The flames were too numerous, too violent, and compressed too quickly and too concentrated, to the point that his right fist seemed to transform into a miniature crimson sun that was constantly expanding and whose brightness was increasing dramatically!
Turn around, twist your waist, thrust your shoulder forward, and throw a punch!
The movements were executed in one smooth, fluid motion, as if they had been rehearsed a thousand times!
The trajectory of that punch was like the first ray of light piercing the silent night! Like a blazing meteor tearing through the thick sky!
With an absolute power and will that seemed capable of shattering stars and destroying darkness, it crashed heavily towards B Yotsuki, who had just recovered from the backlash and was in the moment when his old power was exhausted, and his new power had not yet been generated.
One Hundred Eighty-Two Forms: Heaven-Rock Collapse!
Fast! Fierce! Violent! Absolute!
In B Yotsuki's pupils, the rapidly expanding crimson sun filled his vision. At the critical moment, he could only raise both arms to guard his chest.
Boom!!!
The massive explosion shook the valley! Blinding light devoured everything, while violent flames and shockwaves spread outward in rings.
The ground within hundreds of meters collapsed and cracked instantly! Stones were swept up and shot outward!
The already fractured Lightning Style Armour around B Yotsuki shattered completely under this punch!
His body was blasted away like a kite with a broken string, flying hundreds of meters, smashing through several massive rocks before crashing into a huge warehouse behind him!
Boom!
The warehouse wall shattered, and dust soared into the sky!
"B-sama!"
"B-sama!"
Seeing this, the Kumogakure ninja no longer cared about their opponents and rushed anxiously toward the ruins.
Moments later, within the dust, a staggering figure slowly stood up.
It's B Yotsuki.
But now, he was in a miserable state; his right arm was completely gone, vanished. His left arm still remained, but it hung limp, bones completely shattered.
At his chest, there's a charred, large hole.
"B-sama! You…!?"
The nearby Kumogakure ninjas were horrified, their faces filled with fear.
B Yotsuki ignored them. He did not even look down at his injuries. He simply raised his head, his gaze passing over the devastated battlefield, landing on the boy in the distance as he slowly spoke: "This move… what… is its name?"
"Heaven-Rock Collapse."
Shinichi stood in place as the flames around him gradually subsided. He shook his slightly overheated right hand, faint steam rising, and answered calmly.
Heaven-Rock Collapse, the ultimate strike, perfectly integrates Chakra Enhanced Strength.
It compressed and condensed the fire nature chakra into the right fist to the maximum degree, surpassing even the Great Flame Rasengan in density.
Though lacking the Rasengan's rotational tearing, it gained extreme instantaneous penetration and explosive force.
Concentrated at a single point, nothing could withstand it!
"Heaven-Rock Collapse? Cough… What a good name…"
B Yotsuki murmured. Then his remaining left hand dropped weakly. His upright body swayed slightly, then lost all support and fell backward.
Thud.
The heavy sound of his fall echoed clearly across the suddenly silent battlefield.
B Yotsuki, the B of the previous A-B Combo of Village Hidden in the Cloud's Yotsuki Clan, the life-and-death partner of the third Raikage, fell.
"B-sama!"
"B-sama!!!"
After a brief silence, the Kumogakure ninjas erupted into heart-wrenching wails and furious roars.
In the next moment, all of them turned their vicious, devouring gazes toward Shinichi.
"Captain Shinichi, what next?"
Ueno Kaito stepped forward and quickly asked.
Shinichi glanced at Toma Aburame, who had appeared beside him at some point, and asked, "Senior Toma, what's the situation?"
"The Village Hidden in the Cloud's side is gathering toward here from the southeast direction, at least three hundred people. Estimated arrival within three minutes."
Shinichi nodded, his gaze sweeping over the blazing, completely destroyed cloud warehouse before decisively saying, "The mission is complete. Quickly regroup with our companions! We're retreating!"
"Understood!"
…
The next day, at the Village Hidden in the Cloud's main camp, at the command headquarters.
Wails filled with endless grief, rage, and disbelief echoed continuously.
"Bi! You died so miserably!"
"Oh heavens!"
At this time, Dodai, who had been handling other tasks outside, returned to the camp and was about to report to the third Raikage. As soon as he reached the entrance, he heard the Raikage's wailing.
"Karot!"
Dodai asked the cloud Jonin guarding outside, "What happened to Raikage-sama? Why is he crying out like this?"
Before Karot could answer, the sorrowful voice of the third Raikage sounded again from inside the tent.
"Brother! Big Brother has failed you! I've wronged you!"
"Ah!"
...
Meanwhile, just as Shinichi and his group had shaken off the pursuit of the Kumogakure's ninjas… In the Land of Hot Water, deep in the underground, in a mysterious and unknown place.
A thick sea of blood slowly surged, and crimson light illuminated this deathly silent space.
A pair of enormous, blood-red eyes slowly opened.
It no longer knows how long it has lived.
After its origin was severely damaged, it forgot its original name, where it came from, and what it used to look like. It only remembered that it had lived for a very, very long time.
'Who was it again?'
It fell into deep thought.
"My lord!"
At that moment, a trembling voice, filled with boundless awe and fervor, rang out before it, breaking its fragmented, chaotic thoughts.
Lord!
Right!
It remembered.
In a distant era, when it was not here but in the western part of this continent, it once sat upon a throne of blood. Those insignificant humans knelt at its feet, calling it a god, a saint, and its master.
It generously bestowed divine grace upon its followers, granting these humans a body that felt no pain, so that blades and swords could not bring them down, granting them physiques that did not fear death, so that fear vanished from their hearts, granting them pleasure and power when they sacrificed their enemies, making slaughter their most devout prayer.
Some humans denounced it as an evil god or a demon, and organized numerous campaigns to destroy it and its followers.
But most people, often unable to even get past its fervent believers who have received divine favor, become nourishment for its own kingdoms and part of the believers' efforts to please it.
It is immortal.
Although it had forgotten its own name and where it came from, it still remembered that it was supposed to be immortal.
Until that day.
In the center of the earth, a colossal tree that seemed to reach the heavens appeared out of nowhere. The tree was so large, as if it intended to devour the entire world.
It inexplicably sensed an unprecedented danger in that tree, a feeling it had never experienced in its long life.
Although it was curious, it cautiously did not leave its own country.
But those two people still came.
One man and one woman.
It fell from the sky.
The woman glanced at it, her gaze like that of someone looking at prey waiting to be slaughtered.
A gray bone pierced through from her palm and into its body.
Its proud immortality was utterly useless before that gray bone, as if the bone were a product of death and end, the nemesis of all life, all existence, and all immortality.
It had never perceived death so clearly before; it could only barely hold on, trying not to die on the spot.