Flame Gym.
A two-hundred-strong Sand Ninja force pressed forward like a torrent of yellow sand!
Their advance was met with Red's counterattack.
Amid three bursts of flame, Red's three Fire-type Pokémon—Typhlosion, Arcanine, and finally Rapidash—appeared simultaneously.
"...All units, engage."
Instantly, the ground temperature skyrocketed.
The air seemed to twist and snap as flames surged like tidal waves from the three Pokémon.
BOOM!!
Typhlosion's breath transformed into a massive pillar of fire, obliterating dozens of puppets.
Arcanine tread with dazzling fiery steps, leaving trails of blazing fissures.
Where Rapidash galloped, the earth burned crimson.
The Sand Ninja Puppet Masters' formation was instantly torn apart by three layers of scorching impact.
Metal puppets warped from the heat, while wooden ones burned directly to ash.
The battlefield looked as if ravaged by three divine beasts.
The Sand Ninjas' eyes nearly bulged from their sockets: "What... what is this?!"
Frontline commander Iemitsu quickly assessed: "Attack patterns combine linear and area coverage. Evaluating flame intensity. Begin preparing counter-measure puppets."
Several puppet repair specialists started adjusting their puppets, enhancing resistance to Fire Release.
Iemitsu then controlled two puppets to pincer attack from left and right—Mechanism Poison Blades, Sealing Formulas, and rapid-fire Water Release projectiles all descended simultaneously.
Everything was incinerated to ash at the periphery of the flames.
Red never moved, merely raising a hand to give subtle command gestures that his three Pokémon executed with precise destructive range.
The Sand Ninja forces were instead set ablaze into a sea of fire.
Within ten minutes, half the puppets had been reduced to scrap.
Though the Sand Ninjas began modifying puppets with stronger Fire Release resistance, they still suffered heavy losses against Red's overwhelming assault.
Red's breathing began to grow labored.
Arcanine was first to cease attacks, sniffing toward Red to indicate his Chakra was declining.
Iemitsu's eyes lit up, immediately seizing the opportunity.
"His Chakra... is nearing its limit!"
"Prepare the final assault!!!"
The Sand Ninja forces formed hand seals, deployed formations, and manipulated puppets.
Dust storms swirled.
A thousand blades gleamed simultaneously.
Red stood amid the fading fire shadows swallowed by wind and sand, his body covered in fine cracks, yet his aura grew profoundly unfathomable.
Red raised his hand, gazing at the earth.
His foot lightly touched down.
An energy wave surpassing any previous combat intensity erupted from underground.
A sprawling forest sprang up within moments, like countless massive wooden tornadoes sweeping across the entire battlefield!
Sand Ninja puppets were instantly impaled by roots, control strings severed along with the Puppet Masters' hands.
"Is this... Wood Release? No!"
Including Iemitsu, many Sand Ninjas sensed something abnormal about this forest.
Red closed his eyes.
When he reopened them, crimson flames burned deep within his pupils.
He mobilized the last trace of power within his body, squeezing his life force to unleash Sunlight Releasing Power in an instant.
The sky's clouds were forcibly torn apart.
Sunlight cascaded down like torrents of raging fire.
The World Tree Forest ignited immediately!
Roots, branches, battlefield, Sand Ninjas, puppets, air—
Everything was engulfed in sun-like scorching flames.
The Sand Ninja puppet forces couldn't withstand even a single breath.
Blazing infernos swept across kilometers of land, leaving only scorched earth behind.
Red's cloak billowed in the fierce wind, cracks spreading across his body to their deepest extent.
He stood like a shadow beneath the blazing sun.
Three fire-type spirits surrounded him.
Then all vanished together.
Clutching his beret, Red gazed at the sky: "The true world is about to open."
Red's final words softly dissipated amidst the flames and windblown sand.
Like faint light falling upon dying embers.
The next second, his body began to fragment.
Typhlosion, Arcanine, and Rapidash - the three fire-type Ninja Beasts - also began to crack and shatter.
Finally, Red and the three Ninja Beasts simultaneously transformed into the purest fire energy.
Returning to the World Tree.
The World Tree's roots trembled deep underground, like a volcanic heart awakening.
All Sunagakure ninjas and Puppet Masters caught in the sea of flames, their bodies turned to ash - their Chakra, metal fragments, Poison Powder, seal remnants... all were absorbed by the World Tree.
Iemitsu watched the mutated Flame Gym with terrified expression!
The earth seemed to take a deep breath.
Deep within the World Tree's core root system, two Mythical Ninja Beast Eggs simultaneously lit up.
An unprecedented, eerie, heart-palpitating dual glow.
The first Ninja Beast Egg was suddenly pushed out from the World Tree system to the surface!
Directly piercing through the clouds of the Land of Rain!
The next instant: it hung suspended at the center of Amegakure's sky.
Thunder rumbled dully, dark clouds churned.
Rainwater swirled backward around the eggshell, as if being absorbed by some force.
The eggshell surface rapidly blackened, hardened, and twisted.
Red patterns pulsed like veins across the dark cocoon.
Death energy spread outward like thick smoke.
All of Amegakure seemed to be swallowed by darkness in an instant.
The Ninja Beast Egg...
Had completely transformed into the Cocoon of Death.
It resembled a vortex drawing in every living being's final breath,
Twisting, expanding, as if it might rupture at any moment and give birth to something absolutely terrifying.
Meanwhile, the other Mythical Ninja Beast Egg didn't fly toward the sky.
Instead, it slowly sank into the ground.
Life energy bursting from the egg rushed along the World Tree's branches.
Boom!
Beneath the Land of Rain's largest waterfall, rocks suddenly split apart.
A dazzling green pillar of light shot toward the heavens.
The waterfall's flow became gentle, with brilliant rainbow colors appearing in the mist.
The shattered eggshell transformed into seeds, taking root in the earth.
Instantly growing into a massive ancient tree!
Its trunk stood straight as a heavenly pillar,
Leaves shimmering with jade-like radiance,
Every passing breeze carrying life-giving energy that soothed the heart.
Within the ancient tree's spiraling form, warmth and tranquility prevailed, yet its depths remained unfathomable.
The entire Land of Rain's life flow was completely transformed.
Death and life,
Darkness and light,
Destruction and rebirth.
In this moment, all were born simultaneously in the Land of Rain.
As the two Mythical Ninja Beast Eggs completed their final transformations.
Deep within the Other-dimensional World Tree, the energy ocean churned violently.
Shiroishi slowly opened his eyes, all energies crashing against his consciousness like tidal waves.
At that moment, the air rippled like water surface with three distinct undulations.
Konan, Yahiko, Nagato.
Their consciousness projections, channeled through the phantom rings they all shared, steadily descended into the void around Shiroishi.
The three wore different expressions:
Yahiko spoke first: "Shiroishi, we... the time has come."
"This time, the three of us will walk with you, for the Land of Rain!"
Nagato slowly raised his hands, the Uzumaki clan's immense spiritual power sweeping through the space: "I'm with you too."
The four simultaneously formed hand seals.
On the streets of Amegakure, all the ninjas halted their movements.
Someone pointed at the sky and screamed, "What is that?!"
The gloomy sky was torn open, darkness and green light clashing within the clouds.
The earth trembled, rivers surged backward, and the very air seemed to glow.
Everyone was forced to look up.
The Cocoon of Death appeared in the sky without warning, swirling with layers of eerie deathly aura.
Simultaneously, the ancient tree vanished once more from the waterfall and reappeared at the frontline, atop the ruins of the Flame Gym.
At this moment, the history of the Shinobi World entered a new chapter.