Time flowed on, and a year passed in a hurry.
In this year, the entire structure of the ninja world was turned upside down.
The Uchiha clan leader, Uchiha Katsu, mysteriously disappeared. Senju Hiroshi publicly claimed that he had fallen off a cliff and died, throwing the Uchiha clan into a leaderless and passive situation in an instant.
But no one had expected that the foundation Uchiha Katsu had carefully built over many years would suddenly erupt.
The large number of Uchiha orphans he had adopted and trained in his early years had already grown into the backbone of the clan.
These people were utterly loyal to Uchiha Katsu and fanatically protective of the clan, firmly holding onto the Uchiha's foundation.
Although the Senju clan took advantage of the situation to counterattack, they could only barely reclaim part of the lost territory.
The crucial lands along the northern and southern Naka River that Uchiha Katsu had seized back then remained firmly in Uchiha hands, not a single inch lost.
———
At the bottom of Luohu Cliff.
Uchiha Katsu wore a long black robe. His eyes were covered with a pitch-black cloth strip. His posture was straight like a pine tree, and on his back rested the long blade that had accompanied him for many years.
"You're preparing to leave?"
Kurama crouched nearby and spoke.
After a year together, one human and one beast, both bearing the name "Katsu," had gotten along extremely well and had already formed a solid bond.
Uchiha Katsu gave a slight nod, his voice calm and without ripples. "It's time. Brother Katsu, I don't know what situation the clan is in now. I must go back."
Kurama nodded and said nothing more.
Uchiha Katsu raised his hand, took out an ancient scroll from his robe, and embedded it deeply into a crack in the cliff wall.
Kurama narrowed his Katsu eyes slightly and asked in confusion, "What are you doing?"
Uchiha Katsu looked in the direction of the sealed scroll, his tone indifferent. "It's just a forbidden technique I developed on my own. Only those with the Sharingan can activate it."
"This technique kills a thousand enemies but costs eight hundred of your own. The drawbacks are severe. I've always hesitated whether to pass it down to the clan."
"Now that I've hidden it here, I'll leave it to fate to decide.
If in the future an Uchiha clan member, like me, ends up stranded here and happens to find this forbidden technique, then it will be fate allowing it to see the light of day again."
After saying that, Uchiha Katsu turned to the Nine-Tails. "Brother Katsu, will we meet again?"
Kurama smiled faintly. "We will. Maybe in the next life..."
Uchiha Katsu let out a soft sigh. "People… do they really have a next life?"
The Nine-Tails stayed silent. It knew it couldn't say more. Heavenly secrets could not be revealed.
________
Sato River. This was now the boundary line between the Uchiha and Senju.
The thunderous sounds of battle cries tore through the sky. The sharp clang of weapons colliding and the dying howls of ninjas intertwined together.
Senju Hiroshi held a long blade infused with chakra. Vast chakra surged around him as he led the Senju army in a devastating full assault.
"Clan members! Cross the Sato River and take back all our lost lands!"
Senju Hiroshi roared, sweeping his blade. Several Uchiha were instantly sent flying, coughing blood as they were thrown back.
The Uchiha defense line was collapsing step by step. The clan elders fought desperately to hold the line, but no matter how hard they tried, not a single one of them could stand against Senju Hiroshi.
This new-generation leader of the Senju had already reached a level of strength so terrifying it brought despair.
Just as the Senju blade was about to shatter the Uchiha's final defense...
A black figure suddenly fell like a meteor.
It landed heavily on the shallow waters at the center of the Sato River. The splashing water hadn't even fallen back down before it was crushed by an overwhelmingly sharp aura.
The newcomer was tall and straight, dressed in a long black robe. His eyes were tightly covered with a black cloth strip.
His face was cold like carved ice, and the frost-white hair at his temples stood out sharply in the bloody light.
He was clearly a blind swordsman.
The moment this figure landed, the entire battlefield of the Sato River fell into sudden silence.
A familiar chakra burst out, one that was etched into their very bones.
It was the sharp presence that had once crossed rivers in white robes and shaken the ninja world.
It was the aura that made the Senju clan wary for half their lives and drove the Uchiha clan into wild joy.
"Cl-clan leader?!"
An Uchiha elder stretched out a trembling hand. His cloudy old eyes widened to the limit, his voice shaking uncontrollably from overwhelming excitement.
"Clan leader! The clan leader has returned!"
The Uchiha clan members froze for a moment, then erupted into heart-wrenching cheers. Hot tears streamed from their eyes.
They had thought their leader had fallen to his death from the cliff, and the clan had fallen into despair. But now, their clan leader had returned.
"How is this possible?! Uchiha Katsu! You clearly fell off Luohu Cliff. How could you still be alive?!", Senju Hiroshi shouted in shock.
