Clang!!!
A metallic crash loud enough to shatter eardrums exploded through the deathly still night sky.
This strike gathered all the chakra Hiruzen Sarutobi, the "Shinobi Hero," had amassed over his lifetime. Combined with Enma's indestructible body, its power was enough to flatten a small hill.
The surrounding ground collapsed in an instant. Countless rocks shot outward like bullets, raising dust that obscured everyone's vision.
"Did he hit him?!"
A flicker of hope appeared in the eyes of the distant Anbu ninja.
After all, that was the Third Hokage's all-out strike. Even a tailed beast would have broken a few bones if it took that head-on, wouldn't it?
Yet when the dust cleared, everyone's expressions froze.
At the center of the collapse, Chiya still stood with one hand in his pocket, utterly unmoved.
And the staff said to be "indestructible" was held fast by a skeletal arm formed from red chakra!
It was Susanoo's arm!
It wasn't even the complete form. With Chiya's beyond-Kage-level ocular power and the enhancement of his wood release cells, a mere third-stage Susanoo had caught the strike outright!
"Is that it?"
Chiya raised his head slightly. Through the red chakra, he looked at the Third Hokage, whose face was flushed as he desperately pushed down, and curled his lips in contempt.
"So the so-called 'strongest Hokage' only has this much strength? That's not even enough to tickle me."
"Arrogant brat!!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi roared and used the recoil to leap back. After several backflips through the air, he landed on a rock more than fifty meters from Chiya.
He panted heavily, his hands trembling slightly around the staff.
So hard!
That strike had felt like hitting an immovable sacred mountain. The recoil had even split the skin between his thumbs and forefingers.
"Hiruzen! Watch out! Something's wrong with this brat's chakra!"
An eye suddenly opened on the Adamantine Staff in his hands. It was Enma's eye, now filled with grave concern. "His Susanoo is even harder than Madara's was back then. And that heat... my body's almost melting!"
"I know!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi gritted his teeth, his gaze sharper than ever.
If Taijutsu couldn't break through his defense, then he'd use ninjutsu!
He was the "Professor," a master of every ninjutsu in Konoha that didn't require a kekkei genkai!
"Chiya! Don't think a pair of Mangekyō Sharingan lets you look down on everyone! A battle between ninja isn't just about brute force!"
"Shadow Clone Technique!"
Poof, poof, poof, poof!
Four clouds of white smoke burst forth.
Four solid shadow clones of the Third Hokage appeared instantly, taking positions to the east, west, north, and south, surrounding Chiya.
Including the original, there were five of him!
"Is that... the Five Release: Great Combo Technique?!"
Watching from a distance, Kakashi couldn't help crying out.
This was the Third Hokage's signature technique, one of the trump cards that had earned him the title "Shinobi Hero." Using five clones, he could unleash high-level ninjutsu of five different natures simultaneously, creating a devastating assault from every direction without a single blind spot!
"Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet!"
"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet!"
"Earth Release: Earth Flow River!"
"Lightning Release: Roaring Thunder!"
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"
All five Hiruzen Sarutobis formed hand seals at once.
His speed was astonishing, his fingers almost blurring into afterimages. In just one second, five difficult techniques of A rank or even S rank were ready!
"This is Konoha's true strength! This is the power of the Hokage!"
"Die, Chiya Uchiha!"
Rumble!!!
The world seemed to change color.
Five utterly different chakra natures converged into a storm of destruction.
The roaring fire dragon swelled several times over on the wind; a surging torrent of mud and rock mixed with high-pressure water blasts sealed every escape route along the ground; violent lightning pierced through everything like a spear of divine judgment!
The five techniques supported and amplified one another, forming a meat grinder of a killing zone that thundered toward Chiya at its center.
"So this is Lord Third's power..."
The clan heads watched with pounding hearts. Even a tailed beast wouldn't dare take a combined technique of this level head-on, would it?
Yet...
Facing an assault that would drive any ninja to despair, Chiya made a move no one expected from the center of the storm.
He dispelled his Susanoo.
Yes, just as the attacks were about to strike, he willingly dismissed that absolute defense!
"Has he gone mad?!" Enma exclaimed.
Chiya hadn't gone mad.
He simply felt that using Susanoo to block these "little sparks" and "water pistols" would insult Ryūjin Jakka.
He kept one hand in his pocket and showed no intention of even drawing Ryūjin Jakka from its sheath where it rested on his shoulder.
