Rumble—!
A vast stretch of forest was completely consumed by fire.
Among the Iwagakure shinobi, three were struck directly by the Fire Release and burned to ash on the spot, while several others were badly wounded.
A few of the surviving Iwa ninja clenched their teeth and suppressed the pain as sweat poured down their foreheads.
Now that battle had fully erupted, there was no longer any need for stealth.
The Iwa commander shouted immediately:
"Form up around me! C-formation!"
The previous Fire Release had been far too destructive—its range absurdly large—instantly shattering their original formation. The commander had no choice but to regroup according to plan.
"Fire Release: Blazing Net!"
With a roaring whoomph, vast crimson flames surged upward and spread rapidly, engulfing a wide area. A towering wall of fire formed, cutting the Iwagakure shinobi apart.
To their horror, Kusunoki Naraku stepped out from within the firewall itself.
One of his arms had transformed into roaring flame.
Fire spread beneath his feet. The ground cracked and split as stone and embers sprayed outward. In a flash, his figure vanished.
Before the Iwa sensory ninja could even react, Naraku appeared directly in front of him and swung his flaming arm down.
"Fire Release: Shiranui!"
The flames on Naraku's arm were flung outward, instantly forming a blazing spear. It pierced straight through the sensory ninja's vital points.
The fire surged into the man's body—and ignited from within.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh—!
A hail of ninja tools struck Naraku from multiple directions.
Two Iwa shinobi charged in immediately, raising their blades and slashing down with full force.
Shhk!
Their swords cut through Naraku's body like a gale through the forest.
Did they win?
The two Iwa ninja froze for a split second.
They failed to notice that Naraku's movements had never stopped.
Dense chakra surged into his palms, condensing into two incomparably sharp blades.
Chakra Scalpels.
Like moonlight spilling across the sea—silent, precise, and lethal—the forest fell quiet once more.
Naraku's chakra scalpels pierced both Iwa ninja straight through the heart.
Agony swept through their bodies—the last sensation they would ever feel—as their muscles and chakra pathways were severed cleanly.
Flames flickered briefly across Naraku's body.
The two Iwa ninja stared at him with eyes wide open in death, unable to comprehend why their attacks had done nothing.
The flames faded.
Naraku's body returned to normal—uninjured, unmarked.
This was the elemental transformation granted by his extraordinary fire-based power.
By turning his body into flame itself, physical attacks simply passed through him without effect.
Naraku understood their confusion perfectly.
But he had no intention of explaining his abilities to the dead.
"Two left."
Though it felt long, the entire exchange had lasted only an instant.
In that blink of time, two full squads—eight elite Iwagakure shinobi—had been reduced to just two survivors.
"Earth Release: Hiding Like a Mole Technique!"
The final two Iwa ninja burst up from the ground.
They stared in disbelief at the devastation before them, unable to understand how their comrades had all fallen so quickly.
"Bastard!"
"Damn you!"
Naraku showed no surprise at their method of appearance.
This was a standard Earth Release technique, allowing shinobi to move freely underground—explaining how they had bypassed the wall of fire.
"Earth Release: Earth–Stone Flow!"
The Iwa commander formed seals rapidly and slammed his fist into the ground.
The earth split apart with spiderweb-like cracks. Countless fragments of stone and sand broke loose, surging toward Naraku like a tidal wave.
"Earth Release: Stone Dragon!"
The remaining Iwa ninja roared as chakra poured out.
The ground shook violently as earth and rock rose, condensing into a ferocious stone dragon that charged straight at Naraku.
"Bind first—then kill him!"
Naraku could feel the sand encasing his feet, the binding force tightening around him.
The stone dragon was already upon him.
"So these two are the strongest among the pursuers…"
Even with death rushing toward him, Naraku remained utterly calm.
Whoomph—
Flames erupted across his entire body, dancing wildly as they enveloped him completely.
The two Iwa ninja frowned deeply.
No hand seals?
What was that fire?
Did he… not burn?
"Fire Release: Flame Ring—Pillar of Fire!"
Brilliant orange-red flames exploded outward from Naraku's body, spinning and expanding violently.
Scorching heat blasted in every direction. The ground dried and cracked like a desert, while the sky itself seemed to burn red.
A colossal pillar of fire shot straight upward, connecting earth and sky.
The blazing column shattered the ground and distorted the air.
The charging stone dragon slammed into the fire pillar—
—and instantly disintegrated into flying debris.
But Naraku wasn't finished.
The fire pillar reached its limit—then released all its stored power at once.
BOOOOOOM!!!
The final sight reflected in the Iwa ninja's eyes was a world filled entirely with raging crimson flames.
The blast erased everything within several hundred meters.
Forest.
Earth.
Life.
"All done."
Naraku surveyed the devastated battlefield and couldn't help but marvel at the power of fire.
On its own, his Fire Release had never reached this level.
But combined with his extraordinary flame-based ability, the result was far beyond simple addition.
It was amplification.
True amplification.
Only after a long while did the area finally fall silent.
Naraku didn't linger.
He turned and headed toward the Land of Fire.
The Iwagakure pursuers were annihilated. Sunagakure wouldn't be able to catch up anytime soon.
The mission was, by every measure, a perfect success.
…
Sunagakure — inside a government building.
Bang!
Documents were flung violently across the room.
"Tell me—what exactly were you doing?!"
"I didn't even know the dispatched shinobi had been wiped out until now!"
"You! All of you!"
"What were you thinking?!"
Baki—his head wrapped in bandages, the left side of his face covered, clad in tanJōnin armor—roared with fury.
The shinobi standing before him remained silent.
"Do you have any idea where that sand gold came from?!"
"It was refined personally by the Kazekage-sama—"
"From deep underground, at the cost of immense effort!"
"It was meant for the future of Sunagakure!"
"And now you're telling me—"
"—that it was stolen?!"
Baki's rage overwhelmed all reason.
He continued berating them for nearly an hour without stopping.
"This time, none of you are getting away with it!"
"Wait for the Kazekage-sama's orders!"
…
An uneasy silence filled the room.
Then—knock, knock.
"What is it?!" Baki snapped, turning sharply.
"M-my lord… the Kazekage-sama requests your presence…"