The waterfall, towering like a high wall, evaporated into white mist as fire and water clashed mid-air.
The Fire-type Ninja Beast that appeared before Red was Typhlosion.
Red stepped forward, while Typhlosion shifted half a step diagonally, pressing forward like two parallel warheads, forcefully carving a vacuum circle through the airwaves.
Scorching heat pressed against their skin, causing many Rain Ninjas to tense up, their breaths feeling as if branded by fire.
The fur flames around Typhlosion crackled and popped. As the heat waves shimmered, its figure flickered like a wandering ghost fire—a signal of its battle readiness.
In the next instant, it violently rubbed its Burning Fur, roaring as it unleashed a ring of explosive airwaves. Even the waterfall's descending columns were shattered into scattered water threads, instantly vaporized.
Hanzo remained unshaken, his fingers swiftly forming hand seals.
Summoning Technique!
A giant Salamander Fish burst silently from the ground, lunging diagonally to precisely intercept Red's flank at a thirty-degree angle—a calculated blind spot.
Hanzo pressed forward head-on, while the Salamander Fish remotely controlled the Poison Mist!
On the other side, three Beedrills flew low, hunting like predators, their Needle Wings trembling lightly as they targeted gaps in the heat currents around Red and Typhlosion.
Hanzo's strategy resembled that of an old wolf leading a pack—shrewd and steady.
"What is your purpose in the Land of Rain?"
"I've already answered your question, challenger."
Challenger!
At that moment, Red shouted loudly!
Flamethrower!
With a roar, Typhlosion bellowed, tongues of fire sweeping three zhang across the ground, a heat curtain unfurling and tearing through the rain.
A pillar of flames shot straight into the clouds, forcibly carving a blank space in the overcast sky.
Sunlight pierced through, gathering under the power of Sunlight Release.
Golden flames and white light intertwined over Red's shoulders, as if cloaked in a solar corona.
Just then, Hanzo flashed before him, his Scythe Chain gleaming with purple light as Poison Mist rippled along its links.
But Red did not retreat. Instead, he reached out backhanded, his five fingers gripping the curved blade of the scythe.
Poison and flame collided in his palm. Red's black hair erupted with Golden Flames, blazing from his temples down to the nape of his neck, as if igniting himself into a walking sun!
Koffing suddenly appeared, spewing eerie, chanting Poison Mist!
Squinting, Red spoke calmly, "It seems you are a Poison-type Trainer."
Typhlosion advanced on the flank, the flames around its neck forming a ring of Burst Flame, hurling it toward the Beedrills.
The airwaves arrived first, causing a sudden shift in temperature as if the air itself were tearing apart.
As the Beedrills' Poison Needles drew near, the toxic coating on the needle tips dried up from the intense heat, and the pressure in their abdominal cavities destabilized, causing their flight paths to waver instantly.
Seizing the opportunity, Typhlosion raised its shoulder, coiling flames into a whip and directly sent the first Beedrill flipping backward. The second and third hastily dispersed in altitude, attempting to pierce the heat curtain from different angles.
The Salamander Fish opened its mouth, its rear jawbone swelling as a blast of dark green Poison Mist surged down.
The heat curtain rose to meet it, causing the Poison Mist to roil, liquefy, bubble, and dissipate upon contact, leaving only a few strands of grayish smoke upon landing.
Typhlosion shifted its footing, its form blurring once more as heat waves obscured its outline, like a fire spirit darting. Skimming the ground, it unleashed a Smokescreen counter-slash, searing a burst of flames from under the Salamander Fish's belly and forcing it to retract its ventral fins.
Realizing that Typhlosion was suppressing the Rain Ninjas and the Beedrills from the rear, Hanzo felt helpless.
It seemed he was the only capable fighter among the Rain Ninjas.
Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet!
Hanzo quickly formed hand seals, his sleeve flicking as the waterfall's crashing currents coiled into a furious dragon, smashing down from above.
Red, his hair ablaze, stomped the ground and threw a punch.
Water and flame clashed violently at the point of impact, steam exploding into a white ring. The dragon of water collapsed segment by segment, forcibly halted by his punch.
The Fire Crest on his fist glowed blindingly bright. The rock beneath Red's feet cracked from thermal expansion, sending fragments flying in all directions.
Hanzo narrowed his eyes.
Could Chakra also be burned to some extent?
Thinking this, Hanzo decided to change tactics.
He manipulated the swirling water at the waterfall's base, forming it into a flat vortex to entangle Red's ankles.
