Chapter 230: Who Is the God?

Chapter 230: Chapter 230: Who Is the God?

Staring at the familiar man in the demon-faced mask before him, Uchiha Ryota was filled with shock and uncertainty.

"Weren’t you already killed by me? Don’t tell me... the one from before was just a substitute?"

Hyuga Kagami smiled faintly. "Something like that."

The one Uchiha Ryota had killed earlier inside the cavern prison was merely a clone controlled by Hyuga Kagami through the Tenseigan’s "Soul Descent Technique."

At the time, Kagami had been controlling that clone because he wanted to give Uchiha Ryota one final emotional stimulus just as he was about to break free, to see whether Ryota might awaken the Mangekyo Sharingan at the very moment of his escape.

But clearly, Kagami had been expecting too much.

Back then, in order to escape, Uchiha Ryota had been driven so far into a corner that he had stopped even bothering to hide what he was doing. Right in front of Kagami, he had openly begun wearing away at the sealing formulas.

Kagami had been put in an incredibly awkward position.

With no other choice, he had pretended to clean up the surgical instruments, deliberately turning his back on Uchiha Ryota.

After all, Ryota’s attempts to wear down the sealing formulas had been far too obvious. Even with Kagami’s acting skills, if he had remained face-to-face with him, he genuinely had no idea how he was supposed to make "seeing absolutely nothing" look natural.

So, under the excuse of cleaning up the surgical instruments, Kagami had simply turned his back and deliberately wasted quite a bit of time.

Naturally, the battle that followed had also been one in which Kagami had deliberately held back.

Even while controlling nothing more than an ordinary clone, Hyuga Kagami would never have been completely helpless against the physically weakened Uchiha Ryota.

He had deliberately lost to Ryota simply because he wanted to see whether finally taking revenge on his hated enemy might be enough to awaken Ryota’s Mangekyo Sharingan.

Still, to be on the safe side, Kagami had taken advantage of the situation to sever one of Ryota’s arms, depriving him of the ability to form hand seals and use ninjutsu.

Although the Uchiha clan was primarily renowned for the ocular powers of the Sharingan, losing the ability to form hand seals and perform ninjutsu would still greatly weaken their combat strength.

This was also something Kagami had deliberately arranged in preparation for any battle that might occur afterward.

Thinking back on everything he had been put through and how thoroughly he had been toyed with inside the cavern prison, Uchiha Ryota couldn’t help roaring, "You bastard! So you’re the one who’s been pulling the strings from behind the scenes this whole time?!"

Uchiha Hideki said bitterly, "You miscalculated this time, didn’t you?"

Kagami chuckled softly. "Miscalculated?"

Kagami’s composure only enraged Uchiha Hideki further. His chest heaved violently like a bellows as he roared, "You never imagined that both of us brothers would awaken the Mangekyo Sharingan at the same time, did you?!"

Kagami didn’t deny it. He nodded.

"That really was somewhat beyond my expectations."

Uchiha Ryota’s lips curled into a vicious grin.

"Take a good look! This is the Mangekyo Sharingan’s unique ocular power—the Susanoo! This is power that has stepped into the realm of the gods!

"And you’re nothing more than a lowly ant. You don’t even have the right to covet the supreme power of our Uchiha clan!"

Uchiha Hideki joined in coldly.

"Ant, pay the price for your greed!"

Almost simultaneously, Uchiha Hideki and Uchiha Ryota drove their respective Susanoo forward, one from the left and the other from the right, swinging their fists at Hyuga Kagami.

BOOM—

Amid a thunderous explosion, the area where Kagami had just been standing was smashed into a massive crater by the tremendous force of the two Susanoo.

Having narrowly avoided the fists of both Susanoo, Kagami landed atop a massive protruding boulder.

Looking at the Uchiha brothers, Hideki and Ryota, now united against a common enemy, Kagami thought to himself,

"Who was the last guy to take on two Uchiha brothers and their Susanoo by himself again...?"

The scene before him couldn’t help but remind Kagami of Kabuto Yakushi in the original timeline, when he had fought the Uchiha brothers, Itachi and Sasuke, and their two Susanoo all by himself.

However, Kagami’s current situation was clearly nothing like the one Kabuto had faced.

When fighting Kabuto, the Reanimated Itachi’s combat strength had been no weaker than when he was alive. On top of that, he had no fear of injury and possessed a virtually inexhaustible supply of chakra, while Sasuke had also been in peak condition at the time.

As for the two opponents Kagami was facing now...

One was Uchiha Hideki, whose mind and body had already been pushed to their absolute limits.

The other was Uchiha Ryota, who had likewise reached his limit, was missing an arm, and had suffered severe burns across large portions of his body.

Kagami even suspected that if he deliberately dragged the battle out for just a little longer, the two brothers would collapse on their own.

However, considering all the bizarre and unpredictable abilities possessed by the Mangekyo Sharingan, even though Kagami was confident that victory was firmly within his grasp, not even the slightest trace of carelessness or contempt arose in his heart.

At that moment, Uchiha Ryota laughed arrogantly.

"I have to admit, you bastard, you really are quite cunning. But you made one fatal mistake!

"You, a mere mortal, actually dared to covet the power of the gods!"

His grin widened.

"Well? How does it feel?

"Now it’s your turn to experience despair!"

Uchiha Hideki added, "Don’t worry. We won’t kill you right away. Everything you did to us—we’ll repay every last bit of it!"

Still crouched atop the massive boulder, Hyuga Kagami slowly rose to his feet.

"You two seem to have misunderstood something."

Seeing that Kagami remained as calm as ever, Uchiha Ryota grinned viciously.

"Still haven’t fallen into despair? To think you can still act tough at a time like this... I’m looking forward to torturing you more and more!"

Unlike Ryota, Uchiha Hideki suddenly felt a sense of unease.

He shouted, "Speak! What did we misunderstand?!"

"The Mangekyo Sharingan truly is an exceptionally rare treasure."

Kagami paused before smiling faintly.

"But if it isn’t that pair, then to me, they’re nothing more than optional tools I can take or leave."

The pair Kagami was referring to was naturally Obito’s Mangekyo Sharingan.

Compared to Kamui, the abilities of other Mangekyo Sharingan were simply a tier below.

"Cough... cough..."

Uchiha Hideki, who was already beginning to struggle to maintain himself, coughed up several mouthfuls of blood before demanding, "What do you mean, ’that pair’ or ’this pair’? What the hell are you talking about?!"

The reason Hideki cared so much about Kagami’s words was because he believed that what Kagami had previously told him about the "Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan" while manipulating him had not simply been something Kagami fabricated on the spot.

And that was precisely what bothered him so much.

These were secrets concerning the Sharingan that neither he nor his younger brother had ever heard of despite being members of the Uchiha clan themselves.

So Hideki simply couldn’t understand—

Why did this man know so many of the Uchiha clan’s secrets?

Uchiha Ryota urged, "Brother, stop wasting words on him! Once we capture him, we can interrogate him however we want!"

Just like Hideki, Ryota was already approaching his limit.

If they couldn’t decide the battle within a short period of time, the consequences would be disastrous.

However, Uchiha Ryota wasn’t particularly worried.

Because in his eyes, this was nothing more than a battle between gods and an ant...