Uchiha Katsu's face was cold as frost. His left hand rested behind his back as his right slowly drew the long blade from behind him. The clear sound of the blade leaving its sheath rang across the silent battlefield.
"What? Seeing me alive surprises you?", Katsu's voice was calm, yet carried a biting chill.
Senju Hiroshi frowned tightly, staring at the black cloth covering his eyes. "Your eyes… what happened?"
"Clan leader, your Sharingan..."
The Uchiha elder also clenched his fists, looking at the black-clad figure with deep worry.
Uchiha Katsu let out a faint scoff, his tone completely indifferent. "A pair of useless things that only shackled me. What use is there in keeping them?"
Before his words even fell, the river water beneath his feet exploded.
There was no wild display of chakra, no strange enhancement from eye techniques.
Relying purely on the strength of his body, Uchiha Katsu turned into a black bolt of lightning. His speed was so fast it left afterimages as he instantly closed in on Senju Hiroshi.
"So fast!"
Senju Hiroshi's expression changed drastically. He didn't have time to think. Instinctively, he stepped back half a step and raised his blade across his chest to block.
Clang!!
The massive clash of metal rang out, making everyone's ears ache. Senju Hiroshi felt intense pain shoot through his arm as he was forced back by that single strike.
A storm surged in his heart. After losing his sight, Uchiha Katsu hadn't slowed down at all. He had become even more terrifying than before.
Whoosh!
Uchiha Katsu gave him no chance to breathe. His blindness had pushed his perception to the extreme.
The sound of the wind, the flow of water, Senju Hiroshi's breathing and chakra flow, everything was under his control.
With a single blade, he unleashed techniques as fierce as a storm. The blade energy tore through the air, slicing the river water into fragments. His moves were tricky and vicious, every strike aimed at vital points.
Uchiha Katsu's swordsmanship had long broken free from the conventional patterns of the ninja world. There were no flashy variations, only the purest killing moves.
Every strike went for the kill, as if nothing existed in the world except the blade and his enemy.
"Ha!"
Relying on the powerful body of Asura's reincarnation and his vast chakra, Senju Hiroshi met him head-on with brute force. His blade fell like thunder, trying to break skill with strength.
The two clashed in a deadly battle at the center of the Sato River. Blade lights intertwined, shockwaves surged, and the crimson river water was thrown into the air by the blade energy, only to be dyed even darker by fresh blood.
No one could interfere.
In the midst of the fierce battle, Senju Hiroshi suddenly seized a tiny opening. Taking advantage of Uchiha Katsu's lack of sight, he poured all his chakra into his blade and roared as he slashed across.
"Uchiha Katsu! Die!"
Slash!
The sharp blade hacked deeply into Uchiha Katsu's left shoulder, severing his entire left arm at the root.
Scalding blood burst out, splattering into the already blood-filled waters of the Sato River.
"Kh!"
Uchiha Katsu let out a muffled groan. The intense pain swept through his body, but he didn't waver in the slightest.
Instead, he used this close-range opportunity to press forward, forcing his body right up against Senju Hiroshi.
"Are you crazy?!"
Senju Hiroshi was shocked.
He didn't know whether Uchiha Katsu still had that power to come back from the dead.
At that moment, Uchiha Katsu gripped his long blade tightly with his only remaining right hand. Using all his strength and the momentum of his forward charge, the blade swept upward in a resolute arc.
"Pfft!"
A soft sound echoed across the battlefield.
Senju Hiroshi's head flew into the air. His face still held an expression of disbelief, as scalding blood sprayed from the severed neck, staining Uchiha Katsu's black robe red.
Head and body separated. Dead on the spot.
The entire field fell silent.
The Senju clan members stood frozen, their weapons clattering to the ground, their faces filled with fear and despair.
The Uchiha clan members stood stiff for a moment, then burst into thunderous cheers.
"Clan leader!!!!"
"Heaven bless the Uchiha!!!"
"We've won!!!"
At the center of the Sato River, Uchiha Katsu stood alone in the blood-soaked water. Blood gushed from the severed stump of his left arm. His entire body was drenched in blood, like an asura returned from hell.
His remaining right hand gripped the long blade tightly, using it to support himself against the ground. Even though his body swayed as if about to collapse, that chilling aura still dominated the entire battlefield.
———
"Great Immortal! Great Immortal! Uchiha Katsu… Uchiha Katsu…"
White Zetsu rushed in to report.
Arisu opened his eyes. He already knew in his heart that Uchiha Katsu had died. It was time to take out the stone tablet and record it.
"Great Immortal, Uchiha Katsu won! Senju Hiroshi has been killed!!", White Zetsu reported urgently.
"Mm, that's normal. Uchiha Katsu doesn't have the Mangekyo…"
"Wait!? Who?! What did you say!? Katsu won?!"
Arisu froze for a moment, then couldn't help but stand up from his seat in shock.
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