Caught Off Guard, Too Slow to Dodge!

A vast sheet of flame erupted from Yongye's mouth like a gateway to hell thrown open!

The flames were no ordinary orange-red. They were so dense they looked almost dark crimson. The heat warped the air and lit up the forest for dozens of meters around.

Every tree in their path turned to charcoal in an instant. Sand and stone on the ground melted into dark-red streams.

The two Root ninjas hiding nearby did not even have time to react. They saw a flash of red, then a wave of heat struck them. After that, nothing.

The flames swallowed and burned their bodies, reducing them to charred remains. The heat surging behind scattered those remains across the scorched earth, until no one could tell carbonized wood from fragments of bone.

The sea of fire left by Great Fire Annihilation sent thick smoke billowing into the sky. Firelight painted half the treetops red, visible from hundreds of meters away.

On a night this quiet, the commotion was impossible to miss.

Yongye's clone shifted his gaze. The perception granted by Clear Sword Heart spread outward like a tide. In the darkness, Chakra signatures were converging rapidly on his position.

Closest, behind him to the left, came four cold blue Chakra signatures. They carried Root ninjas' distinctive chill and were closing fast in a fan formation.

Ahead to the right were six ANBU Chakra signatures. They felt somewhat less sinister than Root's, but their movements were just as disciplined as they advanced in a standard encirclement formation.

Farther off, several familiar Chakra signatures were also approaching fast: an Uchiha patrol.

All three groups were heading this way.

The corner of Yongye's clone's mouth lifted.

Perfect timing!

He had just been thinking the disturbance was not big enough. Now everyone he wanted here—and everyone he did not—was coming.

The muddier the waters, the easier it is to fish.

And the bigger the stage, the better the show!

Without the slightest hesitation, he pushed off and shot toward the ANBU ninjas like a bolt of lightning.

Behind him, four Root ninjas pursued him relentlessly. One had locked onto his Chakra signature, tracking him like a hound he could not shake.

"Don't let him get away!"

"After him!"

"Keep eyes on him!"

Several dark figures raced through the forest. Branches rustled beneath their feet, startling a flock of roosting crows into flight.

The Uchiha patrol heard the commotion too.

Three Uchiha ninjas headed for the outskirts of the Uchiha Clan Compound, their Sharingan glowing scarlet in the dark. They did not know what had happened, but someone fighting near the compound was reason enough to put them on high alert.

The three groups drew closer and closer.

The Root ninjas were at the front of the pursuit and could already see the figure racing ahead. The ANBU ninjas were closing in from the flank, less than fifty meters away.

The Uchiha patrol was farther off, but at their speed, they would arrive within a few breaths.

The trap was about to close.

Yongye's clone stopped abruptly. He stood on a thick branch above the route the ANBU ninjas had to take.

A night breeze lifted one corner of the black cloth covering his face, revealing the distinctive mask beneath—the one worn by Kakashi Hatake. It lasted only an instant, but that was enough for the ANBU ninjas below to see it.

The ANBU ninjas looked up instinctively.

Their eyes met his.

Then they saw the masked man rapidly form Hand Seals.

Tiger. Snake. Dog. Dragon.

His chest swelled as Chakra gathered deep in his throat, condensing into a searing force.

Not good!

The ANBU ninjas' pupils contracted sharply.

Those seals, that opening move—

"Fire Release—Great Fire Annihilation!"

An overwhelming sea of fire crashed toward the ANBU formation like a falling sun, threatening to burn everything in its path!

The heat warped the air. Before the flames even reached them, the wave of heat made the sand and stones on the ground crackle.

Firelight turned the night sky bright as day and illuminated the horror on the ANBU ninjas' faces.

"Scatter!!"

Someone shouted.

The ANBU formation broke instantly, six figures springing away in every direction.

The flames struck the ground and burst into a dark-red mushroom cloud. The shock wave hurled broken stone and scorched earth through the air, engulfing the three ANBU ninjas who had been too slow to escape!

They burned to death instantly!

At the same time, the Root ninjas caught up.

