Haruto casually flicked the blood from his hand and calmly uttered two words.
“Haruto.”
A repeated the name through gritted teeth, madness flashing through his eyes.
“Haruto, huh? Good. Today, we’ll settle not only who is stronger—but who lives and who dies!”
Just as Haruto frowned slightly, wary of a cornered beast’s final struggle, A’s hands suddenly blurred through a bizarre set of seals.
“B, get back on your feet! The battle isn’t over yet!”
The moment those words fell, Haruto’s heart skipped a beat.
An overwhelming sense of danger exploded within him.
His sensory instincts screamed a warning.
A lethal killing intent was rapidly approaching from behind.
A crimson light flashed across Haruto’s eyes.
The intricate patterns deep within his pupils spun rapidly.
Buzz!
A blade of wind slashed through empty air.
Haruto’s figure vanished instantly.
The supposedly dead B had miraculously risen again.
Had Haruto reacted even half a second slower, the consequences would’ve been unimaginable.
Appearing dozens of meters away, Haruto frowned deeply.
“His heart definitely stopped beating.”
“What kind of twisted technique is this?”
“It can reverse death itself?”
Although B was standing once more, his eyes were lifeless.
At the same time, the chakra inside him began skyrocketing.
It directly broke through the Kage-level threshold.
Violent chakra poured from his body.
The ground around him cracked apart.
Rubble floated into the air.
The savage pressure felt almost tangible.
Breathing itself became difficult.
A flashed to B’s side, wearing a ferocious grin.
“Hahahaha!”
“Never seen this before, have you?”
“As long as the body still exists, I can forcibly ignite every last drop of chakra within it.”
“For the next ten minutes, he’s an invincible killing machine!”
Realization dawned in Haruto’s eyes.
The surprise faded.
“So that’s all.”
“A dying-flash puppet technique.”
“For a moment, I thought you’d actually mastered the miracle of resurrecting the dead.”
“What a disappointment.”
In simple terms, it was a forbidden seal implanted beforehand.
When the host reached the brink of death, it forcibly extracted every bit of energy from every cell, exchanging life for temporary peak power.
Such life-burning forbidden techniques weren’t uncommon in the shinobi world.
But they were troublesome.
At this moment, every aspect of B’s physical abilities had reached Kage level.
His strength.
His speed.
Everything had undergone a qualitative transformation.
Even Haruto put away his previous confidence.
His expression grew serious.
“This really is becoming troublesome.”
The revived B seemed to retain the hatred he had carried before death.
His hollow eyes stared at Haruto with endless malice.
This was Haruto’s first direct battle against a Kage-level opponent.
And soon he might have to face two—or even three—such monsters.
His gaze shifted briefly toward another battlefield.
Even with the Sixth Gate open, Guy was still being suppressed by the completely berserk C.
The Seventh Gate would be enough to reverse the situation.
Unfortunately, Guy’s control over it was still unstable.
Opening it recklessly carried enormous risk.
As for Kakashi and Yamato—
Both were heavily injured.
Neither could help much right now.
Which meant Haruto would have to withstand the counterattack of two Kage-level enemies alone.
Taking a deep breath, he steadied himself.
Across from him, B let out a beast-like roar and charged forward like a cannonball.
“ROAR!”
His speed after awakening was terrifying.
At least ten times greater than before.
A sonic boom echoed through the air.
B vanished from sight instantly.
Haruto’s sensory radar exploded with warnings.
Bang!
Trusting pure instinct, Haruto threw a punch at empty space beside him.
A violent collision erupted.
B’s figure appeared.
The earth beneath them collapsed instantly.
A devastating shockwave spread outward.
Countless boulders shattered into dust midair.
Haruto’s iron fist collided head-on with B’s sweeping kick.
The sound of grinding bones made one’s scalp tingle.
B had completely lost his mind.
“Die!”
“Die!”
“Just die!”
The moment one exchange ended, another began.
His attacks became a relentless storm.
