The mountain valley stank of steam, blood, and singed earth.Uchiha Tobika stood alone at its center, the red glow of his Sharingan slicing through the fog.
Across from him, Kiritō Hotaru stared at the corpses of his comrades—four bodies cooling in the mud. Even the Ghost Lantern clan's special jōnin had been reduced to charred vapors. None of it made sense. Uchiha jōnin were dangerous, yes… but this? This was slaughter.
Tobika hadn't even used genjutsu yet.
The surviving Mist-nin were frozen between rage and fear. This wasn't the "gang-up and string him on a tree" fantasy they'd pictured. This was execution.
"Don't freeze up!" Hotaru roared at the stunned chūnin. "Restrict his movement!"
A small, wiry shinobi immediately sank underground.
Earth Release: Headhunter Jutsu!
Tobika felt the tremor under his heel.Muscle memory answered before thought.
He stomped.
Boom.
The ground caved in.The earth-release shinobi's head popped out of the dirt… then popped entirely, bursting into red mist.
Before the gore finished settling, a water dragon surged out of the fog.
Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet!
It clamped around Tobika's torso and hurled him backward. His ribs groaned, but he twisted, braced, and smashed his elbow into the dragon's skull. Water exploded outward. He flipped through the air, killed the momentum, and landed in a low crouch.
"Tch. You're annoying."
Two more water dragons roared toward him.
Tobika formed a single seal.
Tiger.
Fire Release: Dragon Flame Jutsu!
Three roaring fire-dragons shot from his mouth.Two collided with the water dragons in hissing detonations.The third arced high, came crashing down, and detonated in the crowd.
Boom!
The earth split and blackened.
Tobika was already moving. He grabbed exploding-tag kunai—four of them—his Sharingan mapping the battlefield in rapid flickers. He flicked them upward.
Kunai clashed in midair, rattling through the fog to scramble the Mist-nin's judgment.
"Direct hit," Tobika murmured.
He sensed the Mist-nin creeping up behind him before the sword kissed his throat.
"Ever seen an eye talk?" Tobika asked quietly.
The man blinked.
Boom boom boom boom!
All four exploding-tag kunai detonated at once.
The Mist-nin's ears rang. Tobika opened his eyes.The tomoe spun so fast they blurred into a hungry wheel.
"Sharingan doesn't talk," Tobika said calmly."I do."
He seized the man's arms and drove him face-first into the ground.Bone cracked like snapped bamboo.
One slash ended him.
More Mist-nin reacted.
Water Release: Hidden Mist Technique!
Fog billowed thicker than before, suffocating all vision.Even Tobika could barely see his own arm.
"A strong assassination technique," he muttered. "You Mist guys really are terrifying."
The mist-shinobi twitched. Why did he sound impressed? And also annoyed?
"Why's this Uchiha attacking us?!" one hissed.
"Maybe Konoha sent him to rescue Sarutobi Shinnosuke!"
"No way, Shinnosuke's on the opposite side of the country!"
"We should call for reinforcements—"
"Reinforcements from where? The village is already fighting three fronts! We've got teams out chasing Shinnosuke, teams ambushing Yakura, and now we're stuck here! The only one left in the village is the Mizukage!"
"Then call the genin to come help!"
Everyone stared at him.
A kunai slid into his spine.
Hotaru let the man fall and muttered, "I can die, but not my family."
A sigh materialized behind him.
"Died horribly," Tobika whispered.
A warm hand pressed onto Hotaru's neck.He turned, terrified—Tobika stood behind him, eyes closed.
"Living with ninja-cats improves hearing."
A chakra scalpel slit his carotid.Tobika moved on.
A massive explosion swallowed him whole.
Mist-nin finally exhaled.
"Nice one… we got him."
"No."The sensory-nin trembled violently."It's not over… I know who he is. That's the 'Blackened' Uchiha Tobika!"
Before anyone could reply, wind burst outward.
Fog ripped away. Sunlight speared down.
Tobika walked out of the blast cloud.
Half-naked.Burned.Bleeding.Glowing.
Black, elegant seal-patterns crawled across his chest, spreading to his arms, shoulders, face—like he wore an armor of ink.
He spat blood to the ground.
