Cackling Through the Slaughter!

Fifty of Yongye's Shadow Clones spoke at once.

"Yes!"

Their voices were so perfectly in sync they sounded like one person. The fifty voices overlapped, echoed, and exploded through the passage, shaking the ivy on the walls.

Then all fifty Shadow Clones moved.

The ten in front began weaving Hand Seals, their fingers flying.

Tiger, Snake, Dog, Dragon—their chests swelled as Chakra gathered deep in their throats, compressing and spinning.

"Fire Release—Majestic Destroyer Flame!"

Ten enormous jets of flame surged from the clones' mouths. They were not the usual orange-Kurenai, but a dense, almost dark Kurenai. The streams converged in midair into a blazing sea of fire that crashed down on Root's Iron gate and surrounding walls.

The Iron gate turned Kurenai-hot in an instant. Its hinges melted, and both doors crashed to the ground, throwing up sparks and dust.

The ivy curled and blackened in the flames, then crumbled to ash. Stones in the wall cracked from the heat with sharp pops.

Torune Aburame sprang backward the instant the flames struck, his black cloak spreading behind him like the wings of a startled bat.

He crossed his hands before him, and Kikaichū poured from his sleeves to form a black wall of insects.

The insect wall stopped the flames, but it could not stop the heat!

The Kikaichū shrieked as they roasted. Their black shells turned Kurenai-hot, and they dropped from the air one after another, still twitching when they hit the ground.

Ten of Yongye's Shadow Clones charged through the flames and into the Root Base.

They moved like lightning, leaving afterimages in the thick smoke and firelight.

Two Root ninja burst from a side passage, Kunai in hand, and lunged at the leading clone.

Yongye's Shadow Clone shifted slightly. The Kunai grazed past his ear. He raised