The clash was instantaneous.
"White Secret Technique: Chikamatsu Collection!"
Lady Chiyo didn't hold back. Ten white puppets, dressed in flowing robes, soared through the air. They moved with a terrifying, jerky fluidity, blades hidden in every joint.
"Engage!" Sakumo Hatake shouted.
The White Fang was a blur of silver. He intercepted three puppets at once, his chakra blade humming as it sliced through reinforced wood and chakra threads like they were cobwebs.
"Uchiha! Fire Formation A!" Fugaku roared from the backline.
Fifty Uchiha inhaled in unison.
"Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!"
A massive wall of orange flame rolled across the battlefield. It collided with the Suna vanguard. The wind users tried to blow it back, but the sheer volume of Uchiha fire overwhelmed them. Puppets blackened and cracked. Suna ninja screamed as they were engulfed.
"It's working!" Taki shouted, firing another blast.
"Don't get cocky," Ren muttered, his eyes darting upward.
The sky above them groaned.
The black cloud of Iron Sand swirled, condensing into a massive, jagged shape. Floating beneath it, arms crossed, was the Third Kazekage.
"Insects," the Kazekage stated coldly. "Fire cannot burn iron."
He pointed a finger down.
"Magnet Release: Iron Sand Drizzle!"
The cloud exploded. Millions of hardened iron pellets rained down like bullets.
"Shields!" Satoshi screamed.
The Uchiha switched to Earth Style, raising walls, but the Iron Sand punched through stone like it was paper.
"Argh!"
Screams erupted as the heavy pellets shredded the front line. The Fireballs were useless; the sand smothered the flames instantly.
Fugaku gritted his teeth, dodging a spike that nearly took his head off. "We can't get close! His range is too great!"
The Kazekage raised both hands. The sand on the ground began to rise, forming a massive tsunami of black metal.
"Iron Sand World Method!"
The wave crested, threatening to bury the entire Uchiha unit.
"Now, Dad!" Ren shouted, grabbing his father's shoulder.
Satoshi didn't question him. He trusted his son's tactical genius implicitly.
"Mikoto, Kaori! Cover us!" Ren ordered.
Kaori threw a spread of Explosive Tags, detonating them in the air to create a smoke screen. Mikoto unleashed a Phoenix Flower Jutsu, hiding shuriken in the flames to distract the puppets.
Ren and Satoshi sprinted forward, straight toward the incoming wave of Iron Sand.
"Are they insane?!" Fugaku yelled. "Retreat!"
Ren ignored him.
Ren looked at the towering wave of black iron looming over them.
"Dad! Maximum output! Don't aim for the Kage! Aim for the Sand!"
Satoshi nodded. He channeled every ounce of his Lightning Chakra.
Ren did the same, pulling Natural Energy from the storm to supercharge his own.
Ox — Rat — Snake — Monkey.
CHIRP-CHIRP-CHIRP-CHIRP.
Two Chidoris screamed to life. One blue (Satoshi), one blinding white (Ren).
They slid under the shadow of the wave.
"Lightning Style: Double Chidori Current!"
They slammed their hands directly into the base of the Iron Sand wave.
Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-AP!
The effect was catastrophic.
Iron is a conductor. Wet, rain-soaked iron is a perfect conductor.
The two A-Rank lightning jutsus didn't just hit the sand; they surged through it. The white and blue electricity branched out like a nervous system, racing up the massive wall of metal faster than the eye could follow.
High above, the Third Kazekage smirked as he prepared to crush the Uchiha.
Then, the sand turned blue.
"What—?"
The voltage traveled up the magnetic field lines, straight into the man controlling them.
CRACK.
"GYAAAAAAH!"
The Third Kazekage convulsed. His entire body lit up like a Christmas tree. The magnetic hold on the sand broke instantly.
The massive tsunami of iron lost its form. It collapsed, raining down harmlessly around the Uchiha forces, saving them from annihilation.
