As I concentrated on drawing on all of my chakra, I began forming the usual shape of my Supernova attack, but at the same time, I was also concentrating even more than ever before.
"Renji," Minato said slowly, but then stopped because there was no time to argue about it.
Especially when the bird we were hanging beneath tilted suddenly, its controller probably realizing that something extremely unpleasant was being created underneath its clay belly. Well... no surprises there; my jutsu was literally flashy. By then, even more of their shinobi shouted, pointing it out, but I closed my senses, only concentrating on drawing even more chakra from the deepest depths of me.
"I'm not leaving you here," Minato said, but I only heard it in his voice, because I could no longer really hear him.
"You are if you want either of us to survive." I hissed, just as a lightning bolt tore past the bird's wing, as the people on the opposing side decided that it was worth sacrificing one of theirs rather than letting me finish, whatever I was doing.
Luckily, the ones above us disagreed about that, so the construct swerved, and both of us swung sideways beneath it. I kept one hand pressed against the clay, holding myself in place while the tiny sun grew brighter as it hovered over my palm. Minato didn't hesitate any more, and I felt a mark get put on me when he patted my shoulder... then he was gone.
Just as he disappeared, three separate lightning jutsus struck at us from different directions, and they could no longer dodge, breaking the clay bird into burning chunks. I heard the shinobi riding above scream as their transport disintegrated beneath them, breaking through my focus, because I was finished too. I mean, my jutsu was. For just a heartbeat, I fell among them before I locked onto one of Minato's marks on a surviving bird farther above, flashing to it.
The riders turned at once, but were blinded by the sun in my palm, unable to do anything as it was so bright, it was starting to turn the night into dawn.
"Don't let him throw it!"
Someone shouted, but it was already too late. The fact I heard him meant I was done, and even I could feel how my Sharingan was almost glowing against the light coming from my palm, while the three tomoe spun madly around, not even focusing on anything. My vision wasn't even on the scenery before me, but on my knowledge that I carried in my memories.
Which, if I had to describe, was now like staring at a television screen. I swear, I could hear a faraway narrator speaking over illustrations, how a star could swell after exhausting what sustained its balance, its outer layers spreading, turning into a red giant... Then, when it burned all it could, the eventual collapse would come... Pressure crushing everything inward; when it could no longer fuse anything, and the pressure won out, there would be the final explosion that could outshine galaxies when it happened. I knew that the documentary had simplified everything for people watching from their couches, but... My Sharingan had everything it needed to see and start giving orders to my chakra on how to flow and mimic my intentions.
I did not need to understand every equation; my eyes only needed to understand the shape and simple laws behind it. Expand, collapse, and destroy everything. However, that was not all. What would be left there after the explosion? Certainly not a real black hole, because if so, I would be expecting to see a Rinnegan when looking into the mirror the next time. Plus, I can't really manipulate gravity, and my eyes knew that, giving me the answer, pulling it from my brain, from some school curriculum. Heat made air expand, and rapid contraction created pressure differences, while the proper rotation created enough pull. Centrifuge or something. I think. So thought my chakra, because I was sure it could force nature to behave badly for several very important seconds. Exactly what I needed.
As if yanked out of my thinking, a lightning-armored shinobi leaped from the nearest bird, crossing the gap toward me with a blade extended, aiming to skewer my heart. I think he knew this was super bad, so he wasn't even thinking about how to survive after; he just wanted me gone, along with my scary jutsu. Sorry, my man... that won't happen.
So... I threw the sun, and as it left my hand, it immediately began expanding, swallowing the shinobi at once, making him disappear altogether. When I chucked it out, I also felt all my energy leave my body, as my grip slipped and I fell limply towards the barrier. However, I felt fine and confident, and I was only watching my jutsu, not even trying to think what to do next, especially because my eyes kept spinning as I controlled my chakra, still connected to it.
For one silent second, nothing happened; then a second expansion ballooned it into a red-orange giant that now dominated the sky and was turning the night into day. It was swelling so quickly that the nearest birds vanished inside it before their riders could call out anything. To my eyes, its outer surface churned like an actual sun, as dark red currents rolled through and alongside the brilliant orange fire. It was... beautiful.
