Terrifying Explosion

In the river channel beneath Howling Valley, five modified heavy transport ships were moving upstream against the current.

Searchlight beams swept across the cliffs on both sides, vigilant against any possible ambush.

On the deck of the lead ship stood Sunagakure Jonin Kazama Sousuke.

A stoop-shouldered man carrying a massive puppet scroll on his back stared ahead with a dark expression.

"Have the puppets expand the perception net to maximum!" Kazama Sousuke ordered in a hoarse voice.

"The advance team lost contact just now—there must be rats hiding nearby."

"Yes, sir!"

Over a dozen humanoid puppets soared into the sky, controlled by Chakra threads, circling above the fleet like eerie bats.

High atop the cliff, hundreds of meters up, in the grass.

Hyuga Hiroshi's Byakugan veins bulged as he locked onto the scene below: "The enemy has entered the designated zone. The lead ship is three hundred meters from the blast point... two hundred meters... one hundred meters—that's enough distance!"

"Now."

Nishikawa Tetsu, who had been holding the trigger string of an Explosive Tag, tightened his fingers slightly and turned to the blond youth crouching beside him.

"Minato, it's your turn."

Namikaze Minato took a deep breath, his azure eyes becoming unprecedentedly focused in that moment.

He said nothing, only nodded lightly, and the Chakra fluctuation around his body instantly condensed to its utmost limit, as if merging with the pouring rain.

"Three seconds."

Minato murmured.

The next instant, golden light flashed.

In Hyuga Hiroshi's Byakugan vision, he saw a scene he would never forget for the rest of his life.

Namikaze Minato's figure vanished, replaced by a golden lightning bolt that wildly ricocheted across the vertical, slippery, moss-covered cliff face.

He had no safety measures, relying entirely on extreme Chakra control to cling to the rock wall.

Every foothold sent a burst of splashing mist erupting from the stone.

"Shh! Shh! Shh!"

Under the assault of gravity and the torrential rain, Namikaze Minato's form left several afterimages along the middle section of the cliff.

The first kunai lodged into a crevice.

The third... the fifth...

The Sunagakure puppet masters below only felt a flicker of light at the corner of their eyes, but when they looked up, they saw only the dark rainy night and cold rock.

"What was th—" one Sunagakure ninja on lookout duty began, rubbing his eyes, but before he could finish.

That golden light had already returned.

"Whoosh—"

Namikaze Minato landed steadily back in the grass atop the cliff, his chest heaving slightly, his wet bangs still dripping.

"Mission complete." He flashed a white-toothed grin and gave a thumbs-up.

"Exactly three seconds."

The several Chunin nearby stared in stunned disbelief, looking at this usually gentle, smiling youth as if he were a monster.

To move across such a cliff as if on flat ground, and to precisely mark twelve coordinate points in three seconds—was this really something a Genin could do?

Hyuga Hiroshi, after all, was a Jonin of the Hyuga Clan and had seen many ninja renowned for speed, but not one of them had achieved this level during their Genin days.

"Good work."

Nishikawa Tetsu wasted no words.

"Now, it's time for science."

He formed a single hand seal—"Tiger."

"Detonate."

There was no earth-shattering roar.

Twelve kunai embedded deep in the stress nodes of the Rock Layer detonated simultaneously.

If it had been an ordinary explosion, the sound would have been very muffled.

But this time, the frequency of those twelve blasts had been meticulously designed by Nishikawa Tetsu, creating a strange Resonance within the rock.

"Boom—!!!"

The entire cliff began to emit a low groan, as if a giant beast had awakened deep underground.

On the ship, Kazama Sousuke's expression shifted drastically as he jerked his head up toward the right cliff face.

There, on the hundred-meter-tall wall of hard basalt, a fine crack suddenly appeared.

Then, that crack spread wildly like a spiderweb, accompanied by a teeth-grinding crunch, as the entire massive rock formation began to peel away from the mountain.

"No... impossible!" Kazama Sousuke's pupils contracted violently. "This is an entire rock layer!"

"Before Resonance, even the hardest stone is just tofu."

On the cliff above, Nishikawa Tetsu watched coldly.

"RUMBLE--!!!"

Finally, the support point gave way completely.

Tens of thousands of tons of boulders, carrying an earth-shattering momentum, swept down mudslides and broken trees, crashing into the narrow river channel below!

It was a true cataclysm.

A massive shadow instantly engulfed the fleet below. Those puppets Sunagakure prided itself on, before the might of nature, were as insignificant as toys.