What they saw was a silver-haired masked man standing on a branch, unleashing devastating Fire Release Ninjutsu against the ANBU ninjas.

Farther away, the Uchiha patrol had arrived too. Three pairs of Sharingan took in the entire scene.

The masked man stopped breathing fire. He slowly straightened and brushed sparks from the hem of his clothes, unhurried and utterly unconcerned that he was surrounded.

Then, under everyone's gaze, his figure blurred into a cloud of pale-blue Lightning Release Chakra and vanished into the night breeze.

The Lightning Release Clone dissipated.

Only three groups remained at the scene: Root, the surviving ANBU ninjas, and the Uchiha patrol. They stared at one another.

The night wind swept across the scorched earth, stirring the last flickers of firelight.

Uchiha Fugaku lay on his futon, eyes open, staring at the ceiling.

It was late, but he kept tossing and turning, unable to sleep.

His thoughts were a tangled mess.

Konoha's suppression and exclusion of the Uchiha Clan had become almost blatant.

Mission assignments targeted them more deliberately by the day. The Konoha Military Police Force's budget had been cut again and again.

Root and ANBU ninjas lurked around the compound every few days, watching the clan as though they were thieves.

Under those circumstances, the clan's hardliners grew angrier by the day. Every meeting, they slammed the table harder than the last.

One day, someone called him weak. The next, someone called him incompetent. The day after that, someone asked with biting sarcasm whether the clan head had forgotten his own surname was Uchiha.

Caught in the middle, Fugaku took abuse from both sides and could please neither.

Fugaku rolled over to face the wall. The Uchiha Clan's Gunbai crest hung there, glimmering faintly silver in the moonlight.

Looking at it, he felt a bitter ache.

Deep down, he genuinely wanted to compromise with the Konoha High Command and settle every conflict peacefully.

What good would a break with Konoha's leadership do the Uchiha? Could one clan truly stand against an entire village?

He had named his younger son "Sasuke" to honor Sarutobi Sasuke, the Third Hokage's father, in keeping with tradition in the Shinobi World.

The name itself was a pledge of loyalty, his way of telling Lord Hokage: I, Uchiha Fugaku, harbor no disloyalty. I am willing to submit.

Yet Danzo and Root had only grown more brazen, pressing them harder at every turn.

Before, they had merely watched, restricted, and excluded the clan. Now they were even using classified missions to get Uchiha killed.

And the one suffering most from it all was Uchiha Fugaku.

First, clan members had berated him to his face: "You can't even protect your own people! What kind of clan head are you? Tie up any stray dog and it would do a better job!"

Then his two sons had been dragged into it.

His younger son, Sasuke, had been cursed at in the street by that madman Uchiha Yongye until he cried.

When Sasuke returned, his eyes were swollen and red, and he trembled all over with his fists clenched. Fugaku asked what had happened, but the boy bit his lip and refused to say a word.

The hurt on his son's face made Fugaku's heart twist.

That much he could have let go. Children quarreled, and a good cry would get it out of their systems.

But his elder son—

At the thought of Uchiha Itachi's injury, Fugaku's heart clenched.

The gifted son he was proudest of was still young, yet he already had the strength of a full-fledged Elite Jonin.

His talent for combat was exceptional, and his mastery of the Sharingan left even many older clan members far behind.

In the entire Uchiha Clan, only Body Flicker Shisui could reliably best Itachi.

Yet even that extraordinary prodigy had been... beaten by Uchiha Yongye!

In the middle of the street, with a kick to the groin!

Curled up on the ground, clutching himself... the injury was bad enough, but the humiliation was worse!

When Sasuke ran home crying, he kept shouting, "They beat up my brother!" and "My brother's in so much pain!"

At the time, blood had rushed to Fugaku's head. He had nearly stormed out on the spot to settle accounts with Uchiha Yongye.

Itachi had stopped him. The boy's face was pale, and he had not even wiped away his cold sweat, but he forced himself to say, "I'll find him myself next time! I was caught off guard. I didn't dodge in time."