"Boom!"
The four Nine-Tails shadow clones Naruto had placed in the four cardinal directions fired simultaneously.
Four Tailed Beast Bombs blasted toward Akira like shells from cannons!
— Slug Forest Sage Mode!
Using Toyoke Mikoto to instantly enter Sage Mode, Akira's right eye tracked them like lightning.
— Toyoke Mikoto!
"Slash!"
Four Piercing Spears shot out in different directions, colliding head-on with the incoming Tailed Beast Bombs.
They pierced through them and detonated them midair.
"BOOM!"
Four explosions erupted.
The resulting fragments from the shattered spears rained down like a storm of blades.
"AAAAH!"
The fox-cloaked shinobi lines collapsed instantly.
Shinobi who had been blasted to the ground stared at the silver fragments embedded halfway through their fox cloaks, drenched in cold sweat.
"I-If it weren't for Lord Hokage's chakra protecting us…"
"We'd have been torn apart!"
Through Ino's Mind Transmission Technique, Shikamaru's voice reached Naruto instantly.
"Akira's eye technique works like scientific ninja tools!"
"He stores techniques in advance inside his eyes."
"That means there's a limit!"
"Keep suppressing him with Tailed Beast Bombs and drain his reserves!"
"Oh—and don't waste time charging them."
"Use rapid-fire Tailed Beast Bombs instead. Overwhelm him with numbers!"
Naruto replied immediately.
"Yeah. I was thinking the same."
The four fox avatars became artillery turrets.
Strings of red Tailed Beast Bombs shot out rapidly, surrounding Akira from every direction.
Akira said calmly,
"You're thinking too much."
— Toyoke Mikoto!
With a flick of his gaze, four gravitational cores of Chibaku Tensei shot out like cannonballs.
Every Tailed Beast Bomb in their path was instantly pulled in and absorbed.
Because these were rapid-fire miniature bombs, their power wasn't enough to destroy the gravity cores.
All of them were swallowed.
The gravity spheres sped forward.
In an instant, they closed in on the four fox avatars.
"Not good!"
"He's trying to wipe us out all at once!"
Naruto's shadow clones realized the danger—but it was already too late.
They were dragged upward by overwhelming gravity.
Massive chunks of earth rose from the ground, swallowing them whole.
With a burst of smoke—
they vanished.
Four massive floating miniature moons now hung above the battlefield.
These Chibaku Tensei cores had been stored earlier inside Toyoke Mikoto, meaning they didn't consume Akira's chakra at all.
Naruto recovered the chakra from the destroyed clones.
His expression grew serious.
He can even store Chibaku Tensei cores inside his eyes…
If he releases everything at once…
I can't even imagine what would happen.
Sensing Naruto's worry, Shikamaru reassured him.
"Don't panic."
"Akira has had the Rinnegan for less than ten days."
"A technique like Chibaku Tensei consumes enormous chakra."
"Even if he stored them every day, he couldn't store many."
Naruto nodded.
"Right. That makes sense."
But even that brief exchange had shaken Konoha's forces.
For most of them, this was the first time seeing Akira fight.
"The Five Kage… fought this monster before?"
"He didn't even form hand signs!"
"He just stood there, glared a few times—and Lord Hokage's fox avatars were gone…"
"Can we really defeat something like this…?"
Akira looked at them.
"If you're not coming…"
"Then I will."
He moved.
First a walk.
Then a jog.
Then longer strides.
Faster steps.
Finally—
a full sprint.
"THUD! THUD! THUD!"
Each step seemed to pound directly on the hearts of Konoha's shinobi.
"Gulp…"
Some began swallowing nervously.
Some had legs trembling uncontrollably.
Some struggled to grip their weapons.
Some clasped their hands in prayer.
Others pulled out photos of their families.
Shikamaru shouted:
"Don't panic!"
"Don't be fooled by his ocular techniques!"
"He's not Edo Tensei Madara!"
"He's a living human!"
"He bleeds when injured!"
"He dies if his head is cut off!"
