Glazed Karmic Fire, the Collapse of a God!

Inside the Hokage Building.

"Clatter."

The pipe in the Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi's hand fell onto the desk, scattering blazing-hot ash across the floor.

He rose to his feet and looked toward the Uchiha District.

The office door was pushed open, and the two Hokage Advisors, Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura, rushed inside.

Utatane Koharu said,

"Hiruzen, did you feel that? That immense chakra... it's the Mangekyō Sharingan! And an utterly terrifying form of it!"

Mitokado Homura said,

"Other than Madara Uchiha's Nine-Tails' Attack all those years ago, I have never seen such astonishing ocular power! Could the Uchiha Clan be launching an armed coup?!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi said nothing.

"That presence is violent, but there are no signs of it moving toward the center of the village."

Hiruzen Sarutobi walked to the window.

"In the entire Uchiha Clan, only Body Flicker Shisui possesses the Mangekyō Sharingan. This power must have been unleashed by Shisui."

"Shisui? What is he trying to do? Threaten us?"

Mitokado Homura asked.

Hiruzen Sarutobi shook his head.

"Danzo's relentless pressure on the Military Police Force lately has already driven the Uchiha to the edge of the cliff."

"We have long been aware of the radicals' movements. The risk of a coup is multiplying by the day."

"Hiruzen, what should we do now?"

Utatane Koharu asked.

"If the Uchiha truly strike tonight, our current troop deployment is nowhere near prepared to handle a full-scale response."

"Once war breaks out, Konoha will inevitably suffer devastating losses!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi remained silent.

Even as the Professor of Ninjutsu, he had no way to contend with such power.

"Pass down my orders!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi turned and gave an order toward the empty shadows.

"Dispatch ANBU elites to investigate the outskirts of the Uchiha District."

"Remember: do not alert them, and under no circumstances provoke a conflict."

"Until we understand Shisui's true intentions, stabilizing the situation takes priority above all else."

"Yes!"

Several voices answered from the shadows, and a number of ANBU ninja vanished from where they stood.

Meanwhile, in the Uchiha District's Great Arena.

The Complete Body Susanoo, dozens of meters tall, stood amid the ruins, dark-red chakra burning across its surface.

Its oppressive aura bore down so heavily that the hundreds of Uchiha clansmen present could not raise their heads.

"Hahahaha, Lu Ming, do you see it?! This is the power of a god!"

Fugaku stood within the crystal at Susanoo's brow, tears of blood streaming from his eyes.

"Die!"

Fugaku controlled Susanoo as it drew a chakra greatsword dozens of meters long and slashed down at Lu Ming on the ground!

A thunderous boom rang out!

Before the greatsword even landed, its wind carved a massive chasm into the floor of the Great Arena. Gale-force winds howled, sending sand and stones flying.

"It's over! Lord Lu Ming can't dodge that!"

"There's nowhere to escape an attack with such a massive destructive range!"

On the platform, the clansmen who had only just switched sides to support Lu Ming closed their eyes.

Yet Lu Ming, standing at the very center of the sword wind, did not move.

Amid the raging wind, he raised his head and watched the chakra greatsword descend.

"The power of a god?"

Lu Ming questioned him.

"Fugaku, your understanding of power is laughable in the extreme."

Lu Ming drew the short blade from his back, its tip aimed straight at the colossal Susanoo.

"Today, I'll show you what so-called gods..."

"...are meant to be broken!"

Chakra circulated within Lu Ming.

Buzz—!

A wave surged out from Lu Ming's body and covered the short blade in his hand.

A flame, somewhere between azure and gold, ignited along the blade.

Unlike ordinary Fire Release, this flame had no searing heat. It was illusory and ethereal, radiating danger.

"Th-that... what kind of flame is that?!"

Uchiha Inabi stared at the azure-gold fire on Lu Ming's blade.

"It has no temperature? How can Fire Release possibly have no temperature?!" Yashiro said in shock.

Susanoo's greatsword descended above Lu Ming's head.

"You're still playing tricks when death is upon you! Be hacked into pieces!" Fugaku shouted.

Lu Ming gripped the hilt with both hands and drove forth the azure-gold Glazed Karmic Fire.

"Glazed Hellfire: Severing!"

Facing the chakra greatsword dozens of meters long, Lu Ming slashed out!

Swish—!!!