He merely extended his free left hand slowly, spreading his fingers toward the incoming Five Basic Nature Transformations as though shooing away an annoying fly.
"The Professor? A master of all five releases?"
Utter boredom and disappointment appeared on Chiya's face.
"Elemental advantages against the ultimate heat of all creation? What a joke."
"A Fire Release technique this weak..."
Chiya watched the fire dragon lunging at him with claws bared, a hint of mockery in his eyes.
"Are you trying to light my cigarette?"
The next second, Chiya abruptly clenched his left hand and softly uttered:
"Fire Rejection!"
Boom!!!!!
This was not one of Ryūjin Jakka's Shikai moves. Rather, Chiya converted the vast, ocean-deep, beyond-Kage-level spiritual pressure within him into pure heat and, through his Zanpakuto's properties, instantly unleashed a repulsive ring of fire!
Centered on Chiya, a golden wall of flame, thin as a cicada's wing yet dazzlingly bright, suddenly expanded outward!
Hiss!
There was no earth-shattering explosion.
Only the faint sound of matter changing its form in an instant.
The menacing Water Dragon Bullet didn't even have time to become steam when it touched the golden wall of flame. It was broken down directly into the most basic particles and vanished into thin air!
Earth Release: Earth Flow River? Those tons of earth instantly became flowing lava under the intense heat, turning instead into a red carpet beneath Chiya's feet!
As for Lightning Release and Wind Release, the extreme heat and pressure burned the air into a vacuum. The lightning could no longer conduct, and the storm ceased instantly!
Most ironic of all was the Fire Dragon Flame Bullet.
When it met the golden conflagration Chiya unleashed, it was like a grandson meeting his ancestor.
Not only did it inflict no damage, but the golden ring of fire instantly "devoured" it! Assimilated it! It became part of Fire Rejection and swept back toward the Third Hokage instead!
"What?!"
"Impossible!!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.
His Five Release Great Combo Technique! The combined ninjutsu he took such pride in! His opponent had destroyed it without even drawing his sword, using nothing but a wave of heat from one hand?!
And... he could accept Water Release evaporating, but why had even Fire Release been swallowed?
"Playing with fire in front of its grandmaster? Old man Third, have you gone senile?"
Chiya stood amid the golden afterglow, not even the hem of his clothes disturbed.
He lowered his hand, looking thoroughly bored.
[Ding! Host detected overwhelming the Five Basic Nature Transformations with absolute dominance!] [Achievement obtained: Attribute Overlord!] [System commentary: Before Ryūjin Jakka, everything in the world exists in only two states-burning, or already reduced to ash.]
"If this is all your so-called 'Shinobi Hero' strength amounts to..."
Chiya yawned, his cold gaze piercing the utterly stupefied Third Hokage.
"Then you can die."
"Because the fight that follows won't even count as a warm-up."
"Retreat! Hurry, retreat!!"
Alarm bells blared in Hiruzen Sarutobi's mind. Years of combat instinct warned him of a lethal threat.
Ninjutsu was useless!
Neither Water Release nor Earth Release could counter this monster's flames at all. His fire was on far too high a level-high enough to ignore elemental advantages entirely!
"If ninjutsu won't work, then I'll use Taijutsu!"
"Enma!"
"Understood!"
The Adamantine Staff grew longer and thicker again. Hiruzen Sarutobi's original body leaped high into the air, swinging the staff in a full arc with both hands to launch a surprise attack on Chiya from behind.
He refused to believe Chiya's flesh could be as invincible as his flames!
Even with the Mangekyō Sharingan, his body was still fragile! As long as he got close, as long as he landed one blow, the Adamantine Staff's hardness would let him smash Chiya's skull!
"Naive."
Chiya didn't even turn his head, as though he had eyes in the back of it.
Just as the staff was about to strike the back of his head, several immensely thick roots burst from the ground and coiled around the Adamantine Staff like pythons, locking it in place.
"This is..."
Still airborne, Hiruzen Sarutobi stared at the familiar grain of the wood. His aged face instantly turned deathly pale, as though he had seen a ghost.
"Wood... Wood Release?!"
Chiya slowly turned around. Looking at the Third Hokage, trapped motionless by the roots, he gave a devilish smile.
"Correct."
"As your reward, let me show you... the true power of all creation!"
Before you continue