Hundreds of punches erupted within a single breath.
Each strike ignited sparks in the air like falling meteors.
Yet Haruto remained calm.
His fists became afterimages.
Every attack was blocked perfectly.
Even against a Kage-level opponent whose limiter had been removed, Haruto refused to retreat.
In terms of raw power, he wasn’t losing at all.
Watching from nearby, A’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.
His jaw hung open.
“T-This is impossible!”
“That power is obtained by burning life itself!”
“One punch can shatter mountains!”
“And this kid is taking it head-on with his body?”
“Monster!”
“He’s definitely a monster!”
“But that’s exactly why you must die!”
“Otherwise none of us will leave here alive!”
At the center of the battlefield, the two combatants moved too quickly for the naked eye to follow.
Only exploding shockwaves remained visible.
Far away, Yugao had already retreated over a hundred meters to avoid being caught in the crossfire.
Her hands gripped her sword so tightly her nails dug into her palms.
“Haruto…”
“You have to hold on.”
“If you lose, we’re finished.”
“I should’ve begged Lord Hokage to cancel this mission.”
“If a genius like you dies here, I’ll never forgive myself.”
Both Kakashi and Yugao had finally realized just how terrifying Haruto’s potential truly was.
An enemy who had defeated even Kakashi—
Haruto wasn’t merely holding his own.
He was beginning to suppress him.
And he was only twelve years old.
Such talent might even surpass the legendary Yellow Flash himself.
At the battlefield’s center, after exchanging hundreds of blows, Haruto suddenly drew back his right fist.
Violent lightning coiled around his arm like raging serpents.
“ROAR!”
With a thunderous shout, Haruto and B unleashed their final punch simultaneously.
The air wailed like cracking glass.
The force distorted even the surrounding light.
The ground beneath them surged like a raging sea.
Spiderweb-like cracks spread dozens of meters outward.
An overwhelming storm of energy swept through the ruins.
Everything within hundreds of meters was reduced to dust.
This was pure taijutsu.
Nothing else.
RUMBLE!
The stalemate lasted only an instant.
Then B was blasted away like a kite with its string cut.
He shot through multiple ruined buildings before crashing into a hill dozens of meters high.
His body embedded itself directly into solid rock.
Yet even then, the monster continued struggling to crawl back out.
A cold light flashed in Haruto’s eyes.
He would never give an enemy a second chance.
Crimson light traced across his pupils.
His figure vanished.
Almost simultaneously, he appeared before B like a phantom.
Lightning exploded from his hand.
“Chidori!”
Without hesitation, the lightning-clad hand pierced through B’s struggling body once more.
The violent current ravaged his flesh.
Blood and torn tissue flew everywhere.
Yet because he was effectively a reanimated corpse, ordinary physical damage couldn’t truly kill him as long as chakra remained.
Watching B continue to struggle, Haruto frowned.
“Physical destruction isn’t enough?”
“Then I’ll detonate your chakra from the inside.”
With a thought, he mobilized the vast chakra within his body.
Like a flood released from a dam, it surged into B through his arm.
Crackle!
A ruthless light flashed in Haruto’s eyes.
“Explode.”
The Lightning Release chakra erupted within B’s body.
Countless microscopic currents precisely exterminated every remaining active cell.
Without living cells to contain it, B’s chakra immediately lost balance.
A chain reaction erupted inside him.
RUMBLE!
B released a muffled groan.
The final glimmer in his eyes vanished.
His body instantly became a massive bomb.
The resulting explosion completely flattened the hill.
Meanwhile, Haruto had already retreated safely using the space-time ability of his Mangekyō Sharingan.
The terrifying shockwave swept across the battlefield.
Everything within several hundred meters was flattened once again.
The ruins became a wasteland.
Haruto appeared at the edge of the blast zone with Yugao.
Though his clothing was torn, his expression remained calm.
Looking at the apocalyptic scene before her, Yugao stared at him in shock.
