Jade Burned Together

The sudden appearance of the deceased Namikaze Minato stunned everyone.

Everyone except Aburame Torune.

For a Root ninja, completing the mission was the only priority; nothing else mattered.

The Root ninja who died from "Almighty Push" were unimportant, and the Fourth Hokage's sudden "resurrection" was also unimportant.

The only important thing was to complete Lord Danzō's mission and eliminate that evil Uchiha!

So, the moment Uchiha An looked over, Aburame Torune immediately launched a surprise attack.

A complete Susanoo was an ability that could only be used after synthesizing the Eternal Mangekyo. Uchiha An, relying on the special nature of his dōjutsu, forcefully manifested it, but the cost was an enormous drain on his chakra.

First, he was caught in an explosion from a human bomb in a confined space, then released the Nine-Tails, and Konan's explosive tag bombardment unceremoniously covered him as well.

To reduce the blast radius, he had to cancel the Susanoo and, using the powerful perception of his Mangekyo Sharingan, dodge Konan's rain of explosive tags.

Afterward, Pain appeared, and his "Almighty Push" attacked everyone indiscriminately. Naturally, he wouldn't activate his Susanoo at that time to shield Konohagakure's people.

The result was that when Aburame Torune launched his surprise attack, Uchiha An had no Susanoo protecting him; it was his most vulnerable moment defensively.

However, the powerful perception of his Mangekyo Sharingan allowed him to detect Aburame Torune's approach just in time. In a hurry, he quickly drew his sword to block.

With a "ding," the two blades collided, and a purple trail rapidly spread from the point of contact, quickly covering more than half of the blade.

Those were nanobots rapidly proliferating!

Uchiha An hastily let go of the sword and threw it away. With a flick of his left hand, he shot a shuriken to disrupt the enemy and leaped backward, intending to create distance and activate his Susanoo.

But Aburame Torune knew that if the Susanoo was activated again, he would lose his chance entirely. So, he disregarded everything, letting the shuriken embed itself in him without a care, and relentlessly pursued Uchiha An's figure.

He punched, kicked, and even rammed his body forward. Every attack carried a desperate resolve of mutual destruction, aiming to get the Phosphorescent Parasites on his body onto Uchiha An.

Seeing his clear target, Uchiha An immediately abandoned the idea of activating his Susanoo. He didn't use any ninjutsu, only throwing shuriken at him one after another. Each shuriken precisely avoided vital points, deliberately prolonging this cruel cat-and-mouse game.

In just a short while, Aburame Torune's body was covered in shuriken like a hedgehog, bleeding profusely and covered in wounds.

Yet, he remained silent, continuing his relentless assault.

But his taijutsu, which he usually prided himself on, held no secrets before the powerful perception of the Mangekyo Sharingan.

Every time he swung his sword or kicked, Uchiha An could predict his taijutsu trajectory and easily dodge it.

"Haha..." Uchiha An laughed heartily, mockingly sneering, "Hey, you don't actually think I became a Jonin purely because I'm an Uchiha, do you?"

"Whether it's taijutsu, genjutsu, or ninjutsu, Uchiha Jonin are a small group standing at the pinnacle of the ninja world!"

"It's a pity..."

The scene of the clan compound littered with corpses that night flashed through Uchiha An's mind again, making his blood boil. The anger and hatred in his heart became difficult to suppress, and his chakra began to go berserk.

His voice, filled with bone-chilling hatred, roared loudly.

"The hypocritical Sarutobi Hiruzen, the black-hearted Shimura Danzō, the envious and jealous major clans, the ignorant common ninja, and the apathetic Konohagakure villagers..."

"Together, you brought about the destruction of the Uchiha Clan!"

"You... all deserve to die!"

Uchiha An's Sharingan spun wildly, and the chilling aura around him intensified.

The Sharingan was also a bugged Kekkei Genkai; the amount of Yin Release chakra was entirely dependent on one's mental state. The more extreme the emotions, the stronger the chakra usually became.

In his rage, Uchiha An's intention to toy with Aburame Torune vanished.

His killing intent surged like a breached dam, impossible to contain.

He quickly formed hand seals, opened his mouth, and a fire dragon spewed forth, roaring deafeningly as it surged towards Aburame Torune.

"Fire Style: Great Fire Dragon Jutsu!"

Furthermore, during the previous shuriken throw, he had attached a specially made transparent steel wire behind one of the shuriken.

Using this wire as a conductor, Aburame Torune would be unable to dodge this ninjutsu attack.

But Aburame Torune didn't even attempt to dodge. Taking advantage of Uchiha An's pause while spitting ninjutsu, he completely abandoned defense, injected all his chakra into the Phosphorescent Parasites, and rammed forward.

"Whoosh!"

The moment he was engulfed by the flames, Aburame Torune ignited instantly, burning fiercely like a human candle. Purple toxic mist swirled in the flames, emitting a pungent, burnt odor.

Yet, he charged out of the inferno, still ablaze, and as he wished, got close to Uchiha An, placing a hand on his arm.

"Gotcha!"

Aburame Torune's voice was hoarse, almost inhuman, but filled with the ecstasy of victory.

He gripped Uchiha An tightly, chakra surging wildly, activating the Phosphorescent Parasites on his body to rapidly multiply and crawl towards Uchiha An.

Visibly, Uchiha An's arm began to turn purple, bit by bit.

Simultaneously, two more Root ninja suddenly appeared behind Aburame Torune, charging forward recklessly. One had the glow of burning explosive tags erupting from beneath him, while the other quickly formed hand seals.

"Earth Style: Earth Prison Dome!"

The ground shook violently, and familiar stone prison walls rose from all sides, trapping the three of them.

Uchiha An snorted coldly, his Mangekyo Sharingan spinning madly in his eyes. Half of his Susanoo reappeared, and as it broke through the narrow stone prison, it shielded both him and Aburame Torune within its torso.

At the same time, a flash of his blade cut through the air, aimed at Aburame Torune.

But Aburame Torune merely spurred on the Phosphor Bug's reproduction with all his might. He didn't even dodge the attack, only managing to slightly shift his body.

With a "thwack," the blade landed, and blood splattered. Aburame Torune was cut diagonally from shoulder to back, split in two. But even as he fell, his eyes remained fixed on Uchiha An, waiting to see how Uchiha An would die.

With a "boom," a deafening sound, the self-detonating ninja successfully reached the Susanoo, grabbed it, and exploded.

However, this stone prison was only maintained by a single ninja, its scale too small. It had already been shattered by the Susanoo.

Without the stone prison's restraint, the explosion's power was severely impacted.

Yet, this time there were many more Explosive Tags than before. The explosion still caused the Susanoo to shake unstoppably, its armor covered in cracks.

Uchiha An's left eye streamed blood and tears, and he was panting heavily.

Most importantly, due to the explosion, Uchiha An was fully focused on maintaining the Susanoo's defense, unable to resist the Phosphor Bug's erosion. A significant portion of his body had already turned purple.