Fire-natured chakra surged rapidly in Uchiha Kaien's throat. The moment he began forming his technique, Namikaze Minato quickly reached out and stopped Nawaki, who had been about to charge forward to assist.
"Kaien's still the same… Always using his chakra advantage to clear the battlefield fast."
Minato wiped the sweat from his brow. Behind every technique Kaien had mastered, there was his own shadow.
Every time Kaien learned a new jutsu, Minato was inevitably the first "test subject."
Because of that, Minato's understanding of the Body Flicker Technique had improved tremendously. Especially after learning sensory ninjutsu, he felt his mastery had reached a whole new level.
Under this kind of high-pressure barrage, Minato had no choice but to keep improving. One misstep, and he'd be headed straight to the hospital.
Unlike him, the Sunagakure and Amegakure shinobi on the other side had no such common sense.
A tidal wave of fire surged forward, its overwhelming power incinerating everything in Kaien's path without discrimination.
The heatwave that followed raised the temperature by several degrees, turning the already humid environment into a suffocating steam bath—but that was just the beginning.
"Water Style! Use Water Style!"
Someone finally snapped out of it and shouted the obvious. The surrounding shinobi jolted to life, scrambling to unleash any Water Style techniques they knew. Some even used puppet techniques in a desperate bid to flee.
But it was all in vain. The gap in absolute power couldn't be bridged by simple elemental advantage.
The moment that hellish sea of fire touched the first enemy ninja, a massive explosion tore through the field. Sparks flew in every direction, spreading further and further like a chain reaction without end.
Water Style jutsu were instantly evaporated before the inferno, as though they'd never existed at all.
The fire grew more intense, consuming more enemies by the second. Even those who should've been out of range were caught in the secondary blasts, set ablaze by chain explosions and swallowed by the roaring firestorm.
...
"This is Kaien's research into the 'Explosion' aspect of fire-nature transformation. Once you're touched by even a bit of that flame, the rest is just a series of nightmares. The chain blasts are absolute suppression for low-level shinobi," Minato patiently explained.
To avoid getting accidentally fried by Kaien, he had refined his Body Flicker and Wind Style techniques to the absolute limit.
"Gulp..."
Nawaki swallowed hard, staring at the unending inferno before him.
Thanks for pushing me all this time, Kaien.
And this thing? It's way better than explosive tags...
[Affection from Nawaki +1]
'Huh? Affection from Nawaki?'
Kaien glanced at the system panel, puzzled. Does Nawaki really like flashy, high-powered jutsu like this?
Still lost in thought, he turned around—and tilted his head slightly in confusion when he noticed Minato and Nawaki hadn't moved an inch.
...
"Kaien, look out!"
Just as Kaien turned back, the ground before him split open. A Sunagakure ninja burst out from a defensive puppet, his forehead protector gleaming. The kunai in his hand flashed with deadly intent.
"Die, brat!"
The Sunagakure ninja's face lit up with excitement. This kid must be one of Konoha's top-tier talents. Killing him would be the same as snuffing out a future elite!
Nawaki shouted a warning immediately, his body instinctively moving to act.
But before he could step forward, Minato placed a firm hand on his shoulder.
He understood Kaien far too well. While the boy could be careless in daily life, on the battlefield, he was never caught off guard. And besides—Kaien's sensory perception was on par with his own.
"Trust him. Honestly, it's a shame… The three of us were supposed to use this as practice, but Kaien wiped out the whole field in one move. Wide-area jutsu really are death sentences for weaker shinobi."
Sure enough, as Minato finished speaking, Kaien's blade gleamed with cold light. With a twist of his waist, he cleanly bisected the enemy puppet master in a single slash.
"In the face of the Sharingan, your disguise means nothing."
"No matter how hard the weak struggle, no matter how clever their tricks—before true strength, it all crumbles."
"What you're so proud of... is only impressive in your own head."
"Your weakness, your fear, your helplessness... That is your fate."
Arrogant words—but no one could argue. After all, every enemy lay dead, silent as the grave.
Kaien struck once more, giving that nameless Sunagakure ninja a painless end under the weight of his disillusioned eyes.
Even after the battle ended, the flames Kaien unleashed continued to burn, raging unchecked. Only the falling rain would slowly smother them in time.
...
"It's starting to rain. Let's find some cover."
Kaien turned back with a sheepish smile, even sticking out his tongue slightly in apology.
"I was going to leave some of them for you two... Didn't expect them to be that fragile."
To be fair, Kaien really had planned to let Minato and Nawaki handle part of the enemy force. But the moment he unleashed Great Fire Annihilation, he knew that wasn't going to happen.
Guess this is the outskirts of the battlefield...
Everyone here's basically cannon fodder. Not a single real threat.
They couldn't even counter a single jutsu. There weren't even any jonin present on this whole side of the skirmish.
...
Minato had sensed this from the start.
With his cautious nature, he always assessed enemies at his own level seriously. When he said, "There aren't any strong ones," he meant it—there wasn't even a chakra level near jonin-tier.
That last Sunagakure puppeteer only survived by hiding underground in a defensive puppet, but even that didn't pose any trouble for Kaien.
...
"Well, looks like we won't be lacking for practice after all. In fact, it might be time to start running."
Kaien pointed to the Phantom Beast he had summoned after the battle.
It still bore the form that retained the original's sensory powers and now also carried three-quarters of Kaien's chakra. Its sensory range had become terrifying.
"???"
"???"
Nawaki and Minato blinked in confusion.
"That blast of ninjutsu earlier... kinda attracted some attention," Kaien said as casually as possible.
"Little Beast picked up several chakra signatures at least on par with Orochimaru-sensei."
"And the closest one to us... is from Sunagakure."
"So the top commanders of all three sides are converging here?"
"My suggestion? Retreat. Looks like we accidentally stumbled into something very problematic."
A jonin from the Senju clan reappeared at Nawaki's side without warning, his face grim.
From what he'd observed, Sunagakure's forces had better numbers and gear than Amegakure's. This could very well be one of Sunagakure's covert outposts.
And now, thanks to Kaien's overwhelming power, that entire secret line had been annihilated—drawing Sunagakure's attention.
The Senju jonin glanced at the scorched battlefield left by Great Fire Annihilation and twitched.
A Fire Style of this magnitude... Even he would have to retreat from it.
----------------
Pls Drop some Power Stones
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