Naruto: I, Uchiha, Just Want to Die

Chapter 139: A Pyrrhic Victory and a Near-Death Crisis

After unleashing the massive fire dragon, the Kusanagi Sword instantly lost its luster, and Uchiha Ci's Kirin Arm dimmed along with it. His entire right arm was burned into a charred lump.

Inside him, Zero Tails was completely depleted, leaving not a single drop of chakra. Even his body suddenly shrank dramatically in size. Correspondingly, the forbidden technique "Body Revival" ceased immediately.

In that moment, Uchiha Ci felt his eyelids grow unbearably heavy. Without the forbidden technique to sustain him, all of his accumulated injuries exploded at once—

The piercing wounds inflicted during the Sand Shinobi ambush, the muscle tears from dragging the cyclone vortex, the searing pain of his carbonized right arm, and the numerous non-lethal blade and sword cuts he had left untreated to conserve chakra. Added to that was the crushing exhaustion of chakra overuse.

Pain—too much pain!

The agony was so overwhelming that it kept him wide awake, forcing him to helplessly watch as he plummeted from a height of 100 meters.

And this was the price he paid to unleash his ultimate peak technique—

"Piercing Sword Style: Blazing Dragon Dance!"

In an instant, the fire dragon descended from the sky, charging at the stunned Sand Shinobi with devastating force. Before it even hit the ground, the entire desert landscape—grass, insects, and stones—shuddered.

Vultures soared into the air, gazelles lifted their heads in fear, and lions, leopards, and sand hares—all kinds of animals—raised their heads only to flee in a panic moments later.

In the night sky, Uchiha Ci calmly watched it all unfold. His gaze shifted to the group of Sand Shinobi elites standing at the epicenter of the fire dragon's descent.

Then, he smiled.

It was the innocent, delighted smile of a child discovering a new toy.

And then—

He opened his mouth ever so slightly and added a single, fatal sound effect to his masterpiece:

"Boom!"

The fire dragon crashed ferociously into the center of the Sand Shinobi formation. Unwilling to sit and wait for death, the remaining Sand Shinobi elites raised their heads in horror, their eyes bulging as they unleashed all their most powerful techniques into the sky.

Countless jutsus intertwined, merging into a massive white orb of light that shot skyward with a deafening roar.

The fire dragon and the white orb collided in an instant!

Screeeech—

The air seemed to screech in protest, a sound so warped and piercing that it felt like it could tear eardrums apart.

And then—

Boom!

A radiant, dark-red mushroom cloud rose from the ground, consuming all light and sound in an instant.

The violent shockwave distorted the air, creating a visible ripple that spread outward, blowing everything away—evaporating, incinerating, annihilating everything in its path. It crashed against the pale-red Deathmatch Barrier that encompassed a 300-meter radius.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

Dense, web-like fractures spread across the barrier. Even the residual shockwave carried the destructive power of a Kage-level technique.

With a sound like shattering glass, the Deathmatch Barrier exploded.

The resulting winds surged outward, forcing the Konoha assault team stationed outside the barrier to lean back, shielding their faces from the flying debris.

Then came an eerie silence, long enough to make one's skin crawl.

When the assault team finally dared to open their eyes, they instinctively looked toward the Sand Shinobi's camp.

The next moment, all of them gasped sharply. Staring at the devastation before them, their eyes widened in disbelief and horror.

"That kind of technique… was unleashed by a twelve-year-old Chūnin?"

"Could anyone have survived that attack?"

"Captain, what did you say earlier? That you wanted to save that kid?"

"Looking at this, who's saving who now?"

Uchiha Shinichi and Uchiha Shisui stood side by side at the front of the team, dumbfounded as they gazed at the battlefield.

This absurd reality shattered their understanding of the shinobi world.

Although Shisui disliked boasting, he had always been hailed as a prodigy since childhood. Everyone in the clan praised him as a promising talent destined for greatness.

Yet, even as a prodigy, he had only recently awakened his Sharingan, with just two tomoe, barely able to fight a clan Jōnin to a draw.

But then there was Uchiha Ci—

The last time they saw him, he was scavenging bottles and scrap metal in Konoha's riverbank, performing lowly D-rank missions that everyone else in the clan disdained. A boy so pitiful that even stray dogs would spit at him, a "worthless" Genin unable to awaken the Sharingan.

But now—

This "trash" who once carried a sack of bottles on his back had become the apprentice of one of the Legendary Sannin, earning a formidable reputation in the Land of Hot Water.

Now, he stood alone, boldly facing 300 Sand Shinobi.

First, he cleaved enemies in two with his colossal sword, then danced through the enemy lines under the moonlight. His blade swept across the battlefield as he soared through the air, and his blazing dragon incinerated an entire army formation in one strike!

It was simply terrifying!

In comparison, Shisui couldn't help but feel that his reputation as a prodigy was nothing more than self-promotion. He felt utterly ashamed.

"This… this is impossible! Absolutely impossible!" Uchiha Shinichi stared blankly at the ruins, muttering to himself. "How can he be this strong?!"

"Swordsmanship, taijutsu, genjutsu, even ninjutsu—he surpasses me in every way!"

"If he's this strong… what could I possibly teach him?"

Then, as if struck by a sudden realization, Shinichi's expression changed.

"I get it!"

His face lit up with indignation, envy, and frustration as he clenched his fist and slammed it against his thigh.

"Damn it! This is the Hawk Faction flaunting their strength at us!"

"The Elder is sending us a message!"

Ever since the death of the previous clan head, Uchiha Kagami, the position had remained vacant. While Uchiha Fugaku was the strongest candidate, Elder Uchiha Setsuna had repeatedly opposed his appointment, leaving Fugaku as the head of the Police Force instead.

Now, the Hawk Faction had suddenly produced such a prodigious talent, sending him to the Rain Country and placing him under the guidance of a Dove Faction leader like Shinichi.

What did this mean?

Was it an open display of power? Or an attempt to have the Dove Faction acknowledge this boy? Perhaps even to prepare him as the next clan head?

A flurry of thoughts swirled in Shinichi's mind. Fugaku's poor performance in the Land of Hot Water had already drawn dissatisfaction within the clan. Now, this boy had accomplished something that defied all understanding.

In terms of strength and support, this boy was already qualified to compete with Fugaku for the position of clan head.

Shinichi looked at the boy who had risked his life to save them, his expression complex.

He didn't know how to object to the notion. Deep down, he even felt a faint sense of anticipation.

If this child became the Uchiha clan's leader, what path would he lead them down?

Just then, Shisui's startled cry interrupted his thoughts.

"Shinichi-nii, look!"

"There—Uchiha Ci is in danger!"

Shinichi's gaze snapped to the center of the Sand Shinobi camp.

Amid the desolation—a wasteland crystallized by the fire dragon's impact—someone was struggling to rise.

It was the commander of the Sand Shinobi camp, covered in burns. His surroundings were strewn with corpses, with only a handful of survivors trembling in fear far away.

This single strike had obliterated half of the Sand Shinobi forces!

The commander's bloodshot eyes scanned the carnage around him. Anguish, madness, and despair twisted his face as he spotted the culprit—a boy lying amidst the ruins.

Broken legs from the fall, a charred right arm, a twisted neck, and countless burns, cuts, and sword wounds left him barely breathing.

The commander's breath hitched, his rage erupting as he drew a kunai.

"You… you…"

With blood and tears streaming down his face, he charged at the helpless boy, his voice trembling with rage and sorrow.

"YOU DEMON!"

"DIE! DIE!!"