The white-hot blade burned with flames condensed to their absolute limit.
Ren Uchiha carved arc after stunning arc through the air, systematically cleaving the Wind Style: Blade of Wind that Ebizo fired at his joints to slow him down. The shockwaves of the exploding wind left fresh gashes across his skin, but they were trivial.
His eyes were locked on Ebizo.
He was calculating the distance. Fifty meters!
Ren was certain that if he could breach those fifty meters, the sheer power of his incandescent blade combined with his Cursed Seal-enhanced Taijutsu would be enough to pin Ebizo down.
Perhaps even... defeat him!
With that conviction, Ren accelerated again. His feet tore into the sand, kicking up a high veil of dust as he lunged forward like a lethal arrow aimed straight at the elder's heart.
Driven into a corner, Ebizo unleashed his full arsenal.
"Three-Machine Performance: Dance of the Chaotic Blades!"
Under his command, the three cold-faced puppets brandished their longswords and streaked through the air. Ren's eyes narrowed as he identified the kanji on their chests: Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha.
Two of the puppets raised their mechanical arms, rotating them in a way impossible for a human body. The twin blades attached to their forearms spun like high-speed rotors, a whirlwind of steel slashing toward him.
Faced with such nonsensical swordsmanship, Ren was forced to veer off. He attempted to use his Cloud-Style footwork to circle around and disable the puppet arms.
But as he moved, the third puppet, hovering in the rear, suddenly raised its hands.
Clack-clack-clack-clack!
The puppet's palms slid open, launching a volley of kunai so dense they blotted out his vision.
Ren's gaze sharpened. He twisted his body, leaping backward just as a blade's cold light grazed his nose. He performed a series of backflips, narrowly evading the steel rain.
This was the Puppet Style: Drill-Pole Blades. Each kunai trailed a nearly invisible chakra thread. A master puppeteer could use the momentum of the strike to attach threads to the enemy, turning them into a literal marionette. It was a suffocatingly foul tactic.
But it didn't end there.
The three puppets, having missed their initial strike, immediately split apart—seemingly opening a path to Ebizo. However, what followed was a wall of elemental fury.
"Wind Style: Great Vacuum Cannon!"
"Wind Style: Blade of Wind!"
"Wind Style: Scythe Weasel!"
The desert sand swirled in a frenzy. Ebizo stood like a rhythmic pile-driver, the ground beneath him vibrating as he spat out jutsu after jutsu.
Fighting a master strategist was like trying to swallow a fly; every move was a trap, every step a pitfall. Ren had no choice but to duck his head and weave through the ocean of ninjutsu, gritting his teeth as he pushed through the injuries just to get closer.
However, Ebizo was already executing the next stage of his defense. After firing his jutsu, he retreated until his back hit the edge of the barrier. He commanded his puppets to slam their palms onto the ground at regular intervals, creating a perimeter of glowing seal scripts.
By the time Ren hacked through the final wind blade and prepared to close the gap, the seals on the ground erupted in light.
Twenty meters in front of Ebizo, a row of bizarre, lion-headed puppets were summoned from the scripts. Ebizo panted heavily, his face pale but his eyes cold. He formed a final seal.
"Brat, before a master of puppetry, this short distance is a chasm you will never cross in this lifetime!"
"Sealing Jutsu: Lion's Closing Roar!"
The lion-headed puppets reared up, facing Ren. They formed a solid defensive wall of sealing energy. Anyone who approached would have the chakra within their body instantly suppressed and sealed away.
This was Ebizo's master plan: erect an impenetrable shield to negate Ren's superior Taijutsu, then slowly pick him apart with his puppets.
Ebizo glared at Ren through the gaps in his defense, a cruel smirk appearing on his face. Now, it was impossible for the boy to reach him.
"Well? Faced with such a technique, how will you respond?" Ebizo laughed harshly. "Hahahaha!"
But facing Ebizo's "impenetrable" shell and his arrogant posturing, Ren Uchiha simply shook his head. He reached into his pouch, pulled out a single kunai, and casually tossed it onto the sand.
He looked up at the elder with an indifferent, piercing gaze.
"Ebizo," Ren said quietly. "Don't you understand yet?"
"The moment you stepped into this barrier, only one of us was ever going to walk out alive."
Ebizo's gaze drifted to the kunai on the ground. When he saw the four kanji written on the hilt—Sword of Ninja Love—his pupils constricted into pinpricks.
"This... this is...?"
Ren stared at him and suddenly laughed out loud.
"Old man, have you been beaten so hard you've lost your mind? My mission was only to pin you down here!"
"Instead of trying to finish me quickly, you've spent your time building your own tombstone?"
Ren squinted at him. He stopped his advance, taking several steps back with a mocking, jagged smile on his face.
"Hahahahaha!"
"You... you..."
Ebizo's face turned deathly pale. He recognized that kunai immediately. It belonged to the disciple of Jiraiya of the Sannin—Minato Namikaze.
As the Commander-in-Chief of the Sand front and a master of intelligence, he knew exactly what Minato was capable of. The sight of that kunai sent a wave of primal terror through his bones.
Minato Namikaze possessed the ability to teleport himself and others across the battlefield in the blink of an eye.
When he linked that kunai to the orange flares that had been shot into the sky earlier, Ebizo realized the horrific truth. Konoha's true target... was himself!
He should have known! He should have seen it! But this brat—this Uchiha—was so insane, so relentless, that the pressure had stripped away Ebizo's ability to judge the wider strategic board!
Ebizo closed his eyes in agony, his breath hitching. A sudden, cold dread crawled over his wrinkled face. Then, he snapped his eyes open—old and clouded, yet sharp as daggers.
He glared at Ren, his voice trembling with fury.
"Why?!" He hissed. "Why would you go this far, you brat?!"
"Did you not know that I would kill you?! What could you possibly be thinking?!"
"You are an Uchiha! Why would you throw your life away for Konoha like this?!"
"You're a lunatic! A complete madman!"
Faced with the desperate interrogation of the "Mad Lion," Ren threw his head back and laughed.
"I've known for a long time!" He spat, his voice cold. "Only by throwing oneself into the heart of the fire, only by offering oneself to the flames... can one find the path through this despair!"
"So, I told you before!"
"Kill me! Because if you don't... I'm going to beat you to death!"
The natural energy within the Cursed Seal began to flood out without restraint, surging violently through his body. The black markings raced across every inch of his skin.
As the First Stage of the Cursed Seal fully unleashed, Ren lifted his chin, looking down at Ebizo with pure contempt.
"Come on!"
"Make your choice!"
"Try to kill me here and fight for a slim chance of escape... or stay inside your little shell and wait for death!"
In the sudden, pin-drop silence of the desert, Ren Uchiha covered his eyes with his hand. A mocking, jagged smile spread across his face as he looked through the gaps of his fingers at the trembling Ebizo. He let out the signature, manic laugh of the Uchiha.
"Heh... hehe... HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
"It's okay," Ren whispered. "Take your time. I have all night."
"No matter what you choose... I'm with you until the end!"