Thanks for the Power Stones đBonus Chapter will be uploaded đ«Ą
Chapter 85: Kirin
The sky had turned oppressive, a swirling cauldron of bruised purple and black. The intermittent drizzle became a pounding, angry downpour, hammering the scorched and shattered earth. What little light remained was swallowed by the deepening gloom, plunging the devastated clearing into an eerie, storm-lit twilight.
The three Iwa joninâTsuchino, Shimu, and Hi no Ishiâfelt a primal dread settle in their guts. It was more than fear of their opponent; it was a deep, instinctual unease about the world itself turning against them.
High above, Ragnar stood upon the air itself, defying gravity with Moon Step. The blood-red Rakshasa mask gazed down, an implacable icon of judgment. In this moment, a subtle shift was complete within him. The survivalist's caution was tempered by a burgeoning, unshakeable confidence. He had relived his life, clawed his way from nothing, and seized powers beyond this world's understanding. Why should he bow to anyone's rules? He would carve his own path, break every chain, and cut down any injustice that crossed him. The seed of true dominance had taken root.
BOOM!
Thunder cracked directly overhead, so loud it vibrated in their bones. The rain intensified.
"What is he planning?" Hi no Ishi yelled over the storm, her voice tight.
"I don't know!" Shimu shouted back, his body trembling not from cold, but from a biological warning he couldn't ignore.
"Could it be�" Tsuchino's mind, trained in strategy, made a horrifying leap. It was insane. Impossible. No shinobi could⊠but the pieces fit. The fire pillars shot into the clouds, evaporating rain to supercharge the atmosphere. Their own fire techniques had added to the heat, creating violent updrafts. They hadn't just been fighting him; they'd been helping him prepare the stage. "He's manipulating the storm!"
As if summoned by his realization, Ragnar's voice cut through the wind and rain, calm and terrifyingly clear.
"This technique was made for you. The Land of Rain⊠provides the perfect ingredients."
He raised his free arm, pointing a single finger toward the raging thunderheads.
"Harnessing the wrath of heaven. At the speed of lightning⊠none of you can escape."
"What?!" Tsuchino's blood ran cold.
"What are you doing?" Tsunade demanded, pressed against him. She felt the static charge building in the air, raising the hairs on her arms.
"My guess was right," Tsuchino breathed out, the words tasting like ash. "He's going to try to control the thunder itself."
CRACKLE-BOOM!
A searing bolt of forked lightning ripped the sky apart, its stark white light illuminating the Rakshasa mask in a snapshot of terrifying clarity.
"Impossible! Natural lightning is chaos! No one can control it!" Hi no Ishi screamed, denial warring with the evidence of her own senses.
"It's the only explanation! Look at the clouds! We helped him make them! If he unleashes that powerâŠ" Tsuchino's voice broke. "RUN! NOW!"
He didn't wait for debate. Survival instinct overrode every other command. He turned and fled, chakra pumping into his legs.
"Captain?!" Shimu hesitated, torn between orders and disbelief.
"RUN, YOU FOOLS! HE'S A MADMAN! IT'LL ERASE EVERYTHING!"
It was too late.
Ragnar's raised hand clenched into a fist. A blade of pure lightning chakra he'd sent spearing into the cloud layer moments before served as his conduit. His Level 4 Observation Haki was fully expanded, a sensory dome fifteen hundred meters wide. Within it, he didn't just sense the chakra of his enemies. He perceived the very flow of natural energyâthe violent, chaotic dance of positive and negative charges within the thunderheads. He didn't fight the chaos; he guided it, his own lightning chakra acting as a catalyst, a path of least resistance carved through the storm's fury.
His fist jerked downward.
The connection was made.
Above Ragnar's head, beneath the belly of the black clouds, the world ignited. Not with fire, but with raw, celestial electricity. Dozens, then hundreds of lightning bolts ceased their random dance. They converged, drawn and woven together by an impossible will. They didn't just combine; they coalesced, taking shape. The light was blinding, a sun being born in the storm. The sound was a continuous, tearing shriek that drowned out the thunder itselfâthe chirping of ten thousand monstrous birds of prey.
From the heart of the electrical maelstrom, a form emerged. Vast, majestic, and utterly terrifying. A beast of living lightning, with a streamlined body, four crackling limbs, and a single, spiraling horn of concentrated voltage on its head. It hung in the sky for a suspended moment, a divine predator eyeing its prey below.
"KIRIN."
The word left Ragnar's lips, not a shout, but a declaration. A name for the apocalypse.
"Gods aboveâŠ" Tsunade whispered, all strength leaving her legs. She clung to Ragnar's waist, not for support, but because the sight before her stripped away every notion of shinobi power she'd ever held. This wasn't ninjutsu. This was a force of nature given conscious form. Even her grandfather's mighty Wood Release would be splinters and ash before this.
Tsuchino, fleeing madly, chanced a look back. His soul shriveled. The lightning beast filled his vision, a monument to his own doom. His face went slack, all color draining away.
ROOOOOAAAAAARRRRâ!
The sound was the sky ripping in two.
In the next fraction of a fraction of a secondâa unit of time too small for thought, let alone reactionâthe Kirin descended.
It didn't fall. It manifested upon the earth.
A pillar of annihilating white light connected heaven and ground. The world vanished in a silent, blinding nova.
Then the sound and fury hit.
KKKRRRRAAAAA-BOOOOOOOMMMM!!!!!
The lake of magma didn't just evaporate; it was unmade. The earth didn't just shatter; it was pulverized into glass and dust. The shockwave radiated outwards for kilometers, flattening every remaining tree, shattering stone, and scouring the land clean. The very air ionized, smelling sharply of ozone and scorched emptiness.
Ragnar held his position in the sky, Tsunade clinging to him, as the world below was reborn in fire and thunder. He watched, the Rakshasa mask impassive, as the act of creation through destruction played out. He felt no thrill, no remorse. This was necessity. This was the culmination of his power, his strategy, and the enemy's own actions turned against them. This was the path.
The light faded. The deafening roar subsided into a ringing silence, broken only by the returning patter of rain on the now-barren, smoldering wasteland. For a radius of several kilometers, nothing stood. The forest was gone. The hills were smoothed. It was a clean slate of grey ash and black glass.
Tsunade slowly, shakily, loosened her grip and looked down. The scale of the devastation stole her breath. "An S-rank kinjutsu⊠or higher," she murmured, the words hollow. "Are they⊠all gone?"
"Most likely," Ragnar stated, his voice devoid of emotion. He had walked this road of blood and lightning from the beginning. Sentiment was a luxury he could seldom afford.
Clatter.
A sound, small and incongruous in the vast silence. A chunk of blackened, vitrified rock shifted. From beneath it, a single, charred, spasming hand twitched, fingers clawing at the air. A faint, dying arc of electricity skittered across its surface.
(End of Chapter)
âšIf you're enjoying this story, consider supporting me on Patreon â
Patreon.com/TofuChan
đPatreon members get early access to chapters, bonus content, and voting power on future ideas.đ
Every bit of support helps me write more and faster. Thank you so much for reading! đ„°
Bonus Chapter For Every 100 Power Stones
Lets hit the goal of 150 Patreon Members now for 5 Extra Chapters đ
We are at 152 members đBonus Chapter will be uploaded tomorrowÂ
There is a limited discount going on Patreon in release of a new Fanfic now 4 days left đ