The forest outside the border of the Land of Fire burned like a beacon against the night.
A column of flame, unnatural, spiraling split the canopy and clawed toward the heavens.
Kyro knew immediately what that meant.
"Too much," he muttered, dragging his cloak tighter as embers rained around the ruined village. "You're pushing too fast."
Behind him, the dragon convulsed.
Its body, once merely large, had grown broader, heavier, the scales now layered in dark metallic ridges. Veins of molten light pulsed between them. Combat stress. Growth through violence.
The partial breakthrough from devouring chakra-infused prey had accelerated something ancient.
And it had just announced their location to the world.
POV: Anbu – Cloud Division
High above the treeline, masked figures paused mid-leap.
One ANBU landed on a branch and formed a seal.
"Confirmed visual. Column of fire non-standard ninjutsu signature but has a strange energy feel to it ."
Another crouched beside him, activating sensory perception.
"Triangulating… Wind displacement abnormal. Large mass. Extremely large."
A third voice, calm and controlled:
"That's not a summoning. That's a living entity."
A pause.
"…Cloud bounty target likely present."
Silence fell.
Then
"Deploy containment formation."
Back to Kyro
He felt them before he saw them.
Three.
No.... five.
High-tier chakra signatures. Controlled breathing. Professional.
"ANBU…" Kyro exhaled slowly.
The dragon lifted its head, pupils narrowing. It sensed predators.
Irony.
Kyro placed a hand against its heated scales. "No. Not yet."
A kunai embedded itself in the ground inches from his foot.
Explosive tag.
He grabbed the dragon's jaw and yanked downward as the forest detonated in blinding light.
BOOM.
Trees splintered. Shockwaves rolled.
Through smoke,
Shadows moved.
Wind blades sliced from above. Lightning spears followed.
The dragon roared, unleashing a shockwave that flattened half the clearing.
ANBU scattered midair, perfect coordination.
"They're testing durability," Kyro realized.
Another explosive detonated near the dragon's wing joint.
The massive limb buckled slightly.
That's when Kyro understood.
They weren't trying to kill it.
They were trying to ground it from escaping via flight.
"Run!" he shouted.
The dragon lunged forward, smashing through collapsing buildings of the abandoned village. ANBU pursued through trees like phantoms.
One masked operative dropped directly in front of them,
Hand signs flashing.
"Lightning Net Formation!"
A web of crackling energy expanded across the path.
The dragon barreled into it,
And screamed.
Electricity arced across its scales, exploiting the gaps between evolving plates.
Kyro leapt off its back mid-charge, drawing his blade and channeling borrowed dragon mana into a cutting arc.
He sliced through one anchor node.
The net destabilized.
The dragon crashed through, skidding violently into a ravine.
Ravine Edge...
They were cornered.
Cliffs on three sides.
ANBU surrounded them from above.
One stepped forward—the leader.
"You are harboring a classified threat," he said calmly behind the porcelain mask. "Stand down. The creature will be secured and so will you... ."
Kyro's eyes hardened.
"You think you can secure something like this?"
The dragon rose behind him, pointing his chin up, acting tough.
Steam vented from its nostrils.
Its wings, half-developed, skeletal extensions now stretched wider than before trembled violently.
The ANBU leader tilted his head.
"…It's going to attempt flight."
Kyro froze.
"No... "
The dragon roared.
And jumped and kyro followed
For a split second,
They fell.
Weightless.
Then
The wings caught air.
Not gracefully.
Violently.
Wind exploded outward as the massive body jerked upward, claws tearing chunks of cliffside rock loose.
ANBU launched after them.
Lightning jutsu streaked across the sky.
One bolt struck the dragon's flank.
It faltered..
Kyro felt gravity begin to reclaim them
"Focus!" he shouted, slamming his palm into the dragon's neck. "Feel the air!"
Another bolt.
Another hit.
Scales cracked.
The dragon screamed in fury
And something shifted.
The molten veins along its body brightened.
Air pressure distorted around its wings.
Instead of flapping,
It pushed.
A concussive burst of compressed wind blasted downward, sending two pursuing ANBU spiraling out of control.
The dragon surged upward.
Unstable.
Shaking.
But rising.
Kyro clung desperately to its spine as trees shrank beneath them, he was smiling like a mad man as they escaped..
More lightning spears shot past
One grazing Kyro's shoulder, spinning him sideways.
He barely held on.
He stopped smiling..
The ANBU leader halted midair, assessing.
"…Retreat," he ordered calmly.
Another operative protested. "but Sir.. "
...
"No..... That creature just altered its lift mechanics mid-flight."
A pause.
"It's evolving and they are heading in the direction of the land of fire."
They watched as dragon and rider vanished into cloud cover.
High Above the Land of Fire
The dragon's ascent faltered.
Its breathing became ragged.
Wings convulsed erratically.
Kyro felt the tremor in its body.
"Too soon…" he muttered. "You forced it."
The dragon's glow dimmed.
They began to descend, more glide than fall this time.
Kyro scanned below.
Mountains.
Deep forest.
Uninhabited.
Good.
They crashed through treetops in a violent landing that flattened a clearing but avoided catastrophic injury.
Silence followed.
The dragon lay still.
Alive but extremely exhausted.
Its scales had thickened again along the spine.
Evolution under duress.
Kyro knelt beside it, breathing heavily.
Cloud ANBU had confirmed something tonight.
The threat wasn't rumor anymore.
It was real.
And they would escalate.
POV: Anbu – Cloud Debrief
Inside a dimly lit underground chamber in the Hidden Cloud.
"The fire column was a byproduct of physiological mutation," the ANBU leader reported. "The creature adapts mid-combat."
"And the host?" a superior asked.
"Highly resilient. Tactical. Increasingly dangerous."
A pause.
"We recommend immediate reclassification."
Silence.
"Double the bounty again."
Far below, in the underground exchange, whispers would soon spread like wildfire.
The dragon had flown.
And that changed everything.