Uchiha Fan, Raging Flame Tornado

Under the cover of thick smoke, Lin Mu landed soundlessly amid the mass of cursed spirits, silently harvesting the ones around him with nimble footwork.

The mist rendered the cursed spirits nearly blind, yet through the Sharingan, everything around him remained as clear as a bright day.

Just as Lin Mu planned to continue exorcising cursed spirits under the cover of the fog, a powerful gust swept outward, and the mist shrouding them quickly dispersed.

A cursed spirit whose mouth had swollen to nearly the size of a small car kept blowing in every direction, scattering the troublesome fog.

Lin Mu raised a brow. This group of cursed spirits had not been chosen at random—they had been specifically selected to counter him.

The dozens of cursed spirits that could spray liquid earlier, as well as the one now dealing with the thick fog, had all been specially chosen to target Lin Mu.

Lin Mu had originally wanted to use Wood Release: World of Trees Wall to divide the cursed spirits over a wide area and exorcise them in batches, but recalling Brain's cautious personality in the original work, there were surely cursed spirits specifically prepared to deal with that technique as well.

Although Lin Mu was confident he could force his way through their restrictions, doing so would waste Chakra for nothing, and the damage dealt to the cursed spirit horde would not be ideal.

He had to use a method never seen before—one that would decide the battle in a single stroke before Brain had time to devise a countermeasure!

On the top floor of the teaching building, Brain watched Lin Mu, who seemed to be staring blankly, and chuckled to himself. "Hehehe, are you dumbfounded?"

"Don't worry. There are plenty of cursed spirits among them specially suited to counter all kinds of attacks."

"What technique do you plan to use next? More fire? The exoskeleton?"

"Or some new technique that wasn't in the intelligence?"

Brain grinned almost manically. "I'm really looking forward to it. Once I take over your body, I'd love to see how your brain is built."

"Give me a few more surprises!"

Lin Mu switched his Sharingan back to its three-tomoe form. The Mangekyo form put too much strain on his eyes, and he did not need it to deal with these cursed spirits anyway.

As he moved through the cursed spirits, Lin Mu considered a way to secure victory.

With so many cursed spirits, Majestic Destroyer Flame—his strongest technique and the most suitable for clearing groups of cursed spirits—had been restricted. A prolonged battle would be extremely unfavorable for Lin Mu.

As for relying on Susanoo, that went without saying. The skeletal Susanoo excelled in defense and mobility and could also be used against Domains, but it was not particularly efficient at exorcising cursed spirits.

There was another issue: Brain was definitely somewhere, watching his every move. Using a new ability also carried the risk of exposing information.

That would be extremely disadvantageous in future battles against the meticulous Brain.

The best approach was to exorcise these cursed spirits in one stroke using an ability Brain already knew about! Better yet, he needed to obscure the truth so Brain could not obtain any useful intelligence.

As the thought flashed through his mind, the corner of Lin Mu's lips curled upward. He had an idea.

Lin Mu leaped into the air once more. His eyes flashed, and a surging sea of flames poured from his mouth.

Brain snorted from the rooftop. "After thinking for so long, I thought you'd come up with some clever way to break the deadlock. This will only repeat the same mistake."

"You're a little disappointing."

Naturally, Lin Mu could not hear Brain's voice. Just as expected, the cursed spirits capable of spraying liquid had been on guard against Lin Mu's Majestic Destroyer Flame the entire time.

"Hiss—"

Liquids converging from every direction formed a wall of water, and an even denser mist spread outward.

The heavy mist blocked Brain's vision, and Lin Mu's figure vanished from sight. Still, he knew the mist would disperse shortly. This time, Lin Mu was merely wasting cursed energy again.

Within the dense white mist, a pair of crimson eyes flickered faintly.

The instant the thick fog completely enveloped all the cursed spirits, Lin Mu's thoughts shifted, and a massive war fan appeared in his hand.

The fan bore a tomoe pattern symbolizing the power of the Uchiha Clan.

Lin Mu drew the fan back, then swung it fiercely. Its perfect arc unleashed a violent hurricane!

The hurricane intertwined with the sea of flames lingering in the air. Under Lin Mu's control, it spiraled continuously into a vortex, and the flames of Majestic Destroyer Flame grew ever more intense.

The water barrier that had been evenly contesting the flames shattered and splashed apart under the hurricane's force. Tongues of flame broke through the obstruction and crashed down, forming an enormous flaming tornado on the ground!

Its immense suction relentlessly tore at every cursed spirit on the field. Before this flaming tornado, the cursed spirits' bodies seemed pitifully frail, like lone boats swept into a deep-sea whirlpool, able only to watch helplessly as they were swallowed!

BOOM—

The entire mass of fog exploded apart the moment the flaming tornado appeared. The scene on the field became crystal clear as the massive flaming tornado slowly moved, rapidly devouring the cursed spirits nearby.

