Bang!
A burst of smoke erupted as Kakuzu's figure was sent flying.
It wasn't that his Earth Grudge mode and Earth Spear couldn't stand against the first stage of Susanoo.
Kakuzu was a cautious, calculating man. If Uchiha Kagami could still push Susanoo to an even stronger stage, sticking around would be too dangerous.
So rather than try to brute-force it, he used the explosion's momentum to retreat rapidly, eventually vanishing from the range of sensory detection.
Just his luck. What was supposed to be a routine bounty mission ended up dragging him into a fight with a Mangekyō Sharingan user.
And those two brats—this had to be one of Konoha's classic jōnin-led three-man teams, right?
Kakuzu clicked his tongue in annoyance. To conserve his strength, he chose to cut his losses and flee.
In the bounty world, preserving your condition was always the top priority. After all, bounty hunters were just as likely to end up with prices on their own heads.
If you weren't in top form, you might just end up getting backstabbed by your own kind.
"Screw it," he thought. "No more money-making today. Might as well kick back and finish that book I started."
He thought of the bookstore he ran. A new batch of books had just arrived—maybe there'd be something interesting to read.
The elderly Kakuzu was ready to enjoy a quiet day of retirement...
...
"Is it over?"
Uchiha Kaien narrowed his eyes at the battlefield. Just now, Uchiha Kagami had even activated Susanoo. Even if it was only the first stage, it should've done some decent damage to Kakuzu, right?
The dust storm created by the clash between Susanoo and Earth Grudge made it impossible for Kaien and Namikaze Minato to clearly see what was happening.
Then, a lone figure slowly emerged from the smoke.
The two of them instantly went on high alert. Only one person had come out—which meant someone had lost!
To their relief, the one walking toward them was Uchiha Kagami.
Once he confirmed that Kakuzu had retreated, Kagami slowly dispelled Susanoo.
The tangible chakra vanished in the blink of an eye. The dark skeletal arms and frame melted away without a trace.
"That weirdo's been driven off. You two can relax now," Kagami said softly.
He wiped his forehead and rubbed his temples. The toll of using the Mangekyō Sharingan was no joke—his vision had even dimmed a little...
It only reinforced one thing: even among Mangekyō users, there were vast differences in power. There was no way the Uchiha clan's founder, Uchiha Madara, had subdued the Warring States era with just this level of Mangekyō.
Once they returned, he'd have to visit the Naka Shrine and take another look at the stone tablet. With his current eyes, maybe he could read more of its secrets.
"Kagami-sensei, is your Sharingan... above the three tomoe? A Mangekyō?"
Kaien didn't hesitate to ask. In today's Uchiha clan, the Mangekyō Sharingan was still a legend whispered about, but knowing its name wasn't anything unusual.
There was no telling which of the clan's elders might be hiding a pair.
"That's right," Kagami replied. "This is the Mangekyō Sharingan. And someday... you might awaken it too."
He left it at that. As for the price of awakening a Mangekyō... Kagami chose to trust Kaien.
Eyes evolved through protection—could a three-tomoe Sharingan born from such resolve one day become a Mangekyō?
Kagami looked forward to finding out.
"Alright, let's keep moving. That guy probably took some heavy damage. He won't be back any time soon."
Kagami placed a hand on each of the boys' heads, reassuring them.
Even with their growing strength, they were still kids—and kids needed comfort.
"This enemy was far above your pay grade. Don't get discouraged in your training, alright?"
"Of course not! I'm going to evolve my three tomoe into a Mangekyō too!"
Kaien's eyes lit up with determination. For a proud Uchiha, witnessing a power like that—it'd be weird not to feel excited.
"I'll train even harder too," said Minato, equally resolute. Upon hearing of an even greater power hidden in the Uchiha bloodline, he had no doubt that Kaien would awaken it someday. After all, Kaien was his best friend.
The group regrouped and set out again.
Thanks to Kaien's phantom beast guarding the rear, the noble they were escorting had remained perfectly safe.
They were now close to the noble's domain. With the enemy repelled and badly wounded, there was no reason to delay the mission.
"My apologies for the fright, Yuten-san," Kagami said with a respectful bow. "This enemy was more troublesome than expected."
It wasn't clear if the attacker was after him or after the bounty on the noble. If it was the latter, fine. But if it was the former, then Minato and Kaien had just been dragged into something far too dangerous.
"No need to apologize," said Yuten, the noble. "I was lucky to have you. If it had been any other team, I might be dead by now."
He still remembered the masked monster's first words: "This guy's worth five million ryō." Lucky didn't even begin to describe it—he'd gotten the jōnin-level powerhouse of Konoha as a guard.
"I understand how things work in Konoha. This mission has clearly gone beyond what I originally requested. I'll have the request officially upgraded to an S-rank. Please continue escorting me back."
Even from far away, Yuten could feel the waves of heat from that inferno back there. The scale of it was beyond imagination. For a battle between ninja of this level, there was no doubt—it was worthy of an S-rank classification.
No sense offending such a powerful Konoha shinobi. It was just a little more money, after all.
And so, both sides came to a friendly agreement. The mission was upgraded from a B-rank to an S-rank, and the reward was massively increased.
During the downtime, Kaien happened to learn an interesting bit of gossip: the last time Kagami was hospitalized, it was also because of Kakuzu—and apparently some mysterious group had been taking potshots at him from the shadows.
It made Kaien wonder... in the original timeline, did Kagami die at the hands of Kakuzu and that unknown force?
After all, Kagami clearly wasn't someone who'd had the Mangekyō for long. Even using the first stage of Susanoo left him seriously fatigued—not exactly the image of a seasoned Mangekyō user.
And that mysterious group launching sneak attacks in the shadows... could it have been White Zetsu?
----------------
Pls Drop some Power Stones
+100 chapters and support me on Patreon(.)com/Jixo