."
He cast the ultimate genjutsu, Tsukuyomi. This technique ripped the target's consciousness into an illusory world completely controlled by the caster—a world where time, space, and physical laws were all under Tenchi's command. The victim would experience immense physical and mental torture. All it took was a single look into his eyes.
Zhan finally noticed the change in Tenchi's eyes, but it was too late.
In the world of Tsukuyomi, Zhan found himself bound to a wooden cross. Countless phantom clones of Tenchi materialized around him.
"What's going on?!" Zhan yelled, struggling against his bonds.
The phantom Tenchis didn't speak. They simply stepped forward and began stabbing him repeatedly with ninjato. Zhan screamed in agony. "Ahhh! Tenchi! What is this?!"
The real Tenchi's voice echoed through the illusory space. "Welcome to the world of Tsukuyomi. Seventy-two hours here is a single second in the real world. That means you will be tortured for three full days. Only one second has passed. You have seventy-one hours, fifty-nine minutes, and fifty-nine seconds remaining. Feel every moment of it."
"AHHH! NO! STOP! I SURRENDER, TENCHI! I GIVE UP!" Zhan begged, but the phantom clones showed no mercy.
In the real world, Zhan's eyes rolled back into his head, and he collapsed to the ground, unconscious.
"Huh? What happened to Uchiha Zhan? He lost? Just like that? It was too fast." Hiruzen was baffled, watching Zhan go from defiant talk to complete unconsciousness in an instant.
He walked over to Tenchi. "What happened to him? He just fainted. His strength is greater than that."
"He fell to my ultimate genjutsu," Tenchi said, pointing to his own eyes.
"Ah, that strange pattern... So this is the Uchiha clan's legendary strongest dōjutsu, the Mangekyo Sharingan? And that strange phasing ability must also be a power of these eyes." Seeing Tenchi's eyes, Hiruzen understood immediately. His teacher, Tobirama, had spoken of this evolution. Each Mangekyo user developed unique abilities, and the patterns were always different—hence the name "Kaleidoscope."
"Correct. And this isn't an ordinary Mangekyo. Ordinary ones lead to blindness. Mine will not. These are the same eyes as Uchiha Madara—the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, the light that never fades." Tenchi held nothing back, confessing the truth to Hiruzen.
"The same eyes as Uchiha Madara? That means your current power is on par with his?" Hiruzen asked, his voice filled with awe and a touch of fear.
"If Madara were still alive, he would no longer be my opponent," Tenchi declared proudly.
"I see... So that's why you dared to cause trouble in Iwagakure. Now, let me test for myself just how far you've come." Hiruzen shrugged off his Hokage cloak, revealing the battle armor beneath. He was taking this seriously.
He formed a single hand seal without any hesitation.
"Summoning Jutsu!"
A large puff of smoke erupted, and from within it, a deep, rumbling voice spoke.
"Come out, Enma!"