The Sunagakure ninja's mind had yet to catch up, but his body's instincts reacted first.
He threw away his curved blade and retreated.
Fast. Incredibly fast. As an elite of Sunagakure's infiltration force, his reaction speed far surpassed that of an ordinary jonin. With Wind Release under his feet, he covered ten meters in a single Body Flicker.
But his companion was not so lucky.
The short Iwagakure ninja remained in the pose of throwing a punch, his rock-covered fist frozen in midair. His eyes stared straight at the black figure that had suddenly appeared before him—
Then he felt heat.
Starting from beneath his feet.
He looked down, and a scream caught in his throat.
The ground beneath his feet had become a pool of dark-red liquid.
Magma.
Real magma silently spread from where that man stood, like a fiery serpent slithering across the ground, already flowing past his ankles. His ninja boots carbonized the instant they touched it. Then came his skin, his muscles—a stench of scorched protein exploded into the air.
"Ahhhhhh—!"
The Iwagakure ninja finally screamed. He desperately tried to jump, but his feet had already been stuck fast in the magma. When he reached down to pull himself free, his fingers began smoking the instant they touched it.
"Too noisy."
A hand reached out.
It gripped the Iwagakure ninja directly by the throat.
The five fingers were covered in a dark-red, flowing film of light. It was something even more direct than Armament Haki—magma itself.
"Sizzle—"
Even his scream did not last a second.
The Iwagakure ninja's body began to carbonize from the neck down, spreading visibly downward. Two seconds later, Yan released his hand. All that remained in his palm was a handful of gray ash, which scattered in the night wind.
The Sunagakure