"Quick, abandon ship!"

Kazama Sousuke's urgent roar was swallowed by the thunderous noise.

"BOOM!!!"

The boulder slammed into the river.

A wave dozens of meters high shot into the sky, instantly smashing the first two transport ships to pieces.

The terrifying shockwave squeezed the river water to both sides. Ships were flung up like matchboxes, crashing and shattering against the rock walls.

The once surging river was cut off in an instant. The water level rose rapidly within seconds, forming a barrier lake.

Smoke, mist, and rubble turned the entire Howling Valley into a boiling cauldron of chaos.

"This power... it's terrifying."

On the cliff, Chunin Kaito swallowed hard, his legs feeling weak.

His gaze toward Nishikawa Tetsu was no longer contempt, but fear.

Only twelve Explosive Tags to trigger a man-made landslide?

What the hell was inside that kid's head? Too insane.

"Stop gawking!"

Uchiha Fugaku drew the short blade from his back, his voice cold and sharp as steel, cutting through everyone's shock.

"Falling rocks can only kill small fry. The real strong won't die that easily."

"All units, attack!"

"Yes!"

The morale of the Konoha ninjas soared. Led by Uchiha Fugaku, they dove down from the cliff.

In the ruins of the river.

"Cough, cough, cough! Damn it, damn Konoha rats!"

Kazama Sousuke stood unsteadily on a piece of floating wreckage.

In that split second, he had used his chakra threads to pull himself under a protruding rock on the bank, barely avoiding the direct impact of the boulder. But his left arm was still broken by flying debris, blood pouring out.

Looking at the supply ships, mostly sunk behind him, and the bodies of his subordinates floating on the water, his eyes instantly filled with bloodshot veins.

It was over.

All supplies destroyed.

Even if he survived and returned, Hanzō and the Kazekage would not let him off.

"Come out! Get the hell out here!"

Kazama Sousuke roared, unfurling the massive scroll with one hand. "Summoning Technique: Puppet Army!"

"Bam! Bam! Bam!"

White smoke exploded. Though he had lost many, he still summoned thirty combat puppets of various forms.

"I'll tear you to pieces!"

"Your opponent is me."

An icy voice pierced the rain.

Uchiha Fugaku's figure landed heavily on a boulder in front of Kazama Sousuke.

He slowly raised his head. That pair of scarlet Three Tomoe emanated a chilling Dojutsu in the darkness.

"Sunagakure Jonin Kazama Sousuke. Your life is taken by the Uchiha."

"Uchiha?!" Kazama Sousuke's heart sank sharply at the sight of those eyes, but a surge of mad killing intent followed. "Perfect. I'll use your head to atone for my losses!"

"Kill him!"

Kazama Sousuke's fingers danced. The puppets instantly extended blades and poison needles, charging at Uchiha Fugaku in a overwhelming wave.

"Hmph."

Uchiha Fugaku did not retreat but advanced, his hands forming seals so fast they left only afterimages.

"Tetsu is right. The old me wasted too much."

He took a deep breath, chakra spinning and compressing wildly in his throat.

"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique: Modified!"

"Boom—!!!"

That familiar, terrifying azure flame pillar erupted once more.

This time, it was no training target but a scythe of death on the battlefield.

The blue flame instantly pierced through the five puppets charging at the front.

The specially treated puppet wood and metal, under this high heat, didn't even have a chance to explode—they were directly melted through.

"What?!" Kazama Sousuke was stunned. "Blue fire?!"

The flame's momentum didn't diminish, rushing straight at Kazama Sousuke's face.

Meanwhile.

On the flank of the battlefield, a golden flash was weaving through the puppet ranks.

Every swing of Namikaze Minato's kunai precisely severed a chakra thread.

And up high, Nishikawa Tetsu knelt on one knee, setting up a modified heavy Fuma Shuriken launcher. Beside him, Hyuga Hiroshi accurately called out the coordinates of every Sunagakure ninja hiding in the shadows, trying to ambush them.

"Bearing 105, elevation 30, range 200." Hyuga Hiroshi spoke rapidly.

"Got it." Nishikawa Tetsu adjusted the angle and pulled the trigger.

"Thwack!"

The Fuma Shuriken loaded with Explosive Tags howled out, precisely blowing up a Sunagakure chunin who had just poked his head out.

"Perfect coordination."

Nishikawa Tetsu looked down at the battlefield.

"This battle was already over the moment that cliff collapsed."