More precisely, this was a Great Dragon Fire: Burn to Ash.
As a skin of Great Fireball, Yuu's Great Dragon Fire Technique also possessed the high-temperature trait. Although because it had been released in a hurry, and because the "dragon body" was too large, he hadn't turned all of the flame into blazing white heat, just the white-hot layer around the surface of the dragon's scales was already astonishing.
"What?!"
Pakura clearly hadn't expected Yuu to have another move like this and hurriedly retreated, trying to open up distance.
But Great Dragon Fire's range was much greater than Great Fireball's.
The latter's attack radius was at most ten meters.
Great Dragon Fire, however, could reach dozens of meters! And it even had a certain degree of precision-strike capability.
Originally, with Pakura's speed, if she retreated at full strength, she had a chance of dodging it.
But Yuu had already predicted her movement.
The instant he spat out Great Dragon Fire, he used Substitution to appear forty or fifty meters away, behind Pakura. Once he landed, he quickly formed seals and released Phoenix Sage Fire Jutsu, sending more than a dozen basketball-sized orange-red fireballs to seal off Pakura's retreat path.
Fire surrounded her from every direction.
Pakura had no choice. She waved a hand and pressed half of the Scorch Release fireballs orbiting around her forward, merging them into a white Corona that fiercely met the charging flame dragon head-on. She herself used that chance to try breaking out to the side.
BOOM—!!!!
The flame dragon and the Corona fireball collided!
It was like two blazing suns crashing together.
A violent energy shockwave exploded outward in a ring, instantly clearing and scattering the rolling steam around them. The enormous wave of superheated air ripped up the surface vegetation the moment it spread, then dried and scorched it away, exposing the blackened soil underneath.
Even the light itself seemed to bend faintly, creating a shimmering mirage-like effect in midair.
Under these circumstances, both Yuu and Pakura felt the impact.
After all…
One of them could use Scorch Release, and the other was proficient in Fire Release, but neither of them was immune to fire or water. At most, their tolerance to flame was slightly stronger than ordinary people's.
The roaring heat raised the temperature within nearly a hundred meters by over twenty degrees at once, painting both their faces red. Pakura, who was closer to the blast, was hit in the back by a fierce wave of hot wind. Faint burn marks appeared on her clothes, and the defensive ring she had been struggling to maintain loosened.
In that instant—
Clang—!
A cold, ribbon-like blade-light, like the scythe of a death god tearing through the curtain of explosion, stabbed out from between the gaps in the lingering flames and smoke, aimed straight at Pakura!
Behind the blade-light, the white-haired boy's hair lifted slightly, the tips seeming to burn with flame, yet his gaze remained cold and sharp, like a lone wolf on a snowy plain.
"Damn it…"
The instant their eyes met,
Pakura gritted her teeth and desperately controlled the remaining Scorch Release fireballs around her, trying to defend and counterattack.
But…
"Overload Pulse, activate!"
At this moment—more precisely, before this Substitution Technique had even activated—Mikami Yuu had already turned on Cell Activation Technique's trait.
As a sensation like an electric shock welled up inside him, a violent pulse suddenly formed within his body and surged through every limb.
Under the effect of that pulse, Yuu's muscle fibers tightened and contracted sharply. His vision became impossibly sharp in an instant. Even the drifting paths of tiny dust particles in the air, as well as every tiny expression and movement on Pakura's body, became clearly visible. It was like entering a slow-motion scene in a movie.
The whole world became incomparably transparent.
Then—
Shhk—!!
Just one slash.
Halfway through its arc, the strike became blurred, because the speed of the blade had surpassed what an ordinary person's retina could capture. Visually, it seemed to disappear for a brief instant.
In reality, it passed through the gap between two rapidly rotating fireballs, tore through the air, and cut precisely into Pakura's left shoulder, nearly opening up her left shoulder blade entirely!
"Ugh!"
Intense pain struck her.
Blood burst out.
The instant the wound drew blood, the Binding Formula Seal carved into Yuu's short sword took effect, invading Pakura's chakra pathways like a venomous snake. The chakra flow she had been desperately maintaining suddenly froze. Almost half her body went numb in an instant.
