Zuo Hao's Fury! Terrifying Fire Release!

His smile was hideous.

He slowly raised a hand and brushed his fingertips through the loose hair over his forehead. The touch was gentle, as though he were caressing something old and precious.

But the crimson light in his Three-Tomoe Sharingan no longer flowed slowly. It spun so fast it nearly became a single vortex of blood.

"Yamanaka Fū." Zuo Hao repeated the name, his voice unnaturally calm. "You say I can't protect my brother. You call the Uchiha Clan worthless... Then answer me this."

He paused. His gaze passed over Yamanaka Fū's shoulder and swept across the masked Root ninjas behind him.

"You dogs living in Danzo's shadow, too afraid to even face Konoha's sunlight—what right do you have to judge the Uchiha Clan?"

The moment he finished speaking, Yamanaka Fū's face changed.

It wasn't the insult that rattled him. He suddenly realized that Zuo Hao's air of quiet surrender had become like a volcano whose fuse had just been lit.

"Fall back!!" Yamanaka Fū roared, forming hand seals at breakneck speed. The psychic chakra of his Mind Body Switch Technique shot toward Zuo Hao like a poisoned needle.

But he was too late.

Zuo Hao's hands snapped through the seals, and chakra as scorching as lava erupted from his body.

His chest rose and fell deeply, as if he had ignited a living hell inside himself.

Then his mouth flew open, and chakra surged from his body toward his throat like a burst dam.

"Fire Style: Majestic Destroyer Flame!!"

Whoosh!! BOOM!!!

What poured from his mouth was no fireball or flaming projectile. It was a blazing sea of fire that swallowed his entire field of vision.

Yamanaka Fū's pupils contracted. He had never seen Fire Release on this scale.

No ordinary Jōnin could produce it. Not even an elite Jōnin could.

The technique's scale and power rivaled the Third Hokage's Fire Release Ninjutsu in his prime!

"Defend yourselves!!!" Yamanaka Fū's shout was nearly drowned by the wave of fire.

Several Root ninjas rushed forward and formed seals together. "Water Release: Water Formation Wall!"

Water surged from beneath their feet as they tried to raise a defensive wall.

But before Majestic Destroyer Flame, the wall evaporated into a cloud of white steam the instant it formed. It had not lasted even a breath.

The scalding steam rolled back over them, warping the Root ninjas' masks.

"Ah!!"

With a scream, the Root ninja at the front dropped to his knees, clutching his face. The steam had burned his eyes.

The next instant, half the enormous wave of fire suddenly drew back. As though guided by an invisible hand, it curved along the ground, swept precisely around the fallen ninja, and headed straight for Yamanaka Fū!

No! He did that on purpose! Every instinct Yamanaka Fū had screamed danger.

He leaped backward with all his strength and twisted through the air. The flames skimmed the soles of his feet, distorting the air just above his toes.

But the fire did not pursue him. Instead, it slammed into several other concealed positions in the woods.

They were the places where Torune Aburame had been lying in wait!

BOOM!!!

The flames struck the trees and swallowed an entire stretch of cover. Fire surged skyward.

Torune Aburame was forced out of the canopy. He flipped halfway around in midair and landed on a thick branch the flames had missed.

His expression barely changed, but beneath his clothes, his hands had quietly clenched into fists.

The strike had been a probe—and a warning.

Yamanaka Fū stood on a branch across from him, his face livid and a fine sheen of sweat on his brow.

He finally grasped the crucial fact: Zuo Hao might have spoken of surrender, but he had never intended to let this end peacefully.

"Didn't you call me worthless?" Zuo Hao's voice was not the least bit hoarse. It carried a searing heat. "Who's running now?"

Yamanaka Fū ground his teeth. "Everyone! Form up and kill him!"

The Root ninjas drew their kunai and short blades as one.

More than a dozen figures charged out of the firelight, their murderous intent fixed on Zuo Hao as they attacked from every direction.

The whistle of kunai, the slicing rush of Wind Release, and the footfalls of charging ninjas wove together into an inescapable net of death.

Zuo Hao stood where he was. He did not move.

The first kunai went through his chest.

It passed through Zuo Hao as though through empty air.

"What?!" Yamanaka Fū cried.

A second blade, a third, a fourth pierced Zuo Hao's torso, abdomen, and neck. Not one missed; every strike landed squarely on a vital point.

Yet every blade passed through his body without doing the slightest harm.

Zuo Hao stood motionless amid the flurry of blades, empty-handed.

He tilted his head and gave Yamanaka Fū a cold smile.

"What's wrong? Isn't this the Uchiha you wanted to see? Today, I'll show you the Uchiha Clan's Kekkei Genkai!"

"We can't kill him! Attacks pass right through his body!" a Root ninja cried, stumbling back two steps.

Zuo Hao suddenly moved.

Meanwhile, the commotion had grown so great that many others hidden nearby had already taken notice.

Team 8—Hinata Hyuga, Kiba Inuzuka, and Shino Aburame—held their breath between the shadows of trees and rooftops, their eyes fixed on the source of the disturbance.

Team 3—Neji Hyuga, Rock Lee, and Tenten—lay concealed nearby as well.

Neji quietly activated his Byakugan and watched the battle.

Team 10—Shikamaru Nara, Ino Yamanaka, and Choji Akimichi—watched from a dark corner with greater caution and composure.

Even Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro of Sunagakure were observing the fight from the shadows.

"Zuo Hao's in danger! We have to save him!" Ino cried urgently.

Shikamaru frowned and lowered his voice. "Hey, wait. Zuo Hao's up against twenty ANBU ninjas. ANBU. The few of us don't stand a chance."

Ino bit her lip and clenched her fists. "But... are we supposed to just stand here and watch him get hurt?"

"No. I'm going to save him!"

Shikamaru quickly reached out to stop her. "Don't rush in, Ino. We'd only get in Zuo Hao's way. Right now, the best we can do is stay out of it."

Beside them, Choji stared wide-eyed and could not help but speak up. "That was incredible... Zuo Hao's Fire Release, and the way he moves. Attacks go straight through his body. Is that the Uchiha Clan's Kekkei Genkai?"

Choji had barely finished speaking when a muffled explosion sounded in the distance, before Shikamaru could answer.

A wave of scorching air carrying the smell of charred earth washed over them from a hundred meters away.

Shikamaru's pupils narrowed. Through the tree shadows, he looked at the lone figure standing in the heart of the firelight.

Sparks still clung to Zuo Hao.

Neji's Byakugan remained fixed on Zuo Hao, the veins at his temples pulsing faintly.

"That chakra... It isn't the chakra of ordinary Ninjutsu. Is it... a Cursed Seal? No, there's something else..."