Chapter – 74: Susanoo

"Rei, your eyes! what happened to your eyes? why are they red?" asks Kazuma with nervousness thinking something bad happened to Rei's eyes because he tried to save him.

"My eyes are red?" I mumble then look towards Kazuma with a smile, "Sensei… I protected Kaz…"

Before I could even finish, my eyelids close and I start falling forwards because of all the wounds I received, and on top of that awakening of the sharingan is supposed to be chakra draining. The injuries are in fact real, but everything else is an act of course. However, before my body hits the ground, Inoichi shunshins next to me and catches my body, "Sharingan, ha?"

Obviously, the bandit leader couldn't match him even after injecting himself with that weird drug and it was only a matter of how long he can last.

"Sharingan? what's that? Is it bad?" asks Yuri anxiously. She too was scared a moment ago that they would lose Rei forever.

"No," Inoichi shakes his head and explains, "The Sharingan is the Dojutsu of the Uchiha clan. Also, It is one of the Three Great Dojutsus in the world along with Byakugan of the Hyuuga clan and Rinnegan which is just a myth as no one has ever seen one yet…"

"Why did Rei's eyes turn red? is that how it is activated?"

"Mmm... unlike Byakugan, the Sharingan is not active in every Uchiha. Only when they experience a powerful emotional condition with regards to a person precious to them, the Sharingan awakens…" he says looking at Kazuma when he says the last part, obviously meaning that since Rei treats Kazuma as a precious friend, he awakened his Sharingan in an effort to not let anything happen to him…

"You guys have a good friend, make sure to treat him well…" says Inoichi to which both my teammates nod seriously.

…

Somewhere far away, the masked man who gave the drug to the bandits was sitting on a tree branch muttering something.

"Those idiots, even with the power given by my Hyperamplifiers, they couldn't even defeat a newbie genin team… dammit…" he curses, "Do they know how costly it is to make a high tier one? I had to use up all my savings just to make seven of them… and one of them is gone just like that… sigh…"

"Well, at least they gave me enough data… maybe I can improve the effectiveness or reduce cost with this… it wasn't a total waste after all…"

"I should leave… I will be in trouble if Inoichi finds me…" with that he jumps down and starts to escape; the direction which he takes is, towards Konoha!

…

Reality sometimes can be cruel to you; especially when luck is not going your way. Just when he thinks he is out of Inoichi's range, he sees me standing there not far from him in a pitch-black cloak and an Oni mask on my face, and from the way I am is just standing there looking in his direction, it's pretty obvious that I am waiting for him.

Knowing that it is not possible to escape, he stops and questions, "Who are you? what do you want?"

"Oh, just a passerby who got interested in your power amplifying drugs…" I say sarcastically.

"And you think I will just hand it over to you…" before even completing the sentence, he attacks.

Blocking the incoming kick from my left, 'From his speed and strength, he should be just a chunin too… why did he risk the bandit backstabbing him after getting powerful? oh, I get it… he should have some too… guess it's my lucky day…'

When a civilian took the medicine, it already made him powerful enough to face a Jonin, what would happen if an actual shinobi takes it? I really want to find out… so, instead of attacking, I am just passively defending for now…

A few minutes into the battle, recognizing that the opponent is too strong for him and seeing that none of his ninjutsu or taijutsu techniques seem to work; or in fact, failing even to make the opponent retaliate, he decides to stake it all and use the final trump card that he had kept in case the bandit went against him… The Hyperamplifier!

'The Hyperamplifier is not perfected yet… there will be severe side effects after using it… but if I can survive, then everything is worth it…' thinking like this, he pulls out a syringe that is similar to the ones the bandits used, but the only difference is the color; it is way darker than the one the bandits used.

"You will regret making me take this…" shouting so, he plunges the needle to his chest with resolve.

This time, there is no brutal aura or anything like the bandit had, it's as if all of that immense power is gathering into his body instead of leaking out. The only outward changes I could see are the veins popping out of his head and the color of his eyes changing from black to blood red…

"Ahhh…" he screams in pain and starts attacking me with his all.

'Oh, so as a shinobi, he can better use the power too… not one bit is getting wasted like with that idiot bandit who didn't even know how to use his power…' I ponder, 'But isn't this similar to how one gains power when Orochimaru's cursed seal is activated? Interesting… I wonder what their relation is…'

After fighting him for close to ten more minutes, "It's been a pleasure… but sorry to say that the party is coming to a close… please forgive me… also, to show my appreciation, let me show you what true power is…" I say looking at the man whose mask is now broken and his face completely visible…

Before the man could even react to my words, pitch-black skeleton ribs made of chakra appear around me with a skeletal hand attached to it and in the blink of an eye, the skeletal hand pierces him right on his chest and exits from his back.

"Susanoo….you… you are .. an… Uchiha…" were his last words.