Chapter 11: The World of Scorching Melting
It seems… it's over, Konan thought, watching from above as the poisonous mist and iron sand prison closed in. He performed remarkably well to push Sasori this far.
But then…
"Is that so?!"
Uchiha Naoki's sudden, defiant laugh cut through the haze. The sound instantly put Sasori on high alert.
They saw Uchiha Naoki take a deep, held breath, his gaze sharpening with intense focus. "Lava Burial: Eruption!"
The ground beneath Sasori's feet trembled violently. Realization dawned on him, and his expression shifted to one of alarm as he hastily manipulated the Third Kazekage to retreat.
BOOM!
In the next instant, a pillar of furious, red lava roared up from the very spot he had just vacated, the heat so intense it forced even Konan to flutter higher into the air for safety.
"And it's still not over, Lord Sasori!"
No sooner had the words left his mouth than a second pillar of crimson magma erupted from the earth, its trajectory perfectly aimed to intercept the retreating puppeteer.
Whoosh!
Sasori and the Third Kazekage puppet split apart, darting to opposite sides to avoid the searing column.
BOOM!
But the earth roared again. This time, two separate pillars of magma shot up, each one targeting Sasori's core and the Third Kazekage puppet with terrifying accuracy, seeking to devour them both.
"!!!"
At this moment, even the unflappable Sasori felt a tremor of shock. "To force me to this extent? Very well, then I shall fight you with all my strength!"
"Iron Sand: Wings!"
In a fraction of a second, a pair of massive, shield-like wings condensed from the black iron sand on the Third Kazekage's back, intercepting the lava pillar meant for it. Simultaneously, Sasori's core form used a substitution technique to evade the other.
BOOM!
High-temperature magma collided with the incredibly dense iron sand. A wave of blistering heat rolled out, splattering molten rock in every direction and making the very air waver and distort from the clash.
Sasori's core reappeared a short distance away. But he never got the chance to command the Third Kazekage to counter-attack.
Uchiha Naoki was already upon him, having closed the distance at blinding speed. "Meteor Fire Shower!" The scorching, rain-like attack forced Sasori into a continuous, frantic retreat.
"Iron Sand—!" Sasori began, but Uchiha Naoki gave him no opening to command his puppet.
Naoki's two-tomoe Sharingan spun. "Genjutsu: Gold Binding Technique!"
Sasori immediately felt an invisible force seize his body, a psychic shackle attempting to lock him in place. For a shinobi of his caliber, such a basic illusion was a trivial matter, broken almost instantly.
But at this level of combat, an instant was all that was needed.
"Hound Dog, Chase the Red Lotus!"
A gigantic, molten hound, summoned in that single, seized moment, was already lunging at Sasori's face. His pupils contracted. Am I actually being pushed this far? A flash of outrage crossed his features. "Don't mock me!"
An immense, suffocating wave of chakra erupted from his core. "Iron Sand: Imperial Funeral!"
In that instant, the air itself grew heavy. A terrifying mass of iron sand coalesced, linking together to form a veritable sea of thorns. Countless, razor-sharp iron sand spikes descended mercilessly from above, a domain of absolute piercing death.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The Flame Hound was instantly shredded into dissipating embers. Uchiha Naoki, with no time to dodge, found his elemental body pierced through in dozens of places, pinned in place like a specimen. A thirty-meter radius was transformed into a ruined pincushion in the blink of an eye, every possible path of movement utterly eliminated.
"Toxic Mist: Thousand Arms Execution!"
The Third Kazekage rose higher, spewing an even more potent, violet poison from its mouth. The very air seemed to grow heavy and toxic; just catching a distant whiff was enough to make one's head spin.
"I won't give you another chance to counterattack!" Knowing Naoki's resilience, Sasori roared another command. "Iron Sand: Great Burial!"
The ground beneath the pinned Uchiha Naoki churned and rolled like a black, metallic wave, swallowing him whole before instantly compacting into a solid, crushing sphere, squeezing endlessly to seal him permanently within.
"This is the very technique the Third Kazekage used to suppress a Tailed Beast. Though I am not using its full power, it is more than enough to deal with you!" Sasori declared. "And to increase its lethality against shinobi, I have infused a toxin of my own design. It is impossible for you within that prison not to be affected. Once the poison takes hold, it is over!"
Witnessing this, Konan floating above was deeply shaken. "At only thirteen, he can force a master like Sasori to such extremes. No wonder Konoha branded him an S-Rank rogue alongside Uchiha Itachi. A scorching Kekkei Genkai that requires no hand seals, an ability to ignore conventional weapons, the unique insight of the Sharingan, and tactical judgment that rivals a top-tier veteran… it all makes sense. But in the end, Sasori's experience prevails. The battle is over."
Just as she concluded this, the iron sand prison began to tremble violently. A deep, resonant humming grew louder and louder. The surrounding temperature skyrocketed several times over in an instant. And from within the prison came Uchiha Naoki's voice, low and strained, yet filled with power.
"Scorching World: Eruption!"
This was Uchiha Naoki's most devastating single-target technique—compressing magma to an extreme to generate catastrophic high-temperature damage capable of burning anything to nothingness.
RUMBLE!
The ground suddenly sank. The next moment, a majestic, all-consuming scorching force blasted up from below, shattering the iron sand prison and exploding outward. The searing power continued to geyser forth, annihilating everything in a meter radius in an instant and illuminating the surroundings for hundreds of meters with its hellish glow.
"Iron Sand Wall!"
Sasori, caught off guard by this unimaginable outburst, quickly erected a dense wall of iron sand to defend against the cataclysmic wave.
But within two seconds, his face changed. "Impossible! The Iron Sand Wall… it can't hold?!"
Thick cracks, wide as a finger, spiderwebbed across the formidable barrier, and the rest of it was rapidly melting under the intense heat.
The Scarlet Sand Scorpion retreated in shock, hastily conjuring a new, curved barrier in front of his core.
BOOM!
The scorching wave slammed into the secondary defense with a force that shook the very foundations of the earth.
He didn't follow up?
Sasori was surprised by the lack of an immediate attack from behind. With such a perfect opening, why hadn't Uchiha Naoki seized it? It made no tactical sense!
"Above you!"
As doubt clouded his mind, a wave of oppressive heat descended from directly overhead. Uchiha Naoki swung his lava-coated arm, and another ferocious Flame Hound galloped down, jaws wide.
"Iron Sand: Drizzle!"
The Third Kazekage immediately fanned out a dense curtain of iron sand needles, disintegrating the attacking hound and forcing Naoki to break off his aerial assault.
But then Sasori saw the smirk on the retreating Naoki's face. A cold realization shot through him, and he spun around.
There, right before him, was another Uchiha Naoki, his body incarnate in lava, already in motion. A violent, burning punch was already rocketing toward his core.
"Not good!"
It was too late for any defense. Sasori had only one option left. In a split-second decision, he substituted his own position with that of the Third Kazekage puppet.
BOOM!
The scorching blow landed squarely. The prized Third Kazekage puppet was blasted apart, its pieces sent flying. This was only because Sasori had managed to coat it in a last-moment layer of protective iron sand. Otherwise, his ultimate human puppet would have been completely vaporized.
"He actually… destroyed the Third Kazekage… the human puppet?!" Konan stared, deeply stunned. "Is Uchiha Naoki really that powerful?" A newfound respect settled in her eyes. "That series of tactics… he even disrupted Sasori's judgment. Amazing."
She knew it then. From this moment on, she would have to regard Uchiha Naoki not as a promising junior, but as a true powerhouse, an equal standing on the same level as themselves.