However, the Kazekage was a monster in his own right. He shook off the paralysis in seconds, his face twisted in rage. The Iron Sand began to swirl around him again, tighter and faster.
Ren and Satoshi were now deep in enemy territory, isolated.
"He recovered fast," Ren noted, watching the iron spikes reform.
"Don't stand still!" Satoshi ordered, his body sparking. "We are sitting ducks if we stop. Use our speed!"
Satoshi vanished. He used the Lightning Body Flicker, leaving a trail of blue sparks as he zipped around the Kazekage.
Ren moved instantly. Hirenkyaku. He slid on the air, moving in zig-zags that defied physics.
They attacked from both sides.
Clang!
Satoshi's sword deflected an iron spike.
Slash!
Ren appeared behind the Kazekage, his sword coated in wind chakra, carving a shallow cut across the Kage's back armor.
"Damn rats!" The Kazekage roared, trying to track them.
But he couldn't. Satoshi was fast, but Ren was a ghost. Every time the Iron Sand tried to crush Ren, he was already gone, leaving only an afterimage. The Kazekage started accumulating small cuts and bruises, unable to keep up with the father-son duo.
"Ren!" Satoshi shouted, leaping back. "Keep him engaged! Give me an opening! I'm going to use it!"
Ren blinked. It?
He saw his father sheathing his sword and cupping his hands.
Wait... is he doing the Rasengan?
Ren flashed forward, drawing the Kazekage's attention with a barrage of shuriken.
Behind him, a sphere of chakra formed in Satoshi's hands. But it wasn't the swirling blue of a normal Rasengan.
It turned a deep, violent orange. Then yellow. It began to grow, destabilizing the air around it with intense heat.
"Ren! Move aside!" Satoshi roared.
Ren saw the unstable sun in his father's hand. Omoikane gave him one warning: RUN.
Ren used Hirenkyaku to flash step fifty meters away.
Satoshi threw the jutsu.
"Fire Style: Great Flame Rasengan!"
The sphere flew through the air like a miniature sun. The Kazekage, realizing he couldn't dodge in time, pulled all his Iron Sand inward.
"Iron Sand Defense: Absolute Sphere!"
He encased himself in a thick cocoon of black iron.
The Fire Rasengan hit the sphere.
BOOM.
It didn't just explode. It expanded.
A massive, spinning hemisphere of fire, thirty meters wide, engulfed the Iron Sand cocoon. It roared like a furnace, spinning violently for thirty agonizing seconds. The rain turned to steam instantly. The ground melted into glass.
Everyone on the battlefield—Uchiha, Suna, and Sakumo—stopped to watch the inferno.
Finally, the jutsu dissipated.
The Iron Sand sphere was still standing. But it was glowing cherry-red.
Crack.
The sphere crumbled, falling apart like wet cake.
Inside, the Third Kazekage fell to his knees. His armor was melted. His skin was blistered red. He was gasping for air, steam rising from his entire body.
The iron sand hadn't crushed him, but it had conducted the heat perfectly. He had trapped himself inside a convection oven.
Ren landed next to his father, looking at the devastation.
"Iron protects against impact," Ren quipped, looking at the smoking Kage. "But against fire? You just cooked a Kage in an oven, Dad."
Satoshi panted, drained but grinning. "I like my enemies medium-well."
"Lord Kazekage!"
Dozens of Suna Elite Jonin swarmed the area, surrounding their fallen leader with defensive formations. They looked terrified, but desperate to save him.
"Evacuate him!" one shouted.
The Uchiha forces, seeing the enemy leader down, charged forward with renewed morale.
Lady Chiyo, seeing the disaster, slammed her puppets into the ground, creating a massive chakra shield to push the White Fang back.
"Retreat!" Chiyo screamed, her voice shrill. "All forces, fall back! Protect the Kazekage!"
Suna broke rank. They grabbed their burned leader and fled into the mist, pursued by the fire of the Uchiha.