An azure-gold blade light flew from Lu Ming's blade and collided with Susanoo's greatsword.

Before the Susanoo, dozens of meters tall, that blade light seemed utterly insignificant.

Yet the instant they made contact—

Susanoo's chakra greatsword was split cleanly in two when it touched the azure-gold blade light!

"What?!"

Fugaku stared at the shattered greatsword.

The blade light did not slow. After severing the greatsword, it struck Susanoo's heavy Tengu Armor.

Riiip—!!!

The Susanoo armor, hailed as absolute defense, was sliced open before the azure-gold blade light.

The blade light tore upward from Susanoo's chest, cleaving the dark-red demon god, dozens of meters tall, apart!

"No! That's impossible!"

Fugaku shouted. Before he could make another move, an abrupt change occurred.

The Glazed Karmic Fire attached to the blade light spread across Susanoo's massive body as it split it apart.

Whoosh—!

The azure-gold flames engulfed the Susanoo, dozens of meters tall.

"Go out! Go out already!"

Fugaku squeezed the Mangekyō ocular power from his eyes, pouring chakra into Susanoo in an attempt to extinguish the flames and repair its body.

But what filled him with despair was this—

The more chakra he supplied, the more fiercely the Glazed Karmic Fire burned!

This fire was using Susanoo's chakra as fuel to strengthen itself!

"Arghhhhh—!!!"

Fugaku screamed. His ocular power, chakra, and life force were all being devoured by the azure-gold flames!

The Complete Body Susanoo rapidly melted and collapsed beneath the burning Glazed Karmic Fire.

The enormous dark-red skeleton shattered into fragments, turning into countless motes of light that were completely devoured by the Glazed Karmic Fire.

"Pfft!"

When Susanoo collapsed, Fugaku suffered a backlash from his ocular power and spat out a mouthful of blood.

Watching the Glazed Karmic Fire burn in midair and spread toward him, Fugaku's psychological defenses crumbled.

He no longer cared about the dignity of a clan head or the outcome of the duel.

"Monster... you're a monster!"

Fugaku screamed as he fell from the sky. He did not even bother retrieving the ninja blade that had fallen to the ground, instead clutching his bleeding eyes as he fled the Great Arena and disappeared into the night.

The entire arena fell silent.

Not a single sound could be heard.

Only the azure-gold Glazed Karmic Fire continued burning in the air above the Great Arena.

On the platform, over a hundred Uchiha clansmen stood frozen in place.

The elder's mouth hung open, and his dentures fell to the ground.

Uchiha Inabi, Uchiha Yashiro, and the others had gone weak in the knees and collapsed onto the ground.

Uchiha Shisui gripped the railing, breathing heavily.

No one had expected this!

Who would have dared imagine it!

The power of a god—the Complete Body Susanoo, said to rival the First Hokage's Wood Release and revered by the Uchiha Clan as their ultimate faith—

Had been shattered to pieces by a single slash from Lu Ming!

"Gulp..."

Someone swallowed, breaking the silence.

Then cries of shock erupted throughout the arena.

"Heavens... what did I just see? Susanoo was cut apart with one strike?!"

"How is that possible? That was the Mangekyō's ultimate power, yet Lord Lu Ming didn't even activate his Sharingan."

"What exactly is that flame?! It can even burn chakra completely away."

"It's ten thousand times more terrifying than Amaterasu, the legendary flame said to burn everything to ash."

The clansmen looked at Lu Ming, their earlier fervor fading away.

As the entire crowd gasped in astonishment—

A young female ninja stepped forward from behind Lu Ming.

She was Nanami Uchiha, one of Lu Ming's core confidantes.

Nanami Uchiha raised her chin, swept her gaze across the crowd, and explained, "You frogs in a well naturally cannot comprehend my lord's greatness!"

"This is a brand-new Kekkei Genkai personally developed by Lord Lu Ming, combining the ultimate spiritual power of Yin Release with Fire Release chakra—Glazed Karmic Fire!"

Nanami pointed at the azure-gold flames in midair.

"It has no physical form and no temperature, yet it can directly infiltrate and burn an enemy from within."

"Whether it is ninjutsu, genjutsu, or even materialized chakra like Susanoo, Glazed Karmic Fire can devour it and turn it into energy that strengthens itself."

"Before Glazed Karmic Fire, any defense is nothing more than futile energy replenishment!"