The night was still. Cold wind brushed through the trees, the faint chirping of insects filling the silence around the small, dimly lit house where Uchiha Shigure rested. But danger prowled in the shadows. Three figures slinked silently along the rooftops, vanishing into the darkness until they reappeared outside the sliding door.
One whispered, voice sharp with venom.
"Brother Feng, don't hold back tonight. That bastard humiliated me in front of everyone at the Academy. He has to pay."
Shigure's eyes, wide awake and alert in the darkness, twitched. The voice was unmistakable: Uchiha Mamoru.
"Hmph." Another sneer joined him. Uchiha Kaku—the older thug who had stepped in before. "Losing to him left a scar on our clan's pride. We'll remind him what happens when castoffs dare lift their heads against real Uchiha blood."
The third was taller, older, confident in his step. His chakra—dense and bitter.
"How amusing. The two of you needed my help against a child?" Uchiha Feng's lips curled mockingly. "Fine. We'll end this quickly. That little stray should never have survived this long."
At the word stray, Shigure's jaw clenched beneath his cover of silence. His Sharingan flickered alive faintly, observing their movements with deadly calm.
The door slid open with barely a sound. Three Uchiha slipped into the small room, the faint moonlight illuminating their faces briefly. On the bed before them, Shigure lay still—his chest rising and falling as though in deep sleep.
Mamoru's grin twisted. "So defenseless… Hah. You dare call yourself Konoha's new Genin? Pathetic!" He pulled a sack from behind him and, with vicious enthusiasm, yanked it over Shigure's sleeping head.
Kaku chuckled cruelly, drawing a thick wooden stick. "And now we break him. Slowly."
The three shared grim smiles as Mamoru's stick whistled down.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The sound of hard blows filled the narrow room… except something was wrong.
Thud. The sound was heavier, hollower. Not flesh, not bone.
"What the—?" Mamoru froze mid-swing. "Why… why's it not…?"
With a wooden crack, the body they were striking splintered apart.
"Substitution Technique!" Feng barked, eyes widening.
Smoke burst upwards. The 'sleeping Shigure' shattered into a wooden log bound by rope.
"Trap—!"
Before they could retreat, three shadows blurred into existence around them, clapping into being with sharp puffs of smoke. Crimson eyes gleamed in the dark as Shigure's shadow clones boxed them in.
From the rooftop, the real Shigure dropped down, landing silently behind them. His voice was low, edged with ice. "The mighty Uchiha clan. Warriors of Konoha. And yet, the three of you come crawling in the dark to ambush one of your own like dogs?"
The shadows at his side cracked their knuckles, eyes glaring death.
Mamoru flinched involuntarily, panic twisting through his face. "W-we… it's a misunderstanding!" He forced a trembling smile, waving his hands weakly. But his voice cracked in desperation. "Big brother! Second brother! Now!"
Instantly, twin voices rang out in unison.
"Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu!" (Fire Style: Phoenix Fire Technique!)
"Katon: Ryūka no Jutsu!" (Fire Style: Dragon Fire Technique!)
Flames erupted. Mamoru and Kaku's cheeks puffed before unleashing volleys of burning orbs that scattered, searing the air. Feng's fire roared outwards, a long, racing inferno blasting across the narrow room like a serpentine tongue.
The house became an inferno, wooden walls blistering as flames licked greedily.
Shigure's eyes widened faintly—but not in fear. In calculation.
"So… you dare use lethal ninjutsu here." His voice deepened in contempt. "Even if it brings the village guards."
Kaku's laughter barked cruelly through the fire. "Idiot! The Uchiha guard are the patrol unit! This is our territory tonight."
Feng smirked confidently, his hands sliding into new seals. "No one's coming for you. This is your grave."
Shigure's lips twisted upward. "Wrong."
Smoke burst again. His hands snapped through seals faster than their eyes could track. His clones mirrored him, chakra roiling as they shouted together:
"Doton: Doryūheki!" (Earth Style: Earth Flow Wall!)
Two massive earthen ramparts surged upward, splitting the room and slamming into the ceiling. The walls absorbed the Phoenix Fire's rapid volleys, then took the brunt of the Dragon Fire's scorching beam. Flames cracked and hissed, but the barrier held.
Mamoru's jaw dropped. "He—he blocked it!?"
Kaku's teeth clenched. "A fresh graduate should never—how can he already use Earth Release at this scale?"
Even Feng frowned, irritation cutting through his amusement. "This kid is more dangerous than I thought."
On the other side of the earth walls, Shigure's Sharingan spun, three pale magatama swirling around pupils faintly tinged with white. His voice grew ruthless.
"You dared bring fire into my home. Then burn in mine."
He lunged forward, his true body weaving lightning-fast seals. Five clones scattered around the Uchiha brothers, herding them into place.
Chakra flared.
"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!" (Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!)
The night lit up in a roaring sun, heat scalding the earth itself. The fireball expanded monstrously until it engulfed the center of the three attackers completely.
Mamoru's scream burst out first. "Impossible! That size—it's a furnace!"
Kaku and Feng dragged him aside at the last second, barely escaping as the fireball detonated into the walls. The house groaned, wood and glass shattering outward as flame blasted through. Timber cracked, smoke swirling into the night sky.
They stumbled free, coughing, clothes singed.
But Shigure was already waiting—with his clones in formation around their retreat.
They blinked. And froze.
All six Shigures activated their eyes at once.
Three-magatama tomoe spun within pale irises—an impossible hybrid of Sharingan and Byakugan.
Feng's composure broke a fraction. His voice hitched. "Th-that… that's not the Sharingan of the clan… White magatama?!"
Mamoru shook violently. "What are you…?"
Shigure's smile didn't reach his eyes.
"Surprised? Then here's more." He raised his hand. His clones mimicked him, seals snapping into place with perfect synchronicity.
"Steal your flames… then show you them perfected."
The six voices merged into a chilling chorus:
"Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu!" (Phoenix Fire Technique!)
"Katon: Ryūka no Jutsu!" (Dragon Fire Technique!)
"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!" (Great Fireball Technique!)
For an instant, the clearing became hellfire. Phoenix Blazes blossomed in volleys from multiple directions, Dragon Fire lashed like serpents, and overlapping Fireballs thundered outward in a storm that lit the night in red.
The sheer volume of flame shook the ground, whipping heat into a massive vortex that punched into the sky above Konoha.
The three Uchiha stood wide-eyed, unable to even breathe beneath the torrent of fire hurtling toward them.
And under the crimson glow of his own clan's jutsu reflected back at them, Uchiha Shigure advanced—the hunter where prey once mocked him.