The enraged Manda lunged, jaws splitting the air. Gamabunta didn't meet the charge head-on; he kicked off the ground, massive body blurring aside to dodge that lethal bite.
But Manda's fury wasn't so easily evaded. Missing his mark, he twisted with serpentine speed, tail whipping around in a blur of motion. The strike cut through the air like a blade, fast and heavy enough to split stone.
Clang!
Gamabunta caught it on his short sword, forty meters of steel meeting scaled muscle, and the impact rang like a gong across the forest. The giant toad staggered backward several paces, crashing through trees that splintered and fell in clouds of dust.
"Tongue Tooth Sticky Acid!"
Seizing the moment, Katsuyu sprayed a torrent of pale-yellow corrosive fluid.
Manda recoiled instantly. The acid hissed where it fell, eating pits into soil and rock, smoke rising in twisting plumes.
Gamabunta sheathed his sword and lowered into a crouch. His gaze sharpened; the moment his muscles tensed, he sprang forward again, drawing and slashing in one seamless motion that cleaved the air.
Rumble!
Thunder answered him. A thick pillar of blinding white lightning burst upward from Kyouki's body, the current sucking every loose charge from the air as it rose, a perfect column of power that neither faded nor swelled.
"Fire Release: Great Flame Bullet!"
Jiraiya formed seals, spat a flood of oil, and ignited it mid-air. A river of crimson fire met the descending lightning head-on.
Boom!
Thunder and flame collided, exploding outward in a shockwave that ripped sand and stone into the air.
Above them, Uchiha Gen twisted effortlessly out of Tsunade's reach and countered. "Wind Release!" he called, and Shuryu inhaled, spewing a furnace-hot breath that poured down like a sea of fire. The tongues of flame forced back every wind-and-oil blast that Fukasaku and Shima hurled at him.
On the ground, Manda slipped past Gamabunta's slash with terrifying agility for his size and coiled around Katsuyu in a flash. Pressure built—then shattered—as Katsuyu split apart and re-formed in another place, her liquid body escaping the constriction.
Boom!
Tsunade dropped from above, her heel connecting squarely with Manda's skull. The impact slammed his jaw into the earth; the serpent's eyes rolled as the world doubled and spun.
He shook his head violently, fangs bared, about to strike back—only to veer aside as another spray of Katsuyu's acid carved steaming holes where he'd stood.
"Lord Gen," Manda hissed as Gen landed lightly atop his head, "there are too many of them. This is getting troublesome."
Gen's expression didn't change. "It's nothing," he said evenly. "Just toying with them a little."
His gaze lifted. "Kyouki!"
"Understood, Master."
Kyouki shot skyward. In seconds, black storm clouds unfurled from her like ink across the sky. Daylight vanished beneath a roiling canopy of thunder. Silver serpents of lightning danced within the dark.
Jiraiya and Tsunade exchanged a sharp glance. They'd fought long enough to know danger when they felt it. They would not stand still beneath a brewing storm.
The summoned were safe with their beast bodies, but the humans, their own bodies, were not built to endure raw lightning. Even a single strike could kill. Tsunade's regenerative ability might save her, but she wasn't inclined to test it.
"Bunta! Out of the range!" Jiraiya barked.
"Katsuyu, retreat!" Tsunade ordered.
The two summons leapt clear just as the first bolts flashed but Gen's move wasn't meant only for lightning.
"Uchiha Flame Formation!"
He pressed one glowing blue hand to Manda's head. Chakra flared crimson, igniting into walls of blood-red fire that erupted outward in a blazing ring. The walls sealed the area like a burning cage.
Gamabunta tried to halt, but the toad was mid-leap, too much momentum to stop. "Aw, crap!"
He met the wall head-first.
Hisssss!
Steam exploded as Fukasaku spat a waterfall to soften the impact; fire and water collided, filling the clearing with blinding mist. Gamabunta tumbled back, dazed, smoke curling from his headband.
"Hahahaha!" Manda threw back his head and roared with laughter. "You stinking toad! How does it feel, huh?"
"Keep laughing, snake," Gamabunta growled, shaking off the dizziness. "I'll skin you and make a nice snakeskin wallet!"
Before Manda could retort, a deep, resonant roar rolled from above. Everyone froze.
Through an opening in the crimson barrier, a Kirin of pure azure lightning emerged from the storm clouds, its claws of thunder resting on the flaming walls, eyes glowing cold and emotionless as it looked down upon them.
Manda's scales prickled. "Lord Gen… that thing's not gonna hit us too, is it?"
Gen stood with his hands behind his back, voice calm. "The Kirin Jutsu is powerful, but it shouldn't destroy them outright."
"...Shouldn't?" Manda muttered. He silently vowed that if anything felt off, he'd slither straight back to Ryūchi Cave, even punishment was better than dying as roasted snake jerky.
Up above, Jiraiya's expression hardened. He didn't have the luxury of waiting. Though his natural energy wasn't fully balanced, he inhaled deeply, and Sage markings spread across his face.
"Sage Art: Goemon!"
Oil gushed from his mouth; Fukasaku's wind and Shima's fire ignited it, creating a raging sea of flame that met the descending Kirin head-on.
Tsunade wasn't idle either. Katsuyu sprayed more corrosive liquid while Tsunade herself gathered chakra into her fist, launching an air cannon that cracked the atmosphere.
Boom!
Fire, lightning, acid, and air collided mid-sky. The resulting explosion drowned the world in white light. The blood-red barrier warped and screamed under the strain.
As smoke swirled, Fukasaku and Shima leapt from Jiraiya's shoulders, cheeks ballooning.
Croak!
Their voices joined in a single resonant call, the sound transforming into golden ripples of chakra that rushed straight toward Uchiha Gen.
"Sage Art: Frog Song!"
They refrained from using Myōboku's deadliest variants, Demonic Illusion: Toad Confrontation Method or Genjutsu: Impervious Prison—for fear of trapping Tsunade and Katsuyu as well. Even so, their harmony was potent. The instant the sound reached him, Manda froze, his pupils dilating—caught in illusion.
Uchiha Gen, however, only smiled.
When it came to Genjutsu, he'd never feared anyone.
"Shuryu," he said quietly.
"Understood, Master."
Shuryu's colossal form shrank rapidly, blazing into a streak of fire that flowed into Gen's right arm. Chakra surged, rich with Senjutsu energy. His hands moved, seals flowing one into the next.
"Sage Art: Dragon's Roar of Nine Heavens!"
Roar!
Gen opened his mouth, unleashing a sound that wasn't human, a majestic, ancient dragon's cry that tore through the air. Crimson-gold shockwaves rippled outward, each pulse shattering the golden sound ripples of the Frog Song as if they were glass.
"Not good!" Fukasaku and Shima cried in unison. They instantly switched to Mount Myōboku's strongest defensive Genjutsu, layering harmonics to counter the dragon's roar. The two sound waves collided, trembling the barrier walls.
The struggle lasted seconds that felt eternal, then the harmonics shattered.
Manda blinked, suddenly freed from illusion. Across the field, Gamabunta, Katsuyu, and Jiraiya were not so lucky; their bodies stiffened, eyes unfocused, caught deep in the Genjutsu's lingering tide.
And above them all, Uchiha Gen stood amid swirling lightning and flame, his Sharingan burning like twin suns.
"When it comes to illusion," he said softly, voice carrying through the storm,
"there's no one in this world I fear."