The battlefield held its breath.
On one side
Kyro, draconic and blazing, jaws open as a sphere of condensed crimson destruction pulsed violently before him.
On the other
A, lightning condensed into a single, terrifying point at his fingertip.
The ground beneath both of them cracked under the pressure.
Even the air warped.
Then
They moved.
Kyro finally unleashed it.
BREATH OF DREAD.
A beam of blood-red fire erupted forward, thick and dense, tearing through the battlefield like a collapsing star.
At the same moment
The Raikage vanished.
A blur of lightning.
He pierced forward.
HELL STAB. ONE FINGER NUKITE.
The beam and the strike met in the center of the battlefield.
For a single, frozen instant,
Everything went silent.
Then
WORLD SHATTERING EXPLOSION.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
A dome of destruction erupted outward.
The ground vaporized.
Stone turned to liquid.
Trees were erased instantly.
The shockwave blasted across kilometers of terrain, flattening everything in its path.
The sky itself seemed to split as the explosion climbed upward like a burning pillar of crimson and lightning.
Forest Edge
Minato's eyes sharpened instantly.
"…Move."
Before anyone could react
He vanished.
Flying Thunder God Technique.
A golden flash streaked across the battlefield.
Again.
And again.
And again.
Minato appeared beside wounded shinobi, grabbing them and vanishing instantly.
Teleport.
Save.
Teleport.
Save.
His movements were precise.
Calculated.
Inhumanly fast.
One Leaf shinobi blinked
And suddenly found himself miles away from the explosion zone.
Another Cloud survivor disappeared from certain death.
Even enemy shinobi.
Minato didn't discriminate.
Right now
This wasn't about sides.
It was survival.
From the distance, one shinobi whispered in awe:
"…it's him! ... It's the Yellow Flash…"
Minato reappeared on a high ridge, breathing steadily as the explosion continued to expand.
"…That was close."
The explosion slowly faded.
What remained
Was devastation.
A massive crater stretching across the battlefield.
Molten rock bubbled at the edges.
Smoke rose into the sky like a funeral pyre.
At the center of it all
A figure stood.
Unmoved.
Unbroken.
A.
His lightning armor flickered slightly
But he was still standing.
Still intact.
Still dominant.
He lowered his arm slowly.
"…Hmph... not so bad, for a brat!! ."
Hundreds of meters away
Kyro's body slammed into the ground.
Hard.
His draconic form flickered violently.
Scales shattered.
Horns cracked.
Blood splattered across the broken earth.
The Breath of Dread was Overpowered.
The Raikage's Hell Stab had pierced through the beam.
Through the explosion and right through Kyro's attack.
And the backlash had nearly torn him apart.
Kyro struggled to breathe.
His chest rose and fell unevenly.
Regeneration kicked in immediately but still, the damage was massive.
"…Tch…"he grunts in frustration...
He tried to stand.
His leg gave out.
He dropped to one knee.
For the first time in a long time
Kyro was losing and he was losing badly
High Above the battle..
A deafening roar split the sky.
Dreadbringer descended violently, his wings creating hurricane-force winds as he landed between Kyro and the Raikage.
His massive body shielded Kyro.
His eyes burned with rage.
The dragon's presence alone made the ground tremble.
The Raikage looked up at him.
Then smiled slightly.
"…You're next you flying lizard ."
Behind Dreadbringer
Kyro forced himself up again.
His body trembled.
Regeneration was working
But slower than before.
The damage from that clash wasn't normal.
It hurt deeper, like he had lightning running through his veins..
Kyro wiped blood from his mouth.
His eyes narrowed.
"…He's too strong and I might actually die this time around …"he said through blooded teeth
For the first time...
A real thought crossed his mind.
Not excitement.
Not challenge.
But the reality of his situation... He had been too confident against A, if not arrogant...
His heart pounded.
The Dragon Furnace roared desperately.
Mana surged violently through his body, purging some of the lighting Chakra .
He winced from the effort,
His bond with Dreadbringer also flared as he pushed his furnace further...
Kyro's eyes began to change.
The crimson glow darkened and his draconic aura began to twisted.
It became more.... Unstable and wild.
"…since I can't run away from this guy" he grunts... "... I'll just have to break past my limits."
A few tens of meters away from the battle,
Minato stood silently on the ridge.
His expression serious now.
"…That boy!.. …"
He had seen powerful shinobi before, Minato thought to himself But this..
This was different.
Something dangerous was about to happen.
Lightning surged violently again as A, walked toward them.
Step by step.
Unstoppable.
"You're strong and you have unheard of abilities that give you a chance... ."
His voice was calm.
"But a chance.... Is not enough."
The battlefield trembled with each step.
"Come on."
He raised his hand again.
"Show me everything you've got."
Behind Dreadbringer
Kyro slowly stood.
His body shaking.
His power surging wildly.
Uncontrolled.
Dangerous.
The Dragon Furnace began to overload.
His horns grew slightly larger.
Scales spread further.
His aura darkened into something far more ominous.
Even Dreadbringer hesitated slightly.
Something was changing.
Something dangerous.
Kyro's voice came out low.
Almost inhuman.
"…Fine then.. ."
The ground beneath him began to crack again.
But this time
Not from pressure.
From instability.
From something being forced beyond its limits.
Kyro's body continues to shift as he stood behind his dragon at the center of devastation.
He was still Broken and very vulnerable .
And now
He was contested for by the surrounding forces who were definitely greedy for his strength..
And speaking of these forces, more specifically the shinobi who had witnessed Kyro's desperate battle against the raikage were in awe for a few minutes before deciding to make their move...
