"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang—"
Fiery red bullets rained down, striking the ground, tree trunks, and rocky outcrops all around.
They easily pierced through the solid objects, leaving fingertip-sized holes wherever they landed.
In the center of the clearing—
Kairen conjured two AKs and squeezed the triggers furiously, spraying bullets in every direction.
"Hahaha... See this, Root?! Let me show you crawling bugs what real firepower means!"
As his chakra surged, white smoke hissed across the ground. In the next instant, dozens of mortars emerged and planted themselves into the earth.
Dozens of chakra threads extended from Kairen's hands, linking to all the mortar tubes at once.
"Mortars — Fire!"
He gave the chakra threads a fierce pull. The mortar barrels trembled, and the sound of Fire Gun blasts echoed as crimson shells launched toward the retreating Root ninja.
"Rumble—!"
Explosions erupted in clusters. The Root ninja flickered away in unison, narrowly avoiding the shockwaves of the Fire Gun bombardment.
Nara, perched atop a tall tree, peered through the holes of his mask toward the frenzied Kairen in the distance.
"That brat... doesn't he realize the faster his chakra flows, the faster the poison spreads and erupts?"
Shimura Naoto barely dodged a shell's explosion and sneered coldly.
"A trapped beast's last struggle. I'd like to see just how much longer he can last before the poison finishes him."
Of course, Kairen was aware that the toxin was coursing through his organs, gnawing at every cell in his body.
Fortunately, the cells of the Senju Clan Sage Body combined with the Nine-Tails' chakra were suppressing the spread, keeping the poison from killing him too quickly.
Now, his eyes were bloodshot—utterly consumed by madness. Caution, restraint, or survival instinct—none of it mattered anymore.
Even Kairen himself feared what he'd become.
In an instant, he transformed—into a massive red-and-blue transport truck that rampaged through the forest, mowing down trees as if they were blades of grass.
"Flank him! Surround him!"
The Root ninja converged from all sides.
Akimichi popped a soldier pill into his mouth and roared, "Multi-Size Technique!"
In seconds, he swelled into a ten-meter-tall giant, bracing his enormous hands against the front of the truck.
"Rumble! Rumble! Rumble—"
Kairen floored the accelerator, the massive engine roaring with power, pushing the giant backward step by step.
"Attack!"
More Jōnin around them launched their techniques one after another.
"Secret Technique: Parasitic Insects!"
"Wind Release: Vacuum Great Sphere!"
"Fire Release: Great Flame Technique!"
"Earth Release: Clay Prison Ball!"
"Shadow Imitation Technique!"
Nara's shadow latched onto Kairen, freezing his movement, and all the ninjutsu slammed into the truck's body in a barrage of explosions.
The impact rang out with clanging metallic echoes.
The Blade-wielding ninja emerged from the ground again, swinging his weapon down onto the massive truck—only for his sword to shatter against the steel armor.
When the chaos finally subsided, the once-shining surface of the truck had dulled, riddled with dents and scorch marks.
Nara quickly formed seals, his shadow still restraining Kairen as he shouted to the others,
"Hurry! End him now!"
"Transform!"
Kairen roared.
Mechanical grinding and snapping noises followed as the truck's components shifted and twisted—until a towering, ten-meter-tall mech stood upright in the clearing.
"Damn it, his strength is insane!"
Nara cursed under his breath. His Shadow Imitation couldn't restrain such overwhelming power, and he was forced to release the jutsu.
Kairen's entire body bristled with gun barrels. With a surge of chakra, torrents of firepower erupted from every direction.
"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang—!"
Flames streamed out like tongues of fire.
The Root Jōnin flickered rapidly to avoid the storm of bullets, but the instant their feet touched the ground, another hail of gunfire followed.
"Ahhhh—!"
In the chaos, a weaker Root Jōnin from the Aburame clan was riddled with bullets and collapsed into a bloody sieve.
"Retreat!"
From above, the ninja tried to control his ink-painted hawk to escape.
Kairen pointed upward and shouted, "Fire!"
Ten fiery shells streaked through the air, engulfing Crow's ink hawk in explosions that instantly tore it apart into a cloud of black mist.
From within the smoke, Crow's corpse fell limply from the sky.
Behind, Akimichi shouted, "Human Bullet Tank!"
With a thunderous whistling sound, the huge spinning ball of flesh slammed into Sky Pillar's back, bursting it into white smoke.
"Poof!"
"Chirp—!"
Kairen reappeared in the form of a massive eagle soaring high above the trees.
The Root ninja below unleashed a flurry of ninjutsu into the air.
"Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique!"
"Earth Release: Rock Iron Cannon!"
...
"Shadow Clone Technique!"
"Poof! Poof! Poof! Poof—!"
With a surge of chakra, dozens of plumes of smoke erupted around him, and in an instant, dozens of identical giant eagles filled the sky.
"Bomber Hawks—attack!"
Each of the fifty giant eagles clutched a Great Fire Gun sphere in its beak, dive-bombing the forest below.
Fiery orbs rained down like streaks of light, turning the Forest of Death into a sea of explosions.
"Rumble—!"
The deafening detonations spread through the forest, so powerful that even the entire Konoha Village could hear them.
Panic spread like wildfire.
Villagers cowered in their homes, not daring to step outside.
Jiraiya, clad in light armor, summoned a toad and raced toward the Forest of Death.
Minato and Kushina donned their green Jōnin vests and flickered in the same direction.
Orochimaru stood frozen, gazing up at the fifty flaming eagles as they relentlessly bombarded the forest.
"What is that boy doing?" he murmured, stunned. "His chakra is plummeting that fast, and he's still using large-scale jutsu? Does he have a death wish?"
Suddenly, his pupils constricted sharply.
A blazing red orb of light was rapidly growing larger, hurtling straight toward him.
"Damn it—that brat's gone insane! He's going to blow up the entire forest!"
Cursing, Orochimaru flickered away just in time to dodge the blast of the Great Fire Gun.
"Chirp—!"
The proud eagles screamed from above.
At the center of the flock, the most majestic eagle laughed wildly as it rained fire upon the earth.
"Hahaha...!"
"See this, Root?! This is what war in the industrial age looks like!"
With his Byakugan, Kairen could see every chakra signature in the forest. Naturally, he noticed Orochimaru's presence—and fired a Great Fire Gun right at him.
Amidst the chaos, Kairen annihilated a Genjutsu Jōnin from the Aburame clan, the Blade-wielding ninja, and a Wind Release user from the Shimura household.
Now, of the fifteen Jōnin, only eight remained.
Akimichi had been gravely wounded protecting Shimura Naoto—his back torn open, blood and flesh mangled, his life slipping away.
But Kairen wasn't unscathed either. His chakra was nearly depleted—the Nine-Tails' power completely exhausted, leaving him with only mid-Chūnin reserves.
"Poof! Poof! Poof! Poof—!"
All the bomber hawk shadow clones around him dissipated into white smoke.
Kairen's face turned pale, his vision dimming.
With a final "bang," he reverted to his human form and began plummeting toward the forest.
"Now's my chance!"
From afar, Orochimaru's golden eyes gleamed.
A white snake slithered from his mouth, darting through the forest like a flash of light.
Kairen crashed to the ground, barely conscious.
With the last of his awareness, he transformed into a blob of slime to soften the fall, bouncing once before collapsing into the grass.
The white snake coiled up swiftly, its fangs gleaming as it struck, sinking into Kairen's neck.
Through the haze of his fading consciousness, Kairen faintly heard Orochimaru's greedy whisper:
"Moku Kairen... taste the gift I've prepared for you!"