The attackers hidden in the darkness were undeniably elites. Their bold and reckless use of signature clan techniques suggested they had launched this ambush with a do-or-die resolve.
This battle was far from over. Rēn fully understood that.
Sure enough—
"Secret Technique: Shadow Imitation Jutsu."
Another clan shinobi appeared, this time from the Nara clan. Under the moonlight, a pitch-black shadow slithered out like a snake, instantly latching onto the shadow cast by Rēn's body from the treetop. A formless, intangible restraint clamped down on him, stringing up his limbs like a puppet under invisible threads.
Rēn was frozen mid-motion—one arm holding Naruto, the other raised with his blade in a slashing posture—unable to move atop the tree branch.
The moment he was immobilized, two new figures burst from the forest behind him, their bodies crackling with lightning. Like the earlier sword-wielding attacker, these two were clearly Kenjutsu specialists. They learned from their fallen comrade's mistake and didn't aim for a frontal strike. Instead, they tried to avoid the massive object strapped to Rēn's back, aiming their blades upward from his sides toward his kidneys.
"You fools. Tell me—who exactly do you think you're underestimating?"
Though his body was bound, he could still speak.
The two attackers saw the smirk on Rēn's face. How they could see it, even though they were behind him?
Reflected light. The flame that had been burning on his raised blade had already faded, and the edge had shifted to a horizontal angle. The polished steel, clear as a pool of water under the moonlight, mirrored Rēn's face—and his scarlet eyes.
"Genjutsu: Shackling Stakes."
The moment they saw his mocking smile, they also saw the Sharingan. In the blink of an eye, their consciousness was pulled into a world of illusion. Thick iron stakes pierced their bodies, completely locking them in place.
Even though they realized they were caught in a genjutsu and attempted to disrupt their chakra flow, it was useless.
This was the power of the Sharingan.
"Now then… Uchiha Style: Firefly Light."
Flames once again erupted on Rēn's raised blade. Unlike before, this time the fire didn't radiate heat, but blinding light. The brilliant glare shattered the shadows on the ground.
Rēn's shadow twisted violently.
Coupled with the pressure he had been exerting against the Nara clan shinobi hidden in the dark, the Shadow Imitation Jutsu, already at its limit, collapsed completely.
"Uchiha Style: Sword Flame Leap."
Regaining his freedom, Rēn turned without hesitation. His blade carved through the two frozen attackers behind him in a single, fluid arc. The heat was so intense it cauterized as it sliced—flesh hissed, skin blistered, and bone cracked under the edge. No blood escaped, only the scorched stench of burnt flesh and hair.
Their heads dropped a heartbeat later, and the twitching corpses followed, collapsing from the branch like discarded meat.
The branch still trembled from movement.
But Rēn's figure had already vanished.
In the next second—
A slash engulfed in flame lit up the darkness in the distance. The Nara clan attacker—his pineapple ponytail marking him clearly—had his neck severed. The wound was also charred black, not a single drop of blood escaping. That brought the death count to five.
Even so, the remaining attackers did not retreat.
It was as if they felt no fear of death. The deaths of their comrades had no emotional effect; they simply continued their mission.
"Fire Style: Dragon Fire Jutsu."
"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough."
The sacrifices made hadn't shaken those still alive, but they had absorbed the necessary lessons. Close combat was no longer viable. After losing five comrades and having one suffer mental trauma, they had not inflicted even a scratch on Rēn.
At most, they had cost him some chakra.
Standing atop the corpses of their fallen comrades, they finally understood why the one called Flame Demon, ranked alongside Shisui of the Body Flicker, was not just a name. Even though they had accounted for his strength before the operation, reality showed they still underestimated him.
As a result—
They abandoned the idea of avoiding harm to the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki. More accurately, they no longer had the luxury to worry about such things.
They switched tactics.
The backup plan was to use long-range, high-volume, continuous ninjutsu bombardment to overwhelm Rēn. With superior numbers, they would exhaust his chakra. No matter how skilled, without chakra, a shinobi was powerless.
The first two to act used a wind and fire combination.
It wasn't true combination ninjutsu, just a coordinated attack where Wind Style enhanced the power of Fire Style—boosting a C-rank jutsu to B-rank destructive power. The rising flames charged forward in a straight line, heading toward the position their sensor had pinpointed.
"Fire Style?"
Rēn blinked, as if momentarily confused. Then his expression shifted into one of amusement, almost pitying.
Fire Style? Against an Uchiha?
These idiots had clearly never seen how the Uchiha suppressed Mist Village's Water Style with fire techniques during wartime.
More importantly—
Among today's Uchiha, Rēn's mastery of Fire Style was second to none. Anyone else claiming otherwise was either lying or didn't live long enough to prove it.
His blade struck the ground with a metallic clang.
Rēn raised one hand and formed a single Tiger seal.
"Fire Style: Great Fire Annihilation!"
A massive volume of chakra condensed at his throat. When he opened his mouth, a roaring sea of flames surged out like a tsunami. The linear Dragon Fire Jutsu was instantly swallowed—without even a ripple left behind. The surrounding trees, grass, and terrain were all engulfed in fire.
The two attackers who had used Fire and Wind tried to escape with Body Flicker and Substitution techniques.
But both techniques had range limits. Unfortunately for them, they couldn't escape the area of effect in time.
Their figures vanished in the blazing inferno. The rest, positioned farther back, realized the danger and fled in panic, barely avoiding being caught in the overwhelming jutsu.
Had they not seen it with their own eyes, they would never believe such a fire technique could be cast by a single person. Most would think it was the result of a coordinated attack by over a dozen shinobi.
"So that's the Flame Demon…"
Someone muttered.
The others remained silent, but all shared the same thought. Now it made sense. With fire techniques like that, the title of Flame Demon was more than deserved.