The night was heavy with silence as three Uchiha shadows crept toward Lucien's small house.
"Brother Feng, don't forget to teach him a hard lesson," Uchiha Mamoru hissed. His eyes gleamed with cruel satisfaction. "That bastard humiliated me at school. Tonight, we make him pay."
"Hmph. Forcing me to step in for you is already pathetic." Beside him, Uchiha Kaku sneered. "But fine. We'll make him regret it."
The oldest, their so-called leader, Uchiha Feng, smirked with disdain. "Ridiculous. You lost to a stray with no clan support? It's laughable. Killing him will take less effort than crushing an insect."
Lucien, hidden in the shadows, watched calmly. His Sharingan traced every movement. So that's it. They've decided to take revenge behind closed doors. The Uchiha clan really is this insidious. But if they want blood—then I'll carve it into them that Uchiha Shigure is no longer their prey.
The three intruders slipped inside quietly. On the bed lay "Lucien," sound asleep.
Mamoru grinned and threw a sack over the body. "Hahaha! Pathetic. You're sleeping while we're here? Let's see if you keep acting arrogant after this!" He raised a stick and slammed it down again and again.
But on the fourth strike—
Bang!
The "Shigure" on the bed burst apart in a puff of smoke, leaving only a wooden log behind.
"A substitution?!" Feng's face twisted instantly. "Damn it—retre—"
Before the words could finish, three shadows emerged from the corners of the room, blocking the exits. Lucien's shadow clones stood tall, cold gazes pinning the intruders. Moments later, the real Lucien stepped through the backlight, eyes glinting with the eerie white-red glow of his unique Sharingan.
"Well, well. The mighty Uchiha clan, sneaking into one boy's home at night to settle a grudge? So this is what 'nobility' looks like?"
His clones cracked their knuckles in unison, the sound sharp in the dense silence.
Mamoru's voice wavered, panic already rising. "W-Wait. It's a misunderstanding!" But his sudden shout betrayed him. "Big brother, second brother—now!"
At once, flames lit the dark.
"Fire Style: Phoenix Fire Technique!" Kaku spat out blazing orbs in rapid bursts.
"Fire Style: Dragon Fire Technique!" Feng launched a scorching stream of fire, cutting through the air like a living serpent.
Flames surged from both sides, sealing Lucien and his clones into a deadly crossfire. The house erupted into a furnace of heat.
"Fools." Lucien's voice was steady, untouched by fear. His clones raised their hands alongside him. "Earth Style: Earth Flow Wall!"
In perfect sync, massive earthen barriers erupted upward, swallowing the incoming flames. Smoke and sparks roared, but the walls held strong.
"What the—?!" Kaku's eyes widened. "Earth ninjutsu? From a kid who just graduated!?"
"It can't be!" Feng's expression twisted.
Lucien's gaze sharpened. "You dare unleash fire so recklessly in Konoha? Do you want the guards swooping in on you?"
The two older Uchihas chuckled darkly. "You really don't get it… We are the guards. The Uchiha clan controls the Security Force. Tonight, no matter what happens, no one will interfere."
Lucien's face hardened. "So that's it. You've already sealed everything off…"
His grin turned vicious. "…Then none of you will leave alive."
In a flash of hand signs—"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Five clones materialized, circling the attackers like wolves closing in on prey.
"Surround them." Lucien's voice was low, commanding.
"Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!"
Lucien's lungs expanded as his chakra roared free, forming a massive fireball larger than anything Mamoru had seen before. It consumed the room in a blazing torrent of destruction.
"W-What?! That fireball is huge—!?" Mamoru's legs trembled.
"MOVE!" Feng and Kaku barely managed to shove him aside before the flames obliterated the spot they'd stood.
But Lucien was a step ahead. His Sharingan spun as his clones moved into position, predicting exactly where they would land.
Six Shigures stood waiting, crimson tomoe spinning within their pale-white eyes.
Feng froze. "…Impossible. A white three-tomoe Sharingan?! What kind of monster are you?!"
Lucien's fangs bared in a grin. "Surprised? Then how about this—try tasting your own jutsu."
He raised a hand, and his clones surged forward.
"Fire Style: Phoenix Fire Technique!"
"Fire Style: Dragon Fire Technique!"
"Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!"
Flames erupted from all sides, trapping the three Uchiha in the inferno of their own techniques—amplified and perfected in Lucien's hands.
The night sky above Konoha lit up with fire.
P.S. This chapter delivers Lucien's first true act of vengeance: turning the Uchihas' own techniques against them and revealing his terrifying mastery in front of those who came seeking his death. The bullied outcast has become the predator, and for the first time, the Uchiha clan knows fear.