Roshi had never felt this stifled in his life.
His entire body was wrapped in a blazing crimson chakra cloak like molten lava, and every step he took melted the ground beneath him into scorched black footprints.
And yet that little brat from Konoha kept slipping around him like a fish, weaving in and out of reach, stubbornly refusing to use the Lightning Release and Fire Release he was supposed to excel at, and relying only on that damned Water Release instead.
Kiyohara's figure flickered in and out along the edge of the battlefield.
"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Jutsu!"
Another enormous water dragon rose behind Kiyohara and lunged at Roshi with bared fangs and claws.
Where the dragon passed, the air boiled into thick white mist, cloaking the surrounding area and obscuring vision.
Roshi had no choice but to dodge again.
His Lava Release could melt steel, but against this endless stream of Water Release jutsu, every collision drained a huge amount of chakra. Worse still, that spreading mist was gradually eating away at the temperature of the lava covering his body.
"Brat!"
Roshi clenched his teeth, his red beard curling slightly under the heat.
"Is running all you know how to do?"
Kiyohara didn't answer.
He simply cast another Water Release jutsu, then swept his gaze across the battlefield out of the corner of his eye.
Kakashi was being surrounded by three Iwa jonin, Yamamaru's blade flashing through the crowd in rapid bursts of light.
Rin Nohara had just finished healing a wounded Konoha shinobi. The moment she looked up, two more Iwa ninja rushed straight at her.
Her hands flew through seals, and a wall of water rose from the ground, temporarily blocking their advance.
The number of wounded was increasing.
Even with medical ninja moving constantly through the field, more and more people were still getting hurt.
I need to move this fight somewhere else, Kiyohara thought.
There were too many people here.
If he kept fighting Roshi in the middle of this battlefield, far too many would get dragged into it.
Both he and Roshi had devastating killing power now.
That was why wars between shinobi usually weren't fought on their own homeland's soil whenever it could be avoided.
A single battle like this really could reshape the land itself.
So Kiyohara made his decision.
He bit his right index finger, rapidly formed hand seals, then slammed his palm to the ground.
"Summoning Jutsu!"
Boom!
White smoke exploded outward.
A gigantic slug appeared on the battlefield.
"Lady Katsuyu."
Kiyohara's voice came from above.
"Please heal Konoha's shinobi."
Katsuyu raised her head, the feelers on top swaying gently.
"Of course."
Her voice was soft and gentle.
The instant she answered, her enormous body began to split apart.
Rippling sounds spread out.
Countless small slugs separated from the main body and flowed across the battlefield like a pale white tide.
With blue-white stripes across their bodies, they crawled onto the injured shinobi, covering their wounds with their soft forms as green medical chakra began to glow.
One Konoha chunin, clutching his severed arm and screaming in pain, suddenly froze.
Warmth spread through the wound, and the agony began to fade.
He looked down and saw a palm-sized slug lying over the injury, green light flowing from its body into his wound.
"This is…"
"Lady Tsunade's summon?"
someone cried out in shock.
"No—it was Lord Kiyohara who summoned Katsuyu!"
"My wounds are closing… I feel so much better!"
The morale of Konoha's forces surged instantly.
The faces of the Iwa shinobi, on the other hand, darkened.
They could feel it clearly: the battle, which had only just begun tilting in their favor, was now beginning to shift.
Those Konoha shinobi who had looked half-dead just moments ago were getting back to their feet.
Roshi's brow furrowed even harder.
He had just opened his mouth to say something when he saw Kiyohara bite his finger again.
Boom!
A second burst of white smoke exploded.
This time, what emerged was nothing like the gentle Katsuyu.
A graceful figure appeared from within the smoke.
A white robe. Long black hair. Delicate features.
But her eyes were golden slits.
Tagitsuhime swept her gaze around the battlefield.
The sounds of slaughter, the screams, the crash of colliding jutsu—all of it mingled together, filling the air with the scent of blood and scorched earth.
"Kiyohara?"
She raised a brow slightly, those golden slit pupils turning toward the boy who had summoned her.
"This is…"
"Help me deal with them."
Kiyohara's gaze swept over the Iwa shinobi.
Tagitsuhime glanced at him once.
"Very well."
In the next second, her body began to expand.
Boom!
The white smoke dispersed, and her graceful human form vanished.
In its place was a massive crimson serpent.
