An eight-meter-long blade of pure light descended, carried by a howling gale.
It pulverized the air, tore through the river of lava, and swung down with world-ending force toward Ren Uchiha!
Mangetsu Hozuki's face was a mask of pure, distorted malice. He roared at the top of his lungs:
"DIE, YOU BASTARD! JUST DIE!"
The Hiramekarei: Release didn't just cut; it crushed. At full output, the chakra blade manifested by Mangetsu was less like a sword and more like a colossal, blunt-edged pillar of light.
Mei Terumi stood directly in the path of the crushing blow, but Mangetsu didn't care. He was perfectly willing to slaughter his own teammate just to take Ren's head.
Mei's emerald pupils contracted in terror. As a "turret-style" ninja, her speed was limited, especially while she was pouring every ounce of her chakra into her Lava Style torrent. Seeing the meter-wide beam of death flattening everything in its path, she could only desperately ramp up her jutsu, hoping the heat would force Mangetsu to back off.
But Mangetsu, a man whose hands were already stained red with the blood of his comrades, had long since lost his mind.
In his eyes, there was only Ren Uchiha. He didn't take a single step back, even as the searing acidic mist of the lava began to corrode his skin and burn holes into his cheeks.
He had to kill him.
It wasn't just about the eye Ren had taken. It was Ren's sharp, dangerous ideologies—the way the boy had seen right through his soul. Being exposed like that had triggered a primal shame and fury in Mangetsu. As long as they stood on the same battlefield, he lived in fear of being "unmasked" again.
And Ren's ideas... they resonated with him too much! Assassinating the Mizukage? Controlling the Daimyo? A revolution paved in blood? If he killed Ren, he could take those grand dreams for himself!
"Hahahaha! DIE!" Mangetsu's laughter was a serrated edge as he swung the massive blade downward!
Ren's brow twitched. Something felt wrong. The look in Mangetsu's eyes was terrifyingly familiar—it was the same fanatical gaze his "little brother" Hidan had given him.
"Holy crap, what is this?!"
Ren looked at the eight-meter sword of doom. Then he looked at Mei, who was standing in front of him, teeth gritted and face full of stubborn resolve, refusing to move.
He let out a heavy breath and slammed his palm against his chest.
BOOM!
A miniature sun seemed to rise from the rooftop!
But then, Ren let out a scream of pure shock. This wasn't a scream of fear for Mangetsu or concern for Mei.
It was a scream of absolute bafflement at his own body!
His heart, now burning with white-hot flames, was thumping like a high-performance engine fueled by 98-octane gasoline. It was pumping a relentless torrent of extreme Fire Nature chakra into his body, coating him in a white-hot mantle of solar-flare energy.
But the problem was—THE BUG!
CAN SOMEONE FIX THE DAMN GAME?! Ren screamed internally. WHY ISN'T MY HEART BURNING TO ASH?!
As the only Uchiha in history to have "burned his heart" twice, Ren was an expert on the subject. Normally, 0.5 seconds after igniting Fire Style: Chakra Mode, his heart should have turned into a lump of charcoal, kept barely functional only by the Body Revival technique.
But now? Aside from the agonizing pain of being seared from the inside out... his heart was perfectly fine.
Ren's brain stalled. How am I supposed to collect the insurance if I don't die?!
He knew Hidan's immortality had high ninjutsu resistance—Asuma's fire barely singed him—but this was ridiculous. Even my internal organs are fireproof?! Are they made of ceramic?!
Suddenly, system subtitles flashed before his eyes:
[System Notification]
Due to the simultaneous presence of your Talents: [Immortal Body (S-, Incomplete)], [Forbidden Jutsu: Body Revival (Proficient, S, Incomplete)], and [Zero-Tails Mode: Dark Awakening (A)]...
You have been granted immunity to the side effects of Fire Style: Chakra Mode.
Skill Adjustment: [Fire Style: Chakra Mode (Master, A, Lethal)] -> The 'Lethal' suffix is removed. It is now a Standard Skill.
Warning: This technique remains dangerous if chakra is insufficient to pay the cost of Body Revival.
Automatic Naming: In this mode, this skill set is named—
[HEART OF STEEL! (S+)]
Description: Tempered through the searing heat of sincere flames! Your powerful heart has become your most loyal source of strength!
Ren snapped back to reality. There was no time to curse the system. The eight-meter blade was inches from his face.
Mei stood before him, watching the massive beam of light about to pulverize her skull. Despair and terror filled her emerald eyes, but she didn't run. She bit her lip, determined to buy the boy behind her even a single second of life.
"Ren Uchiha, you idiot! What are you doing?!" she screamed, her voice cracking with resentment. "DO SOMETHING! I REALLY OWE YOU ONE, DON'T I?!"
"You stupid woman! Why haven't you run yet?!" Ren roared back.
"Are you trying to make me fall in love with you or something?!"
Before Mei could process the words, Ren delivered a swift, firm kick to her backside, sending her flying to the edge of the rooftop.
In Mei's stunned gaze, Ren looked up, his eyes turning savage as he faced the descending blade. He dropped into a low crouch, palms slammed together in a prayer-like seal.
Standing in the center of his own "Sun," Ren glared at the maniacally laughing Mangetsu.
Fueled by the fury of being "backstabbed" by his own immortality, Ren bellowed:
"FUCK!"
"You Hozuki piece of shit! You think you can kill me?"
"Last time was a fluke! I was holding back!"
Ren's head snapped back, the rage within him boiling over until it could no longer be contained. He let out a primal, earth-shaking roar:
"WITNESS MY SECOND FORM—"
"THE IMMORTAL ASURA!"