Chapter 15: Uchiha Iizumi's Unique “Molten Release”!

Danzō’s pupils contracted sharply.

Uchiha Iizumi was moving too fast—so fast that the searing heat radiating from the molten arm closing in on him burned like fire against his eyes, making his eyelids feel dry and cracked. His skin prickled with unbearable warmth. The thick, acrid stench of sulfur flooded his nostrils, amplifying the instinctive dread of imminent death.

If he touches me… I’m dead.

Danzō abandoned all dignity, scrambling backward in a desperate, clumsy roll—nearly tumbling like a donkey—before finally putting distance between himself and the attack.

“Lord Danzō!!” A Root ninja’s cry snapped him back to awareness. He realized too late—he hadn’t escaped completely.

Hiss—

A sharp, searing pain lanced through his left ear. Danzō gasped, instinctively clutching the spot. The stench of burning flesh filled his nose.

He touched his ear—only to find it was gone.

As he looked up, Uchiha Iizumi had already broken free from the encirclement, pushing off the ground with a powerful leap into the air. The molten arm on his right side began to swell visibly—growing larger and larger, as if a living volcano were gathering power within.

“Newcomer, stay back,” the Anbu Ninja monitoring the Jinchūriki said, abandoning all composure. In an instant, he scooped Naruto Uzumaki into his arms and bolted away from the danger zone.

Izumi’s wide, panicked eyes instantly turned crimson. The scent of danger had triggered her Sharingan—awakened at age five after witnessing her father’s death at the claws of the Nine-Tails. And this was no ordinary Sharingan—it was a Three Tomoe Sharingan. (Just like in the original anime and Itachi’s legacy.)

The spinning tomoe drained her chakra at a terrifying rate, turning her small face deathly pale—but it also unleashed an unprecedented surge of dōjutsu power.

Yet she didn’t use it to attack.

She trusted Iizumi. She believed in her senior.

Below, the two Root ninjas acted in perfect unison, hands flashing through seals.

“Water Release: Chaotic Water Wave Technique!” ×2

Two massive torrents surged upward, aiming to crush Uchiha Iizumi from above.

“Molten Release: Great Eruption!”

The right arm, now swollen larger than his entire body, slammed downward. In that instant, chakra surged into the molten mass, erupting like a volcanic explosion—forming a colossal, earth-shattering fist of lava that plummeted straight down.

—CRACK-BOOM!!

The clash between Molten Release and Water Release sent shockwaves of scalding steam erupting into the air. A noxious, poisonous gas spread rapidly, thick and suffocating.

Uchiha Iizumi’s “Molten Release” bore a striking resemblance to the old man from Iwagakure’s—both manifested as flowing lava. But Iizumi’s version had one crucial difference that the elder lacked: the explosive, volcanic force of a full eruption.

The two Root ninjas stared in horror as the molten fist vaporized the water and continued its descent, crushing everything in its path.

“Protect Lord Danzō!”

—CRASH!!

One Root ninja dragged Danzō aside in a flash—but the second was too slow. The lava fist slammed into the ground, sending molten splatters flying across his body.

“AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!”

The man’s agonized scream ripped through the air. His entire right side—half his body—was gone, as if erased from existence. The burned flesh still smoldered, engulfed in flames. A massive crater now yawned in the earth, steaming and glowing like a molten pool laid across the street.

This… is the legendary Uchiha Iizumi—the twin-bloodline prodigy of the Uchiha clan, known as the “Molten Release Beast”? The one who rose to fame during the Third Ninja World War, whose name nearly matched that of Uchiha Shisui?

The Anbu Ninja holding Naruto coughed violently, choked by the sulfur-laden air. Cold sweat soaked his back.

Thankfully… he’d been smart enough at the start to avoid confrontation.

Otherwise… he wasn’t sure he’d have walked away alive.

“U—CHI—HA—I—I—ZU—MI!” Danzō’s face darkened like storm clouds, veins bulging across his hand as he gripped the bandages over his face.

He wasn’t afraid of Uchiha Iizumi. The boy was just a brat—raw, untested, a fledgling in the Uchiha clan’s long shadow.

But Danzō was torn. Should he reveal his Sharingan here, in front of everyone?

Damn it… If only I’d brought more Root guards today.

Uchiha Iizumi landed atop the molten surface, his body utterly unharmed by the searing heat. Molten droplets fell from his form, sizzling against the ground and carving shallow, smoking craters into the earth.

…

Huh?

High above in the Hokage Tower, Hiruzen Sarutobi suddenly sensed an unusual disturbance outside.

He turned just in time to see an Anbu Messenger Pigeon burst through the window.

Hiruzen’s eyes narrowed. He remembered—his own Anbu ninja assigned to watch Naruto used an Anbu Messenger Pigeon as a summon.

“Hokage-sama! Hokage-sama!” The bird shrieked in human voice, its tone frantic. “Trouble! Uchiha Iizumi and Shimura Danzō are fighting! And Naruto Uzumaki’s been caught in the crossfire!”

Hiruzen shot to his feet.

“Danzō!” His expression hardened into grim fury. “I just told him not to provoke that child!”

Knowing Danzō as he did, this was almost certainly Danzō’s doing. The old man despised the Uchiha. And now, with Iizumi being so active in the village…

He couldn’t rule out Danzō doing something extreme.

But then Hiruzen recalled Iizumi’s unwavering sense of justice—the flawless case-solving record, the piercing gaze that seemed to see through people’s souls…

No… that can’t be right.

He shook his head, clearing the strange thoughts. Now wasn’t the time for doubt.

The priority was stopping the fight—before Iizumi’s “Molten Release” caused catastrophic collateral damage.

He remembered the boy’s terrifying display during the Third Ninja World War. That kind of volcanic force… it was among the most dangerous abilities in the entire Ninja World.

“Take me there,” Hiruzen ordered the pigeon, then suddenly called out, “Kakashi!”

Whoosh!

A figure materialized before him in a flash.

Hiruzen’s voice was low and commanding. “Assemble three Anbu squads—immediately follow me to stop this conflict!”

“Yes, Hokage-sama,” Kakashi replied, already moving.

…

Elsewhere.

Pfft!

The molten red arm pierced through the second Root ninja’s chest with effortless precision.

Before the body could even fall, a sharp, whistling sound cut through the air—like a blade slicing through steel.

The ninja’s body split cleanly in two.

But before blood could stain the ground, the molten heat vaporized it instantly.

The Wind Release: Wind Slash Technique, capable of cleaving through iron, didn’t stop—its momentum carved a deep gash across Uchiha Iizumi’s chest, nearly a dozen centimeters deep.

Yet the wound sealed itself almost immediately—fused shut by the surrounding molten flow.

What… is this “Molten Release” really? Danzō’s expression twisted in grim disbelief.

There was something uncanny about it—something eerily familiar. Like the fluid transformations of the Kiri-based Kagura clan.

…

…

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end