The concealing smoke dispersed, revealing the full form of the Evaporation Blast Technique to the eyes of the Iwagakure shinobi.
"Run—!"
Shota's pupils shrank sharply as soon as he caught sight of the jutsu. A surge of fear overtook him, and he screamed in terror.
At the same time, his instincts kicked in, he launched himself backward with all his might in a desperate attempt to flee.
Even though he hadn't yet witnessed the Exploding Flame Barrage in its entirety, the sheer heat radiating from it was enough to give him a taste of its destructive potential.
But he was too late. His reaction came a heartbeat too slow, and the warning was issued just a fraction of a second behind the unfolding calamity.
The jutsu that Pakura unleashed wasn't a simple single-target ninjutsu. It was…
BOOM—
As if fueled by the wind itself, the Evaporation Blast surged outward to its limits and then erupted.
Whish, whish, whish…
The exploded jutsu scattered into dozens—no, hundreds, of fireballs the size of basketballs, each maintaining the scorching heat of the original technique. Now, five times faster, they rained down like a storm of fiery meteors upon the sixty-plus Iwa-nin.
This was Pakura's first time using the Evaporation Blast in actual combat since she developed it. The technique itself was still incomplete, and it had required assistance from other Wind-style shinobi from Sunagakure to successfully cast. Even Pakura wasn't fully aware of its full destructive power.
With her chakra completely depleted, Pakura stared intently at the blazing fallout and silently prayed:
"Please… let this work!"
The Iwa-nin under Shota's command had no time to dodge. No matter how they tried to run, there was nowhere to go.
There were simply too many fireballs.
"Ah!"
"No—ahhh!"
"S-someone—"
One by one, the Iwa-nin watched in horror as the fireballs closed in. They could do nothing but stare wide-eyed as the blazing spheres struck them, triggering shrieks of agony and terror.
Even Shota wasn't spared.
The moment the fireballs impacted, they detonated, again.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
In mere moments, the battlefield was littered with over sixty charred corpses before Pakura's eyes.
Evaporation Blast, terrifying beyond measure.
Behind Pakura, Seiji stood frozen, stunned by what he had just witnessed. He had watched Pakura obliterate sixty enemy shinobi in one strike and had felt the raw, merciless power of her jutsu.
Not only him, the surrounding Suna-nin stared at Pakura, mouths agape. In their eyes, reverence and awe had taken root.
Though Pakura was still only a Chūnin, she had proven her worth with overwhelming force.
The twenty-plus Suna-nin who had supported her in casting the jutsu stared at the sixty-plus corpses in disbelief.
"That… that's the jutsu we helped Pakura-sama cast?"
"Incredible… that power…"
They couldn't take their eyes off her.
Feeling the weight of their stares, Pakura raised her head, voice unwavering.
"I've done all I can."
"I leave the rest… to you."
Her words snapped the Sunagakure forces out of their daze. Seiji immediately barked his next orders.
"You five puppet masters, protect Pakura! The rest of you, with me!"
Without hesitation, he charged toward the opposite side of the battlefield, leading forty-odd Suna-nin at his back.
If Sunagakure won this battle, Pakura would undoubtedly deserve the highest honors.
Wiping out over sixty Iwa-nin in a single strike hadn't just saved Seiji and the others, it had turned the tide of battle, giving Sunagakure the numerical advantage.
Now, these forty-odd Suna-nin were free to support the other units, turning into a decisive strike force.
"Charge!!"
"Kill them all, leave no Iwa-nin alive!"
Roaring with renewed morale, the Suna-nin rushed forward to join the fray.
The Suna shinobi still locked in combat saw Seiji's group and redoubled their efforts, fighting back with a vengeance and coordinating with the new reinforcements to crush the Iwa-nin forces.
"Kill! Kill! Kill!"
Acting as the impromptu commander, Seiji slashed his way forward, rallying the troops as he carved a path through the enemy. The number of shinobi following behind him nearly doubled.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the battlefield, Ken Ogasawara, still locked in fierce combat with Akagi, watched the tide shift, and a grim smile tugged at his lips.
"Akagi… your defeat is sealed."
His words carried killing intent so thick, it boiled like water.
"Ken! Don't get cocky!"
"You think this changes anything?"
"We're Iwa-nin, damn it!"
Akagi's furious roar came as he continued his battle, but even he couldn't deny what was unfolding, this battle was slipping out of Iwagakure's grasp.
Which meant… he needed to escape.
Scanning the battlefield, he quickly spotted the root cause of their downfall, the still-guarded Pakura.
"Wind Style: Blade of Wind!"
Victory in sight, Ken unleashed an A-rank Wind Release jutsu toward Akagi.
"Earth Style: Earth Flow Wall!"
Akagi quickly countered with a defensive Earth technique. As the earthen barrier rose, he kept forming hand seals behind it, his new target clear.
It wasn't Ken.
It was Pakura.
If not for her, Akagi would've already stormed into the heart of Sunagakure with his forces.
That made her a target of hatred, and priority one for elimination.
Earth Style: Headhunter Jutsu.
As soon as the jutsu was complete, Akagi sank into the ground, tunneling directly toward the resting Pakura. The Blade of Wind, formed of wind chakra, cut through his Earth Flow Wall, slicing a gash across Akagi's forehead as he disappeared underground.
Ken had seen Akagi vanish but didn't know his new destination.
He tensed, alert to any underground movement, unaware that Akagi was now tunneling straight for Pakura.
To Akagi, Ken was a tough bone not worth gnawing. Pakura, on the other hand, was vulnerable.
If he could kill her and get out alive, it would all be worth it.
Pakura, meanwhile, had just consumed three Soldier Pills after exhausting her chakra. She focused on recovery, scanning the battlefield and preparing herself for another strike.
She wanted to keep fighting. She would fight again.
But just as she steadied herself—
She was ambushed.
Without warning, a massive hand burst from the ground and grabbed her, trying to drag her into the desert.
Caught off guard, Pakura panicked, but only for a moment.
Her expression hardened.
If you dare try to kill me...
Then prepare to die.
BOOM.
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