In truth, even without the sealing formula, an injury this severe would inevitably cause Pakura's combat strength to plummet. And now, her seemingly flawless Scorch Release defensive ring also paused for that single instant.
At that point,
nothing obstructed the silver storm any longer.
Mikami Yuu swung his blade, and the howling slashes rained down on her like a storm!
Pakura barely blocked a few blows. First, the kunai in her hand snapped in half with a crack. Then she herself was struck by two or three cuts and hit in the abdomen by a palm strike. Her body flew backward and crashed heavily onto the ground.
"Ah!"
Only after she hit the ground did several places on Pakura's body spray blood at the same time. She felt as if her whole body had fallen apart, and a powerful dizziness surged into her mind.
"That's enough."
Yuu exhaled lightly and deactivated Overload Pulse.
Judging by his heartbeat, only about eight seconds had passed.
According to Yuu's previous tests, the length of a single Overload Pulse activation was inversely proportional to the severity of its side effects. If he kept the "overload" under fifteen seconds, the side effects weren't nonexistent, but they were basically negligible—just a faint soreness in the body that didn't affect combat.
In theory, Yuu could even activate Overload Pulse again and use up the remaining thirty-seven seconds.
But if he did that, the side effects would become much stronger, reducing his combat ability by around thirty percent for the next several hours. So unless he absolutely had to risk his life, there was usually no need to run the full forty-five seconds. Using about half was the most cost-effective.
Now,
Yuu spun his blade once, flicking the blood from its edge, then slowly walked over and stopped in front of Pakura.
She was now lying in a pool of blood. Sweat had plastered the hair on her forehead to her skin. She struggled a few times but failed to get up. Even her vision had turned blurry.
In that state, Pakura forced herself to raise her head and look at Yuu. Her amber eyes were slightly unfocused. She seemed to want to say something fierce, but in the end, she could only weakly exhale.
"Guh… kill me."
"Pfft…"
Yuu stopped what he was about to say and couldn't help laughing.
What kind of defeated female knight line was that?
"Kill you? That would be a bit too wasteful."
"…What do you mean?"
Pakura blinked with difficulty, spat out a mouthful of bloody foam, and asked.
"I mean exactly what I said."
Yuu crouched down and glanced at her injuries before slowly speaking. "You're a genius with the Scorch Release kekkei genkai. It'd be too much of a pity if you just died like this. Better to keep you here as a prisoner for now. I'm quite interested in your body. If there's a chance, we can discuss it…
"Mm, not bad. Good thing I avoided your vitals earlier, so you won't die for now. It's just the shoulder wound that's a bit troublesome. I don't know whether I'll be able to treat it properly later…"
"…?"
Listening to Yuu's muttering, Pakura froze. Then a strong wave of humiliation surged into her heart.
What did he mean?
He "deliberately" avoided her vitals?
Did that mean that even in a battle like that, he still hadn't used his full strength? He hadn't gone all out, and still beat her this badly?
And what did he mean by "interested in my body"?
Could it be…
Well, among ninja, there were certainly some lustful types.
Not Jiraiya's kind—that was more like something innate. For many other ninja, it developed later under the pressure of their living environment.
For them, torturing and abusing prisoners, as well as committing atrocities against captives or civilians, was a way of venting emotions. Without such outlets to relieve the pressure built up in daily life, there was no telling what horrifying things they might do.
There were many such people in Kirigakure. But Sunagakure had some too.
Pakura was fairly confident in her own appearance, especially her smooth, pale back, the kind that could have "Serve the Country with Loyalty" tattooed across it. If the Konoha boy in front of her had developed some thoughts because of that, it wasn't exactly incomprehensible…
"Bastard…"
Pakura gritted her teeth. "Even if I die, I won't let you defile my body… ugh!"
"What nonsense are you talking about, you overconfident woman? What a turnoff. Just sleep for now."
Yuu knocked Pakura unconscious with a hand chop.
He really was very interested in Pakura's body.
But not out of romantic or sexual interest—though Pakura's appearance was indeed good, and she was famous alongside "Leg Kage" Kurotsuchi as a "Back View" beauty. But from their very first meeting, they had been enemies, each focused on how to kill the other. Naturally, there was no possibility of developing any other kind of feeling.