Those birds that survived the expansion didn't last long either. Their wings dried instantly, and cracks ran across their bodies before shattering like glass. The shinobi aboard them lasted slightly longer, which was worse for them. Their armor glowed where it had metal in it, while their clothes burst into flames. I think... I just committed a massive war crime.
On some birds, earth walls appeared around their groups, but the stone turned red within seconds before exploding. Some tried summoning water dragons that flew toward the expanding sphere and disappeared into pillars of steam before reaching its surface. As for when lightning struck it... It just rippled, swallowing it whole. Pft. Utterly useless.
Naturally, soon, my red giant reached its limit, and although I was still plummeting down, I would have put it around... hm, nearly two hundred meters across. Not bad, not bad, I can be proud of that! Even I felt the heat from where I was, making it hard to breathe, but... the show wasn't done yet, and I couldn't let the surviving birdies fly away. Most of the surviving birds had escaped the mantle of my sun, though barely. Their surfaces were scorched and cracked, and their controllers fought very hard to keep them aloft, thinking my technique was over.
With my eyes suddenly stopping, the sun itself got frozen for a moment. Then... the spin of my Sharingan reversed... just as the red giant stopped expanding and its surface trembled, then collapsed inward, in a second. There were two forces at play in that moment. One of them was the explosion that shattered many of the still flying birds and their riders. That was instant, immediate, and quickly over... what followed it though...?
It was like nothing anyone had ever seen, I guess, as all the heat, fire, displaced air, and compressed chakra rushed toward the center. It even made a nasty noise, as the sky screamed like a banshee, even snuffing out the rumbling thunder of the explosion. That is the only way I could describe it. It was like a deep, tearing howl as air was sucked toward the collapsing sphere, which caught the surviving birds. I may not be able to make a black hole and infinite gravity... but this will do.
I watched as one bird tried to dive; its heavily damaged wings broke beneath the strain, exploding, while another turned away, but the air around it flowed backward faster than it could fly, giving it the same fate. There was nowhere to go, only following the collapse of my star, and getting sucked into it like bugs under a vacuum cleaner. As the red sphere shrank, its orange became an even deeper shade of crimson, then dark red, redder than blood... Then the center turned black as my sun's light got snuffed out.
Of course, I could immediately feel that what remained was made out of black fire. Not the Amaterasu I knew of, because I also couldn't feel my eyes changing or bleeding, but... they were black flames alright. They were spinning so densely that they seemed to devour the light, too. For a few seconds, the collapsing core looked like a miniature black sun, making me grin.
As everything that remained got pulled into it, it burned them all to ash. I don't know how hot it was, but whatever it sucked in never reappeared, no matter what it was made of. As I watched, I noticed that my black fire did not spread beyond the vortex, I mean, its boundary. Corona? I don't even know anymore. It also did not leap from target to target, and it only burnt what fell into it. I had no more control over it, so I wouldn't be able to start spreading it.
Some of the last, probably strongest riders, who survived until now, had jumped early enough to escape the epicenter of my jutsu. Still, after the explosion shattered their equipment and techniques, they fell toward the black fire using desperate jutsus, parachute cloths, clay discs, wires, or sheer luck to divert themselves... all useless. There was no escape, only the wild suctioning force and the inevitable black fire in the middle of it all.
"Well... We won the aerial battle." I muttered as I closed my eyes and smiled.
The moment I did, I knew my Sharingan turned off, and when it did, so did my jutsu, winking out of existence without an explosion. It was snuffed out like someone pinching a candle, only leaving a massive cloud of dust behind that began sinking down like some grotesque judgment-day horror curtain. I wouldn't want to breathe that in, if I were you... But I couldn't yell, so I held my thoughts in.
It was then I felt hands grabbing me, then the pull of the Hirashin, and I knew I was back down on the terrace.
"Good catch..." I muttered, refusing to open my eyes, feeling way too tired.
"You good?" Minato asked as he began checking me.
"No..." I moaned, "I'm tired."
"No shit." He chortled, and if he had the mind to laugh, all should be well. I felt him checking my body, finding no injuries, releasing a relieved sigh.
"I'm going to sleep," I told him, my body going limp, knowing I was indeed okay. "Wake me up when September ends."
"What?"
"Nothing..." I grinned, and then all things went black, for real.