The heavy clang of metal echoed through the empty underground hall. Naruto casually tossed the spent magazine-fed machine gun into the piles of parts and wreckage covering the floor. The smoking barrel slammed into the steel plates, sending sparks flying.
A hundred meters ahead, the dark-red core reactor blazed brightly. Anrokuzan's massive mechanical body slowly rose from the towering metal throne. Gears meshed furiously as steam erupted from the exhaust valves. His body began to undergo a massive transformation. The humanoid outline he had barely maintained was forcibly covered by layers of heavy external armor rising from underground. The mechanical joints groaned under the strain, and his body doubled in size within seconds, transforming into a ten-meter-tall steel monster.
Anrokuzan's distorted laughter rang out through the loudspeakers:
"You rats think you can defeat me with those crude physical methods? That's a barbarian's trick."
Anrokuzan raised his thick mechanical right arm and pointed it straight at Naruto. Before he finished speaking, a massive amount of highly concentrated purple Dragon Vein energy surged from the core reactor behind him. The energy was so dense it seemed almost solid, taking the form of dozens of thick purple tentacles that plugged directly into the back of his transformed mechanical body.
The temperature in the entire underground hall suddenly soared. The air warped with optical refraction caused by the extreme heat.
A ring of visible blue ripples erupted from the core of Anrokuzan's machine. A high-frequency magnetic field rapidly spread outward in a sphere, enveloping the entire area.
Naruto had just used his toe to flick a relatively intact heavy machine gun up from the floor. He gripped it with both hands, preparing to continue suppressive fire. The moment the magnetic field swept over it, the metal components inside the gun were violently disrupted. The