— Fire Release: Great Fire God Flame!
"BOOM!"
The instant Akira's palms came together, a raging inferno erupted outward from his body like a Susanoo bursting open.
The Adamantine Prison was the first to take the impact.
"Impossible!"
"Even my diamond-like body is melting under this flame!"
The Adamantine Prison instantly reverted back to Enma's true form.
Just as the Monkey King tried to cancel the summoning and escape—
a hand pierced through the flames and grabbed his throat, which was thicker than a human thigh.
"Why…?!"
"Why can't I cancel the summoning?!"
Akira's voice was calm.
"Tell me…"
"Would you like a hellfire skin?"
"AAAAAAAH!"
Engulfed in blazing flames, Enma screamed in agony.
The scream was quickly drowned out by the roaring explosion of fire.
The hundred-meter-wide trench had become the vent of a living volcano.
Above it, the massive waterfall of flames produced by the Sarutobi clan—empowered by the Nine-Tails cloak—
was blasted backward.
Outside the trench, the Sarutobi shinobi stared blankly at the towering pillar of fire shooting into the sky.
None of them realized death was already counting down.
Konohamaru stared in shock as well.
But suddenly the ground beneath his feet trembled violently.
His eyes widened.
"Everyone!"
"Get away from here!"
Too late.
"CRACK!"
The earth collapsed.
The expanding fire channel became a cremation furnace.
"AAAAAAHHHH!"
Even with the Nine-Tails cloak, the Sarutobi shinobi could only endure the hellish heat for three seconds before the chakra protection burned out.
Konohamaru watched helplessly as one after another—
dark silhouettes twisted and vanished in the inferno.
His pupils lost focus.
In a time of peace—
his clan was being annihilated.
Konohamaru slammed his fists into the ground in despair.
He wanted nothing more than to rush into the flames and burn alongside his people.
"No…!"
"This isn't real!"
"Our Sarutobi clan…!"
"No… no…!"
"Konohamaru!"
Moegi wrapped him tightly with wooden vines created through Wood Release.
Tears streamed down her face as she hugged him from behind.
"Calm down!"
"Please calm down!"
But Konohamaru had already gone completely still.
The grief had surpassed his limit.
He fainted in Moegi's arms.
At the peak of the Great Fire God Flame, the midday sky turned into a blazing crimson horizon.
Then—
from that sea of fire—
countless flaming meteors scattered.
Hundreds of Phoenix Flower fireballs, each the size of a tavern, rained toward the earth.
There was no time to mourn the Sarutobi clan.
The Konoha forces scattered like locusts.
"The range is huge!"
"And the fireballs are spread everywhere!"
"Water Release squads, move!"
Among the fleeing thousands, several hundred shinobi rushed forward.
With trembling hands they formed the same seal.
— Water Release: Water Formation Wall!
"WHOOOOOOSH!"
Empowered by the Nine-Tails cloak, massive walls of water surged upward.
They collided with the incoming Phoenix fireballs.
"SSSSHHHHHH!"
The large-scale water techniques barely managed to suppress the aftermath of the Great Fire God Flame.
But the clash of water and fire produced enormous clouds of steam.
Visibility across the battlefield dropped to almost zero.
At last—
the Great Fire God Flame subsided.
At the scorched bottom of the trench—
ashes crumbled in Akira's hand.
"So…"
"Looks like I couldn't give you that hellfire skin after all."
"CRACK."
He crushed the remaining half of Enma's skull under his foot and leapt back onto level ground.
"SWISH!"
Suddenly—
a thin shadow line shot through the mist toward him.
Akira sidestepped.
The shadow twisted and followed.
"SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!"
Countless shadow lines surged from every direction.
Akira simply stopped moving and allowed the shadows to merge with his own.
"After the Sarutobi clan's group Fire Release…"
"now it's the Nara clan's group Shadow Possession."
Akira spoke calmly as a sealing barrier from the Preta Path appeared beneath his feet, rapidly absorbing the shadows.
"WHOOSH!"
Shikamaru Nara crouched nearby, hands clasped in a seal.
His eyes shone with calculating intensity.
"As expected."
"The Rinnegan's Preta Path."
"But the Nara clan's full-force Shadow Possession—enhanced by Kurama's chakra—can't be absorbed instantly."
"Which means…"
"Our special unit can carry out the decapitation strike."
"SWOOSH!"
A giant ink bird created by Super Beast Scroll burst through the mist above Akira.
Sai protected his wife Ino Yamanaka behind him as they looked down.
"Closer… a little closer."
"Okay."
"How about this distance?"
"…Yes."
"His eye technique range is fifteen meters according to our intel."
"With Kurama's chakra boosting my technique, my Mind Body Switch can reach twenty meters."
"This is perfect."
"Gulp…"
Even so, the horrific destruction of the Sarutobi clan made Ino swallow nervously.
Her hands trembled slightly as she formed the Mind Body Switch seal.
Sai spoke gently.
"Don't worry."
"Akira is trapped by the Shadow Possession."
"He won't break free immediately."
"And even if he does…"
"I'll block his ocular techniques with my body."
"Besides…"
"He'll never expect a surprise attack like this."
Ino nodded.
"I know, dear."
"I'm just feeling the weight of responsibility."
"But thanks to you…"
"I've steadied myself."
She took a deep breath.
Then formed the seal perfectly.
Akira's figure appeared inside the targeting frame of her hands.
Shikamaru's thoughts raced.
Back during the war, Ino managed to control Obito for two seconds.
Those two seconds were enough to redirect the Ten-Tails' Tailed Beast Bomb.
Now she's the head of the Yamanaka clan.
Her mastery of Mind Body Switch is far greater.
And she's empowered by Kurama's chakra.
Even if Akira is stronger than Obito…
he can't escape this control.
Even one instant will be enough!
Ino can blind his right eye!
Half his power comes from that cursed Rinnegan!
Once it's gone—
we can overwhelm him with sheer firepower!
The Sarutobi clan will not have died in vain!
Show him the strength of Konoha!
— Mind Body Switch Technique!
"Impossible!?"
Ino's face turned pale.
"What happened?!"
"My… my Mind Body Switch…"
"…doesn't work on him!"
"How…?!"
Of course it wouldn't work.
Akira's own mental strength was already on par with Madara's.
And when he awakened the Rinnegan, he had also absorbed the residual power of Madara embedded within the Hashirama clone body.
His spiritual strength had reached an absurd level.
Not just Ino's Mind Body Switch—
even techniques like Kotoamatsukami from a shinobi of equal level wouldn't affect him.
Akira slowly lifted his gaze toward the sky.
"BOOM!"
Ino's spiritual world was suddenly engulfed in killing intent.
Within those lines of murderous pressure—
a mithril-colored Susanoo phantom appeared.
It grabbed her spiritual body tightly in its hand.
Ino's pupils lost focus.
Her body collapsed forward onto Sai's back.
A thin stream flowed from beneath her purple skirt, running down the white bandages around her leg.
Sai reached back instinctively.
When he looked at the liquid on his hand—
his pale face turned even whiter.
"…Sweat."
"No."
"…Urine."
"Ino… wet herself."
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