Naruto: I, Uchiha, Just Want to Die

Chapter 177: Semi-Tailed Beast Rampage, Phantom Dog Cannon Unleashed! Konoha in Turmoil!

In the courtyard's center,

Uchiha Ci's gaze sharpened as violent, dark chakra condensed into the shape of a Rasengan in his palm. This chakra began to whirl madly around the core of the dark Rasengan, spiraling out of control.

With his current level of mastery, Uchiha Ci couldn't control or compress it.

From the moment it formed, the pitch-black Rasengan naturally surged toward a stage of chaotic expansion.

But, Uchiha Ci had no intention of controlling it!

Using this opportunity, he aimed to test whether the expanding Rasengan could replace a Tailed Beast Ball and fire a Phantom Dog Cannon!

Standing amidst the sea of flames, he slowly raised the expanding Rasengan in his hand. Then, with his semi-tailed beast form's massive maw stretching to his ears, he devoured the volatile, near-exploding Dark Expanding Rasengan in one gulp!

The next moment, the violent dark chakra erupted inside his body!

Rage, pain, emptiness, despair, jealousy, fear…

Countless negative emotions flooded Uchiha Ci's mind in an instant, driving him to a frenzied desire to destroy everything!

His throat, chest, and abdomen swelled rapidly, making him resemble a bloated balloon. Even his skin began to crack under the pressure of the overwhelming power surging within.

Forced to drop to all fours, Uchiha Ci struggled to stabilize his body.

At that moment, four fire dragons in mid-air roared down toward him!

The dragons exploded upon impact. The searing heat and explosive force sent the engorged Uchiha Ci flying. He bounced three times in the courtyard's white sand, carving a deep trench.

Standing again after regaining balance, Uchiha Ci raised his head abruptly, his face twisted into a savage, tyrannical expression!

The berserk chakra pathways around his scarlet snake-like eyes grew even thicker!

A pulsating blood vessel stretched over the back of his head, connecting to the Heaven Curse Mark on his neck and prying open a crack in the Evil Sealing Technique!

Natural energy from the surroundings surged toward him, instantly filling his body with immense power!

Fixing his gaze on Uchiha Jie—who stood stunned behind the four massive fire dragons—Uchiha Ci's bloated snake-like eyes flickered with sudden killing intent.

"Wait! I didn't plan to kill this old man!"

Before him, a line of text appeared abruptly:

[Warning: Under the influence of natural energy, a new personality is forming within your body.]

[Talent: Battle Instinct (S+) activated. The primary personality has avoided being devoured by the secondary personality.]

Under the influence of his deeply ingrained combat instinct,

Uchiha Ci's conscious mind seemed detached from his body, observing his actions from an omniscient perspective in mid-air.

At this moment, he saw his semi-tailed beast form acting as though someone else controlled it. The feral, haughty snake-like eyes on its face seemed to possess their own will, causing Uchiha Ci to feel a pang of unease.

"What's going on!?"

Before he could ponder further, the semi-tailed beast Uchiha Ci, with a cold, berserk expression, raised his chin and aimed his gaping maw at the airborne Uchiha Ci!

If he unleashed the Phantom Dog Cannon, the old man would be instantly vaporized!

With his last shred of conscious will, Uchiha Ci forcibly redirected the attack's trajectory.

In the next moment, the semi-tailed beast Uchiha Ci planted all four limbs firmly on the ground and fired skyward!

A deafening roar accompanied a hurricane of winds as a massive, pitch-black beam of energy erupted from his maw.

A Phantom Dog Cannon!

The beam shot straight for nearly three kilometers, obliterating pavilions, collapsing mansions, evaporating riverbeds, and piercing through the towering ancestral shrine of the Uchiha clan near Naka River.

Finally, the beam arced over the Naka River and crashed into the Senju clan's forested territory on the opposite side.

BOOM!!!

The ground quaked violently, as if struck by an earthquake of magnitude 8!

A black mushroom cloud rose ominously from the Senju clan's land.

The fiery blaze was momentarily brighter than the sun itself.

Back at the origin of the chaos, even the residual shockwave from the blast sent Uchiha Jie—who barely escaped the direct hit—hurtling a hundred meters away into a pond.

Climbing out, drenched and disheveled, Uchiha Jie stared in shock at the black beam that streaked across the sky. Trembling, he muttered blankly,

"What… what was that!?"

The only knowledgeable witness, Uchiha Taketake, had already collapsed under the pressure of Sage Art: Sharingan—White Stimulus Eye. No one was left to answer Jie's question.

"That brat really tried to kill me! If not for that last-minute deviation, I'd already be dead!"

Recalling the chilling, emotionless snake-like eyes he had met just before the attack, Uchiha Jie couldn't help but shudder.

Suddenly, his expression changed as he remembered, he had been thrown aside, and Uchiha Hachidai was still there!

"This is bad! Hachidai is in danger!"

---

Meanwhile, in a seemingly ordinary residence within Konoha, a desk cluttered with jars of formalin-preserved biological specimens stood quietly.

Orochimaru sat by the desk, poring over records retrieved from the Foundation upon his return to Konoha.

Though someone had deliberately erased much of the evidence, Orochimaru's keen insight allowed him to discern certain clues—traces of training materials exclusively used by Wood Release practitioners.

These records dated back seven years to the 40th year of Konoha's founding.

Back then, Orochimaru had secretly collaborated with Danzo on a long-suspended experiment: the replication of Wood Release using the First Hokage's cells.

What Orochimaru once dismissed as a far-fetched endeavor now seemed to hide something intriguing—something Danzo had carefully concealed.

"The curse mark is still far from perfected. Right now, it's only compatible thanks to Ci's monstrous body."

"Transforming into a snake and then a dragon seems like a seamless process for mastering Sage Mode, yet it harbors risks no one can foresee. White Snake Sage truly played her cards well."

"When fully mastering Ryūchi Cave's Sage Arts, will this person still be himself?"

"The influence of Ryūchi Cave's natural energy is far more troublesome than anticipated. For now, I'll focus on studying Wood Release—on uncovering how the so-called God of Shinobi fused such power into his body."

"And in the meantime, I can also nurture that pitifully weak artificial tailed beast within the boy."

Orochimaru's snake-like eyes narrowed as his gaze landed on a name from the Foundation's recently graduated list:

Ka.

A cold smile curled his lips, like a predator discovering its prey.

At that moment, the sky outside darkened suddenly!

A pitch-black mushroom cloud rose from the southern edge of Konoha.

The violent tremors and explosive shockwaves that followed swept through the entire village, rattling Orochimaru's window.

Crack!

A jagged crack appeared on the glass.

Orochimaru's head shot up, his smile freezing on his face.

"What's going on?"

"The Nine-Tails rampaging?"

"No, wait—the Evil Sealing Technique of the Heaven Curse Mark has been breached. And this natural energy…"

A shiver ran down Orochimaru's spine as his gaze turned toward the explosion's origin—near the Senju clan's territory, adjacent to the Uchiha district.

Recalling that today was his dear disciple's homecoming day, Orochimaru's expression twisted in frustration.

"Uchiha Ci!!!"

"What have you done this time?!"