Chapter 73: Question: What Do You Get When a Large Amount of Water Meets Super-High Temperature?
Night had fallen, but this town in the Land of Rain was not dark.
A roaring fire illuminated the streets and alleys, cooking the flowing blood and scattered corpses into a foul stench.
"Wind Release: Enma Cleave!"
A gaunt, white-haired man laughed wildly as he manipulated a vortex of a thousand blades. This Wind Release technique, named after the vanguard of the mountain god, mercilessly shredded everything around it, as its name implied, stealing body heat, souls, and blood from the enemy's bodies.
Relying on the flexibility and range advantage of Wind and Water Release, although he couldn't fly, 'Gojō Satoru' used thrusters for brief aerial suspension and forced maneuvers to rain down ninjutsu from above, single-handedly suppressing dozens of Konoha shinobi below.
Once you control the air, you suppress the enemy below with high intensity. Rasa had learned his bombardment tactics from him.
Not just the Konoha shinobi—all the infrastructure in this town was within his attack range. In this situation, 'Gojō Satoru,' disregarding Chakra consumption, fought even more recklessly.
On the other end, 'Fushiguro Toji' was interpreting the concept of physical violence in its purest form. The black-haired giant, his body erupting with a visible Chakra aura, was like a runaway locomotive, rampaging through the town.
Broken beams, collapsing walls, grabbed shinobi... he didn't limit himself to swords or staffs. Everything within reach was a weapon.
Compared to being killed by Wind or Water Release, which shinobi were used to, the sight of people being smashed into a bloody mist by this laughing man, only to be evaporated by the searing heat wave, was too horrifying.
Two shinobi and one giant puppet, in just over twenty minutes, had caused nearly three hundred casualties and massive facility damage in the Konoha camp.
Considering there were only about three thousand troops stationed here, a 10% casualty rate was already terrifying.
However, correspondingly, they were nearing their limits.
Seeing the auras of 'Gojō Satoru' and 'Fushiguro Toji' gradually weakening, and clearly retreating toward the giant puppet, the Konoha commander made his judgment.
"Catch them!"
The Sarutobi Clan Jōnin stared at 'Gojō Satoru's' retreating back, practically screaming his throat raw.
Because of his negligence, the enemy had gotten this close to the base and caused such huge losses. He knew he was in for it when he got back to the village. That didn't matter. But if his failure implicated Sarutobi Hiruzen, destabilizing the village again just after it had stabilized, ten lives wouldn't be enough to pay for it!
At least, at least catch these three culprits!!!
Three living Suna Jōnin who had made a name for themselves in this Second Great Shinobi War would surely make up for some of Konoha's losses, right?!
Just as he thought this, Shukaku Type-Zero, most of its joints damaged, finally stopped moving. Then, 'Muta Kokichi' stepped out of the cockpit. With a composed expression, he waved at the Sarutobi Jōnin, smiled, and pressed a switch right in front of everyone. He then dissolved into a pile of Iron Sand.
In the brief moment before the shinobi sieging the giant mechanism could even turn their heads, the massive puppet exploded from the inside out.
But what burst forth was not a fiery blaze, but a massive flash and noise.
Obviously, after being loaded with various experimental mechanisms, the puppet didn't have room for a high-yield bomb. At most, it had a self-destruct system designed to destroy the core.
And the reason Hiiro Rinko had specifically tuned it into a super-sized flashbang was to buy enough time right now.
Enough time for him to use a super-large-scale Water Release.
Amidst the intense tremors, 'Fushiguro Toji's' figure also collapsed into a pile of Iron Sand. And 'Gojō Satoru', unable to maintain his appearance, reverted to Hiiro Rinko's form.
He caught the three-section staff thrown by the Iron Sand Clone, his figure blurring as he leaped high into the air.
"Bye-bye. This is a parting gift."
Although his hearing hadn't recovered, the Sarutobi Jōnin clearly read the meaning from his lips.
"Water Release: Drowning Wounding Tide!"
A monstrous wave, like a dam bursting, crashed down from the sky.
"Hah... hah..."
In a crooked tree in the distant forest, Hiiro Rinko, having just swapped places with his Shadow Clone using the seal on the staff, gasped for breath, feeling the emptiness and exhaustion from the dispelled clones.
"But, it doesn't matter."
His hands swept over the scroll on his opposite wrist, and the single-soldier armament system he had once shown Chiyo fell beside him.
External neural fibers mixed in his hair extended, installing the device onto his right arm piece by piece, then plugging into the device's interface as connection cables.
"Chakra path connected. Cursed Energy path connected. System self-check in progress... Complete."
As if turning his own brain into part of the device, Rinko's eyes flashed with cold light as he softly recited the steps.
"Then... this. Remote component docking successful. Activation complete."
The shield-like mechanism on the outside of the claw-cannon flipped open, transforming into a barrel-like device that docked at the very front. Red and green indicator lights lit up, proving smooth operation.
"Angle calculation complete. Attitude control assist mechanism, deployed. Offensive shield, deployed."
Checking the direction through a triple scope and setting his stance, support struts popped out from Rinko's shoulder and the front of the claw-cannon. Simultaneously, another cluster of neural fibers used Magnet Release to form spikes at their tips, wrapping around his waist and pinning him to the ground.
A shell made of Barrier and Sealing Jutsu wrapped tightly around Rinko, like an insect trapped in amber.
"First to Third Limiters released. Chakra conversion limiter released. Seven Essences Unlocking Gates, open."
The Yang Release secret technique was fully unleashed. Not limited to the specific tenketsu he had carefully planned, he opened almost all his tenketsu, pouring out his life force to the maximum, mixing it with his expanded spiritual power into non-attribute Chakra.
His red hair, blown high by the massive aura, began to turn a withered white from the tips at a visible rate. Yet Rinko ignored it, continuing his narration in a flat tone.
"Cannon Curse release, authorized. Curse, accumulating."
The many runes carved on the cannon barrel lit up in sequence. An extremely ominous black fog wrapped around a scorching ring of light—like a miniature sun—transforming into the most intense curse.
"Pseudo-Scorch Release Chakra, ignore loss, full conversion. Barrel preheat countdown... 3... 2... 1."
"Load complete."
"Pseudo-Scorch Release: Cursed Incineration Cannon, Focused Fire!"
A beam of searing heat, wrapped in a deep curse, pierced through the monstrous wave.