The thousand-meter mountain peak toppled, and the screaming gales sent Ren Uchiha's hair flying back from his forehead.
Ren stood atop the jagged rock Kitsuchi had hollowed out, plummeting toward the inner city of Unming. His eyes flickered with a trace of shock. Based on his knowledge of the original timeline, Kitsuchi was a pure Earth Release specialist. While his scale was massive enough to restrain the Gedo Mazo, his actual lethality was often considered secondary to his utility.
The Susanoo, being a physical armor of high-density chakra, possessed immense resistance to ninjutsu, appearing fragile only when faced with absolute, concentrated physical force. Therefore, the only real threat Kitsuchi should have posed was the Added-Weight Rock Fist. But using that to break the Susanoo would force Kitsuchi into a close-quarters brawl with Ren—a fight the Earth ninja couldn't possibly win.
However, Ren had grossly underestimated the synergy between the Land of Lightning's vertical geography and Kitsuchi's resolve. The man had leveraged natural forces at the cost of his own life to perform a technique that defied logic.
Earth Release: Super Moving Earth Core!
In terms of difficulty and raw scale, this was no less impressive than the S-rank Lightning Release: Kirin.
Ren gritted his teeth as he plummeted. The world around him was a blur of streaking lines. He immediately deactivated the Susanoo, desperately pulling back whatever chakra he could salvage. Then, his hands formed the 'Tiger' seal.
A searing heat surged from his pre-ignited heart! The power manifested as lines of brilliant white fire, racing through his limbs. The violent energy spilled out, illuminating the night sky like a rising sun over Unming City.
Fire Release: Chakra Mode—Activate!
Ren thrust his arms forward, palms together, assuming a stance reminiscent of a Kamehameha.
"Killing Greatsword: Flame Wind Dragon Dance!"
A torrent of chakra condensed between his palms and erupted as a massive beam of white-hot flame toward the ground!
WHOOSH!
The wind roared in his ears. Ren hardened his back with Earth Spear. The dragon-fire blade of the Flame Wind Dragon Dance pierced downward, shattering the nine-ridged roof of a palace before slamming into the earth, triggering a massive firestorm!
Using the terrifying recoil of the blast, Ren was propelled back toward the falling mountain. He hit the slope, sliding across its surface like a cannonball, literally cutting a groove into the rock as he veered away.
He had narrowly escaped being flattened.
As he fell toward the city below, Ren realized he was running on empty. Using the Susanoo followed by the Fire Release: Chakra Mode had left him nearly dry. But against a jutsu of this scale, conventional Wind Release was useless. He had to gamble his remaining chakra on his most proficient Fire Release Forbidden Arts.
Just as he cleared the primary impact zone of the mountain, he wove another set of seals, using a Gale Palm to buffer his landing. Like a falling bird, Ren crashed through the roof of a side hall in the inner city.
Elsewhere, Killer Bee, Roshi, and Pakura—who had been engaged in their own skirmishes—converged on the inner city after witnessing the mountain's collapse.
The thousand-meter peak hit. It was like a pillar of heaven falling to earth, pulverizing the high city walls in an instant. Endless rock and soil surged into the most prosperous district of the city.
Combined with the red "sun" Ren had manifested in the sky, a river of earth pushed forward, swallowing countless buildings. The scene was a haunting precursor to Pain's Shinra Tensei destroying Konoha.
Screams echoed from every corner of the inner city. Standing on the shattered walls, Killer Bee and the others were frozen in horror. "What... what just happened!?"
Before they could process the carnage, a strong light flared in the sky. They looked up to see a figure wrapped in fading flame plummeting like a dying star into a side palace.
When they recognized the face, their expressions shifted instantly. "That guy is... Ren Uchiha!"
Killer Bee's eyes turned cold, his bandaged face twisting into a terrifying snarl. Pakura and Roshi, who had never met Ren, were stunned. "That brat is Ren Uchiha?"
Pakura's heart hammered. She knew the grudge Lady Chiyo held against this boy. If Ren had been the one fighting Chiyo, then the state of the battlefield meant...
Cough, cough, cough...
A weak coughing sound drifted from the nearby ruins. A mound of earth collapsed, and two figures stumbled out, leaning on each other. It was Lady Chiyo and the samurai Mifune.