"As long as our attacks exceed what his eyes can handle—"
"we can defeat him!"
"AAAAAAHHHH!"
The shinobi roared.
They shouted.
The sea of fox-cloaked warriors surged forward like a tidal wave—
crashing toward the lone black figure charging at them.
"AAAAAH!"
In an instant—
bodies flew everywhere.
Even with Kurama's cloak protecting them, they couldn't withstand Akira's overwhelming taijutsu.
Zooming into the close combat battlefield—
Akira crashed through twenty shinobi before stopping inside a formation of four Konoha chūnin.
One chūnin recovered first and slashed downward with a ninja blade.
Akira caught his wrist with his left hand.
His right hand formed two fingers, crackling with Purple Lightning.
He sliced through the fox cloak and cleanly slit the man's throat.
This was a test.
As expected.
Purple Lightning is enough to penetrate the fox cloak's defense.
The movement was too fast.
The other three chūnin didn't even realize their teammate was dead.
They rushed forward to surround him.
Akira slipped past their attacks—
"Slash! Slash! Slash!"
Three fingers swept across their necks.
All three fell.
"Whoosh!"
He flipped backward through a barrage of shuriken.
Landing inside a second combat circle—
Akira drew the Kusanagi Sword.
Purple lightning wrapped around the blade like a ribbon.
He unleashed a massacre.
"Slash! Slash! Slash!"
Where the lightning blade passed—
Weapons shattered.
Fox cloaks tore apart.
Lives ended.
Seven seconds ticked by on the watch beneath Akira's left sleeve.
Eighteen mutilated corpses now lay at his feet.
But in that group—
Akira deliberately left one survivor.
She was Yugao Uzuki, former lover of Hayate Gekkō.
And also one of Akira's Twin Flower copies.
One of his own.
Naturally, he wouldn't kill her.
Akira stepped on her chest with his right foot.
His foot absorbed the fox cloak from her body.
Yugao gazed up at him helplessly.
When the absorption was almost complete—
Akira glanced sideways.
Suddenly he raised a ninja blade as if to stab her.
"BOOM!"
A golden staff shot toward him!
Akira raised his palm and used the momentum of the incoming strike to flip backward, retreating from Yugao's position.
"Uchiha Akira!"
"I won't let you run wild anymore!"
Konohamaru Sarutobi, cloaked in Kurama's chakra, stood firmly.
In his hands spun the Adamantine Staff, inherited from the Third Hokage.
Akira smirked inwardly.
You had this thing earlier when fighting Boro's puppet.
Why didn't you use it against Iwō?
Couldn't summon it without Kurama's chakra, perhaps?
Suddenly—
the ground beneath Akira collapsed.
Earth Release formed a trench around him.
Above the trench stood dozens of Sarutobi clan shinobi.
— Enma: Adamantine Prison Wall!
"CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!"
Konohamaru's hand seals triggered the technique.
The Adamantine Staff split into countless segments, forming a sealed cage around Akira.
Akira sighed.
"So you're playing dirty now."
The Sarutobi clan's fox cloaks burned brightly.
They formed the Tiger hand seal together.
Konohamaru shouted:
"Uchiha Akira!"
"This is the Sarutobi clan's combined Fire Release technique—enhanced by Lord Hokage's Nine-Tails chakra!"
"It was once used against the Ten-Tails during the Fourth Great Ninja War!"
"You should feel honored!"
Akira almost laughed.
Kid…
Have you ever actually seen the Ten-Tails?
— Fire Release: Grand Flame Technique!
"ROOOOOAR!"
A massive waterfall of fire surged down into the trench from all directions.
Akira looked up at the inferno.
Ever since gaining Toyoke Mikoto and Shinshō…
I haven't used traditional Uchiha Fire Release in years.
"…Very well."
"Since you mentioned the name Sarutobi."
"I'll answer in the name of the Uchiha."
Akira formed the Tiger seal.
His palms slammed together.
— Fire Release: Great Fire God Flame!
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