The various forces pried loose within his body continued to accumulate, swelling further by the second.
Because they had not been fused into Sage Chakra but were instead raw, violent Natural Energy, the consequences were dire. The Dark Expanding Rasengan Ren had swallowed began to frantically drain his own chakra—and even the Zero-Tails' chakra from the Eight Trigrams Seal.
It began to rotate, faster and faster, spiraling into a frenzy!
It was moving toward total loss of control, a manifestation of pure, unbridled destruction. Yashiro Uchiha watched, his despair deepening. A blast of this magnitude, even a glancing blow, would likely vaporize him instantly.
He wanted to slap himself. The Great Elder clearly had his reasons for choosing this boy; why did he have to go and provoke a monster? He couldn't wrap his head around how a twelve-year-old child could possess such world-shaking power.
Now, he had overplayed his hand, and he was likely going to die for it.
In that moment of absolute crisis, Ren's eyes suddenly cleared. Sensing the chaotic mess inside his body, he felt a wave of helplessness and a silent urge to cry.
"No choice. I have to launch a giant firework. Cyber-Ultraman-Buddha bless me, I hope I don't hit anything important this time!"
"I seriously can't afford any more repair bills!!!"
He immediately deactivated his Sharingan, cutting off the meridians that were funneling Natural Energy into his body. This allowed him to regain a flicker of physical control.
With a sudden burst of effort, he ripped one arm from the ground and delivered a brutal uppercut to his own jaw! The force of the punch sent his bloated, balloon-like body flying back, flipping him over like a turtle on its shell—face-up toward the sky.
He had forcibly altered the trajectory of the Menacing Beast Beam once more. With his head tilted back, he unhinged his jaw toward the heavens!
BOOM!!!
The violent, obsidian beam erupted into the sky. A hurricane-force wind swirled around the pillar of light, instantly ravaging the elegant Zen garden. Rockeries, pebbles, white sand, pond water, koi fish, and ancient trees were all uprooted and hurled into the air.
The massive recoil crushed the ground beneath him, creating a web of cracks and pressing a crater ten meters wide into the earth.
Gazing up at such terrifying power, Yashiro Uchiha dropped his blade. He sank to the ground, his eyes vacant.
Decades of hard training, the countless sacrifices made to awaken the Three-Tomoe Sharingan, the pride he took in being an Elite Jōnin—it was all crushed and scattered in an instant, reduced to a bitter murmur.
"Why... as an Uchiha, can he obtain such power without even relying on the Sharingan?"
"The power of the ultimate ocular bloodline... looks so pale before him."
"Is this... the Great Elder's choice?"
Just then, a palm—charred and stripped of its surface skin—was offered to Yashiro.
He looked up dazed and saw the youth. Ren's clothes were reduced to scorched rags, and his body was covered in burns. He stood barefoot amidst the ruins, offering a remarkably bright, cheerful smile.
"Yashiro-senpai," Ren asked, "it hasn't been ten minutes yet, but I think I passed the Inheritance Trial, right?"
The boy's voice pulled Yashiro back to reality. He froze, then nodded vigorously. For a moment, he felt like crying.
Regardless of everything, this was a child of the Uchiha! A genius who surpassed Kagami Uchiha, broke the limits of bloodline, and stood above Elite Jōnin with only two tomoe. In the future, he might even reach the realm of the ancestor, Madara Uchiha!
"Ren Uchiha!" Yashiro gripped the charred hand with both of his own, his voice trembling. "I acknowledge you! I acknowledge you!"
"To hell with Fugaku Uchiha! No matter what anyone says, from this day forth, you are the only choice for the Young Clan Head of the Uchiha!"
Yashiro's crimson eyes burned with fierce determination as he made his vow: "I will do everything in my power to assist you! I will see you become the Clan Head, a high-level official of Konoha, and even the Hokage! You will achieve the greatness that no previous Clan Head ever could!"
Ren's lip twitched. He raised a hand weakly to interrupt.
"Let's put that aside for a moment, Yashiro-senpai... please, just don't take me to the hospital. I can heal on my own. I really don't want to pay the medical fees... please!"
With those words, Ren's body swayed, and he collapsed into Yashiro's arms. He closed his eyes. Two Menacing Beast Beams, especially the last one, had drained every last drop of chakra he could muster. He was at his absolute limit.
Yashiro stared at the boy in his arms, who was now sleeping as peacefully as a baby. After a long time, he couldn't help but laugh and shake his head.
"Really... he's still just a child."
High above, the Menacing Beast Beam traced its arc and finally detonated against the surface of Konoha's sensory barrier, blowing a massive hole in it.
The civilians of Konoha stopped in their tracks, looking up in awe at the brilliant "firework" in the sky. Everyone, that is, except the members of the Barrier Team—and a certain red-haired beauty confined in the former residence of Mito Uzumaki.
Kushina Uzumaki stared at the phantom hole in the sky, thinking about the overwhelming workload that would now rob her of every second of free time.
"WHO?! WHO DID THIS?!" she screamed. "My date! My date with Minato is ruined!!!"
Half an hour later, an emergency meeting was convened in the Hokage Building.
The agenda: the aftermath of Ren Uchiha's "Half-Tailed Beast Frenzy" and the proposal for utilizing Jinchūriki-class weaponry. The development of this new "ultimate mode" was a double-edged sword for Konoha.
The good news: Since the First Great Ninja War, the intensity of conflict had risen, and nations were attempting to use Jinchūriki as weapons. Konoha possessed the strongest beast, the Nine-Tails, but had been unable to deploy it for various reasons. Ren Uchiha's destructive power showed them the possibility of deploying such a humanoid weapon.
The bad news...
Inside the meeting room, Hiruzen Sarutobi, Tsunade, Orochimaru, the village elders, Danzo, and the heads of the major clans were all gathered. Hiruzen's face was slightly contorted as he looked at the figures on the report. He remained silent for a moment before speaking.
"Regarding the significant damages caused to Konoha by Ren Uchiha's half-beast rampage..."
"The estimated costs for the destruction of Senju territory buildings and vegetation, the Uchiha Ancestral Shrine, various residential clusters, the Naka River waterway, and the village barrier exceed 100 million ryo."
"However, given Jōnin Ren Uchiha's distinguished service in the Land of Rain and the strategic potential of his abilities for the Third Great Ninja War... let's hear everyone's thoughts."
Hiruzen dropped the bill onto the table, rubbing his temples. At the table, three women were radiating a terrifying, vengeful aura.
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