Relentless Bombardment

[Personal Skills: 48]

[Main Skill 1 (C): Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique. Click to view main skill traits.

Fire Release Ninjutsu: Fire Style: Dragon Flame Song Jutsu, Fire Style: Dragon Fire Jutsu, Fire Style: Majestic Destroyer Flame... Click to view.

Water Release Ninjutsu (cast using Fire Release): Water Style: Fire Bullet Jutsu, Water Style: Fire Prison Jutsu, Water Style: Fire Dragon Bullet Technique... Click to view.

Earth Release Ninjutsu (cast using Fire Release): Earth Release: Fire Land Return, Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld Jutsu, Earth Release: Fire Dragon Bullet... Click to view.

Lightning Release Ninjutsu (cast using Fire Release):...]

Looking at the virtual interface before him, Ruohuo began choosing the next skill to use to clear the field.

Setting fire to a mountain was definitely immoral, not to mention illegal. It would draw the condemnation of one's conscience and morals, land you in a little black room, and keep three generations from attending college or riding the high-speed rail.

But this was the Ninja World.

Those seniors had just said it themselves: this was the Chunin Exam, and the exam grounds were a battlefield.

On the battlefield, you fought for your life. The exam came second; safety came first.

From the perspective of self-defense...

"How can I make the fire look the coolest?"

Ruohuo scanned his skills one by one.

Thanks to the "Little Fire God" trait, all his release techniques had become Fire Release. That meant many jutsu were bound to overlap in function.

For example, among large-area techniques, Wind Release: Great Breakthrough and Fire Style: Majestic Destroyer Flame were basically the same, differing only in chakra consumption.

But mutated jutsu had their own advantages, too.

When he used Fire Release to cast other types of jutsu, he could preserve some of their unique traits.

It was a hidden modifier.

For example, Wind Release's cutting property, Lightning Release's explosive speed, Water Release's controllability, and Earth Release's "jutsu density."

The traits weren't preserved to any great extent—at most, it was like adding another layer of buffs.

Still, using Fire Release to cast other jutsu really did give them the feel of combination techniques, even Kekkei Genkai.

And the higher the jutsu's level, the better the effect.

Like the technique Ruohuo was choosing now.

It came from the Second. Orochimaru had passed him the scroll, and Ruohuo had pretended not to learn the jutsu back then. Using it now was like revealing one card from the more than ten he had up his sleeve.

Ruohuo raised two fingers, then tilted his head back and spewed a mass of highly concentrated flames into the sky!

"Fire Style: Heavenly Weeping!"

The high-temperature mass of flames rose into the air, then quickly broke apart into countless sparks. Burning hot, they rained down on the ground like a shower of fire!

The fire rained down over the forest.

The weather was dry, and even a single spark could start a wildfire.

And now, fire rained down from the sky!

This was the advantage of having Orochimaru as his teacher.

From Orochimaru to the Third, from the Third to the Second.

This was the passing down of jutsu—and the handing over of the Will of Fire!

Black smoke soon began to rise. Within the firestorm's range, tree after tree caught fire. The resin mingled perfectly with the flames, and in a matter of moments, a sea of fire surged around the tower!

"The range still isn't enough..."

Ruohuo kept his two fingers raised and continued channeling chakra.

It wasn't as if Fire Release lacked long-range, wide-area jutsu.

Take Uchiha Madara, for example. His Majestic Destroyer Flame had blasted the Allied Shinobi Forces. It was the perfect example of a Fire Release area-of-effect technique.

But it required more chakra.

With the "Little Fire God" trait reducing his chakra consumption and boosting his power, Ruohuo could even pass himself off as a Senju when using Fire Release alone.

But that would be way too showy...

And without Susanoo, it just didn't feel right.

"I should keep a low profile for now."

"Fire Release: Fire Dragon Bullet Technique!"

Whoosh—!

A dragon's head made of flames took shape in the air. It had a head but no body—the mutated version of Earth Release: Earth Dragon Bullet from the Dragon series of jutsu.

This was also a technical problem Ruohuo hadn't managed to solve yet.

Water Dragon Bullet, Great Fire Dragon, and Earth Dragon Bullet could theoretically be combined, since they were all Fire Release now.

In Ruohuo's ideal version, the Water Dragon Bullet would take off, and the Earth Dragon Bullet would launch the Great Fire Dragon, letting him simulate a H-20 bomber.

But his chakra control wasn't up to the task yet, and the boost from his Two-Tomoe Sharingan still wasn't enough.

Once he gained the Will of Fire as a Chunin, he could give it a try.

For now, he could only make do with a grenade launcher and lob his shots in an arc.

"Hmm... I'm at the starting point, and the current fire is about... 100 meters away?"

"So to get the effect I want, I need to fire at least 120 meters, right?"

Ruohuo raised his thumb and measured the distance, blinking one eye at a time.

"(0,100), (0,y). Taking gravity into account, the central axis should be a little farther ahead, at... (60,y2). This tower's about 10 meters high, so this angle..."

His old third-year middle school homeroom teacher seemed to appear before him.

Holding a set square, he drew a function graph on the blackboard...

After estimating the distance and factoring in the Fire (Earth) Dragon Bullet's maximum normal range of 20 meters, Ruohuo concluded that it was basically impossible for the "shell" to travel the rest of the way to the target through inertia and a parabolic arc.

But there was always a way around a problem.

Ruohuo quickly thought of firing a second shot to hit the first shell precisely, giving it extra momentum.

That would raise its maximum firing height and extend the distance of its arc.

It wasn't that difficult. With his Sharingan to measure the distance, it was no different from throwing shuriken.

But that process might not look very cool...

"Guess I should learn from Grey Wolf and be practical."

So Ruohuo dispelled the Fire (Earth) Dragon Bullet and summoned the Fire (Water) Dragon Bullet instead.

Ruohuo stepped onto the dragon's head again and soared into the sky.

"Fire Release: Dragon Fire Jutsu!"

Whoosh—!

Ruohuo first circled the tower, holding his shoe in one hand as he used high-temperature flames to create a zone of absolutely scorching heat!

"That shouldn't be too showy, right?"

"I'm just worried someone might sneak through the exam."

Ruohuo raised an eyebrow and controlled the fire dragon as it flew onward, crossing over the burning area before unleashing a torrent of Fire Release on the ground below!

After a full two minutes of effort from Ruohuo, the fire grew even bigger.

There were also unlucky candidates who had tried to reach the tower from the start to block anyone who got there. But before they could make it, they found the tower already surrounded by flames.

They tried to retreat, only to find a sea of fire behind them, too!

Some of these unlucky candidates knew Water Release, but after seeing that sea of fire, which looked like a natural disaster, they still decisively opened their scrolls...

Might Duy's team was among them.

"That guy's definitely cursed." Ruohuo noticed that Might Duy had been eliminated and shook his head in exasperation.

He'd been ready to let Might Duy pass. How had he still gotten eliminated?

No wonder he was an eternal Genin. He was impossible to help.

"But this doesn't seem like a solution either."

Flying in the air, Ruohuo watched the candidates retreating toward the edges of the forest one after another. His brow gradually furrowed.

He couldn't go looking for them one at a time, could he?

So he turned his attention back to the tower.

"If I destroy this place outright while meeting the conditions for passing..."

"That should do it, right?"

That was what Ruohuo thought.

And that's what he did.

Then.

As one candidate after another rushed into the exam grounds, and one Water Release jutsu after another crashed into the blaze...

The Chunin Exam was abruptly called off...