Its body stretched for dozens of meters, coiling like a small hill.
Its red scales gleamed with a metallic sheen under the sunlight, and its raised head looked down over the tiny humans below with golden vertical pupils.
Tagitsuhime opened her enormous jaws.
Deep in her throat, blazing red fire began to churn.
Boom!
A pillar of flame burst out.
The heat of that fire was terrifying. Even the air itself seemed to burn wherever it passed.
Three Iwa shinobi failed to dodge in time and were swallowed whole.
Their screams rang out for only a moment before the roar of the flames drowned them out.
Tagitsuhime swung her huge body and surged deeper into Iwa's formation.
She moved with astonishing speed, her crimson body leaving afterimages across the battlefield. Fire poured from her mouth, lava trailed in her wake, and Iwa's shinobi scattered in panic.
"What the hell is that thing?!"
"It's a snake! A huge snake!"
"Get out of the way!"
Even Konoha's shinobi were stunned.
For a moment, they just stared as the massive red serpent tore through the enemy ranks, too shocked to react.
"What are you standing around for?!"
someone shouted, finally snapping back to reality.
"Captain Kiyohara bought us time—move!"
"Charge!"
Konoha's shinobi rallied and surged forward behind Tagitsuhime, slamming into Iwa's formation.
The tide of battle began to turn.
And Roshi stood there, watching it all.
His eyes fixed on Kiyohara.
Kiyohara was still forming hand seals, preparing his next jutsu.
You're fighting me, and you still have the nerve to summon twice?
Roshi clenched his fists.
The lava on his body flared even brighter.
"Brat."
His voice was low and heavy.
"Are you looking down on me?"
He lunged straight at Kiyohara, trying to close the distance so Kiyohara wouldn't have time to complete his seals.
Seeing this, Kiyohara stopped forming seals altogether.
The two of them clashed at close range, but even as they fought, Kiyohara kept shifting his body, steadily drawing Roshi farther and farther away.
That figure shrouded in lava tore through the forest in pursuit of him, setting trees ablaze with his heat and leaving a trail of fire in his wake.
Kiyohara glanced back at the battlefield.
Katsuyu's slugs were doing everything they could to heal the wounded. Tagitsuhime had completely crushed Iwa's offensive momentum, and Konoha's morale was soaring.
A better stage for going all out, Kiyohara thought.
Two figures raced through the forest.
One crimson, one dark green.
Roshi remained locked on Kiyohara's heels as they sped farther and farther away, leaving that chaotic battlefield far behind them.
After who knew how long, the terrain ahead suddenly opened up.
It was a basin.
Mountains surrounded it on all sides, with a flat stretch of forestland in the middle.
Roshi stopped and turned around.
He stood in the center of the basin, lava flowing over his body, the grass at his feet already blackening and catching fire.
Kiyohara landed twenty meters away, directly opposite him.
He pulled off the flak jacket that was now covered in dust and casually tossed it aside.
All that remained was the black chainmail shirt underneath, outlining the muscles of his shoulders and back.
"Finally."
Kiyohara said.
"Finally what?"
Roshi frowned, a bad feeling creeping over him.
Only now did he realize it—the brat had been drawing him out on purpose.
But so what?
This only meant he no longer had to worry about injuring Iwa's shinobi either. He could use even more of his techniques without restraint.
He refused to believe Kiyohara, an Uchiha brat, could outlast a jinchuriki in a battle of chakra reserves.
"We've reached a good patch of land."
Kiyohara formed hand seals, chakra surging through him.
"Perfect place to pick your grave."
"Water Release: Great Exploding Water Colliding Wave!"
Boom!
A massive torrent erupted from nowhere around him.
The nearby streams were pulled into it, swelling the volume even more.
Blue water spread outward like a tsunami.
Trees were ripped down, rocks vanished beneath the flood, and in a single instant the entire basin turned into a vast inland sea.
Roshi had no time to dodge.
The water was too fast, and the area it covered was too large.
In the blink of an eye, he was swallowed whole.
But even underwater, the lava on Roshi's body still burned.
That was the effect of Lava Release Chakra Mode—even submerged, his lava wouldn't go out.
Still, his speed clearly dropped, and his movements became heavier.
Kiyohara was in the water too.
Dark green chakra poured out of his body and formed into a cloak over him.
