Naruto: The Flame That Reshapes Fate

"Aburame's bugs, huh? Not bad. But a little trick like that won't be enough to handle the Uchiha's Mangekyō." Watching from the sidelines, Uchiha Obito narrowed his eyes, realizing that the critical moment had arrived. If he wanted to witness Uchiha Rēn's dōjutsu, this was his chance.

"Oh oh! What an incredible surge of chakra!"

Zetsu let out a startled cry.

Fortunately, no one else was around. The few Root shinobi lurking nearby had already been casually crushed by Obito. There was no need to worry about Zetsu's outburst attracting attention.

In fact,

At this moment, anyone with sensory ability—or even just a sharp instinct—would have had their attention pulled toward the swarm of pitch-black insects converging together. More precisely, they would have sensed the overwhelming, formidable chakra suddenly erupting from within that insect swarm.

"What is that?"

In the midst of battle, Hyūga Hiashi caught sight of Rēn surrounded by insects through his Byakugan's 360-degree vision. The vast, intense, and eerie chakra surging from Rēn's body was unlike anything he'd seen outside of a Jinchūriki.

Almost instantly,

He recalled what the clan's records repeatedly described—the powers of the Uchiha clan.

"Looks like I didn't make the wrong choice."

Hiashi muttered quietly to himself. His previously weakening aura surged upward, releasing a massive amount of chakra from his tenketsu. His body spun like a top, and a hemispherical chakra shield engulfed him.

The rapidly rotating chakra dome not only deflected all physical attacks, but as Hiashi increased the chakra output again, the dome expanded outward with explosive force, smashing nearby enemies with bones shattered and tendons torn—barely clinging to life.

This technique even surprised Shisui.

He had seen the Hyūga clan's Rotation technique (Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven) once before, used by a main family member—some poor soul who'd died on the eastern front and had his eyes taken by Kirigakure. That main branch member was indeed talented, mastering Rotation at a young age, though his terrible personality had made him a disgrace even in death.

"To think it could be used offensively… not bad at all."

Shisui gave a brief compliment, but the short blade in his hand didn't stop its motion, continuing to reap the lives of Root shinobi. With Hiashi and Hyūga Mayu, he wiped out the surrounding Root operatives. Then, the trio stood in place—not moving to break through southeast—but turned in unison to face the same direction.

In the next instant,

A massive arm of bone, shrouded in deep crimson light, tore through the thick forest canopy like a towering spire, proclaiming to the world that Manifested Wrath had once again descended upon the shinobi world.

It was a light deeper than burning flame, a hue darker than flesh and blood,

The emergence of that skeletal arm was only the beginning. A second arm soon followed, and then a complete skeletal torso rose from the blazing chakra glow like a mountain standing tall upon the earth.

And even that—

Was not the end.

Muscle and flesh rapidly grew over the skeleton, and flames of chakra like flickering light wove themselves into armor that wrapped the newly formed body. In the blink of an eye, a colossal, crimson figure holding a massive tachi cast an enormous shadow over the forest below.

This was the third form of Susano'o.

"What… what kind of monster is that?"

The Root shinobi were bewildered.

Had they not been emotionless, nameless tools bred by Root—unafraid of death and loyal only to the mission—any ordinary ninja unit might have already collapsed in fear. Even so, the Root shinobi found themselves frozen in confusion.

They had no experience combating such a titan.

During the Nine-Tail's rampage, they had been ordered only to observe the Uchiha clan, not fight the beast directly. Since then, Root had absorbed many new recruits, making their battle experience against giant threats severely lacking.

To put it bluntly,

They were like tigers biting a porcupine—no idea where to begin.

Worse still, Rēn was no passive porcupine. He was a dragon that could tear a tiger apart.

Inside the body of Susano'o, Rēn's eyes had turned blood-red, the six-bladed pinwheel of his Mangekyō rotating slowly. He frowned slightly as fire ignited beneath his feet. The insects burrowed into his flesh were completely incinerated, but both his feet were left with severe burns.

"...Tch. That really hurts."

He clicked his tongue softly.

The swarm surrounding Susano'o had been repelled the moment it formed. But the ones inside his flesh weren't something Susano'o could force out. Left with no choice, he used fire to purge the insects from his legs.

Immediately,

With the pests burned away, the power of Yang Release activated and began slowly healing the burns on his feet.

But Rēn's attention wasn't on his injuries. Suspended at Susano'o's forehead crystal, he looked down over the vast forest. Root shinobi scurried like insects below. Shisui and Hiashi had moved from the dense woods toward open ground.

It was a logical move.

Upon spotting their location, Rēn shifted his focus, and Susano'o responded instantly, lifting its foot and stomping down hard. The tremendous impact collapsed the terrain below. The entire forest quaked violently, and dust billowed skyward. The shockwave reverberated all the way to the village center—almost all of Konoha felt the tremor from the southern sector.

Aburame Torune wasn't crushed by Susano'o's stomp.

A highly skilled insect user, he used some to determine the best escape route so he narrowly escaped at the last moment. Though his body was heavily injured, and even his arm was broken by a stray boulder, he had survived. Eighty percent of his personally cultivated kikaichū were sacrificed, but it had kept him from being pulverized into meat paste.

"Susano'o… So this is Susano'o?"

Fleeing, Torune kept muttering the name he'd seen in classified documents. At last, he understood why Lord Danzō and the Third feared the Uchiha so deeply. All that talk of the Uchiha being "inherently evil" was a cover.

Truth be told—It was fear.

Fear of the Uchiha's overwhelming power. That was the real reason they were targeted. The Uchiha were too strong—so strong it triggered instinctive terror. Without someone like the First Hokage to keep them in check, Konoha simply had no means to counterbalance the Uchiha. Without the Senju clan, the Uchihas were unstoppable.

Which was why they tried so desperately to suppress them before a threat could manifest.

But now the urgent question was—what next?

Uchiha Rēn had truly mastered this legendary power. With sheer overwhelming force, he shattered Torune's carefully laid trap. Beyond the crushing failure was a new kind of despair—there was no longer any hope of victory.

This battle—

There was no strategy left to fight it.

Especially when he noticed the giant tachi descending from the sky toward him. In that moment, Torune understood—there was no escape. But maybe that wasn't so bad. At least he wouldn't have to deal with this mess anymore. Death might even be a relief...

The deep crimson tachi plowed through the earth, leaving a massive trench behind. On that path of destruction, Aburame Torune's existence was wiped from the world.

"This is only the beginning."

As Torune's chakra signature vanished from his vision, Rēn turned his gaze toward the scattered Root shinobi in the forest.

Since Susano'o had already been revealed, he might as well use this opportunity to remind everyone who had forgotten—what the Uchiha pride was based on.

Let them understand once more why the Uchiha had always been known as the most prestigious clan in Konoha!

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