The red signal flare shot into the sky with a piercing whistle.
It burst into a conspicuous red cloud against the azure sky.
The Anbu squad leader stared fixedly at Kenya, as though looking at a monster wearing human skin.
He knew perfectly well that their handful of people could never stop this monster.
He could only hope that the nearby patrol squadron would arrive in time.
Kenya had not stopped him from firing the signal flare.
He merely kicked a pebble away in boredom, then continued walking toward the Land of Fire's border.
"If you're calling for backup, call more of them. Saves me wasting time fighting them one by one."
Kenya waved without looking back, his figure soon disappearing into the depths of the forest.
Watching him leave, the Anbu squad leader gritted his teeth and ordered his men to bring the wounded and follow at a distance.
Half an hour later.
At the Land of Fire's border lay a long, narrow canyon.
Steep cliffs rose on either side, with only a winding trail between them, making the terrain extremely treacherous.
Humming a tune, Kenya had just reached the center of the canyon.
Suddenly, densely packed dark figures appeared atop the cliffs on both sides.
A combined Konoha Anbu squadron, consisting of more than fifty elite ninja, had already laid an inescapable net here.
The eyes of the Anbu squadron commander leading them gleamed with icy killing intent beneath his mask.
"Senju Kenya, this is as far as you go!"
At the squadron commander's order, more than fifty Anbu ninja began forming hand seals simultaneously.
Their movements were perfectly synchronized, clearly the result of countless coordination drills.
"Earth Release: Ten Thousand Li Earth Style Wall!"
Twenty Earth Release ninja shouted in unison, slamming their hands onto the ground.
Rumble!
The earth trembled.
An enormous earthen wall, several meters thick and over ten meters tall, surged out of the ground like an earthen dragon.
It instantly sealed both ends of the canyon completely, forming an enormous enclosed cage.
It trapped Kenya firmly in the middle.
Immediately afterward, the other thirty Fire Style ninja finished their hand seals as well.
"Fire Style: Searing Migraine!"
Thirty seas of scorching flames poured down from the cliffs.
The flames converged in midair, forming a cloud of fire with a terrifyingly high temperature.
The air throughout the canyon was instantly sucked dry.
The terrifying heat baked the surrounding rocks until they glowed faintly red.
"Earth Release to trap the enemy, Fire Style for the killing blow. Even a Kage Level expert can't hope to escape easily!"
The Anbu squadron commander spoke coldly as he watched the bottom of the canyon being swallowed by the sea of flames.
This combination Ninjutsu was something their Anbu had specifically practiced to deal with extremely dangerous enemies.
No one had ever survived this move.
Yet, faced with these towering flames and indestructible walls.
Kenya, standing at the center of the sea of fire, appeared exceptionally calm.
He had not even activated his Armament Haki to defend against the flames.
With his powerful body, modified by the Senju Wood Release Cells.
Heat of this level felt to him like nothing more than a hot bath.
Kenya rolled his neck, his bones giving a series of crisp cracks.
"That's all the heat you've got? It's not even enough to cook a rice cracker."
He yawned and leisurely stretched his chest.
He took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled.
Then he spread his legs slightly and settled into a textbook horse stance.
Every muscle in his body instantly tensed.
An utterly terrifying power awakened within him like a savage beast rousing from dormancy.
Kenya slowly drew his right fist back to his waist.
There were no elaborate hand seals, no dazzling glow of Chakra.
There was only physical strength in its purest form.
"Ninjutsu?"
"If you can block one basic punch from me, I lose!"
The instant those words fell.
Kenya's right fist blasted forward!
Boom-!!!
This was not an explosion, but the terrifying roar of a fist breaking the sound barrier and tearing through the air!
A plain, unadorned straight punch.
Yet it contained the Garp template's peerless monstrous strength, enough to move mountains and fill seas!
The instant the wind from his punch left his fist, it formed a transparent vacuum trail visible to the naked eye.
Like a roaring, frenzied dragon, this vacuum trail swept forward with unstoppable force.
Wherever it passed, the air was compressed to the extreme, forming an overwhelming surge of air.
Whoosh-!
That towering sea of flames, which had filled the sky with its seemingly invincible might.
Before the terrifying wind of this punch, it was like a guttering candle in the wind.
It did not last even a second before being blown away without a trace!
The flames went out, leaving only black smoke filling the sky and cliffs scorched black.
But this was only the beginning.
After extinguishing the sea of flames, the punch's wind lost none of its force, slamming into the several-meter-thick Ten Thousand Li Earth Style Wall.
Crack... boom!
The sturdy earthen wall that the Anbu ninja took such pride in.
The instant it met the punch's wind, it collapsed as though made of paper!
Countless boulders and chunks of earth, each weighing several tons, were swept up in the punch's wind and sent hurtling out of the canyon.
Under this single punch, the thousand-meter-long earthen wall was actually pulverized into dust that filled the sky!
The entire canyon shook violently.
The terrifying blast of air sent the Anbu ninja atop the cliffs staggering and tumbling.
Some were even blown clean away, crashing heavily onto the ground in the distance.
The dust cleared.
The originally narrow canyon had been forcibly widened to twice its former width by that single punch.
An enormous trench, thousands of meters long and too deep to see the bottom, appeared where the earthen wall had stood.
Every Anbu ninja froze.
They stared at the trench, which resembled a divine miracle, their minds utterly blank.
Was... was this really strength a human could possess?
Just one basic punch.
Without using any Ninjutsu.
He had blown out the combined Fire Style of thirty people and shattered the combined Earth Release of twenty!
This completely surpassed their understanding of ninja!
The Anbu squadron commander's legs went weak, and he dropped to his knees with a thud.
Beneath his mask, his face was as pale as paper, cold sweat pouring down like a waterfall.
He looked in despair at the figure in the middle of the canyon, who resembled a demonic god, unable to summon even the slightest thought of resistance.
This was not a battle at all.
It was a one-sided crushing.
Kenya leisurely brushed the dust off his clothes.
Then he pulled a crumpled map from inside his clothing and began studying it carefully in the sunlight.