Turret-Style Bombardment, World-Ending Ten Thousand Lightning!

Hiruzen Sarutobi watched Tekka and Nanami clash in the arena. After a moment, his shoulders relaxed, and he let out a breath.

Hiruzen Sarutobi tapped his pipe against the edge of the table, exposing the truth behind this secret art.

"Clan Head Lu Ming, your Temple Formation is exquisitely designed. It can perfectly merge the chakra of four people, granting them speed and chakra reserves comparable to Kage Level. But..."

"At their core, they are still only Jonin! Their physical strength and combat awareness simply cannot sustain power at this level for long."

"As long as one avoids their edge in actual combat or forcibly disrupts their four-man formation, breaking the formation will break the technique."

"This secret art has far too great a weakness!"

The Konoha Leadership seemed to awaken from a dream.

Mitokado Homura slapped his thigh and heaved a sigh of relief.

"Hiruzen is right. No matter how strong the power is, it is ultimately borrowed."

"As long as the chakra connection between them is severed, this so-called Kage Level combat power will crumble!"

Utatane Koharu also straightened up again and sneered.

"Lu Ming, your secret art is fine for frightening people, but in a real life-or-death battle between Kage Level fighters, this cumbersome formation is nothing but a living target!"

Hearing this, the heads of the Major Clans nodded one after another, much of their fear fading.

The Third Hokage had pinpointed the fatal weakness of this secret art.

Faced with the Konoha Leadership's dismantling and doubts, Lu Ming, seated in the place of honor, raised his hands and began to applaud.

"Clap, clap, clap."

The applause echoed through the hall.

"Lord Third Hokage truly lives up to his name as the Professor of Ninjutsu. Your insight is razor-sharp."

Lu Ming acknowledged Hiruzen Sarutobi's analysis, his voice dripping with mockery.

He stood and looked down at the Konoha Leadership, speaking frankly.

"This Temple Formation is not suited for close-quarters combat, but you have misunderstood one fundamental thing."

Lu Ming raised his voice.

"The core of this secret art was never taijutsu combat. It is 'turret-style bombardment'!"

Turret-style bombardment?!

Everyone present froze. Before they could grasp the true meaning of those words, the situation in the arena changed.

Before his words had even faded, Tekka and Nanami, who had been locked in fierce close combat, pulled apart. The two four-man squads re-formed on opposite sides of the training ground.

The eight young Uchiha formed hand seals at the same time!

"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet!"

"Fire Release: Great Fire Dragon Technique!"

Empowered by the terrifying Kage Level chakra of the Temple Formation, these two originally B-rank ninjutsu underwent a geometric increase in power!

Two enormous dragons condensed out of thin air.

One was a water dragon formed from high-pressure currents, while the other was a fire dragon covered from head to toe in blazing flames.

The two colossal creatures shot into the sky, their impact tearing open the banquet hall's ceiling.

Amid the rain of shattered stone and tiles,

the twin dragons of water and fire soared into the heavens, twisting around each other above the distant Forest of Death.

"Good heavens, wh-what scale of ninjutsu is this?!"

The wine cup in Shikaku Nara's hand fell to the floor and shattered.

An ordinary Water Dragon Bullet was at most a dozen meters long, but these two dragons before them stretched over a hundred meters.

Even from so far away, their massive forms, blotting out the sky and sun, made people tremble.

Then something even more terrifying happened.

The water dragon and fire dragon collided in midair. As water and fire merged, they produced enormous quantities of high-temperature steam. Driven by chakra, that steam rose into the sky.

The two squads in the arena shouted in unison.

"Combined Ninjutsu: Lightning Cloud Summoning!"

Thunder rumbled!

The previously clear night sky was covered by dark clouds as an endless mass of storm clouds gathered over the Forest of Death.

A violent wind rose. Countless serpents of lightning slithered through the pitch-black thunderclouds, releasing deafening roars.

Watching that terrifying storm cloud seem ready to crush all of Konoha, veins bulged around Hyuga Hiashi's Byakugan.

"This lightning cloud... this presence..."

Hiashi's voice changed pitch, and his terrified scream echoed through the ruined banquet hall.

"This is the opening move of the S-rank Lightning Release ninjutsu Lu Ming used during the Third Shinobi World War to repel the Third Tsuchikage Ōnoki... Kirin!"

Kirin?!

The moment those words were spoken, cold sweat broke out across everyone's bodies!

In that battle long ago, Lu Ming had drawn upon the lightning of heaven and earth.

With a single strike, he shattered the Third Tsuchikage's Dust Release. That apocalyptic sight remained the nightmare of countless Konoha veterans to this day.

Everyone thought of the same possibility. Could these Uchiha youths, barely in their twenties, actually be about to unleash such a godlike ninjutsu?!

They were given no chance to catch their breath.

The eight Uchiha youths within the formation pressed their palms together, pouring the violent Kage Level chakra within them out without reservation.

"Lightning Release: Ten Thousand Lightning!"

With that shout,

thunder shook the heavens!!!

Countless violent bolts of lightning as thick as water barrels poured down from the thunderclouds above the Forest of Death.

It was indiscriminate destruction that covered the entire forest.

Lightning illuminated all of Konoha as brightly as day.

Under everyone's horrified gazes,

the towering trees in the Forest of Death turned to ash the instant they touched the lightning.

Countless birds and beasts were completely vaporized by this thunderous cleansing before they could even cry out.

A world-ending divine punishment!

No one could say a word.

Utatane Koharu collapsed limply in her chair, her face drained of all color. Mitokado Homura gripped the edge of the table with both hands until his fingernails broke.

The pipe in the Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi's hand fell to the ground, scattering sparks.

His aged eyes were filled with fear.

No one could have imagined that such strategic bombardment, capable of changing the course of a battlefield, could be deployed en masse by Uchiha youth squads.

If that storm cloud hung above the Hokage Building, above the territories of the major clans... then all of Konoha would be razed to the ground in an instant.

The Secret Art Temple Formation combined with Lightning Release: Ten Thousand Lightning had already become the Uchiha's strategic weapon of mass destruction!

This was not merely a display of ninjutsu.

This was Lu Ming declaring to all of Konoha, to every major clan: the Uchiha not only possessed Kage Level combat power, but also wielded large-scale destructive methods capable of crushing the Shinobi World!

As everyone present trembled in fear,

Lu Ming stood at the place of honor with his hands behind his back, letting the distant flashes of lightning cast shifting light and shadow across his face.

He looked at the ashen-faced Konoha Leadership and explained the core of the Temple Formation to them.

"As you can see, this is a group secret art."

"After my calculations, a four-man squad is the optimal scale."

"At this number, chakra can be merged to the greatest extent and reach Kage Level quantities without overloading the users and causing backlash."

He raised a hand and pointed toward the Forest of Death, where lightning was still falling.

"Its core purpose is to serve as a 'bombardment turret.'"

"On the battlefield, there is no need for them to charge into battle. Simply place them in the rear, and multiple squads can coordinate to unleash unlimited firepower!"

Lu Ming looked at everyone and continued laying out the despairing design.

"As for Lightning Release: Ten Thousand Lightning, it is a group attack technique I specifically developed based on the S-rank ninjutsu Kirin."

"After being adapted to the Temple Formation, its power leaps directly from an ordinary A-rank ninjutsu to a strategic weapon capable of changing the course of battle."

"Without the formation's enhancement, it is merely ordinary lightning. With the formation, it becomes colossal pillars of thunder capable of destroying heaven and earth."