Chapter 72: The Blaze God's Wrath
The situation was dire. The Mist ninja, led by their Mizukage, had expended a colossal amount of chakra to transform the battlefield into a vast lake, nullifying Akatsurugi's environmental advantage, weakening his Fire Release, and critically hampering his elemental intangibility.
Above the water's surface, the Third Raikage, A, scanned the area with predatory intensity, ready to deliver a killing blow the moment Akatsurugi showed himself.
Trapped beneath the water, Akatsurugi's hand closed around the hilt of his zanpakutō. He whispered its release command, his voice a low rumble even through the water.
"Reduce all creation to ashes… Ryūjin Jakka."
A layer of intense, soul-searing flame erupted along the blade. This was not ordinary fire; it was a conflagration born from the sword's very soul, a blaze that would not be quenched, even submerged.
"Blazing Hell: Ennetsu Jigoku!"
He plunged the ignited zanpakutō into the lakebed. Instantly, dozens of colossal pillars of fire erupted from the water, shooting into the sky like volcanic fury made manifest. The lake's surface boiled, and the area was engulfed in a thick, impenetrable blanket of superheated steam.
The Third Mizukage frowned, his vision completely obscured. "I've lost sight of him!"
One of his subordinates, a Wind Release user, immediately formed hand seals. "Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"
A powerful gust of wind shot forth, clearing a temporary patch of mist. But it was a futile effort. As long as Akatsurugi's fiery pillars stood, the steam would continuously regenerate. The wind technique was a mere drop in the ocean.
"Everyone, stay sharp! This is Akatsurugi's 'Blazing Hell'! He claims it can scorch a hundred-kilometer radius to nothing!" the Third Raikage barked, his voice a sharp warning.
His reminder sent a chill through the assembled shinobi. This precise piece of intelligence, gathered from the Raikage's previous encounters, was the very reason they had decided Akatsurugi must be eliminated. A single man who could casually threaten the existence of an entire village was a variable too dangerous to be left alive in a future war.
But why was he using it now? To destroy the Land of Demons itself? They cared little for the country, but the shrine maiden needed to survive to maintain the demon's seal.
"Detonate."
Akatsurugi's soft command from within the mist was followed by cataclysmic violence. The dozens of fire pillars instantly fractured into hundreds of smaller, homing lances of incandescent death, shooting toward the Third Raikage, the Third Mizukage, and the elite Mist Jonin with terrifying speed.
His target was clear: eliminate the water users, and the battlefield would once again be his.
"What?!" the Third Mizukage exclaimed, his composure breaking. Even the Raikage was momentarily stunned. He himself was confident in weathering the storm behind his "strongest shield," but the others were vulnerable. They were essential for draining Akatsurugi's power, and he had no means to protect them all.
He flashed to the Mizukage's side, his lightning-clad body intercepting and dissipating a portion of the fiery barrage. The rest, he had to trust, the Mizukage and his forces could handle.
"Aso!" the Mizukage roared.
The current Three-Tails Jinchūriki, Aso, was already moving. Anticipating the countermeasure, he had already begun his transformation. With assistance from Kumo's sealing experts, he had achieved a state of perfect synchronization with his Tailed Beast—the very reason Kiri was so committed to this ambush.
"Water Release: Water Prison Formation!"
It was a brilliant, large-scale defense. A massive sphere of water, reinforced by the Three-Tails' immense chakra, enveloped the Mist shinobi just as the fire lances struck.
The resulting explosion was deafening, a symphony of fire and steam that shattered the Water Prison. But the momentary protection it offered was enough. The Mist ninja, now reacting, threw up a layered defense of Water Walls and other barrier techniques. Combined with the ambient moisture from the vanished lake, they managed to weather the apocalyptic assault.
The vast lake was gone, boiled away into the oppressive, steam-laden air.
And there, standing in the center of the scorched earth, was Akatsurugi.
"Earth Release: Rock Fist!"
Ōnoki, who had been observing from above, seized his chance. The wind-up for his Dust Release was too long, so he opted for this faster, crushing attack, a giant fist of stone smashing down from the heavens. A direct hit would shatter bones.
But Akatsurugi was ready. A black circle had appeared on his forehead, and dark eye-shadow framed his eyes. Sage Mode.
"Hmph!" Instead of dodging, he swung his zanpakutō upward in a blazing arc.
Ōnoki's Rock Fist met the flaming blade, and the stone was instantly sheared through and engulfed in flames that leaped upward toward the Tsuchikage himself.
"Earth Release: Rock Golem Jutsu!" Ōnoki encased himself in a thick layer of rock, insulating himself from the fire. Not stopping there, he shouted, "Earth Release: Added Weight Rock Technique!"
Suddenly, immense gravitational force pressed down on Akatsurugi, as if the sky itself were collapsing onto his shoulders. He grunted, his posture buckling slightly under the strain.
It was the opening the Raikage needed. Appearing in a flash of lightning, his hand was held like a spear, his fingers aimed with lethal precision.
"Hell Stab!"
"Sage Art: Flame Wall!"
Akatsurugi's hands formed a single seal. A tornado of black-and-red flame erupted around him, forming a spinning, impenetrable barrier. This was his own creation, an adaptation of the Second Hokage's Water Wall, refined with natural energy into a defensive vortex of pure, devastating fire.
The Raikage's fingers, capable of piercing almost anything, halted just before contacting the flames. He frowned, sensing the danger. Even if his Hell Stab penetrated, his arm would be instantly immolated within that inferno. The outcome was unthinkable.
He aborted the attack, landing nimbly a distance away and exchanging a grim look with Ōnoki.
High above, the Tsuchikage began the long hand seals for his Dust Release. On the ground, the Mist ninja, having regrouped, started their own coordinated assault, determined to end this no matter the cost.
"Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique!" Akatsurugi didn't give them the chance. He flung a handful of shuriken, which multiplied mid-air into a blinding, overwhelming storm of steel, forcing the Mist shinobi to divert their attention to defense.
With that momentary distraction, Akatsurugi swung Ryūjin Jakka in a wide arc, shouting, "City of Fire!"
Two gigantic, skyscraper-sized hands of flame erupted from the ground on either side of Ōnoki, clapping together to trap the Floating Tsuchikage in a prison of incandescent fury.
Blinded and trapped, Ōnoki had no choice. He redirected the chakra he was gathering, unleashing his prepared Dust Release not on Akatsurugi, but on the fiery hands threatening to consume him.