The fiery red hair had truly transformed into flames, burning at the back of her head.
"A transformation, I can do that too!"
With Blaze's Eruption, the surrounding temperature suddenly rose. Torifu had to release cold air to counteract it.
Both of them had unleashed their strongest forms. This signaled that the final phase of this battle had begun.
To ensure her full power, Blaze recalled her two clones.
In her current state, she didn't need to worry about being harassed by those two "mosquitos."
The mere embers she emitted could burn them to ash.
Seeing that the clones restraining them were gone, the Tsuchikage and the Kazekage immediately rushed back to provide support.
But from afar, they saw two massive energies, one red and one blue, in a standoff. This level of power was something they absolutely could not intervene in.
Torifu's peripheral vision caught sight of them and he smiled faintly. "Tsuchikage, Kazekage, find a safe spot for yourselves. This battle is up to me."
How could the two of them dare to disobey? They had the sense to realize that this was clearly not a battle they could join.
Rushing forward rashly would only mean suicide.
"Hmph, it seems they have enough sense to know their place."
Torifu's gaze was fixed on Blaze, who looked like a fire angel.
Blaze also did not dare to be careless in the slightest. The two of them were deadlocked for a while, and in the end, Blaze could not endure it and made the first move.
Burning fiery claws continuously swiped at Torifu. Each strike seemed to tear the very space apart.
Even Torifu could not easily dodge and could only continuously use the Crane Cry Sword to block and seek an opportunity.
Finally, in a gap between Blaze's attacks, Torifu injected a massive amount of Ice Style chakra into the Crane Cry Sword!
Such a huge infusion of chakra caused the blade to erupt with a fierce resonant sound, which sounded like a soaring crane's cry.
Blaze's claw landed, grabbing the Crane Cry Sword, and immediately caused a violent ice explosion! Countless ice spikes burst forth, nearly freezing everything within fifty meters.
Blaze, being momentarily careless, was hit by many ice spikes.
But the moment blood flowed out, it was instantly vaporized, and the wound immediately healed due to the flames.
In reality, it wasn't truly healed, but merely cauterized by the flames, preventing the wound from bleeding.
However, Blaze's recovery ability was quite strong. This strike looked powerful but did not cause any substantial damage to Blaze.
Blaze did not pause for long and immediately resumed her attack. This time, her assault was even more rapid, and having been injured, she had developed a strong wariness toward Torifu's ninjutsu.
To avoid being ambushed again, even with Torifu's perfect blocks amidst her fierce attacks, he was ultimately wounded.
Blaze's claws scratched his arm, but the flames instantly scorched and coagulated the flesh at the wound.
"That stings a bit, but it's harmless. Is that all your ninjutsu can do?"
A green light flashed, and the injury on Torifu's hand instantly healed, leaving only a scar.
In the next several clashes, both sides landed blows, each allowing the opponent to taste the flavor of their own ninjutsu to a certain extent.
But Blaze began to get somewhat anxious. Her current mode could likely only be maintained for another half-day.
Such high-intensity combat resulted in a huge consumption of chakra, and the transformation jutsu Blaze was maintaining consumed so much that she couldn't keep it up indefinitely.
The same went for Torifu. Sage Mode was extremely chakra-consuming and also dependent on the surrounding natural energy.
If the natural energy was depleted, he would have to re-fuse it.
Both of them were somewhat desperate to defeat the other and end this war.
But this very desire caused both of them to make mistakes. Both attacked the other simultaneously. For a moment, neither could dodge, and both took a solid hit from the opponent.
Blaze and Torifu were sent flying backward.
Fortunately, Torifu still had healing jutsu. After casting it on himself, his injuries immediately healed.
Blaze, despite standing up through the vast amount of chakra in her body and her recovery ability, was only enduring.
Torifu's last strike hit a relatively weaker spot on her body, causing Blaze immense pain.
She still had a frozen sensation lingering inside her body.
"Madam Blaze, you don't look well. Do you need me to provide assistance?"
Blaze looked at Torifu and forced a smile. "Oh, why don't you come back with me to see the Lord? Submitting your body to the Lord would count as helping me."
Torifu smiled faintly. "It turns out you are not only beautiful but you think beautifully too."
With that, his long sword once again gathered light, and he slashed out toward Blaze. This strike was incredibly sharp. If she was hit again, the freezing effect would accumulate twice inside her body.
While it wouldn't be fatal damage, it could distract her and prevent her from focusing.
Blaze, seeing the incoming ninjutsu, used fire to block it, releasing a very powerful jutsu to avoid being wounded again.
After the two collided and exploded, the flames disappeared, but the remaining ice blade fragments ricocheted and struck Blaze's abdomen.
Before she could even try to expel them, the fragments burrowed into her body by themselves.
The furious Blaze immediately ignited a raging fire inside her body, trying to burn away the Ice Style power.
But after several attempts, she found the effect was not very ideal.
"What jutsu did you use? What did you do to me!"
Torifu smiled faintly upon hearing this. "I didn't do anything. You were just hit by an Ice Style jutsu. Besides feeling cold, isn't everything else the same?"
This was an obvious excuse. The more he said this, the more Blaze was certain that Torifu had definitely used some insidious ninjutsu.
She could even immunize against toxins, so why was she now distracted by the cold!
Furthermore, if he hit her a few more times, she would have no chance of winning. She had to resolve this quickly.
Blaze's eyes were firm, as if she had made a decision. She then released a massive amount of chakra! Countless flames surrounded Blaze's body.
At this moment, she was like the Emperor of Fire, controlling all the flames.
Torifu, seeing this, knew that Blaze was about to unleash her ultimate move. His encounter with Rain in the Land of Whirlpools was similar to the current situation.
Speaking of using toxins to weaken Blaze's strength, he had learned it from Rain. Blaze was essentially being sabotaged by her former teammate.
Since she was unleashing such a powerful ninjutsu, Torifu naturally could not sit idly by.
He raised the Crane Cry Sword high. Immediately, blasts of cold wind began to blow on his side, and a large amount of Ice Style chakra was injected into the sword.
One of ice and one of fire, the two seemed to be in a world of ice and fire. Everything external had vanished, leaving only intense heat and cold.
The ninjutsu released by both sides was incredibly intimidating. It was impossible to determine who would gain the upper hand and win today.
But they both knew that this single strike would determine the outcome!