“BOOOOM!”
A vast stretch of forest was completely consumed by flames.
Three Iwagakure shinobi had been caught directly in the Fire Release and burned to ash, while several others had suffered injuries.
A few Iwa shinobi gritted their teeth and suppressed the pain from their wounds, sweat dripping steadily from their foreheads.
Now that the battle had begun, there was no longer any need to conceal themselves.
The Iwagakure commander immediately shouted,
“Everyone, center on me!
Formation C!”
The Fire Release just now had been far too powerful, and its area of effect was absurdly large.
It had completely disrupted their original formation.
The commander therefore ordered everyone to regroup according to their designated formation.
“Fire Release: Flame Formation!”
Whoosh!
A massive amount of crimson fire surged into the air and spread outward, covering a huge area.
It formed an enormous wall of flames, separating the Iwagakure shinobi.
Several Iwa shinobi stared in horror as Naraku walked out through the wall of fire.
One of his arms had transformed into roaring flames.
Fire spread beneath Naraku’s feet.
The ground cracked apart, sending chunks of earth, rocks, and flames flying in every direction.
Then—
Flash!
His figure vanished.
Before the Iwagakure sensory ninja could react, Naraku had already appeared directly in front of him.
He swung his arm down.
“Fire Release: Flame Bullet!”
The flames on Naraku’s arm were hurled outward.
In an instant, they formed a blazing spear that pierced straight through the Iwagakure sensory ninja’s vital organs.
The flames then surged into his body and began burning him from within.
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
A barrage of ninja tools pierced Naraku’s body in multiple places.
Two Iwagakure shinobi immediately charged forward, raising their katanas and slashing down at him.
Slash!
Their blades swept through Naraku like a gust of wind cutting through the forest.
Had they won?
The two Iwa shinobi froze for a moment.
But they failed to notice that Naraku’s movements had not stopped.
A massive amount of chakra rapidly gathered in both his palms, forming two incredibly sharp scalpels.
Chakra Scalpel!
Like moonlight spilling across the earth, the technique flashed through the forest with the cold elegance of a blade skimming across ocean waves.
The forest fell silent once more.
Naraku’s Chakra Scalpels pierced directly through the hearts of the two Iwa shinobi.
Intense pain swept through their bodies.
It was the last sensation they would ever experience.
The Chakra Scalpels had severed the muscles and internal pathways throughout their bodies, completely destroying their ability to fight.
Flames ignited across Naraku’s body.
The two Iwa shinobi stared at him with wide, uncomprehending eyes until the very end.
They couldn’t understand why their attacks had failed.
The flames covering Naraku’s body gradually disappeared, revealing his completely unharmed form.
This was the elemental transformation granted to him by the Flame-Flame Fruit!
By transforming his body into an element and becoming intangible, ordinary physical attacks were rendered completely useless.
Naraku understood exactly what the two dead Iwa shinobi had been wondering.
But there was no way he was going to explain his abilities to his enemies.
“Two left.”
The battle might have seemed lengthy, but in reality, everything had happened in a matter of moments.
In that incredibly short span of time, eight Iwagakure shinobi from two squads had been reduced to only two survivors.
“Earth Release: Hiding in Rock Technique!”
The remaining two Iwa shinobi emerged from underground.
They stared in shock at the scene before them, unable to comprehend how all their comrades had been killed in such a short time.
“Bastard!”
“Damn it!”
Naraku wasn’t surprised by their sudden appearance.
This was the Earth Release: Hiding in Rock Technique, which allowed shinobi to move underground and use the earth to conceal and reposition themselves.
That was how they had avoided Naraku’s wall of flames and appeared before him.
“Earth Release: Earth Flow!”
The Iwagakure commander rapidly formed hand seals before slamming his fist into the ground.
The earth instantly split apart with countless spiderweb-like cracks.
In the blink of an eye, the ground shattered into countless grains of sand that surged toward Naraku like a tidal wave.
