Chapter 4: The Scorching Gauntlet
"It seems... it's done."
Uchiha Obito materialized once more, watching as the iron rods pierced clean through the chest of the fleeing Uchiha Naoki. He expected the boy to crumple, but instead, his single visible eye widened in shock at the scene that unfolded.
The grievous wound on Uchiha Naoki's chest didn't bleed. Instead, it glowed with an intense, inner heat, the flesh and fabric bubbling and transforming into searing, orange magma. The black rods themselves sizzled, melting instantly into slag within the molten cavity. Just as quickly, the magma solidified, "healing" the wound seamlessly as if it had never been there. Uchiha Naoki continued his sprint forward, completely uninjured.
"What… what manner of Kekkei Genkai is this?" Even with all he had witnessed over the years, this display left Uchiha Obito momentarily stunned. He had never seen an ability that allowed one to transform their very body into lava. The Ghost Lamp clan's water transformation was one thing, but this was something else entirely.
"It appears… capturing him for study has become a necessity," Obito murmured, a spark of intense curiosity igniting within him. This unknown bloodline limit was fascinating. Moreover, the fact that this Uchiha Naoki had hidden such power within the clan without his notice marked him as anything but simple. He had no intention of allowing a potential future problem to grow unchecked.
At Konoha's Main Gate
"Who goes there?!"
The moment Uchiha Naoki's main body emerged from the earth—having found the ground beneath the gate also sealed by a barrier—he was immediately spotted and surrounded by a squad of Root operatives dispatched by Danzo.
"Tch. So many guests. Danzo is certainly thorough," Naoki remarked, his eyes scanning the encircling enemies. A heat fiercer than any he had felt before burned in his gaze. "It seems a forceful breakthrough is our only option." A month of relentless training had led to this moment of truth.
"Pfft! How laughable, to speak of a 'forceful breakthrough'!" a Root member with a fox mask sneered. "Uchiha scum, don't equate us with the trash in the regular ANBU. We are Konoha's true elite!"
While he spoke, another operative with a black dog-head mask blurred into motion, closing the distance with cold efficiency. "How dare a mere Uchiha remnant speak Lord Danzo's name so casually?" he hissed. "Hmph, go to hell and offer your apologies to him there!"
A cold gleam of steel cut through the air, the chakra-enhanced blade slicing cleanly through Uchiha Naoki's torso.
"Is that all?" the dog-masked Root member scoffed, beginning to withdraw his sword.
But a sharp cry came from behind him. "Be careful!!"
A wave of oppressive, scorching heat suddenly erupted, painting the entire area in a hellish red glow. A fist of magma, large as a millstone, roared through the air, carrying the force of a volcanic eruption.
"What?!" The dog-masked operative had no time to react. The attack was already upon him. "No! Too late to dodge!"
"Great Eruption!!"
The punch carried all of Uchiha Naoki's pent-up fighting spirit from the past month. With a deafening roar, the blistering strike landed, its power swelling instantly to completely devour the Root member.
"AAAAHHH—!!!"
A single, truncated scream was all that escaped before it was silenced. The man was utterly annihilated within the incandescent fury of the magma.
"How is this possible?!" The surrounding Root members stared in stunned disbelief. "Tenji… a Jonin-level fighter… died just like that?"
"Damn it! Since when did the Uchiha possess a Kekkei Genkai like this?!"
Their eyes snapped back to the young Uchiha, their postures shifting into ones of high alert, treating him as a grave threat.
"The enemy is extraordinary! Everyone…" a Root member with a painted mask barked, "…attack together!"
He led the charge, his hands flying through seals. "Ninja Art: Shadow Shuriken Technique!"
A dense, impenetrable rain of shuriken shot towards Uchiha Naoki, moving at blinding speeds. Simultaneously, two other Root members flanked him from behind, cutting off any escape route.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Uchiha Naoki, seemingly with no time to evade, was riddled with the projectiles, his body pinned like a hedgehog.
Seeing this, the two Root members behind him unleashed a coordinated assault. "Fire Release: Great Flame Technique!"
"Wind Release: Gale Technique!"
BOOM!
The wind fanned the flames, erupting into a raging sea of fire that painted half the sky crimson and mercilessly swallowed Uchiha Naoki's form.
"Is he dead?"
"Without a doubt! He must be dead!"
The Root operatives watched the inferno, convinced that no one could possibly survive such a cataclysm.
The flames slowly receded, fading back into the night. But when the scene within was revealed, a collective, sharp intake of breath echoed among them.
"How can this be?!"
Uchiha Naoki stood unharmed, his body having transformed into a flowing, molten silhouette. The shuriken had melted away, and the fire had passed over him without leaving a mark.
"Is this… some advanced form of Lava Release?" the fox-masked Root member muttered, puzzled, but then shook his head. "No, I've never heard of Lava Release allowing the user to assimilate their own body!"
He knew of the Ghost Lamp clan's Hydrification technique, but turning one's body into actual, scorching lava? There was no recorded Kekkei Genkai that granted such an ability.
"Hey, so these are the famous members of the Root organization?" Uchiha Naoki's voice cut through their shock, laced with deliberate contempt. "And here I thought Konoha's 'elite' would be more impressive. You're nothing special."
He needed to anger them, to make them lose their cool. Agitated enemies made mistakes, and mistakes would allow him to end this quickly and make his escape from Konoha.
It worked.
Upon hearing his words, the eyes of the Root members turned murderously cold.
"Hmph, arrogant brat!" the painted-mask leader snarled. "If you're so eager to die, we'll oblige you! I don't care what kind of Kekkei Genkai this is. Once we capture you for research, Lord Danzo will be most pleased to have a new specimen for his collection!"
With that, he drew his sword and lunged. Crackling lightning enveloped his body, and his speed became a bizarre, unpredictable blur.
The other Root members watched with grim satisfaction. "That's the Lightning-Speed Movement, a technique even the Sharingan struggles to track. Several Jonin have fallen to it. You're dead, kid."
"Lightning Speed Ninjutsu, huh?" Naoki paid no heed to their taunts, but internally, his focus sharpened to a razor's edge. This was his first real battle against so many skilled opponents. Even with the cheat-like power of elemental intangibility, carelessness could be fatal.
He activated his two-tomoe Sharingan, the crimson pupils spinning rapidly. Combined with his Observation Haki, his perception expanded, analyzing every minute movement of the enemies around him.
There!
He sensed the attack coming from his left flank a fraction of a second before it manifested.
"Great Eruption!"
His arm transmuted into superheated magma, burning with an intense red glow, and he threw a scorching punch directly toward the point in space his Haki had locked onto.
The next instant, the icy, lightning-charged blade thrust out silently from the blur—only to meet the molten fist head-on.
BOOM!
Fist met sword in a concussive blast of heat and lightning, a temporary stalemate.
But the fact that Uchiha Naoki had perfectly anticipated and blocked his sure-kill technique left the painted-mask Root member utterly confounded. This was an ability that even Danzo praised, believing few outside the Five Kage could counter it. And this boy had seen it coming?
He couldn't accept it!
Nor could the other Root members, who stared in horrified realization.
"How is this possible? Two Tomoe?!" they shouted, their eyes fixed on Uchiha Naoki's blazing scarlet eyes. "How does a brat like you possess such an advanced Sharingan?"
The painted-mask leader's gaze turned venomous. "You've been hiding your true strength all this time? What is your purpose?!"