They were in a wretched state—covered in dust, bones broken, bleeding from their eyes and ears. Mifune was particularly gruesome; one eye socket was shattered, his nose was flattened, and his mouth was a mess of blood and broken teeth. He was shaking so hard he couldn't speak.
If Chiyo hadn't used a defensive jutsu at the last second, and if Kitsuchi's target hadn't been primarily Ren, they would be dead.
"Lady Chiyo!" Pakura cried out, rushing to support her.
Roshi, ignoring the reunion, frowned. "Old woman, where is Kitsuchi!?"
Chiyo looked up at Pakura, her gaze vacant for a moment before she began to tremble. "He's dead."
Roshi went stiff as a statue. "...How?"
Chiyo gasped for air. "He fought Ren Uchiha. The three of us against him, and then..." She suddenly jerked, grabbing Pakura's hand with frantic energy. "Pakura, listen to me!"
She pointed a trembling finger toward where Ren had fallen. "Quickly! There! The Uchiha brat! I can feel it—his chakra is incredibly weak! He has nothing left! We must... we must kill this enemy of the Sand right here!"
Pakura froze. Three against one, and after that mountain fell... he's still alive? How strong is he? Can I even beat someone like that?
Before she could decide, Killer Bee and Roshi had already stood up. Bee had an old grudge; Roshi was fueled by the news of Kitsuchi's death. They glared toward the palace ruins, their eyes nearly popping from their sockets.
"Kill him!"
"He must die here! This evil Uchiha can't be allowed to grow anymore!"
The two Jinchuriki charged toward the ruined palace. As they ran, two terrifying auras surged into the sky! Crimson Tailed Beast Cloaks manifested, tails sprouting from their backs.
The Four-Tails and the Eight-Tails had united to kill Ren Uchiha. The atmosphere reached a breaking point. Pakura stood up, feeling her own inadequacy—she couldn't even match the chakra of the two Jinchuriki, let alone the monster they were teaming up to fight.
But as a ninja of the Sand, she had to act.
However, just as she was about to move, Chiyo grabbed her hand with a look of pure terror. The earth began to vibrate with an ominous, subterranean thrum.
Pakura looked up. In the distance, a beam of fire erupted from the center of the ruined palace. It tore through the roof, snapped the beams, and shattered the tiles.
The rising flames screamed with the sound of a thousand chirping birds—a horrific combination of fire and lightning. It formed a sword nearly one hundred meters long!
With lightning as its spine and flames as its edge, it looked like the legendary Monohoshizao of myth.
The sword swung.
It was slow, yet impossibly fast. Two slashes were made, each splitting into three. Six massive waves of energy swept across the battlefield.
Pakura watched as the two Jinchuriki, who had been leaping toward the palace, seemed to freeze, as if they had intentionally thrown themselves into the blades.
ZING!!
The sword-light hit them, instantly shredding their Tailed Beast Cloaks and sending them flying back even faster than they had arrived!
The palace collapsed, revealing the boy amidst the ruins, covered in dust and gasping for breath. A phantom skeletal ribcage flickered around him, its skeletal hand holding the massive, radiant blade.
Ren was exhausted, his eyelids drooping. At the final moment, he had used the Forbidden Art: Body Transformation to squeeze the last bit of chakra from his cells—just enough for a skeletal Susanoo. Sensing the Jinchuriki, he had fused his Susanoo with his Fire Release: Chakra Mode and the Futsunomitama, swinging a desperate Tsubame Gaeshi combined with the Halo Dance.
He was empty. Truly empty.
But even so, he forced himself to look up, glaring at the five people on the wall with a gaze that said he could do this all day.
Taking advantage of their momentary shock, he gripped the hilt with the skeletal hand and pointed the sword toward the heavens! He triggered the artifact's true killing blow:
The Sword of the Thunder God: Izumo National Annihilation!
Whether he lived or died depended on this final strike.
Flame and wind surged from the ruins. The massive sword became a beam of light, arcing into the high atmosphere. Under the horrified gazes of Killer Bee, Roshi, Chiyo, Pakura, and Mifune, the light pierced the clouds.
And then, the sky went dark.
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