Chapter 31: Scorched Earth and a Spark of Insight
Even with his ferocious speed, Yoshino Kaze's sword strikes failed to cause any significant damage to his opponent. The sheer defensive power of the other ninja's Lightning Release Chakra Mode was staggering.
But Akatsurugi felt no sense of urgency. As long as he kept Yoshino Kaze trapped within the sea of black-red flames, the result was inevitable. It was only a matter of time.
Yoshino Kaze, clearly aware of his grim fate, made several desperate attempts to break through the fiery perimeter. Each time, Akatsurugi was there to block his path. The Kumo jonin's lightning-infused fists passed harmlessly through Akatsurugi's elementalized body, but the slash of Akatsurugi's sword was always solid and very real. This frustrating dynamic made any escape impossible. No matter which direction he charged, Akatsurugi would materialize to meet him.
Gradually, the relentless heat began to take its toll. Yoshino Kaze's movements grew slower, more labored. Akatsurugi noticed the man's legs were beginning to blacken and char, losing all sensation.
Seeing the fight was over, Akatsurugi sheathed his sword and leaped back, creating a small gap. "It's over," he stated, his voice calm despite the roaring inferno around them. "You are dead. Do you have any last words you wish me to deliver to the Third Raikage?"
Yoshino Kaze took a ragged, searing breath. Layers of blackened, gelatinous flesh sloughed off his charred face. His legs, now completely carbonized, would shatter into pieces if he took so much as a step. Yet, even in this state, the elite jonin did not scream.
"It is a shame," Kaze forced out, his voice a dry rasp, "that I failed to bring intelligence on you back to my village. I do not know how much disaster you will bring to Kumo in the future."
With his final words spoken, Yoshino Kaze was completely engulfed by the ravenous flames. A moment later, there was no movement, only the crackle of fire.
Akatsurugi stood silently within his own conflagration. He watched as a thick, vibrant white spiritual ribbon—far denser and brighter than any he had seen before—soared from the ashes and flowed directly into the sealed hilt of Ryūjin Jakka.
So the strength of the soul is directly tied to the power of the ninja, Akatsurugi mused, surprised by the sheer volume of energy he had just reaped.
At the same time, he let out a weary sigh. It had been incredibly troublesome to kill a single Kumo jonin. He had been forced to use nearly every tool in his arsenal, resorting to a war of attrition to achieve victory. If he were to face the Third Raikage himself, a man renowned for his nigh-impenetrable defense, he doubted he could even stop him from leaving, let alone kill him.
"We still need to develop the Rasengan further," Akatsurugi muttered to himself before vanishing from the scorched clearing, leaving nothing but ashes behind.
After finding a secluded spot to recover his chakra, Akatsurugi formed a familiar blue sphere of chakra in his palm—the Rasengan.
The key to breaking a powerful defense is piercing power, he thought. The Rasengan has immense destructive force, but it's blunt. I need to give it an edge.
He focused, attempting to weave his Fire Nature chakra into the swirling ball.
Instantly, the Rasengan turned a violent, brilliant red before exploding with a deafening roar. Akatsurugi reflexively transformed his entire body into flame, the shockwave passing harmlessly through his elemental form. Without that ability, he would have been severely injured by his own experiment.
Right. From now on, all Rasengan development happens while I'm elementalized, he reminded himself, a lesson learned the hard way.
And so, Akatsurugi began his tedious research, his body constantly wreathed in fire as he practiced forming the Rasengan. Time and again, the moment he tried to inject his Fire chakra, the technique would destabilize and explode. The volatile, consuming nature of fire chakra was fundamentally at odds with the Rasengan's need for perfect, stable rotation.
"It's just too violent," he grumbled in frustration after another failed attempt. "The fire chakra's properties disrupt the balance instantly. No wonder it took the Fourth Hokage three years to develop the base technique."
He tried a different approach, channeling the innate power of the Flame-Flame Fruit into the Rasengan instead of his chakra. The result was slightly better—it held for a fraction of a second longer—but it still ended in a catastrophic explosion.
"How can I temper the violence of the fire?" he pondered, pacing in his fiery form. He recalled the original timeline. Naruto managed it with Lava Release, which is a Kekkei Genkai blend of Fire and Earth. The earth nature must stabilize the fire, making it viscous and malleable instead of purely destructive.
But he didn't possess an Earth Nature, and he certainly didn't have the Lava Release Kekkei Genkai. He only had Fire.
Another attempt, another faster, more furious explosion. He was forced to shelve the idea for now. Forging a new path in ninjutsu was never going to be easy.
In the Raikage's office in Kumogakure, the Third Raikage, A, frowned deeply, his massive arms crossed over his chest. "You're telling me Yoshino Kaze and his entire team have been out of contact for days?" he boomed.
The Cloud Anbu agent kneeling before him nodded. "Yes, Lord Raikage."
A dismissed the agent with a wave of his hand. Once alone, he rubbed his temples in frustration. Losing contact for this long almost certainly meant death. But who could have killed Yoshino Kaze? The Lightning Chakra Mode of his clan was a supremely powerful defense, and his cousin was a master of it. While not on his own level, Kaze was a rare elite jonin. It should have been nearly impossible to pin him down, let alone kill him.
Unable to find an answer, the Third Raikage turned his mind to the larger strategic picture. The war with Konoha was now official. Iwagakure and Kirigakure had bled each other white, their respective Second Kages falling in battle, while Konoha and Kumo had emerged relatively unscathed. That was a dangerous position to be in.
It was all too likely that the other villages would see Kumo and Konoha as the two dominant powers and decide to team up against one of them. He certainly wouldn't refuse if Iwa and Kiri came to him proposing a three-way alliance to crush Konoha. By the same logic, Konoha would jump at the chance to ally with others against Kumo, especially since the Second Hokage had died during a conflict with his village. The blood feud was real.
His preemptive strike, declaring war and even taking the life of Konoha's Uchiha Kagami himself, was meant to force the issue. He had to drag every village back into the fray so no one could sit back and reap the rewards. That fight with Kagami had been far tougher than expected; the power of the Uchiha's Sharingan was terrifying, and it had taken everything he had to escape with his life.
Let them all fight, he decided. Let there be no bystanders in this war.
As for Sunagakure? The Third Raikage almost scoffed. The so-called fifth great village was a joke—a poor, remote settlement in a desolate wasteland. Their single Tailed Beast was weak, and their resources were scant. No one took them seriously.
But even a cornered scorpion has a sting. If Kumo was leading the charge against Konoha, the Sand Village would be a fool not to join in and try to carve off a piece of Konoha's fertile, resource-rich land. They were too poor not to take the opportunity. Let them follow behind the Cloud forces and drink whatever scraps they could find.
His prediction was proving correct. Intelligence reported that the Second Kazekage, Shamon, had emerged from his obsessive research into Tailed Beasts and puppetry, and was now mobilizing a significant force on the border of the River Country. They were poised, waiting for the perfect moment to enter the war.