The flaming tornado was nearly three or four stories tall. Its dazzling blaze made even the sunlight seem pale and colorless.

Brain's ever-narrowed eyes suddenly flew wide open, waves of shock rising in his heart. "Hey, hey, hey, are you kidding me?!"

"What the hell is that?!"

"One attack! Just one attack wiped out every cursed spirit I carefully selected?!"

Brain stared at the flaming tornado with unfocused eyes. He had never expected Lin Mu to reverse the disadvantage in an instant after losing his vision!

And Lin Mu had used the fire technique Brain had already known about—only its power and range had become absurdly greater!

"Did he make a binding vow?" Brain guessed. "No, a binding vow alone couldn't amplify its power severalfold, and I didn't see what restriction he had imposed."

"Not only were its power and range increased, it also gained tremendous suction. This is a complete enhancement across the board!"

The terrifying flaming tornado had not only broken through the suppression of dozens of countering cursed spirits, but had also exorcised every cursed spirit on the field in one blow!

The situation had changed too quickly for even him, who had lived for thousands of years, to make a judgment. By the time he reacted, the cursed spirits had been reduced to ash.

Blocked by the mist, he had not seen what Lin Mu had done. He knew Lin Mu was not foolish enough to expose his trump card, so he must have deliberately used the dense fog as cover.

Brain clenched his fists. The feeling of having such a carefully prepared scheme foiled left him extremely displeased, and he hesitated over whether to release the special-grade cursed spirit specifically meant to deal with Lin Mu.

In the end, Brain abandoned the idea. Judging from Lin Mu's performance just now, the flaming tornado's power was absolutely above special grade!

It was not merely at the peak of Grade 1, as Jogo and Mahito had predicted!

He had thought Lin Mu could contend with Jogo only because of that unusual exoskeleton cursed technique, but now it seemed that Lin Mu still had many trump cards hidden away!

Recklessly going all out against Lin Mu would likely put him at a disadvantage. Besides, even Jogo had struggled to break through that exoskeleton's defenses, so it would certainly take some effort on his part as well.

"Sigh... Let's leave it at that for today. We will meet again."

Brain said coldly, his figure vanishing from the rooftop in an instant.

After clearing out all the cursed spirits, Lin Mu remained on guard for a while, wary of a special-grade cursed spirit attacking at any moment.

To his surprise, the special-grade cursed spirit did not appear for a long time, and Lin Mu quickly guessed why.

His sudden eruption of such terrifying power from his flame cursed technique must have intimidated Brain, making that naturally cautious man wary that Lin Mu might still possess some trump card capable of threatening him.

That was why he did not want to waste the special-grade cursed spirit and his time for nothing. He had probably already left the area by now.

Lin Mu let out a sigh of relief. If Brain, who possessed Cursed Spirit Manipulation, had gone all out, he truly would have had a hard time dealing with him. That sea of countless cursed spirits was no joke.

Moreover, Suguru Geto's ultimate technique, Maximum: Uzumaki, was immensely powerful. This form of Susanoo likely would not have been able to withstand it.

"My strength is still lacking."

Closing his eyes, Lin Mu carefully sensed the changes in his inheritance progress. After killing a hundred cursed spirits, the inheritance progress had surged to 27%!

It had risen by a full 4%, a rate of increase he had never seen before at this stage!

The main reason was that the cursed spirits Brain had chosen were relatively powerful and somewhat targeted, allowing Lin Mu's inheritance progress to increase so quickly.

After this battle, Lin Mu's mastery of Majestic Destroyer Flame had also risen to another level.

He had also witnessed the power of the Uchiha Fan for the first time!

A super divine artifact truly lived up to its reputation. With just a casual swing, it had greatly increased the power of Majestic Destroyer Flame, even after its power had been reduced by more than half.

Lin Mu estimated that its power was more than five times greater than that of the enhanced Majestic Destroyer Flame!

And this was only a secondary function of the Uchiha Fan. Its core ability to reflect attacks had yet to be used. It could probably absorb and reflect even a full-force strike from a natural cursed spirit!

However, after witnessing the fan's strength, Lin Mu became even more certain that he could not reveal it to the public anytime soon.

Once the cursed spirits and curse users learned of such a heaven-defying divine artifact, they would definitely stop at nothing to seize it. It would not even be impossible for them to join forces!

But once Lin Mu became strong enough, the thoughts of such underlings would no longer matter to him.

Any curse user who dared to come would get a punch, while special-grade cursed spirits would be ruthlessly cleaved apart by Susanoo!

Returning his thoughts to the present, Lin Mu could sense that a new fruit had already formed on the Divine Tree. A brand-new ability could be obtained with just a single thought from him.

But now was not the time. Lin Mu still had one matter—an important matter—that he had yet to finish!