The main point was…
This was one of the very few Scorch Release users in the ninja world, perhaps even the only living one currently known. Studying the structure of her body might allow him to glimpse the secrets of Scorch Release, or even the mechanism behind kekkei genkai itself.
Moreover, Pakura herself was a high-quality prisoner. Capturing her alive was far more valuable than killing her. Later, they might even be able to exchange her for something good from Sunagakure. Add in whatever reward Jiraiya might give them…
A double win!
So Yuu pulled rope from his tool pouch, tied Pakura's hands and feet first, then used Healing Technique to give her some basic treatment.
Originally, he wanted to use Mystical Palm, since the healing effect would be better, and there was no one nearby.
But…
Who knew whether a few White Zetsu were watching somewhere around here?
Although Obito was on the other side, the distance wasn't that far. What if someone saw him reveal a hidden trump card?
So it was better to play it safe.
After some treatment, Pakura's wounds were initially stopped from bleeding, and the heavy injury at her shoulder began to slowly recover under the effect of Healing Brand.
After that, Yuu meditated and adjusted his condition for a while. Only when he had mostly recovered did he sling Pakura over his shoulder and walk back the way he came.
At this moment,
the forest from earlier had already become a complete mess.
An area of several hundred square meters was now covered in a thin, pale-green fog.
The "fog" seemed to be some kind of poisonous gas, with a sickly sweet and pungent smell. Like something alive, it drifted and crawled between bushes and tree trunks. Many birds and small animals lay scattered throughout the area, bleeding from all seven orifices, their deaths miserable. Their bodies were unnaturally swollen and rotting.
Within that deathly domain filled with poison mist, two figures were still clashing fiercely.
On Chiyo's side, her ten fingers moved like a blur. In addition to Crow, Black Ant, and Salamander, she had even brought out the Chikamatsu Collection of Ten Puppets inherited from Monzaemon, simultaneously controlling a full thirteen puppets of varying shapes!
Among them, three or four puppets stayed close to Chiyo at all times, forming a solid wall of flesh and wood, giving Minato no chance to assassinate her up close.
The remaining dozen or so puppets wielded all sorts of weapons. Under Chiyo's control, they formed an airtight web of attacks, striking at Minato from every direction. Mechanism crossbow bolts rained down, poisonous smoke spewed, chains strangled, blunt weapons smashed… all kinds of attacks came one after another.
Facing that fierce offensive,
Minato covered his mouth and nose with one hand. With the other, he swung a Flying Thunder God kunai, tearing open a layer of high-speed cutting air around himself—Wind Release: Wind Cutter Technique—to keep the poison smoke away. Then he flickered through the puppet tide like a ghost.
The situation seemed to have fallen into a stalemate.
Chiyo's puppets and poison couldn't effectively harm Minato.
But Minato couldn't throw a Flying Thunder God kunai close enough to Chiyo either. He could only rely on Body Flicker to try closing in, yet each time, the puppets blocked him. Since Rasengan had not yet been fully developed, a simple kunai combined with nin-taijutsu clearly couldn't effectively destroy those puppets.
Just as both sides were unable to deal with each other and were searching for an opening,
Mikami Yuu appeared at the edge of the battlefield with Pakura slung over his shoulder.
"?!"
Chiyo caught sight of this from the corner of her eye, and her heart sank sharply.
Wait… what was going on?!
She knew Pakura's strength well. Not only was her combat ability good, her Scorch Release was also a powerful killing technique that even Chiyo herself wouldn't dare take head-on. So in the fight between Pakura and Mikami Yuu, although Chiyo didn't dare say Pakura would win with absolute certainty, she still thought the odds should be at least seventy-thirty.
Even if Yuu's strength exceeded expectations and he had some hidden cards he had not shown before, making it impossible for Pakura to win quickly, the two should have fallen into a bitter fight. Only after ten or twenty minutes, or even longer, should the outcome gradually become clear.
But now…
How long had it been?
Ten minutes?
Pakura… had actually lost? And so quickly?!
Why?!
Indescribable shock struck Chiyo's heart. Under that violent disturbance of her mind, the chakra threads controlling her puppets slowed by an extremely subtle fraction.
That instant was caught by Namikaze Minato, whose blue eyes flashed sharply.
An opening!
In a battle between experts, victory and defeat often came down to one thin line.