You smiled faintly. From the looks of it, Konohagakure should feel lucky they only got hit by your Fire Dragon.
Who knows how many ninja ended up crippled or permanently disabled?
The power of those three blended flames wasn't just for show. The pure Fire Style ensured rapid spread and high heat. Then came the Flame of the Infested, draining both spirit and physical energy while sucking chakra dry. Finally, the poisonous flame finished the job, destroying the chakra network.
That three-hit combo... even without being a Kekkei Genkai, it might as well have been. For a ninja, living like that is worse than dying.
Maybe when Tsunade returns to Konoha, there's a chance she can help… but who knows how much time and effort that'll take? Poison isn't some simple external wound that can be healed by summoning a slug.
And that's not even counting the damage to the spirit and body!
You couldn't help but feel satisfied that you had focused so heavily on maxing out your Fire Style. Without that, you wouldn't have discovered or wielded the Flame of the Infested or this poisonous flame at all.
...
[Day 3]
You all kept moving.
Though you remained on alert the entire time, the journey was eerily smooth—nothing unexpected occurred.
But the more alert you are, the easier it is to slip when you finally let your guard down. Like a balloon blown to its limit—it looks resilient, but the moment the pressure's off, it collapses into a saggy mess.
During a brief rest, a thought struck you:
Your emotional outburst in killing Uchiha Izumi might've prompted Uchiha Itachi to go confront Obito. But on second thought… not likely.
After all, all you did was drain Izumi of every last drop of blood and dig out her eyes. Compared to Itachi's full-on massacre of his clan and family? Your little act was practically child's play.
Uchiha Itachi's tolerance was beyond anything you expected.
Besides, the inscription you deliberately left behind—framing "Uchiha Madara" for the kill—was, in hindsight, embarrassingly amateurish. There's no way Itachi wouldn't have seen through that.
So, you decided the best use of your time was to keep strengthening yourself. With that resolve...
You began refining your connection to the poisonous flame. While your exceptional Fire Style allowed you to wield it, you still couldn't control it as easily as you could the Flame of the Infested or your own Fire Style.
For example, you couldn't control the toxic smoke this flame released.
"Toxic smoke?!"
Something clicked.
Unleashing large-scale Fire Style techniques—your chakra couldn't sustain that for more than five minutes. And with Obito wrapped in White Zetsu's biomass, his resistance to flame had greatly increased, so your fire attacks couldn't really force him back.
But that smoke… it lingered.
A few seconds of flame could create smoke that lasted at least half a minute before dispersing.
That meant that, given your current chakra reserves, producing a five-minute toxic smoke field wasn't out of reach.
And people have to breathe.
As long as Obito inhaled, that poisonous smoke could bypass White Zetsu's protection and go straight for his internal organs!
This stuff was even nastier than Amaterasu. Unless Obito's regeneration was good enough to literally clean out his intestines by hand, he'd be in trouble.
There was just one issue—the smoke didn't distinguish between friend and foe.
You, at least, could burn it away from your body using the two ultimate flames within you. You'd be fine.
But the other four? They didn't have that kind of firepower.
So, every time you worked with the poisonous flame, you made sure to stay far away from Uchiha Setsuna and the others.
"I need to find a solution for this…"
You drew your ninja blade, stabbed it into a rat hole, and pried out a rat. Using your Sharingan, you took control of it and sent it into the tunnels to hunt more rodents. Before long, you had a collection of test subjects...
...
[Day 4]
At midnight, a reverse summoning by a ninja cat transported you all to a dry cave.
Everyone planned to rest briefly.
You could faintly feel the power within your body steadily rising. It seemed the effects of your "Desert Reaper" title were finally kicking in. That meant the desert wasn't far—if you made it through tomorrow without encountering Obito, you'd cross into the Land of Earth and be able to seek refuge.
After a short break, you put on the windproof goggles specially brought back from the ninja cat's clan. Then you all pressed on. Before long, you climbed over the mountains and stepped into the desert.
The moment your foot touched the sand, you could feel your power surging wildly.
You quickly broke past the invisible barrier that marked the Kage-level threshold—And your power kept growing, as if it wouldn't stop until it had doubled your entire strength.
Even your Fire Style chakra grew visibly more active. Wind Style and Earth Style—though much weaker—also stirred faintly in response.
On top of that, even though there were no visible landmarks in the sand, you could somehow sense the directions within the desert perfectly.
This place was technically the Land of Earth, but it was right along the border, a no-man's-land untouched by any major factions. The area was still some distance from the patrol range of Iwagakure's forces.
You all picked up the pace and ran straight toward Iwagakure territory.
But the heavens had other plans.
A massive sandstorm hit.
Thanks to Uchiha Setsuna's demonstration, you quickly learned the Earth Flow Wall technique. The two of you barely managed to raise a wall strong enough to shelter everyone from the storm, but you had no choice but to stop advancing.
As the storm passed and you dug everyone out from beneath the buried wall...
A vortex opened in the sky.
Obito appeared, clad in black.
"I am Uchiha Madara. Submit to me."
"Bullshit!"
Uchiha Setsuna spat in his face, completely cutting off any chance of dialogue.
So Obito didn't hold back either.
He immediately launched a barrage of shuriken from Kamui space and then leapt into the air—
Fire Style!
With Kamui enhancing it, a massive fire attack swept down, engulfing your entire group of five.
But trying to outdo you in Fire Style? Please.
Fire Style: Great Fire Dragon Technique!
A crimson fire dragon tinged with faint emerald light roared forth. Its scale was no smaller than Obito's firestorm—if anything, it was consuming his flames as it advanced.
Losing the clash, Obito hurriedly slipped into intangibility to avoid the attack.
But you weren't done. You controlled the fire dragon with expert precision, chasing after him midair with deadly agility.
Suddenly, a wooden branch sprouted from Obito's arm.
You'd predicted he would try to tank the fire using the Cutting Technique, so you redirected the fire dragon to strike the ground instead.
The five of you were immediately swallowed up by a sea of flame.
Clang!
You swung the Black-Blade Tachi, cleaving through the wooden branch empowered by the Cutting Technique. Poisoned by the toxic flame, the wood tried to grow but barely managed a few buds before being completely incinerated.
And this time, with the Desert Reaper buff, you had truly reached the Kage level.
You no longer needed to rely on the Flame of the Infested to absorb and amplify chakra—you could sustain this sea of fire all on your own.
But Obito couldn't do anything to you either.
So to finally take him down for good…
You decided to bait him with a feint.
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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