Suguru could not escape the high-speed splatter of water droplets. The roar of rushing water swirled in his ears, leaving his entire body soaked.
For a moment, he was blinded by the crashing water dragon.
He moved purely on instinct.
—Fwish!
A sword flew through the air, assaulting him from above. Suguru's eyes gleamed in a deadly light, disdaining the lethal movements of his foe.
—Crack.
'Sharingan!'
His silver irises shattered and reformed into a swirl of black against a crimson backdrop. With a single gaze—
"Wha—!"
The gasp of the ambushing kunoichi was cut off as she fell, loosening her grip on the blade she swung.
'Genjutsu: Sharingan,'
Suguru then met the unfortunate chuunin in midair, his kunai drawing a swift arc, cutting through flesh and painting a splatter of blood.
—Thud.
The dull impact of a dead body resounded in Suguru's mind as he flickered.
He wasn't given a chance to catch his breath as a wave of water caught him. Held as collateral damage, Suguru was forced to flee.
An unfortunate situation.
—Boom!
His Sharingan caught the movement of a masked shinobi, exploding with his full strength in an instant.
'They know my face!'
With a quick scan around himself, he noticed the gazes of more than three squads of Konohagakure shinobi. The army, embroiled in battles against Iwagakure and Kumogakure had noticed his presence.
Though not every shinobi understood who they were facing, their captains knew Danzo's secret orders.
Suguru hurriedly weaved a hand seal as several elemental projectiles flew toward him despite the misty battlefield.
[Bird].
"It's been a while since I've tasted chakra!"
With a spreading grin, Suguru exhaled a long breath.
The moment his chakra underwent its Nature Transformation, he was suddenly consumed by hunger. His vision blurred, tinged with a maddening red. The boiling chakra of every shinobi on the battlefield invoked a tantalizing scent that flowed straight into his nostrils.
His mouth began watering involuntarily, and every cell in his body sought rejuvenation.
'Dark Release: Inhaling Maw!'
"—Ack!"
"—Ugh,"
"...!?"
Grunts and groans resounded all at once within the range of Suguru's breath. Streams of concentrated chakra were forcefully sucked out of the bodies of every shinobi, weakening them into a daze.
A lull cursed the battlefield just then as all forms of jutsu found themselves halting due to the chakra drain.
Then, a large pulse of energy burst out from beneath the waterfall of the Valley of the End.
A shiver ran through the spines of those nearby.
Eyes dilated. Cold sweat formed.
Goosebumps appeared on their skin.
The ambient temperature suddenly skyrocketed, mimicking the forest fire just slightly South of the valley. However, this one didn't seem tame at all.
Unlike the Southern fire that burned, calm and concentrated, focusing only on what must be burned...
"Why... does this flame feel... hungry...?" This inadvertent mutter was like thunder in the hushed lull of the battlefield.
The raging uncontrollable flames of a calamity would thus be born with a resounding—
—VWHOOOM!
Erupting from the small figure of that of a child, the chakra that each shinobi lost would be thrown back at them without remorse. Blazing crimson flames were a fierce reply to the golden flames that Hiruzen had released.
'Blaze Battle Body!'
Suguru expelled large amounts of flames from every tenketsu in his body, donning an aura of fire that burned outward. His clothes, although intact, had dried in an instant.
Searing steam exploded into existence as the surrounding bodies of water were greatly depleted.
"Ahhh!"
The wails of those burned by the boiling atmosphere sang a symphony of chaos as everyone was forced to fend for themselves.
Suddenly, Konohagakure's momentum shifted. Their battalion had no choice but to be wary.
After all...
—VWHOOOOOOOM!
Another flame burst into existence, making its grandeur known. A burning azure nekomata roared as Yugito was forced to play her hand for a brief moment.
The sheer potency of the heat of Matatabi's Fire Release dwarfed both Suguru's Crimson Flame and Hiruzen's Golden Flame.
'Cat Fire Bowl!'
A pure blaze that incinerated everything it touched, sweeping through the forest with an unstoppable wave of force.
'Mouse Hairball!'
Tongues of blue flames, like will-o-wisps, flew through the air in an attempt to reduce anything they encountered to ashes.
Furthermore...
'Earth Release: Golem Jutsu!'
—Rumble!
A stone golem, born from the rocks that scattered due to the messy battlefield explosions, towered over every shinobi within its vicinity. Its fists slammed down, and a tremor coursed through the earth in a show of power.
Yet another lull swept through the battlefield.
However, it was only for an instant.
A pulse of chakra, kneaded since the start of the battle, clashed upon encountering the waves of heat and tremors in the earth.
'Black Spider Lily,'
***
Suguru, who had been stunned by the consecutive reveals of large-scale jutsu, was even more wary when he witnessed the sharply spreading shadows. Still traumatized by Shikaku's ambush some time ago, his prickly reaction to the shadows approaching his own was instantaneous.
His figure blurred, flickering rapidly to leave only a faint trail of flames behind.
The snaking darkness moved from shadow to shadow, honing in on his position from all cardinal directions.
'There's more than one,'
Suguru's analysis was timely as he noticed the hand seal that one of the Konohagakure shinobi had been making.
So, he moved swiftly, rushing towards the Nara shinobi in an instant, his Sharingan shining.
However, his approach would not be met without resistance.
Lightning poured in from his right, forcing him to duck. Electricity crackled past his ear, cutting only a few strands of his hair.
It was only when Suguru flickered again that he realized that someone had swung their tanto, accurately predicting his movements.
Had he been lacking in visual acuity...
Perhaps his head would've flown into the air already.
"Hoooo,"
—Bang.
Flickering beside another Konoha shinobi, Suguru slammed his fist into their jaw with a sickening crack. The poor lad was sent flying — his face charred from the blazing aura that coated Suguru's fist.
Then, with a wave of that same fist, a crescent flame was born, sweeping towards an approaching trio.
'Water Release: Raging Tide!'
A wall of water surged from the nearby river, blocking Suguru's fire.
"Tsk,"
Annoyed by their response, Suguru cut off the chakra flow in his feet as he fell down the cliffside. Gravity embraced him, pulling him out of the vertical battlefield he had somehow found himself participating in.
[Rat » Horse » Ox » Dog » Horse » Monkey » Boar » Dog » Tiger]
'Fire Release: Hellfire Artillery!'
Left with no choice, Suguru decided to let it rain, spitting out dozens of concentrated flames into the sky.
But he was not yet finished.
His Sharingan flashed, taking in the sight of the blue and gold flames that sandwiched his own. It was prime real estate.
[Snake » Rat » Boar » Tiger » Horse » Rat]
'Genjutsu: Infernal Mirage,'
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