Chapter 10: Flame Tornado
Boom!
"What?!"
The instant their attacks collided, A felt the terrifying power packed into Gōenji's new technique.
The compressed flames erupted violently, and the resulting shockwave slammed into his arms and chest, driving him backward.
His feet gouged two deep trenches into the earth before he finally came to a stop.
A large crater had been carved into the ground beneath him.
His clothes were scorched in several places, but his body remained completely unharmed.
Not even a scratch.
The attack had only forced him back. It hadn't actually injured him.
A stared at the airborne Gōenji.
"I didn't expect Konoha to have another shinobi of this caliber."
His expression hardened.
"So you're an Uchiha..."
The moment he recognized Gōenji's clan, killing intent flashed through his eyes.
He wanted those eyes.
But before A could pursue him, a figure suddenly appeared in front of him.
Minato.
"You don't intend to stop fighting?"
Standing calmly between them, Minato blocked A's path to Gōenji.
A clicked his tongue and let out a cold snort.
"Hmph. We'll end it here today."
"Next time we meet, it won't be so easy."
With Minato standing in his way, continuing the fight was pointless.
"Everyone, retreat!"
"All forces, disengage!"
The two sides exchanged a few more blows before gradually withdrawing from the battlefield.
Even while retreating, neither side lowered its guard. Everyone remained wary of a sudden attack from the enemy.
Minato glanced toward A and B and gave them a slight nod.
"You're both strong. I won't hold back next time."
He genuinely admired their strength.
Unfortunately, they were enemies.
"Heh. Until next time."
A turned around and led the Cloud shinobi away. Before long, the Kumogakure forces disappeared into the forest.
"Damn..."
"That hurts."
Gōenji sucked in a sharp breath.
His right hand trembled uncontrollably.
He had barely managed to slow himself by using the surrounding trees to bleed off his momentum. Even so, the impact had left his entire arm numb.
He watched A disappear into the distance, his eyes filled with disbelief.
The future Fourth Raikage is already this strong?
A was still young, yet his physical strength was already terrifying.
Then just how powerful is the Third Raikage?
Gōenji had poured nearly all of his chakra into that final attack. He hadn't held anything back.
And he had still been sent flying.
"My God..."
"He wasn't anywhere near this terrifying in the anime."
Experiencing a battle firsthand was completely different from watching one on a screen.
The scale of the battlefield.
The pressure.
The destructive force behind every exchange.
Reality was far more intense than fiction had ever made it seem.
Crack!
Gōenji quickly drew on the basic battlefield first aid he'd learned at the Ninja Academy and reset his dislocated arm.
Ever since Tsunade had promoted medical ninjutsu throughout Konoha, basic battlefield first aid had become an important part of a shinobi's education.
He flexed his fingers and clenched his fist.
Fortunately, nothing was broken.
Still, he wasn't satisfied.
His Fire Dragon Iron Fist hadn't displayed its full potential.
The technique was powerful, but its performance against A had exposed an obvious weakness.
Its power still wasn't concentrated enough.
Gōenji fell into thought.
What if I apply it to my leg instead?
A kick naturally generated more force than a punch.
The modification shouldn't be particularly complicated. With a few more days of experimentation, he could probably complete it.
"Still, I can't stop developing my movement technique."
If he had been slightly faster, he wouldn't have needed to confront A head-on.
Among their generation, only Minato could currently compete with A in pure movement speed.
That was something he needed to fix.
But it could wait.
Gōenji looked around the battlefield.
The entire area had been devastated.
Trees had been shattered, the earth had been torn apart, and craters covered the ground.
This battle was much more destructive than anything I remember from the anime.
Even his own Fire Release had been enough to destroy a large section of the forest.
And there had been countless other shinobi fighting around them.
The difference between watching the war in an anime and actually standing inside it was enormous.
With Minato's support, Konoha's rescue mission was successfully completed.
The clash between Minato and the A–B duo quickly spread throughout the battlefield.
As expected, Minato's reputation soared once again.
A and Killer B became even more famous as well.
Gōenji, however, quietly breathed a sigh of relief when he returned to Konoha's temporary camp.
"Fortunately, I didn't become famous."
If word spread that an Uchiha had managed to block one of A's attacks, his troubles would only increase.
A shinobi was, at his core, an assassin.
Apart from legendary figures such as the Sannin, the Hokage, the Raikage, or someone like Minato, what shinobi would want his abilities exposed to the entire world?
That would be foolish.
A ninja's greatest advantages came from assassination, ambushes, traps, poison, and fighting from the shadows.
Before reaching the absolute pinnacle of combat power, intelligence was arguably more important than raw strength.
Once your abilities became famous, your enemies could study them.
Once they understood your strengths, they could prepare counters specifically for you.
Then they could surround you.
And kill you.
Gōenji wasn't strong enough to deal with that kind of targeted attention yet.
He had no intention of underestimating his enemies.
There were geniuses everywhere.
Especially in the shinobi world.
You never knew when another monster might suddenly appear.
He was reminded of an incident he'd heard about recently.
A hidden village in a neighboring country had once set its sights on the secret techniques of the Tsuchigumo Clan.
The result had been devastating.
The village had been annihilated by the clan's forbidden technique.
The incident had caused a tremendous uproar throughout the shinobi world.
Even Gōenji had been shocked when he first heard about it.
This wasn't some tiny settlement.
Although the village couldn't compare with Konoha, it was still a substantial hidden village.
And the Tsuchigumo Clan's forbidden techniques were no joke.
Their techniques drew upon natural energy and possessed frightening destructive power.
Even knowing that, hearing that an entire village had been wiped out still left Gōenji stunned.
When will my Fire Release be strong enough to destroy a village with one attack?
He couldn't help but think about it.
Even Pain, with the Rinnegan, hadn't completely annihilated Konoha with a single use of Shinra Tensei.
There were simply too many monsters in this world.
That was why Gōenji believed the safest choice was to remain unnoticed.
The less people knew about his abilities, the greater his chances of survival.
With talent like mine, maybe Madara or Black Zetsu will notice me someday.
Ah... being too talented really is troublesome.
Gōenji chuckled inwardly.
Of course, he knew that was unlikely.
Madara had no reason to target someone like him.
He didn't possess a Mangekyō Sharingan.
His comrades were dead, his parents were dead, and he had no special circumstances like Obito.
It was nothing more than self-deprecating humor.
"Forget it."
"Those are problems for the future."
"Let's test the new technique first."
Several days had passed since the battle.
During that time, Gōenji had developed another technique.
He formed a hand seal.
Flames immediately erupted around his right leg.
Strangely, they didn't burn his clothes.
Instead, the flames clung tightly to his leg like a cloak woven from fire.
Gōenji lowered his stance.
"Fire Release..."
His eyes narrowed.
"Flame Tornado!"
He suddenly leaped into the air.
His entire body began to spin.
He concentrated the rotational force into his right leg, accelerating his spin until his entire body resembled a blazing tornado descending from the sky.
BOOM!
His flaming leg smashed into a tree nearly half a meter thick.
The massive trunk exploded on impact.
The concentrated force of the flames completely shattered the tree, while the resulting shockwave tore into the earth and blasted debris in every direction.
When the dust finally settled, a large crater remained where the tree had stood.
Gōenji landed steadily nearby.
A satisfied smile appeared on his face.
His second original Fire Release technique was finally complete.
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