The Impassable Infinity!

There was no referee.

The two exchanged looks and nodded at each other, then each gathered Chakra and began the battle.

Hiruzen Sarutobi took a deep breath, rapidly formed hand seals, and concentrated a massive amount of Chakra in his throat.

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"

Whoosh, whoosh!!

Hiruzen Sarutobi spewed out vast sheets of flame, which swiftly formed an orange-red sea of fire before him.

The terrifyingly hot flames seemed capable of igniting everything. Even the air was scorched into warped distortions, forming wave after wave of shimmering heat.

As Hiruzen Sarutobi continuously poured out Chakra, the sea of fire kept expanding. Flames shot into the sky, dyeing everything around them fiery red. The ever-growing inferno rapidly consumed every flammable thing in its path, reducing trees and grass alike to ash.

Soon, under Hiruzen Sarutobi's control, the sea of fire split into three and transformed into three violent streams of flame that charged at Sōsuke from three directions at once.

According to the intelligence they had, Sōsuke's specialty was Fire Release Ninjutsu. Fire Release was also Hiruzen Sarutobi's most proficient Chakra Nature Transformation, so he wanted to use Fire Release to test Sōsuke's limits.

A clash between the same Nature Transformations was the best way to judge one's mastery of Chakra Nature Transformation and Ninjutsu.

If the gap between their clash was not too great, then he would definitely win this battle.

Although Fire Release was Hiruzen Sarutobi's greatest Nature Transformation, his formidable combat power was not particularly tied to Fire Release. It came from his mastery of thousands of Ninjutsu and secret techniques, his ability to combine countless Ninjutsu in the most perfect ways, and the fact that he had no weaknesses—he excelled in Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, and Genjutsu alike.

Yet, to Hiruzen Sarutobi's surprise, Sōsuke did not use