Chapter 390: The Situation Feels Wrong
Seeing Uchiha Dali nod as if nothing was wrong and say he wanted to decide the outcome, the two brothers immediately went on full alert.
Their gazes locked tightly on Uchiha Dali.
Both had fought Uchiha Dali before and knew exactly how troublesome he could be.
At this moment, neither Àoshiki nor Kyōshiki dared to be careless.
They even simultaneously summoned two to three hundred duplicate clones, which only then made them feel a little more at ease.
Uchiha Dali, however, remained as calm as ever. "Don't be nervous. I won't hold back either," he said with an amused smile, then suddenly attacked dozens of Kyōshiki's duplicate clones.
In an instant, that whole group of clones was forcibly drawn toward him.
"Universal Pull!!"
"Counterattack quickly!"
"Hmph! That's suicide! How dare they try to use that move to take on so many of us at once!"
"Hit him back!"
"Almighty Push!"
"Almighty Push!!"
"..."
Kyōshiki's dozens of clones didn't hesitate; at the last moment before losing balance, they launched counterattacks against Uchiha Dali.
They, of course, also possessed Universal Pull and Almighty Push.
Moreover, the power of their moves far exceeded that of ordinary Rinnegan users employing those techniques.
Not only did Kyōshiki's clones begin to fight back, but Kyōshiki himself, Àoshiki himself, and his more than a hundred—nearly two hundred—duplicate clones all began to besiege Uchiha Dali.
The two brothers started with their trump cards; evidently they both wanted to finish off this troublesome man as soon as possible.
Yet in the next second they were stunned.
They felt the energy inside their bodies seeming to drain away.
"What's going on?!" Àoshiki reacted first and quickly retreated.
Kyōshiki, sensing trouble as well, used a space-time ninjutsu to avoid the area he had just been in.
Just after the two brothers dodged, they watched clearly as their hundreds of clones were absorbed one after another by Uchiha Dali.
"What's happening? We clearly… just used Almighty Push, didn't we?"
"Could this guy be able to use that move?"
Àoshiki was a little shocked; he vaguely realized something.
"That move?"
Kyōshiki snapped back to attention and looked at him in puzzlement.
"The move where I absorbed my clones just now and used that to massively boost my own strength!" Àoshiki explained.
Only then did Kyōshiki remember: when Àoshiki had fought him earlier, Àoshiki had indeed recalled all his remaining duplicate clones.
And after the recall, his aura had become a great deal stronger.
At the time, Kyōshiki had wondered about it.
Hearing Àoshiki's explanation now, he suddenly understood and his expression turned grave.
"This is bad…"
Kyōshiki couldn't help muttering to himself.
"What's wrong?" Àoshiki immediately looked at his brother, noticing the change in Kyōshiki's tone.
"Don't you know yet? That brat Uchiha Dali has a very unique talent—one anyone would envy. That ability is called Heaven-defying comprehension!"
"Heaven-defying comprehension?"
Àoshiki was clearly confused, but from the name he could guess something.
His eyes grew unusually serious.
Looking again at Uchiha Dali in the distance, he saw Dali finish absorbing the last of the duplicate clones and could clearly sense that the kid's strength was skyrocketing.
"Kyōshiki, tell me exactly what that kid's Heaven-defying comprehension does!" Àoshiki realized the danger and urged.
Kyōshiki quickly explained, and after a moment Àoshiki understood Uchiha Dali's talent; his face grew even more grave.
"To be able to continuously grow during battle, to constantly comprehend new and powerful abilities through a talent like Heaven-defying comprehension, and even to copy and learn an opponent's abilities and then improve them…"
"Damn it, why didn't you tell me sooner!"
"You didn't ask me either!"
The two brothers complained to each other.
Àoshiki, realizing the situation, knew that continuing the fight would be greatly disadvantageous to them.
He thought for a moment and suggested, "It looks like we should avoid a direct confrontation for now."
"What do you mean? You want to retreat?" Kyōshiki was a bit stunned.
"Don't you understand? If that kid is really as powerful as you say, the growth that talent gives him is incalculable!" Àoshiki said angrily. "If the two of us keep fighting him, we'll only become stepping stones for his constant growth; he's using us to grind experience!"
Kyōshiki immediately thought of what had happened at the Navy Headquarters at Marineford.
Uchiha Dali's duplicate clones had been grinding experience and growing at Marineford through his Heaven-defying comprehension.
"Even if the two of us join forces with full power, we still can't deal with him? Are you sure, Àoshiki?" Kyōshiki found it hard to believe—more precisely, he didn't want to believe it.
Àoshiki shook his head. "This isn't about belief; the facts are right in front of you, can't you see?"
"That kid must have seen me using that move earlier to absorb my own duplicate clones, and he learned it from that!"
"Now that he has mastered that move, he can erupt with an even more terrifying power than he has now. If we can't kill him within a very short time by working together, fighting him will only let him gain even more astonishing growth!"
"Kyōshiki, unless the two of us together can kill him in the shortest possible time, continuing to fight him is absolutely bad for us and enormously beneficial to him!"
"Go!"
Àoshiki finished and immediately opened a space-time gate.
His words made Kyōshiki worried; without a word he followed his older brother and dove into the space-time passage.
There was no way Uchiha Dali would let them leave easily. He raised a hand and unleashed a shockwave.
Now in the state of Ultra Instinct, the shockwave looked ordinary, but its power could easily destroy a small star system.
When the shockwave struck the space-time passage, it exploded and the passage was shattered on the spot.
Àoshiki and Kyōshiki, who had just slipped inside to escape, were thrown out.
"Damn! Too slow!" Àoshiki was very wary of Uchiha Dali's Heaven-defying comprehension.
He had many methods to stop pursuit, but now he dared not use them for fear of giving the opponent those techniques.
He was afraid that if he used those painstakingly developed trump cards, Uchiha Dali's Heaven-defying comprehension would allow him to acquire those abilities.
If that happened, the kid would only become even more troublesome.