The Art of Natural Calamity Lava Release: Meteor Volcano!
The encirclement tightened.
Mist thickened like a suffocating veil, chakra signatures pressing inward from every direction.
Hidden within the shadows near a dying campfire, Uchiha Yi suppressed his presence. He had no intention of drawing attention not yet.
All around him stood shinobi of Kirigakure, blades drawn, hands already forming seals.
At the center of the shrinking circle
Kakashi Hatake emerged from concealment.
There was no more room to retreat.
"Kill him!"
"Do not let the Copy Ninja escape again!"
The Mist captain barked the order.
Around Kakashi, shinobi began weaving hand seals at terrifying speed. The earlier skirmishes had cost them dearly. Several bodies already lay beneath the fog.
They had learned something important.
Capturing Kakashi alive?
Unrealistic.
Killing him was the only option.
Kakashi exhaled slowly.
So this was how it would be.
His odds of surviving were slim.
But surrender was not the way of a shinobi of Konoha.
Not while questions about Uchiha Obito still burned unanswered.
Not while the truth remained buried in blood and lies.
"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique!"
"Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique!"
"Water Release: Wild Water Wave!"
Dozens of water-style techniques surged forward simultaneously.
High-pressure torrents.
Roaring dragons.
Crashing walls of tidal force.
Kakashi stood at the center of annihilation.
No escape routes.
No blind spots.
A perfect kill zone.
"Earth Release: Earth Prison Dome of Magnificent Nothingness!"
His hands blurred.
Five seals per second.
Precise. Efficient.
He slammed his palm into the ground.
The earth rose instantly, forming a dense spherical barrier around him.
Unlike its original usage by Jirobo, who used the technique to imprison enemies, Kakashi reversed its function turning it into a reinforced defensive structure.
Chakra flowed from his palms into the earthen dome.
The walls absorbed impact.
Repaired fractures.
Stabilized structure.
Genius application.
Adaptation under pressure.
Exactly why Kakashi was feared across nations.
But even genius had limits.
The flood of water-style ninjutsu slammed into the earthen dome like a tsunami striking a lone rock.
Cracks formed.
Repaired.
Cracked again.
The dome trembled violently.
Inside, Kakashi's breathing grew heavier.
Even he could not endure this forever.
Hidden in the mist, Uchiha Yi narrowed his eyes.
"So you're still not moving… Obito."
Given Obito's obsession, his twisted fixation
He should never allow Kakashi to die by another's hand.
In Obito's mind, Kakashi belonged to him.
If death came
It would be by his judgment alone.
Yet there was no intervention.
No spatial distortion.
No Kamui ripple.
Nothing.
Even someone who understood fragments of the future could not fully grasp Obito's current mindset.
Yi clicked his tongue.
"Looks like I'll have to interfere."
A living Kakashi was infinitely more valuable than a corpse.
And more importantly
Kakashi was the sharpest blade to pierce Obito's armor.
Yi formed a single seal.
A shadow clone.
This clone stepped forward.
The original remained hidden.
Chakra discipline was everything.
The clone leapt into the air and landed atop Kakashi's crumbling earthen dome.
Mist shinobi froze.
Another enemy?
Within the clone's mind
A mechanical presence activated.
Three concentric rings of molten chakra ignited around Yi's body
One at chest level.
One at head height.
One at his feet.
Not ordinary fire
But Lava Release (Yōton), a rare kekkei genkai combining Fire and Earth nature transformation, similar in principle to the abilities once wielded by the Fourth Mizukage.
The rings expanded outward.
Incoming water techniques struck the molten barrier
And were violently repelled.
Steam exploded in all directions.
Several jutsu slipped through gaps
But their force had been greatly diminished.
Still
This would not end quickly.
And Yi despised prolonged battles.
"Then let's escalate."
His clone's hands glowed crimson.
Chakra condensed.
Nature transformation shifted.
Lava bubbled across his forearms.
Fists hardened into volcanic magma.
He thrust both arms skyward.
"Lava Release: Meteor Volcano!"
Dozens
No
Hundreds of molten fists launched upward like erupting magma.
They arced into the clouds
And vanished.
The battlefield went silent.
Mist shinobi stared upward.
"What is he doing?"
"Is this some kind of feint?"
A jōnin captain felt it first.
His sensory instincts screamed.
"Everyone! Defensive formation! Now!"
The sky burned red.
Molten fists descended like falling meteors.
A rain of volcanic devastation.
The fog evaporated instantly.
Heat distorted the air.
The sight alone shattered morale.
Each impact struck with crushing force.
Explosions roared across the battlefield.
Trees incinerated.
Earth melted.
Water vaporized into blinding steam.
No ordinary ninjutsu could withstand this scale.
"Water Release: Water Formation Wall Combined Barrier!"
The captain acted decisively.
Rather than the impractical Water Prison Technique which required constant direct contact he ordered a combined defensive wall formation.
Multiple shinobi synchronized hand seals.
Chakra merged.
A massive hemispherical water barrier surged upward, enclosing the entire Mist unit.
Meteoric lava collided with the water dome.
Steam detonated violently.
Shockwaves rippled outward.
Inside the barrier
Shinobi screamed as heat seared through chakra channels.
"Hold it!"
"Feed more chakra!"
"Do not collapse!"
The captain roared until his throat burned.
At last
The final meteor struck.
Silence fell.
The water barrier dissolved.
Steam drifted slowly across a scorched battlefield.
Casualties.
Burned uniforms.
Collapsed shinobi.
But the unit was not annihilated.
From the treetops, Uchiha Yi frowned.
"Only that many?"
The devastation was immense
Yet coordinated defense had reduced total loss.
Perhaps he had underestimated Kirigakure.
Or perhaps
Level One Meteor Volcano simply lacked sufficient destructive density.
Either way
He was far from invincible.