Understanding his intent, the Salamander Fish flicked its tail, turning its poison into fine threads. It attempted to cool the vortex's core with chilling needles, creating thermal cracks to open a path for the second wave of Beedrill providing support from behind.
"A clever plan. It seems you're challenging the Gym as a group."
Red chuckled softly, his fingers swiftly forming three hand seals.
From the three flames behind him, a Golden Flame emerged as if skimming the edge of the sun. It circled once, flowing close to the ground.
Wherever the golden flame passed, the edges of the water vortex formed a glass-like, heat-hardened shell. The vortex's rotation was disrupted, like gears grinding against sand.
The chilling needles struck next, leaving charred cracks on the hardened shell but failing to penetrate.
"Typhlosion, continue with the smoke."
Typhlosion reared up, compressing air in its chest and abdomen before exhaling a transparent, flame-less wave of intense heat.
The second wave of Beedrill was swept by the diagonally cutting high-temperature smoke. Their wing membranes instantly curled and charred at the edges, their mobility plummeting.
They struggled to gain altitude, firing Poison Needles in rapid succession. Yet, the poison clusters dissipated into fine particles before they could get close, swept upward by the rising thermal currents.
The Salamander Fish plunged into the ground with a thud, stirring up mud and sand. Groundwater surged through the pores, carrying a chill, fishy dampness.
Hanzo knew it was unwise to confront head-on. He intended to use the terrain, the humidity, and the dominance this rain-soaked land should possess to drag Red into his own familiar domain.
But Red raised his hand, pointing toward a gap in the clouds.
The next moment, he cast Sunlight Release once more!
Golden-white light descended again, thinning the humidity at the waterfall's base. The intense heat forced surface water into steam, altering the course of underground seepage.
Typhlosion advanced half a step, pressing its palm to the ground. The surface slightly bulged, like an iron plate expanding from stored heat.
As soon as the Salamander Fish poked its head out, it was met with a stifling wave of geothermal heat. Instinctively, it shrank back, forced to rise half a foot from its hiding spot, losing its absolute concealment.
"Challenger."
Red's smile widened as he drew the Golden Flame behind him. "Name your ultimate move."
Hanzo could no longer endure Red's maddening words. "Nonsense!"
He pressed his left palm to the ground, once again channeling an explosive force, releasing a rapid volley of Water Iron Cannon.
Water droplets condensed under high pressure into iron pellet-like projectiles, densely packed, piercing from all directions.
Red did not retreat. With a light tap of his toes, he spun slightly in place, flames from his shoulder blades forming a Sun Ring around him.
The Water Iron Cannon projectiles instantly vaporized into white mist upon contact, the mist torn apart by thermal shear, unable to reach within three feet of him.
By now, Hanzo had gathered enough intelligence.
Close-quarters combat was his primary style, with his range sustained by sun-like energy release.
Rapid consumption, but equally rapid recovery.
In a flash of thought, Hanzo abruptly hurled his Scythe Chain. The chain wrapped around a pillar, and using the leverage, he pulled himself forward, his figure shooting like an arrow along the wall, bypassing Red entirely—his target was Typhlosion!
A glint of fire flashed in Typhlosion's eyes. Just as it began to turn, Red's voice fell behind its ear: "I'll handle it."
Red's right shoulder sank, all the Golden Flame on his body instantly converging to his fist. The brightness did not increase but instead dimmed, while the temperature soared.
That fist seemed to compress the sun into a single nail—quiet, sharp, concentrated in his fist!
As the shadow of his fist brushed past Hanzo's shoulder, the air turned violent!
The combat sequence felt somewhat disjointed and hard to follow.
A numbing sensation shot through Hanzo's shoulder armor, spreading like an electric shock down his arm bone. Seizing the momentum, he shifted his stance, landing half a step back as his heel dug into the ground, channeling the excess force into the earth. Koffing seized the opportunity to leap out, absorbing the searing heat that had seeped into its master's body.
Close-quarters combat combined with blazing Fire Release.
Realizing he couldn't effectively break through the enemy for now, Hanzo chose to retreat!
As for Black Zetsu, he watched Red, the golden figure burning amidst the flames.
He muttered to himself, "Could it be... he's an Uchiha who hasn't awakened the Sharingan? Is that why his Fire Release and Chakra cell activation are so advanced?
There are even faint traces of Wood Release on the ground.
It's this Wood Release that sustains his Chakra from depleting.
After all, Red's fundamental composition is a fusion of White Zetsu and Ditto."
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