“Haruto…”
“That just now…”
“Was that a space-time ninjutsu?”
Haruto merely smiled.
He offered no explanation.
Seeing his reluctance to speak, Yugao wisely asked no further questions.
Every shinobi had secrets.
As the dust settled, A stood amid the flattened remains of the hill.
B’s presence had vanished completely.
Not even a trace of chakra remained.
A’s expression darkened.
“Damn it.”
“B was actually killed.”
“And at full power, no less.”
Under normal circumstances, B should have been immortal until his chakra ran dry.
In the distance, even C and Guy had been pushed back dozens of meters by the explosion.
Guy was gasping heavily.
Steam rose from his body.
The burden of the Sixth Gate had already pushed him to his limits.
Meanwhile, Kakashi helped Yamato retreat to safety.
Both were exhausted.
Kakashi pulled out one of Haruto’s specially-made healing pills and stuffed it directly into Yamato’s mouth.
“I can hold on a little longer.”
“You’re more seriously injured.”
“Recover quickly and help Haruto.”
“Right now he’s the only one who can deal with those lunatics.”
A look of amazement appeared in Kakashi’s eyes.
“I never imagined he’d grow this much in six years.”
“He can even kill Kage-level opponents by himself.”
There was pride in his gaze.
And curiosity.
Even now, Kakashi had no idea how many trump cards Haruto was hiding.
A stared at Haruto and Yugao from afar.
His killing intent became almost tangible.
“It’s all because of you!”
“B is dead.”
“My escape route is gone.”
“In that case…”
“We’ll all go to hell together!”
“I spent thirty years building everything!”
“I refuse to lose it all here!”
Despair and rage finally shattered his sanity.
As long as Haruto lived, escape was impossible.
“All of Konoha’s trash can die!”
“Release the limiter!”
With a hysterical roar, A’s chakra exploded completely out of control.
This power far surpassed B’s.
It instantly surpassed the peak of Kage level and climbed even higher.
Everything within dozens of meters was pulverized.
The ground sank several meters under the pressure alone.
His hair stood upright.
Blue light blazed from his eyes.
Even the air warped around him.
Feeling that aura, Haruto frowned.
“This chakra…”
“It doesn’t even feel human anymore.”
Yugao instinctively drew her sword, wanting to help.
Haruto immediately stopped her.
His tone was calm but absolute.
“Save your strength, Yugao-nee.”
“You’ll only die if you go up there.”
“Even I’m not certain I can beat him now.”
Yugao froze.
It was the first time she’d ever heard such seriousness from him.
Kakashi and Yamato arrived just in time to hear those words.
Their expressions darkened.
“The amount of chakra is ridiculous.”
“It surpasses ordinary Kage-level shinobi by a huge margin.”
“Even Lord Hokage would have a headache dealing with this.”
Though Yamato had recovered somewhat, he knew perfectly well he’d be cannon fodder in such a fight.
“If he runs wild for ten minutes, we’re all dead.”
“Guy won’t last much longer either.”
He glanced toward the distance.
Guy’s body had begun trembling.
His bones were nearing their limit.
Kakashi turned toward Haruto.
His eyes were sharp.
“If you’re not panicking…”
“That means you still have a solution, right?”
Haruto’s seriousness wasn’t despair.
The eyes of all three focused on him.
Haruto smiled mysteriously.
“Kakashi-sensei.”
“Weren’t you always curious about the kekkei genkai I fused?”
Kakashi and Yamato were startled.
“Can that kekkei genkai solve this situation?”
Haruto nodded.
“In theory, it directly counters him.”
“It should work.”
Truthfully, he wasn’t completely sure.
If Wood Release failed, he’d have no choice but to reveal his Mangekyō Sharingan.
Compared to Wood Release—which could at least be explained through transplanted cells—
The Sharingan was far harder to explain.
In just a few seconds of conversation, A completed his final transformation.
He now resembled a demon god of destruction.
Only one thought remained in his mind.
Kill everyone.
RUMBLE!
