The moment the Forbidden Jutsu: Body Activation finished remolding his heart, Ren Uchiha's eyes snapped open in a fury. He slammed a fist against his chest and stepped forward, his gaze locked onto the agonized Hayato Dōgō.
"Fire Style: Chakra Mode—ACTIVATE!"
Brilliant, scorching fire chakra erupted from Ren, solidifying into a physical cloak of flames.
"Burn, my soul!"
"Surpass the limits of self!"
The power surging from his heart flooded every corner of his body. Pitch-black chakra mingled with the orange flames, crackling and popping, fueling the fire of his absolute rage. In the swaying pool, the blood began to evaporate inch by inch, forming a hazy crimson mist.
In that dark, damp cavern, a miniature sun had suddenly risen.
"HRAAAAAAAAGH!!!!"
Standing within the corona of that sun, Ren let out a primal roar. He slammed his palms together, and the resulting gale pushed the red mist aside, surging outward with violent force.
"This power... Is it that forbidden jutsu?!"
Fugaku Uchiha looked back in horror. Watching Ren standing amidst the inferno, his gaze went numb with shock.
"This is madness! And yet... he actually mastered it!" Fugaku's expression shifted to dread. "Wait—he only has a 2-Tomoe Sharingan. He can't use Izanagi. He's going to burn himself alive!"
Fugaku clenched his fists, a wave of irrepressible regret washing over him. If he had acted sooner, he wouldn't have pushed this boy to such a desperate end. Had he been too cautious? Too obsessed with the "perfect timing"?
On the other side, Orochimaru's long hair whipped behind him in the howling wind. He looked at the rising sun in the blood pool, his golden snake pupils wide with disbelief.
"What kind of jutsu is this?" Orochimaru whispered. "Igniting all your chakra at once... using every ounce of flesh and blood as kindling for the flame."
He hissed, drawing in a sharp breath. The boy's will—a flame that burned for others—made even the Third Hokage's "Will of Fire" seem pale by comparison. But then, Orochimaru realized the danger to his prize.
"The Body Activation won't be able to keep up with that burn rate! The boy will die! I have to find a way to keep him alive... I need that information from his brain!"
Deep underground...
White Zetsu swallowed hard, watching the suicide mission above.
"I get what Lord Madara meant now. Even with his talent, this kid can't be a puppet! He's too impulsive!" Zetsu wailed. "If I try to give him chakra now, my spores will burn to ash before they even touch him. He's literally turning himself into fuel!"
Standing in the center of his own funeral pyre, Ren looked at the lifeless, slumped head of Hidan.
The weight of Hidan's final words—that one "Big Brother"—cut through Ren's heart like a serrated blade. Ren knew he wasn't worthy of that title. He had started this with hidden motives, just looking for a way to die and claim insurance.
But Hidan had believed in him. Hidan had jumped off the cliff with his eyes closed. Hidan had shredded his own palms just to buy Ren time.
The cost of Ren's hesitation was Hidan's life.
Ren's eyes turned cold. Violent. Desolate. The complex emotions in his chest transformed into a singular, deep darkness.
He wove signs and pulled his hands apart. A six-foot blade of flowing fire appeared in his grip, but it wasn't enough.
He stared at Hayato Dōgō, who was already running for his life. A savage, jagged grin split Ren's face.
"Running? You think you can RUN?!"
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Ren stepped forward, twisting the hilt. The flowing flames surged, reconstructing the six-foot blade into a forty-meter-long giant sword of fire!
Ren stepped into a low stance and swung.
Circular Waist-Cut!
A sea of fire erupted in a forty-meter radius. Hayato looked back in horror; there was nowhere to hide. He dove to the ground, trying to flatten himself, but the heat alone began to boil his skin.
"Cough! Agh!"
Hayato tried to weave signs for Water Style, but a sound like a tearing hurricane filled his ears. He looked up just as the forty-meter blade slammed down like the hammer of a god.
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
Three consecutive strikes. Stone flew. Ren was literally hammering Hayato's head into his chest, burying him into the earth. The fire was just decoration; the damage was pure, blunt trauma.
"No... I can't die here!" Hayato screamed, his head nearly shoved into his ribcage. "My ritual! My curse! It's not finished!"
Hayato desperately wove the Snake seal.
"Water Style: Water Array Pillar!"
He spat out a massive torrent of water, a vertical waterfall aiming to push back the giant sword.
Ren threw his head back and laughed—a sound full of mockery and madness.
"Not enough! NOT NEARLY ENOUGH!"
"What is that?! Sand?! You think that trickle can stop me?!"
Ren leaped high into the air, spinning the forty-meter blade like a propeller before crashing down.
The giant sword sliced through the water pillar like a hot knife through butter. Steam exploded outward, filling the cavern with a blinding white mist. The blade hit the floor, carving a twenty-meter-long trench and shaking the entire cave system like an earthquake.
Hayato survived the impact, but he vanished into the ground again.
"Subterranean Voyage again?" Ren sneered. "Have you learned nothing? Under these eyes, where can you possibly hide?!"
The Sharingan flared through the mist. Ren spotted the chakra signature near the exit. He dismissed the giant sword and thrust his six-foot fire blade forward.
The blade extended twenty meters in a flash, impaling Hayato through the earth and lifting him out!
Up-thrust. Pull back. Stab!
Ren pinned him against the stone wall. He drew three near-molten shuriken and threw them.
Zing!
The wires tightened, ready to shred. Hayato tore himself off the fire blade, losing half his chest just to dodge.
"WRONG AGAIN!"
Ren laughed manically. He dropped the wires, gripped his hilt with both hands, and delivered a brutal downward cleave.
One strike split Hayato in two. Then came seven more in the blink of an eye.
Kesa-giri! Reverse-wind! Left-cross! Downward-strike!
Like a master of Fruit Ninja, Ren sliced Hayato into a pile of mangled scraps in mid-air.
"NOOOOOO!!!" A final, desperate scream echoed through the mist.
Ren's gaze turned feral. He twisted the hilt one last time, manifesting the forty-meter blade once more. He held it over his head and slammed it down into the pile of remains.
"Still screaming?!"
"I'LL TURN YOU INTO ASH! LET'S SEE HOW 'IMMORTAL' YOU ARE THEN!!!"
The fire poured into the crater, turning the remains of Hayato Dōgō into a roaring funeral pyre.
[DING!]