"The Red Sun? How arrogant!"
"Take one of my punches and see if you're still so confident!"
A was not intimidated in the slightest by Uchiha Ren's reputation or achievements. Instead, his fighting spirit burned even hotter. With a sudden burst of speed, he charged forward and threw a punch straight at Ren!
Uchiha Ren's expression did not change.
His pupils turned crimson, and three black tomoe appeared within them, allowing him to clearly track A's every movement.
The Sharingan—the kekkei genkai of the Uchiha clan, and one of the Three Great Dōjutsu of the shinobi world.
With Ren's powerful ocular ability, the Sharingan's dynamic vision was pushed to its absolute limit.
Even at A's current speed, he could not escape Ren's gaze.
Ren stepped back with one leg and lowered his center of gravity. Then he threw a punch of his own, meeting A's incoming fist head-on.
"A direct clash? Perfect!"
Although A's Lightning Release Chakra Mode was not as well-rounded as that of his father, the Third Raikage, and leaned more toward enhancing speed, the boost it gave to his strength and defense was still far beyond that of ordinary shinobi.
When it came to a straightforward clash of power—
A had never feared anyone.
With contempt in his heart, he poured even more strength into his punch.
The two fists closed in.
Compared to A's lightning-wreathed fist, Ren's looked several sizes smaller—almost delicate by comparison.
But just as the two fists were about to collide—
Whoosh!
Flames suddenly erupted from Ren's fist.
"Fire Fist!"
Ren gave a low shout.
The ground beneath his feet shattered inch by inch as scorching flames burst from his fist, instantly engulfing A.
Orange flames formed a massive blazing fist, carrying A's body dozens of meters away. Trees were knocked down one after another as a charred trench was carved into the ground.
"Brother!"
"Lord A!"
Killer B and the Kumogakure ninja cried out in shock.
They could hardly believe that A had been overpowered in a direct clash of strength.
"There's nothing surprising about it," Ren said calmly as he shook his slightly aching hand. "The very nature of fire is explosive power and extreme heat."
Although his tone remained relaxed, Ren inwardly grew more cautious toward A—the man long known across the shinobi world as a reckless powerhouse.
Uchiha Ren was not originally from this world.
Due to an accident, he had transmigrated here and become an ordinary jōnin of the Uchiha clan, an orphan whose parents had died long ago.
His past life was no longer worth mentioning.
According to the original storyline of Naruto, being reborn as a member of the Uchiha clan could practically be described as a nightmare starting point.
Externally, the clan was suppressed by the Hokage faction led by the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, and the so-called "Half-Hokage" Danzo Shimura, known as the Shadow of Konoha.
Internally, many clan members were arrogant and blind to the political reality, practically courting disaster.
And to make matters worse, several emotionally unstable individuals within the clan were basically ticking time bombs.
Ren's situation could hardly be described with a single word like difficult.
Fortunately, Ren had arrived relatively early.
The night of the Uchiha Clan Massacre was still far in the future.
There was still time to change the clan's fate.
Moreover—
Like most transmigrators, Ren possessed a cheat ability.
Although compared to others it seemed somewhat modest.
It was simply a Devil Fruit from another world.
The Flame-Flame Fruit (Mera Mera no Mi).
Yes—
The same Logia-type Devil Fruit that many One Piece fans jokingly say "not even a dog would eat."
But from Ren's perspective, he was extremely satisfied with it.
The Flame-Flame Fruit granted its user the power of fire.
To control flames.
To become fire itself.
The fruit's previous user—"Fire Fist" Ace—had not demonstrated its full potential and ultimately died at the hands of the Magma Fruit user, Akainu.
In the world of One Piece, many fighters could already produce flame-based attacks. It seemed like everyone had some kind of fire ability.
Because of that, the Flame-Flame Fruit gained the unfortunate reputation of being a "worthless" Logia.
But was it truly weak?
Or was the power of fire itself weak?
In Ren's opinion—
Absolutely not.
Although the canon lore of One Piece states that the Magma Fruit is superior to the Flame-Flame Fruit, Ren believed the difference wasn't that simple.
Both magma and fire shared two fundamental traits:
Explosive force and high temperature.
Because magma was a physical substance, it had greater explosive impact.
But in terms of temperature, fire held an overwhelming advantage.
The maximum temperature of magma was roughly 1,400°C.
But fire could continuously increase its temperature through heat accumulation, with virtually no upper limit.
In his previous world, special methods could raise flames to over 500 million degrees—thirty times hotter than the sun's core.
The difference spoke for itself.
The Flame-Flame Fruit possessed nearly limitless potential.
Fire had never been weak.
Just like the old man in another series who wielded flame power—hailed as the strongest Shinigami in two thousand years—whose flame sword was sealed almost every time he appeared in battle.
The power itself was never the problem.
The problem had only been its user.
Having lived through the information explosion era of his previous world, Ren believed his understanding of the Flame-Flame Fruit far surpassed that of Ace.
Combined with the native power system of the shinobi world, he would never disgrace this ability.
And this Devil Fruit had given Ren the confidence to change everything.
Over the past several years, he had quietly strengthened himself—building power in secret, cultivating influence, and gathering allies.
All the while accumulating the strength needed to reshape this world.
Now the Third Great Ninja War was nearing its end.
And Ren's preparations were complete.
He could hardly wait to end the war and finally begin making his mark on the world.
"Minato, leave the Eight-Tails' jinchūriki to you," Ren said, slowly exhaling as he looked at Minato Namikaze. "Try to capture him alive."
Not only was Minato incredibly fast, but because of his relationship with his girlfriend Kushina Uzumaki, he was exceptionally skilled in sealing techniques.
Among them, he was the best candidate to deal with Killer B.
Although in the original story Minato died sealing the Nine-Tails, the Eight-Tails was nowhere near as powerful as the Nine-Tails.
In a true fight, Gyūki couldn't even match half of Kurama's strength.
Moreover, Minato's death during the Nine-Tails incident had likely been due—at least in part—to his choice to sacrifice himself alongside Kushina.
After all, the couple had already largely subdued the Nine-Tails, and Konoha's reinforcements were on their way.
Even other villages that weren't particularly skilled in sealing techniques could handle rampaging tailed beasts.
Could Konoha's Sealing Team, which inherited the techniques of the Uzumaki clan, really fail to deal with a restrained Nine-Tails?
In the end—
Minato had simply chosen to bear everything himself.
"Understood. Leave that guy to me."
Minato gave a bright smile, speaking with complete confidence.
"Then let's finish this quickly."
As Ren spoke, flames burst across his entire body.
Wrapped in blazing fire, he shot forward through the air, chasing toward the spot where A had been blasted away.