"I'm Already Honest, Please Let Me Go!"
Hearing the mocking "praise" from Hoshigaki Kisame, Uchiha Yi's lips twitched slightly.
Originally, he had intended to use Kisame as a measuring stone to test the results of his recent training and refine his combat instincts. A battle against one of the Akatsuki's most formidable shinobi was the perfect trial.
But being ridiculed so openly?
Even he felt a flicker of doubt.
Was he truly that lacking?
For a fleeting moment, Uchiha Yi recalled a certain controversial shinobi of the past someone who had endured endless suspicion, yet faced the world head-on without retreat. Strength was not forged in comfort. Doubt, humiliation, failure those were the whetstones of a true warrior.
A real shinobi does not fear being underestimated.
He uses it.
"…Heh."
Uchiha Yi exhaled, a low chuckle escaping him.
"Since you insist, I won't hold back."
Kisame's dismissive gaze was the final spark. Pride was not something an Uchiha cast aside lightly.
His Mangekyō Sharingan spun.
Amaterasu.
Jet-black flames erupted without warning, manifesting directly upon Kisame's body. The inextinguishable fire of the Mangekyō Sharingan devoured everything it touched, burning with silent, merciless intensity.
Unlike Uchiha Itachi, whose body bore the severe strain of overusing the Mangekyō, Yi's ocular power had evolved through unique circumstances. The black flames did not ravage his eyesight nor cripple his chakra coils. To him, Amaterasu demanded chakra nothing more.
"What is this?!"
Kisame's shark-like eyes widened. His hands flew through seals.
"Water Release: Great Exploding Water Colliding Wave!"
A massive surge of water formed, crashing down in an attempt to drown the black flames.
It failed.
The water evaporated violently upon contact. Steam exploded outward as the black inferno continued burning, undiminished.
"Water Clone Jutsu!"
With a sharp dispelling gesture, the burning body dissolved into water.
A moment later, Kisame emerged from another position, unharmed.
"A troublesome technique…"
Yi was not surprised.
His Mangekyō's perception pierced through chakra signatures and subtle distortions. From the start, he had known the burning figure was a clone.
Even the "real" Kisame now standing before him felt… wrong.
"So?" Yi asked calmly.
Kisame's grin returned.
"Not enough."
The answer snapped Yi's patience thin.
"Then hide as long as you like."
Crimson chakra flared.
But this was not ordinary Fire Release.
The ground trembled.
Magma molten and incandescent began flowing over Yi's forearms. This was not some foreign "lava magic." It was the Kekkei Genkai known as Lava Release (Yōton) a fusion of Fire and Earth chakra natures.
The air distorted from extreme heat.
Yi drove his magma-coated fists skyward.
"Lava Release: Meteor Volcano!"
Magma fists launched into the heavens like erupting volcanic artillery.
Kisame's pupils contracted.
He had seen a similar large-scale technique before used by the Fifth Mizukage, Terumi Mei but this execution was far more aggressive, weaponized with terrifying intent.
Kisame instantly grasped Samehada.
The living blade roared hungrily.
In a blur, Kisame closed distance, cleaving downward in an attempt to interrupt the technique mid-cast.
Yi's left arm expanded grotesquely into a colossal magma fist.
"Lava Release: Scorching Fist!"
The magma collided with Samehada.
Sizzle
The living sword writhed. Though Samehada could absorb chakra, this was superheated physical magma infused with chakra nature transformation. The contact scorched its flesh painfully before absorption could compensate.
The impact shattered the attacking water clone instantly.
Samehada was hurled away, quivering.
From the shadows, the true Kisame felt cold realization settle in.
The "rookie" he had mocked moments ago now radiated battlefield dominance worthy of the Akatsuki.
Above them
The sky ignited.
Tiny red embers became blazing projectiles.
Then massive magma spheres.
Dozens.
Hundreds.
Descending.
There was no elegant counter.
No time to weave hand seals.
The first impact landed.
Then the second.
Then the sky itself seemed to fall.
The battlefield transformed into a sea of molten devastation. The earth split. Forests vaporized. Steam and flame consumed the horizon.
Even the squad guarding Hatake Kakashi froze in disbelief.
"What… happened over there?!"
"Is Kisame-senpai… alive?"
Silence answered.
Bound and restrained, Kakashi narrowed his visible eye.
That chakra…
Stronger than before.
Hua Ling's warning resurfaced in his thoughts the mysterious masked man she had told him to beware of.
Was this him?
Who exactly had the Akatsuki provoked?
Amid the settling inferno, Yi stared at the apocalyptic aftermath.
"…I may have overdone it."
Upgrading Meteor Volcano had multiplied its lethality beyond expectation. Even Kisame's monstrous stamina had limits.
Before Yi could begin searching the devastation
Space twisted.
A spiral distortion formed.
Yi's eyes sharpened.
Kamui.
A masked figure stepped forth from the warped dimension.
Uchiha Obito.
In his grasp hung a charred, half-conscious Kisame.
Only Kamui's instantaneous space-time transfer could have extracted him from that hellscape in time.
The moment Kisame's eyes locked onto Yi
The fear was visceral.
His arrogance was gone.
His killing intent vanished.
What remained was raw survival instinct.
He struggled weakly in Obito's grip, voice cracking.
"I'm already honest please let me go!"
"I'll cooperate! Whatever you want!"
At that very moment
Yi's Mangekyō rotated slowly as he stared at the pair.
The battlefield had shifted.
And now
Even monsters were beginning to fear him.
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