"Pop... pop-pop..."
Boiling, luminous giant bubbles burst forth after the enormous blazing-white fireball, bright as the morning sun, shot out. Carrying the fireball's lingering heat, they transformed into waves of steaming water that surged in every direction. After kicking up waves of scorching vapor, they slowly merged back into the icy lake.
"Rumble—!"
The blazing-white fireball, freed from the water's restraints, shot violently upward. In the blink of an eye, the little sun-like fireball had risen several meters into the air. Its brilliant white radiance spread in all directions, illuminating the clearing below and the surrounding trees with perfect clarity, making it seem like broad daylight. As rolling heat waves radiated outward, even the air seemed to begin warping.
"Whoosh!"
However, as the enormous fireball climbed higher and higher, beginning to deform as it accelerated, gradually becoming round at the top and pointed at the bottom, a thread-thin flash of light suddenly flickered at its center.
In an instant, with a crack, the enormous fireball split in two down the middle. The two halves, each round at the top and pointed below, shot straight upward with hissing sounds.
"Whoosh! Whoosh!"
As the two halves of the fireball streaked upward even faster amid sizzling flames and the boiling roar of the fireballs, a figure slowly emerged between them.
Masked Man stood in a wide stance, his body poised for a downward slash. Faint black smoke and vapor slowly rose around him. After the two fireballs flew upward, his already-charred shoes quietly fell away, trailing two straight, parallel plumes of black smoke through the air.
Impossible! This is absolutely impossible! Even if those two were both Water Clones, his Chakra reserves couldn't possibly produce such a powerful Fire Release!
*Forget Fire Release—even with such an enormous water source, allowing him to save