That night, after reassembling, Team One received its first mission since coming back.
It was to infiltrate the Land of Earth and stir up some chaos—though originally it was more along the lines of "burn, kill, loot…" until someone cleared their throat.
This mission, of course, was specially arranged by Shen—the former Commander—who used a bit of pull to have Mamba, the current Commander, assign it directly to Team One.
"Potato, potato, this is Sweetpotato. Come in please."
"Uh, why did you… whatever. Sweetpotato, this is Potato. I read you."
"Potato, stay on high alert. This is Sweetpotato reporting—I'm about to cause some chaos!"
"You're impossible…"
"Just call me Sweetpotato, Big Tater."
Nawaki was quickly interrupted mid-conversation and given a rather cute code name.
"It's you who's Big Tater! Your whole family is Big Tater!"
"Who are we calling Big Tater?"
"Why don't you say that again, huh?"
"Hello Big Tater, goodbye Big Tater," Shen said before swiftly turning off his earpiece.
He had already arrived at his destination.
Speaking of which, 'Sweetpotato' *is* just another word for 'yam', isn't it? Deep underground, Shen decided he'd need to change his code name later.
After placing dozens of small black spherical objects, he quietly slipped away from the nearby highest-altitude location.
Then, activating his earpiece, Shen spread his arms wide, looking toward the spot he'd just left, and announced to his two teammates: "Art is… PATRICK STAR!"
BOOM!
An explosion shaped exactly like a tiny version of Patrick Star burst into the air right where he'd left the spheres.
"My calculations were definitely correct," Shen said proudly as he clapped his hands. Then, with a light hop, he vanished from the spot altogether.
By the time Rock-nin from all directions came to check things out, Shen—who had seemingly disappeared—was deep beneath the earth, having a conversation through his earpiece.
"Potato, potato. How many enemies up there?"
"You can't check yourself?"
"How do I know if these Rock-nin might have techniques to detect me hiding underground?"
"AHAHAHA! So this is Uchiha Shen groveling in fear!"
"Big Tater, shut up!"
Nayou activated her Byakugan between their arguing voices.
She observed for nearly two minutes and waited until the arguing through the earpiece calmed down a bit before explaining the situation: "Seventy-six hostiles. Seems like this area only has that many Rock-nin present."
"Seventy-six enemies, huh?" Shen murmured briefly before deciding to test their strength personally: "I'll go up first. You two come quickly."
Determined to end things quickly, Shen entered Sage Mode and immediately locked onto the exact positions of all seventy-six enemies.
As he rose upward, he formed a hand seal he'd never made before.
"!!!" A Sensor-type Rock ninja sensing something moving rapidly underground couldn't even shout a warning before his throat was seized.
Shen really wanted to quote a famous line, but instead simply clenched his right hand tightly and ended this Rock ninja's life.
Of course, such a scene inevitably alerted the remaining seventy-five.
With an expressionless face behind his mask, Shen clapped both palms together, completing the final seal of this new ninjutsu.
[Sage Art: Small Crimson Flame Pillar!]
His left and right hands pointed toward the enemy, each firing a jet of flame two centimeters in diameter.
The Rock-nin who flipped backward to dodge the attack wore expressions of disdain.
It's long, but way too narrow. Just about anyone who wasn't blind could easily avoid the Crimson Flame Pillar.
"Fooled you~ Actually, it *is* a large-scale technique!" Shen playfully winked his small eyes and concentrated Fire Chakra in his palm.
The original Crimson Flame Pillar, two centimeters in diameter, instantly expanded into a massive fire column nearly a meter wide.
From afar, it looked like Shen had turned his hands into flamethrowers, blasting fire from one side to the other.
The characteristic of this Crimson Flame Pillar, enhanced with Sage Chakra, was its extremely high temperature.
Why couldn't ordinary Fire Release techniques kill people? Precisely because their wide area of effect and powerful strength came at the expense of lowered temperatures!
At nearly 3,000 degrees Celsius, the flame turned anything it hit into molten slag.
Skin layers to fat layers, then muscle and bone—everything turned to ash within seconds.
"Indeed, master science and math, and you'll have no fear wherever you go." As Shen continued burning enemies, he noticed the opponent had managed to block the Crimson Flame Pillar.
After losing four or five comrades, the Rock-nin finally activated their Earth Release techniques, forming small protective barriers in front of each of them.
Now, what kind of chemical reaction would occur when rocks were subjected to such extreme heat?
"Disintegrate and melt!" shouted Shen with a wide grin as he increased the temperature.
Most of Iwagakure's techniques fundamentally involved either Earth or Stone elements.
Under high temperatures, these materials would either crystallize or melt.
The Rock-nin protected by earthen walls and stone barriers soon felt the surrounding air becoming dry and unbearably hot.
Within seconds, the earthen walls gradually transformed into crystals while the stone barriers reddened and began to melt.
Still, the Crimson Flame Pillar's range wasn't enough to cover the entire battlefield.
After eliminating another two enemies, Shen stopped channeling Chakra through his palms, just as he expected.
The sixty-nine Rock-nin on the opposing side all assumed he'd halted the attack due to Chakra overuse.
More than thirty charged forward head-on, over twenty opted to cast binding techniques, while the remaining few burrowed underground, ready to counterattack at any moment.
Seeing their overly cautious posture, Shen found it somewhat amusing inside.
"So you've gotta go all out just to fight a kid? Guess you're really the pupils of another scheming mastermind."
With a clap of both hands, he announced the technique's name: [Sage Art: Guren's Hell!]
In an instant, starting from where he stood, a vast expanse of red flames spread outward.
The earth and stone beneath his feet acted like fuel, making the scarlet blaze burn even fiercer.
The panicked Rock-nin froze in place. This time, they used Earth Release techniques that completely enveloped their bodies.
Amidst the increasingly ferocious flames, these defensive techniques resembling turtle shells now appeared like coffins destined to bury them alive.
Leaping high into the air, Shen fired a hookshot from his wrist guard, anchoring securely onto untouched ground far away.
"The scorching flames will burn away all the oxygen inside. Even if you have special breathing techniques, how will you survive the chemical chaos between rock and earth?"
He wore a look of intense curiosity as he flew toward a safe zone using his hookshot.
The land crystallized under the intense heat.
Countless rocks within it melted into lava.
Within a radius of nearly one hundred meters, a pool of molten lava suddenly appeared!
Helplessly, the desperate Rock-nin watched as their last hope—their turtle-like shield—slowly transformed into crystals that sucked the moisture from their bodies and lava that melted their flesh away.
A few Rock-nin who barely escaped death hadn't even begun to feel relief before their bodies slowly sank into the ground.
Those few ninja who had already hidden underground couldn't wait to leave this place.
In sheer panic, they were quickly unearthed—one by one dragged out from below.
A right hand belonging to Black Zetsu easily ended their lives.
Far away, Byakugan eyes sensed the deaths of every enemy before pressing the comm switch: "All enemies eliminated. Mission complete."
"No need to tidy up after them." With a sinister grin, Shen vanished from this molten wasteland.
Iwagakure's tailed beast was The Four-Tails, Son Goku, who could use Lava Release.
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