Uchiha Chapter 70: Fire Release — Zero-Breakthrough
The battlefield had become a living hell.
Flames raged across the land as the earth split apart and rocks shattered. Not a blade of grass remained.
"Lord Gōenji, we've received intelligence that a large number of enemy forces have appeared near Mount Kikyo, in the area closer to Konoha. Among them are shinobi from the other four great villages."
A shinobi handed the report to Gōenji and quickly relayed the details.
Gōenji accepted it and read through the information.
Then he sighed.
"The Battle of Mount Kikyo has already begun?"
According to the original timeline, the Battle of Mount Kikyo shouldn't have reached this stage yet.
How did this butterfly effect happen?
My existence should have increased Konoha's overall combat strength. So why has the enemy attacked even earlier instead? And they've already advanced all the way to Mount Kikyo!
Mount Kikyo was Konoha's final line of defense.
Once it fell, the other shinobi villages would be able to bypass Konoha's defensive lines, reach the area surrounding the village, and launch an attack directly against Konoha itself.
But with Konoha's strength having increased, shouldn't this have been delayed rather than accelerated?
Gōenji couldn't understand it.
After thinking carefully, there was only one possibility he could come up with.
Black Zetsu.
Or Uchiha Madara.
Aside from those two, he couldn't think of anyone else capable of causing such a massive deviation from the original timeline.
Madara knew Konoha's weaknesses extremely well, and he had White Zetsu constantly gathering intelligence for him.
With an intelligence network that powerful, creating trouble for Konoha ahead of schedule should have been relatively easy.
That was the only butterfly effect Gōenji could think of.
Perhaps his existence had caused Madara and Black Zetsu to become concerned about their plans.
As a result, they had accelerated their preparations and brought their forces onto the battlefield early, putting additional pressure on Konoha.
"Report the situation to Konoha."
Gōenji suddenly raised his head.
"I'm afraid I won't have time to reinforce them."
Within the vision of his Sharingan, a distant figure gradually emerged.
At that moment, a rapidly expanding shadow appeared from within the clouds and flew directly toward him.
As it approached, the familiar red nose, short stature, distinctive clothing, and white hair became increasingly clear.
It was none other than the Tsuchikage.
Ōnoki.
A burly figure flew beside him.
Ōnoki's sudden appearance shocked everyone present.
Why was the Tsuchikage here?
Ōnoki descended above Gōenji and quietly looked down at the young man.
His expression was solemn.
"Young man, your strength is impressive. But today, you're going to have to stay here."
His gaze swept across the battlefield.
"With the combined forces of the four great shinobi villages, Konoha will eventually be destroyed."
He paused.
"But if you're willing to surrender, Iwagakure will welcome you. What do you think?"
He looked around at the scorched earth stretching for several thousand meters.
Even Ōnoki couldn't help marveling at the destruction this young man had caused.
Akatsuchi spoke at the right moment.
"Lord Tsuchikage values talent above all else. As long as you join Iwagakure, the village will help you establish an entirely new branch of the Uchiha bloodline."
"You could become the founder of a new Uchiha clan."
"Lord Gōenji, don't listen to them!"
"Don't let yourself be swayed! Lord Orochimaru and the Hokage will definitely be able to stop their attack!"
Gōenji's teammates immediately tried to persuade him.
Their faces were filled with worry.
If Gōenji were tempted into defecting to Iwagakure, they would almost certainly die here.
Gōenji snorted.
His voice carried across the battlefield.
"Hmph. Ōnoki."
"I never expected you to show up here yourself. Aren't you afraid you won't make it back alive?"
His words made Ōnoki laugh.
Ōnoki already knew there was no possibility of Gōenji surrendering, so he saw no reason to waste any more words.
He formed a hand seal.
A beam of light rapidly took shape before him.
"Dust Release."
"Get back. I'll handle him."
Facing the Dust Release, Gōenji merely sneered.
The swirling patterns began appearing across his entire body once again.
They gradually converged toward his forehead.
A burning gemstone appeared there.
Gōenji brought his hands together in a circular seal.