That cloak flowed slowly, gathering behind him into the shape of a phantom serpent, its scales clearly defined, its tongue flickering in the same dark green hue.
His pupils turned into golden slits, and green markings appeared around his eyes.
A faint horn showed itself on his forehead.
Ryuchi Cave Sage Mode!
But that still wasn't the end.
Black markings began to creep across Kiyohara's skin.
Curse Mark Transformation!
The two powers flowed through him at once, yet instead of clashing, they formed a strange and delicate balance.
Dark green flames and black curse markings intertwined, making him look even more eerie and inhuman.
Roshi's pupils contracted slightly.
What was that?
There had been nothing about this form in the intelligence reports.
But he had no time to think.
Because Kiyohara had already moved.
He shot through the water like a streak of light, reaching Roshi in the blink of an eye.
His right fist came crashing forward.
Roshi instinctively raised an arm to block.
Bang!
The heavy impact exploded through the water.
Roshi's whole body was blasted backward, tumbling dozens of meters across the seabed before he could barely steady himself.
Pain exploded through his forearm.
He looked down and saw a huge crack split through the lava coating there, exposing the charred flesh beneath. A section of bone was actually jutting out through the ruined muscle.
The force of that punch…
Roshi looked up at the figure swimming toward him.
So strong.
With sheer force, Roshi shoved the protruding bone back into his arm. The wound was already healing.
That was the advantage of a jinchuriki.
A jinchuriki possessed massive chakra reserves and terrifying resilience, which was why every single one of them was treated as a living weapon of war.
Roshi formed hand seals, and the lava covering his body began concentrating into his right hand.
That blazing crimson mass grew denser, hotter, heavier, until his entire hand was wrapped in a thick knot of molten rock.
"Lava Release: Seabed Needle!"
This was an ultra-high-temperature jutsu Roshi could only use by drawing on tailed beast chakra—compressing the lava from his whole body into a single point to create a strike capable of piercing anything.
Roshi charged straight at Kiyohara.
The speed of that attack was astonishing.
Where it passed, the seawater was vaporized by the heat, leaving a vacuum trail in its wake.
Kiyohara raised his right hand, fingers spread, and met the thrust head-on.
Blackness spread across his palm.
Steel Release!
Earth Release: Earth Spear!
Hiss.
The molten strike crashed into Kiyohara's palm.
The unbearable heat instantly burned his hand red, like black metal being heated in a furnace.
But Roshi's eyes widened.
Kiyohara's palm had been scorched bright red—but the damage there was already healing at high speed.
This brat can heal too?
Then Kiyohara's left hand clenched into a fist.
And smashed into Roshi's chest.
Bang!
A dull cracking sound came from Roshi's ribcage.
His whole body shot backward like a cannonball, tumbling dozens of meters before slamming into a giant rock on the seabed.
The rock shattered.
Roshi was left embedded in the rubble, coughing up blood in great heaving bursts.
Blood spilled from the corner of his mouth, staining his purple robes and slowly drifting into the water around him.
The pain in his chest was so intense he could barely breathe.
How many ribs?
Three? Four?
He didn't know.
But he understood one thing clearly.
Kiyohara had severely injured him with a single punch.
I absolutely cannot take his punches head-on in this state.
Roshi realized that now.
At once, more tailed beast chakra surged into his broken bones, beginning to repair the damage.
He lifted his head and looked toward the figure steadily approaching him.
Behind Kiyohara, the seawater began to stir.
"Water Release: A Thousand Feeding Sharks."
The sea exploded.
One shark, two sharks, ten, a hundred, a thousand!
Countless sharks formed from seawater surged into existence from every direction.
Their bodies were pure blue, ranging from one to three meters long, each with its jaws spread wide and fangs exposed.
They rushed toward Roshi.
Like a tide. Like a tsunami. Like an unstoppable flood.
Roshi's eyes went wide.
A thousand?
He melted one, two, ten of them with his Lava Release.
But more kept coming.
Those sharks threw themselves at him in endless succession. No matter how many he destroyed, there were always more.
Roshi was drowned in the swarm.
His Lava Release kept melting one shark after another, but for every one he destroyed, three more lunged in.
Their fangs couldn't truly injure him through the lava, but they pinned him firmly in place.
…
At the same time, back at Konoha's camp—
Inside the command tent, Tsunade sat on a low stool.