"Trash," he growled. "You have ten seconds."
He pressed two fingers together.
Seal Release.
Chakra erupted like a volcano.The Mist-nin recoiled instinctively.
This was not jōnin-level chakra.
This wasn't even tailed-beast-level chakra.
This was a natural disaster wearing sandals.
Tobika leapt.
The sky turned red.
Fire Release: Majestic Flame Annihilation!
A meteor-sized fireball slammed into the valley.Firestorm swallowed everything.
Mist-nin who survived the first scorch wrapped themselves in water domes.They melted anyway.
"Black hair… black markings… massive fire techniques…"A single Mist-nin whimpered, "There's no doubt… that's him."
"Captain—run!"
Far away, ninja-cats sat on a tree branch, chewing cat snacks.
"Congrats, Kirigakure," a black cat said lazily. "You drew the jackpot."
The tabby beside him scratched its ear."Blackened Uchiha… textbook case. Trauma triggered the seal."
The orange cat—Fatty—murmured through a senbon in its mouth:
"Once the seal cracks, Tobika's chakra output in the next ten seconds is effectively unbounded. Firepower doubles. Speed doubles. Range doubles. Everything doubles. Don't kill him in two seconds before the markings spread, and he'll burn a hole through the sky."
A thunderous blast painted half the heavens red.
In Kirigakure's capital, civilians stared at the crimson sky.
"Is… is a second sun rising?"
"Idiot, the real sun's right there."
"Well it looks wrong…"
Kirigakure's shinobi, however, understood exactly how wrong it was.
A wave of heat washed over the village.
"Hey—! Hey!" a Mist-nin shouted. "I felt a massive chakra surge!"
"No kidding—you just noticed? We're in deep trouble!"
More nin arrived.
"Mizukage-sama has ordered four-man teams. Investigate the red sky immediately!"
"Yes!"
Meanwhile…
Miyo Terumi—same age as Kakashi, elite chūnin—led her squad toward the firestorm.
"Captain," one of her rookies whispered, "what happened over there?"
"No idea." Miyo's voice tightened. "But the elders said the sky turning red… was man-made."
"Man-made?!"
"Quiet."
Ahead, two silhouettes emerged from the fog.
Miyo leapt forward.
"Stop! Who are—"
She froze.The man was burned, hair gone, eyebrows gone, skin blackened like charcoal.And he carried a dead woman in his arms.
"Who… are you?"
"Hmm?" Tobika exhaled a puff of black smoke. He squinted at her."You're… Miyo Terumi?"
Miyo instantly tensed, gripping her kunai.
"You know me?"
Tobika stepped closer, studying her face.
"…Smile?"
"???"
She stared at him.Was this a lunatic?This bald lunatic trying to flirt with her?
He bowed his head slightly.
"Never mind. You probably can't smile on command."
"Excuse me—"
Her words died as Tobika's eyes flipped red.
Sharingan.Three tomoe.
Genjutsu swallowed her whole.
Tobika brushed past her, but not before sticking his finger in her mouth and scraping away soot.
"Fatty, your intel was trash. That shark-toothed woman wasn't Miyo Terumi."
"She said she was! How was I supposed to know?!"
"This one's right. Normal teeth."
"Whatever you say. Can Yakura still be saved?"
"Yep."
"You're not planning Edo Tensei, right?"
"Idiot. I'm Konoha's number one medical ninja. Tsunade literally kneels under me and massages my feet."
"Liar. Also, grow your hair back. You look ridiculous."
"Two months and I'll have bangs. I'll buy a hat."
Later, after another ninja dispelled Miyo's genjutsu, she blinked rapidly.
"Miyo, what happened?!"
"I think… I think I…"She swallowed hard."I encountered an Uchiha. A bald Uchiha."
Everyone stared.
"Does that clan… have a bald member?"
Before they could process that, a Mist-nin pointed at her.
"Miyo! Why are your teeth black?"
"What—?"
She touched her teeth. Her tongue found soot.Her face went dark.
That bastard… fed her something while she was unconscious.
Would this ruin her chances of marriage?
By the time she learned what had happened in the valley—lava rock, melted terrain, bottomless craters—her expression soured completely.
Even if she caught him…She wasn't sure she could win.