The flames surrounding his hands turned a lifeless gray.
Just looking at them gave people a feeling of despair.
"Don't think I've only made that little progress over the past few months."
Gōenji's eyes narrowed.
"Let me show you what I'm capable of."
"Fire Release: Chakra Mode — Zero-Breakthrough."
Flames erupted from his hands and feet, wrapping around his entire body.
A ring of light appeared before him.
It blocked the path of the Dust Release and began rotating into a vortex.
Every shinobi from Konoha and Iwagakure who witnessed the scene was stunned.
Even someone with poor intelligence couldn't possibly fail to recognize Ōnoki's signature Dust Release.
It was a technique capable of reducing anything caught within it to nothing but dust.
Some Konoha shinobi even shouted for Gōenji to run.
But before they could say anything else, the Dust Release collided with Gōenji's flaming halo.
Hiss!
"No matter how powerful a ninjutsu is, it's still composed of Chakra."
Gōenji sneered.
"Dealing with externally manifested Chakra is my specialty."
The halo collided with the Dust Release.
Yet instead of being erased by the Dust Release's disintegration property, the halo remained completely unaffected.
On the contrary—
The moment the two techniques made contact, the Dust Release began shrinking.
Smaller.
And smaller.
Until it disappeared completely.
Ōnoki hovered in the air, looking down at Gōenji with a frown.
"You're absorbing my Chakra?"
"What a peculiar Fire Release."
He narrowed his eyes.
"You really do deserve your reputation as the master of Fire Release on the battlefield."
Troublesome.
A ninjutsu that had originally been extremely effective had been neutralized in such a strange manner.
That wasn't favorable for him.
Fortunately, Ōnoki possessed the Light-Weight Rock Technique and could remain airborne.
Gōenji had no way to reach him.
All Ōnoki had to do was harass Gōenji from the air while the other Iwagakure shinobi surrounded him.
He had no intention of showing mercy to an enemy merely because that enemy was talented.
Ōnoki glanced toward Akatsuchi nearby and gave him a signal to attack.
Akatsuchi nodded and secretly formed a hand seal.
"This is my first time using it on a battlefield."
Gōenji's voice was calm.
"I hope it'll open your eyes."
The flames surrounding Gōenji moved like obedient children.
They circled his body without harming him.
This was the Fire Release Chakra Mode he had developed.
After five months of research, he had finally completed the technique several days ago, and it was now ready for actual combat.
Other than the Blade of the Rising Sun, it was the longest project he had ever worked on.
The gemstone on his forehead functioned like a central control system, allowing him to manipulate the flames with astonishing precision.
To develop this technique, Gōenji had secretly studied a vast amount of knowledge and incorporated everything he had learned in Konoha.
It had taken him an extremely long time to finally complete it.
The technique was based on Fire Release while incorporating certain changes in the nature of Yang Release.
This allowed him to achieve the properties he wanted while greatly enhancing both his control over Fire Release and its power.
Yang Release gave form to life.
Through its nature transformation, it could alter an object's physical form and imbue it with a new kind of vitality.
This was real.
Much like the Akimichi Clan's techniques that altered the body's form, it was a form of Yang Release nature transformation capable of changing one's vitality and physical state.
Likewise, most medical ninjutsu also involved Yang Release nature transformation.
They altered the human body, changing its physical state and vitality.
As for giving form to life, Gōenji had given that "life" to his flames.
He had effectively given his flames a will of their own, much like the sand Gaara had inherited from his mother.
That was why he could control his Chakra so freely and effortlessly.
His Chakra possessed its own will, freeing up a tremendous amount of his mental processing capacity.
As for Zero-Breakthrough...
It was a by-product of his Fire Release Chakra Mode.
The essence of Fire Release was extreme heat.
Gōenji used a particle-reversal formula to convert that extreme heat into an opposing energy state, then incorporated energy formulas capable of converting an enemy's energy into his own and storing it within the gemstone on his forehead.
In other words—
He had gained the ability to absorb an enemy's Chakra.
Now, it was time to demonstrate his strength.
His breakthrough would send a wave of cheers across the battlefield.