Kyro's body was considered to be a valued asset due to his unique techniques and abilities he had shown in all his sightings..
The tension snapped.
A Root operative moved first, he was fast and precise, a sealing tag already glowing in his hand.
A Cloud jonin intercepted instantly.
CLANG.
Kunai met blade.
Lightning exploded outward.
"BACK Off! Leaf trash " the Cloud ninja roared.
The Root agent didn't reply.
Didn't hesitate.
Didn't feel.
He attacked again, low and with lethal intent this time, aiming to disable rather than kill.
But the Cloud shinobi were ready.
More appeared in flickers of lightning.
Formation tightened.
Protective circle around Kyro.
"He is from the land of lightning, not the land of fire therefore he belongs to Kumogakure!"
A Root operative finally spoke.
Cold.
Flat.
"You're wrong.. He belongs to whoever secures him."
Then
Chaos explodes across the immediate battlefield as the shinobi went all out trying to secure Kyro before the other factions could .
Root moved like ghosts.
No wasted motion.
No emotion.
Poisoned blades.
Sealing techniques.
Precision strikes aimed at joints, tendons, throats.
Cloud responded with raw power and coordination.
Lightning-enhanced speed.
Heavy strikes.
Overwhelming pressure.
A Cloud jonin slammed a Root agent into the ground
Only for another Root operative to appear behind him, blade aimed for the spine,
Blocked at the last second.
Explosions of chakra lit up the battlefield again.
Steel clashed.
Bodies fell.
But neither side could break through the other.
Because both understood
Kyro was worth more than all of them combined.
Above them
In the sky,
Dreadbringer had flown back up to the sky and was now roaring in pain as the third raikage had leapt into the air and struck him hard as he drove another lightning-coated strike into his side.
BOOOOM.
Scales shattered.
Blood rained down.
The Raikage moved like a storm, using the dragon's huge body as leverage.
He was relentless and unyielding not giving dreadbringer a chance to counter..
"You're tough," he growled.
Another strike to the chest, cracking scale and chipping a few .
"But it's not enough."
Dreadbringer staggered mid-air.
Wings faltering for a moment.
But then
He felt it.
The Bond Screams
Below.
Kyro.
Still.
Surrounded.
Threatened.
Taken.
The bond between them pulsed violently.
Dreadbringer's pupils shrank.
Then
Something ancient awakened.
The air temperature spiked instantly.
The clouds above ignited with a crimson glow.
Dreadbringer's body began to change.
His already massive frame expanded further, muscles bulging, scales thickening into darker, jagged armor.
New ridges erupted along his spine.
His horns elongated and twisted into a more savage crown.
His wings tore wider
Now casting a shadow over the entire battlefield.
But the most terrifying change
Was his mana aura.
A blazing inferno of pure draconic wrath erupted around him.
Heat radiated so intensely that the air itself distorted violently.
The battlefield below
IGNITED.
Grass.
Wood.
Cloth.
Everything caught fire instantly.
Even stone began to glow red from the heat.
The Raikage went silent..
For the first time,
A paused.
His eyes narrowed.
"…So you've got another stage or something like that I see... You must have some ties to the caged Chakra beasts ."
Lightning surged violently around him.
But even he felt it
This was different.
Dreadbringer didn't roar.
Didn't hesitate.
He moved.
Faster than before.
A blur of burning mass.
His claw slammed into the Raikage,
BOOOOOOM!!!
For the first time,
The Raikage was sent flying.
Hundreds of meters.
Crashing through burning terrain.
Dust and fire exploded everywhere.
---
Descent of the King
Dreadbringer didn't pursue.
Instead—
He turned.
And dove.
Straight toward Kyro.
---
Battlefield — Everything Burns
Root and Cloud both froze.
The heat.
The pressure.
The overwhelming presence descending from above.
One Cloud ninja whispered in terror:
"…it's coming…"
The sky itself seemed to fall.
Dreadbringer crashed down between them.
BOOOOOOOM!!!
A ring of fire exploded outward.
Both Root and Cloud shinobi were forced back instantly, thrown off their feet or retreating under the sheer heat.
The ground melted beneath the dragon's claws.
No one could approach.
No one could breathe.
Dreadbringer lowered his massive head carefully.
Gently.
Almost tenderly.
He nudged Kyro onto his claw.
Then lifted him.
Protective.
Possessive.
Unyielding.
A low rumble echoed
Not rage.
Not destruction.
But something deeper.
Loyalty.
The dragon spread his massive wings.
Fire spiraled around him like a storm.
Then
He launched upward.
BOOOOM.
The ground collapsed beneath the force.
Wind and fire blasted outward.
And in seconds
He was gone.
High into the sky.
Taking the still injured Kyro with him.
Behind them..
The battlefield burned.
Root operatives slowly regrouped.
Cloud shinobi steadied themselves.
Both sides stared at the sky where the dragon had vanished.
One Root agent spoke quietly:
"…We failed the mission."
Another responded:
"…No not really... ."
His gaze remained fixed upward.
"We learned how the target fights and what he's weaknesses are ."
Elsewhere on the battlefield,
Minato Namikaze watched the dragon disappear into the clouds.
His expression was calm.
But his mind was racing.
"…That wasn't just a summon."
He turned away slowly.
"…That was a partner."
Far Above, high in the clouds
Dreadbringer flew, he was injured from the battle, wounds smoking and his flames still burning.
But his heart was unyielding.
Kyro lay on his back.
Barely awake now that the furnace died down.
The dragon's massive wings beat against the storm winds.
Carrying his master away from war.
Away from death.