Merely moving his body caused the air itself to explode.
Haruto looked at Yamato and inhaled deeply.
“Yamato-sensei.”
“Work with me.”
“We’re going in.”
Though completely confused, Yamato instinctively prepared for battle.
Meanwhile, Kakashi’s eyes widened.
The moment Haruto specifically called for Yamato—
He understood.
He had figured it out.
Before Yamato and Yugao could react, Haruto had already charged forward.
His right hand hung low.
No hand seals.
Violent lightning instantly gathered in his palm.
“Chidori!”
The cry of a thousand birds echoed across the sky.
Haruto transformed into a spear of lightning.
Yamato followed closely behind.
Though bewildered, he still formed hand seals.
“Wood Release: Deep Forest Emergence!”
Countless giant trees erupted from the barren wasteland.
A small forest appeared instantly.
Haruto flashed through the sea of trees.
A crimson light flickered in his eyes.
Then—
He vanished beside Yamato.
At the same moment, A charged forward at terrifying speed.
Like a force intent on destroying everything.
BOOM!
Two streaks of light collided violently.
A massive explosion erupted dozens of meters ahead of Yamato.
The resulting shockwave uprooted the newly formed forest.
Rocks filled the sky.
Kakashi.
Yugao.
Even Yamato himself.
All were stunned.
Yamato quickly realized that his Deep Forest Emergence couldn’t keep up with the speed of those two monsters.
He had come to assist.
Instead, he had become a spectator.
Watching the streak of lightning, Kakashi muttered softly:
“This child has already stepped completely into the realm of the Kage.”
“If he really possesses that power…”
Yugao blinked.
“That power?”
“What exactly does Haruto have?”
Kakashi inhaled sharply.
“Otherwise why would he specifically ask Yamato to assist?”
“There’s only one answer.”
“He also possesses Wood Release.”
Before the words had even settled—
A streak of lightning descended from the sky.
Haruto and A separated once more.
A remained completely unharmed.
Haruto’s clothes were even more tattered.
But his eyes remained sharp.
At the same time, Haruto’s chakra began rising rapidly.
Though less violent than A’s, its sheer volume was even greater.
A laughed wildly.
“Kid!”
“Your chakra reserves really surprised me!”
“But that changes nothing!”
“If I die, you’re dying with me!”
His emotions had reached a fever pitch.
The overflowing chakra around him was so dense it seemed to crack space itself.
Haruto stared coldly.
“You’re not qualified to drag me down with you.”
A burst into furious laughter.
“Whether I’m qualified or not—”
“You’ll find out soon enough!”
Turning into a blue streak of light, he charged again.
Haruto’s eyes narrowed.
No more holding back.
His hands slammed together.
“Wood Release: Wood Binding Eternal Burial!”
The moment the technique appeared—
Kakashi and Yamato nearly dropped their jaws.
“WOOD RELEASE?!”
The two shouted simultaneously.
Though they had guessed the truth, witnessing the iconic hand seal firsthand was still shocking beyond words.
Yugao stood completely frozen.
“No wonder this kid has always been so secretive…”
The earth exploded apart.
Several tiny saplings burst from the ground.
Then they expanded wildly.
In the blink of an eye, they became towering trees that blocked out the sky.
Massive vines erupted like living creatures.
They surged toward A.
Smack!
Caught completely off guard during his high-speed charge, A was struck from the air by dozens of gigantic vines.
They wrapped around him instantly.
“AAAAAAHHHHHH!”
A struggled frantically.
Trying to tear the vines apart.
But Haruto roared.
The chakra within his body poured out without reservation.
RUMBLE!
The already gigantic trees doubled in size.
Their trunks expanded to more than ten meters in diameter.
More vines erupted.
Like a nest of giant serpents, they wrapped around A layer upon layer.
Dozens of towering trees burst from the earth.
Together, they formed an enormous wooden prison.
And with terrifying efficiency—
They began greedily devouring the chakra within A’s body.