Her hands were clasped over her knees, her knuckles pale from how hard she was gripping them.
The sounds of battle outside reached her through the tent canvas—faint, but unmistakable.
The clang of kunai. The roar of exploding ninjutsu. The screams of the wounded…
But she couldn't go out there.
The moment she imagined the blood outside, her stomach twisted violently.
Her breathing grew ragged.
Cold sweat formed on her palms.
Damn it.
Tsunade gritted her teeth and shut her eyes.
That brat led the Four-Tails jinchuriki away?
She could tell what Kiyohara had done.
And yet she, his teacher, couldn't fight beside him.
That thought stung.
So she decided to do what she still could.
Kiyohara had already summoned Katsuyu to heal the wounded, but this could still be taken further.
The diamond-shaped violet seal on Tsunade's smooth forehead began to glow.
"Strength of a Hundred Seal: Release!"
Vast chakra surged out from the seal, flowing through her entire chakra network.
Then Tsunade performed a summoning of her own, calling out another portion of Katsuyu from Shikkotsu Forest.
She sent Katsuyu out to aid the others.
Katsuyu's true body was unimaginably huge. Tsunade had never once summoned the full thing.
Every time, she could only call forth a portion of Katsuyu's main body.
Even with the piece Kiyohara had summoned, and the piece Tsunade had summoned now, they still hadn't brought out Katsuyu's full body.
But the additional Katsuyu fragments would make Konoha's situation far better.
In the blink of an eye, countless tiny slugs crawled out through the seams of the tent and spread in all directions across the battlefield.
"Slug: Mass Healing Network!"
Tsunade cast the jutsu next.
Through this technique, she could transmit her chakra through Katsuyu to every wounded shinobi and use the Palm Sage Technique on them.
At the same time, Katsuyu's body could cover the injured and protect them. The range of effect was enormous, minimizing casualties as much as possible.
And while Tsunade maintained Slug: Mass Healing Network, she could also share vision and hearing through Katsuyu, transmit chakra, and pass information and battlefield intelligence.
Now Tsunade could sense the condition of the wounded. Their injuries were healing.
But she still didn't open the shared vision.
She didn't want to see the blood.
Tsunade took a deep breath and raised her right hand.
That chakra continued flowing through Katsuyu into every injured shinobi.
Eyes closed, she maintained the flow of chakra.
Sweat beaded along her temple, but her breathing gradually steadied.
At the very least, while Kiyohara was away, she—his teacher—would protect what lay behind him.
…
On the battlefield, a Konoha chunin clutched the wound in his abdomen, his face white as paper.
The gash was deep. He could vaguely see his intestines moving inside.
He thought he was going to die.
Then a warm, soft body suddenly pressed against the wound.
He looked down and saw a palm-sized slug lying over his abdomen, green light flowing from its body into the injury.
The wound was healing.
He could feel it clearly—torn flesh knitting together, the internal bleeding stopping.
"This is…"
"It's Lady Tsunade!"
someone nearby shouted.
"Lady Tsunade is healing us!"
"I can feel it too—my wound doesn't hurt anymore!"
"Lady Tsunade!"
Konoha's morale surged once more.
The faces of the Iwa shinobi darkened even further.
They could only watch as Konoha shinobi who had clearly been on the verge of collapse got back to their feet under Katsuyu's healing and threw themselves back into the fight.
Fighting them now felt like trying to battle an army that simply would not die.
"Damn it…"
One Iwa jonin ground out through clenched teeth.
He now understood all too well the advantage of having a highly developed medical system.
Unfortunately for Iwa, their medical division was mediocre.
"These Konoha medics…"
He never finished.
Because an enormous snake tail came sweeping toward him.
Tagitsuhime's massive body tore through the forest. Everywhere she passed, Iwa's shinobi scattered in panic.
Her flames poured forth. Her tail swept entire groups aside. Her fangs ripped through anything in reach.
Before this monstrous serpent, Iwa's shinobi were no more than ants.
…
Elsewhere—
The basin had been completely transformed.
The forestland was gone, replaced by an endless expanse of water.
And in the center of that sea, Roshi was being besieged by over a thousand sharks.
His Lava Release kept melting them, but there were simply too many.
His chakra was draining rapidly.
Inside him, the Four-Tails, Son Goku, was beginning to grow restless.
"Roshi, you can't hold out much longer."
"Shut up."
~~~
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