“Earth Release: Earth Dragon!”
The other Iwa shinobi poured out his chakra and roared as he completed his hand seals.
The earth violently trembled and fractured.
Massive quantities of soil and stone were lifted into the air before rapidly converging into a monstrous dragon that roared toward Naraku.
“Trap the enemy first, then kill him!”
As the encroaching sand covered his legs, Naraku could clearly feel the restraining force within it.
At the same time, the earthen dragon was already almost upon him.
“So the two remaining ones must be the strongest among these pursuers.”
Even with two terrifying attacks about to strike him, Naraku remained completely unmoved.
Whoosh!
A massive amount of flame suddenly erupted from Naraku’s body.
Roaring fire enveloped him from head to toe.
The Iwa shinobi on the other side frowned deeply at the sight.
No hand seals?
What was happening with the flames around his body?
Could it be that the flames didn’t injure him?
“Fire Release: Flame Commandment: Pillar of Fire!”
Massive orange-red flames erupted violently.
Centered around Naraku, they rapidly expanded and spun.
Wave after wave of scorching heat surged outward.
The dry heat instantly baked the ground until it resembled a desert.
The flames soaring into the sky seemed to dye the heavens red.
Carrying an overwhelming aura, the flames formed a colossal pillar that reached from earth to sky!
The blazing pillar scorched the ground until it cracked and distorted the air itself.
The earth dragon slammed violently into the pillar of fire.
BOOM!
It disintegrated into countless fragments of soil and stone, which rained down onto the ground.
But Naraku’s attack wasn’t over yet.
The expansion of the massive pillar of flame finally reached its limit.
Then, in an instant, it unleashed all of its accumulated energy.
“BOOM!!!”
The last thing the two Iwa shinobi saw was an endless sea of crimson flames filling their entire vision.
This single attack completely flattened the forest within several hundred meters.
“It’s over.”
Naraku looked at the devastated battlefield and couldn’t help marveling at the destructive power of the flames.
His Fire Release had never been this terrifying before.
But the appearance of the Flame-Flame Fruit had dramatically amplified the power of his Fire Release, producing the devastating result before him.
The Flame-Flame Fruit and Fire Release were absolutely not as simple as one plus one equaling two.
Their synergy was far greater than that.
After a long while, the surroundings finally fell silent.
Naraku didn’t linger.
He turned around and headed toward the Land of Fire.
The Iwagakure pursuers had been eliminated.
Sunagakure wouldn’t be able to catch up anytime soon.
In other words, the mission had been a complete success.
…
Sunagakure, inside a certain building.
Bang!
Documents flew everywhere, scattering across the floor.
“Tell me.
What exactly are you people doing?”
“Only now have I learned that the shinobi we sent out have already been wiped out by the enemy!”
“You!
What!
Exactly!
Were you doing?!”
Raging fury burned in Maki’s eyes.
White bandages wrapped around his head, with another strip covering the left side of his face.
He wore the yellow-brown armor of a Sunagakure Jōnin as he roared furiously at the men before him.
“…”
Several Sunagakure shinobi stood silently before him.
Not one dared to speak.
“Do you even know where that gold dust came from?”
“The Fourth Kazekage personally extracted it from underground, spending countless hours and an enormous amount of effort despite his already heavy workload!”
“He did it for the sake of Sunagakure’s future!”
“And now you’re telling me…”
“The gold dust was stolen by the enemy?!”
Maki glared at his subordinates.
His fury had completely overwhelmed his reason.
He had already been berating them for an hour, and he showed no sign of stopping.
“This time, not a single one of you is getting away!”
“Wait for Lord Kazekage’s orders!”
“…”
Amid the suffocating silence, someone suddenly knocked on the door.
“What is it?!”
Maki glared at the door, his face still twisted with fury.
A Sunagakure shinobi cautiously appeared.
“M-My lord, Lord Kazekage has summoned you…”