In Naruto with the Flame-Flame Fruit

"Quick! Stop them! The Konoha shinobi have gone mad!"

The Sunagakure ninja were panicking. Faced with such a ferocious assault, the younger, war-inexperienced ones were completely thrown into disarray. A middle-aged ninja barked furiously at them,

"What are you panicking for?! You're shinobi of Sunagakure! Get in there and attack! Attack!"

"Water Style: Great Waterfall Jutsu!"

Though Sunagakure was located in a desert region, that didn't mean they were incapable of using Water Style techniques—and this one was no low-level jutsu.

A torrent surged forth, extinguishing the fire tornado. Kiyosuke leapt into the air. If his body got drenched and didn't dry in time, he wouldn't be able to use his elemental transformation technique.

Tucking his body in mid-air, he suddenly ignited in blinding flames. With a powerful burst, he unfurled like a giant "大" symbol in the sky, and fire erupted from every inch of him.

Great Flame Burst!

Boom!

The explosion rained down, instantly killing three unlucky shinobi.

Chakra threads wrapped around more than a dozen kunai, launching them toward Kiyosuke. The blades shot right through his falling body—only to pass through harmlessly, doing nothing.

His hands turned a pale green. Countless tiny firefly-like embers drifted from his palms and scattered all around.

"What is this?" a Sunagakure ninja murmured, reaching out.

"Don't touch it!"

Someone shouted a warning—but it was too late. The moment the embers made contact with him, they clung tightly to his body. No matter how hard he tried to shake them off, they wouldn't budge—and they were hot.

Kiyosuke snapped his fingers.

Boom boom boom boom!

The embers exploded all at once. The shinobi was left a shattered mess on the ground.

"Kill that bastard!!!"

The remaining Sunagakure ninja charged in, howling with rage.

Just then, Shinnosuke rushed in. Seeing the enemies converging on Kiyosuke, he laughed heartily.

"Perfect timing!"

His hands flew through seals, and he slammed his palm to the ground.

"Earth Style: Earth Flow River!"

The solid ground beneath the Sunagakure shinobi suddenly turned to sludge. Their feet sank into the mire, and the next moment, a thick muddy current surged forth, swallowing them as screams echoed through the air.

Shinnosuke couldn't match his father's mastery of all five elemental natures, but he had perfected one or two—Earth Style most of all, and Fire Style to a lesser extent.

Clack clack clack!

Puppets flew toward him, their mouths opening to launch a barrage of poisoned steel needles.

Shinnosuke instantly formed seals.

"Earth Style: Mud Wall!"

A wall of earth shot up, blocking the attack.

Kiyosuke called out, "Captain—dodge!"

He wasn't warning him to avoid the enemy—but to avoid his attack.

Shinnosuke understood immediately. He dove underground using Earth Style.

Kiyosuke focused his chakra. Around him, flames erupted from the ground and converged toward him. He raised one hand high as the fire gathered into a massive sphere, growing rapidly in size.

The blaze roared with heat so intense it made the air ripple. In Kiyosuke's hand, it looked like he was cradling the sun itself.

Faced with this terrifying sight, the only option was to run.

"Run! Ruuuuuuun!!!"

A scream tore from someone's throat—but it was already too late.

"Too late!"

He hurled the fireball—larger than a house—down with all his might. The entire plaza erupted in a deafening explosion. Everything in the vicinity was obliterated. Even the fortified walls were flattened. A massive crater formed in the earth, the scorched soil reeking of burnt metal.

A cluster of flames flickered—and Kiyosuke walked out, panting heavily.

Shinnosuke emerged from the ground, took one look around, and sucked in a sharp breath.

"...You really went all out, huh."

Whatever was left over there—if you could even call them "bodies"—looked like nothing more than charred husks. Burned to carbon.

"It's too much trouble to take them one at a time. This is more efficient," Kiyosuke said with a shrug. He truly believed this was the correct way—wipe them all out at once.

"Asuma and Kurenai were circling around back. They probably haven't even arrived yet."

"Then let's keep going. By the way, this outpost doesn't seem all that important, right?"

"Not... not really. Wait—you're not thinking..." Shinnosuke twitched at the corner of his mouth, already guessing what Kiyosuke was planning. He quickly objected, "Don't use another chakra-draining jutsu like that!"

"Alright, alright."

That last move had used up over half of his chakra. The destructive power was impressive, but it wasn't something he could cast repeatedly.

"Then the rest of them are ours to clean up," Kiyosuke said with a grin.

Shinnosuke nodded. "Let's go."

Originally, the plan had been for Kiyosuke and Shinnosuke to break in from the front while Asuma and Kurenai slipped in for an assassination strike. But now it seemed unnecessary.

Who would've thought this little guy had such a devastating area-of-effect jutsu?

Are all the new-generation ninja monsters?

The two of them stepped into the bandit camp. A group of Sunagakure ninja remained—but in front of Kiyosuke and Shinnosuke, they posed no threat at all. They were either burned alive by Kiyosuke or killed by one of Shinnosuke's endless ninjutsu techniques.

You had to admit—as the eldest son of Sarutobi Hiruzen, Shinnosuke knew a staggering number of jutsu. The ways those Sunagakure shinobi died were as varied as they were brutal—no two were the same.

Eventually, Asuma and Kurenai arrived late to the scene. Seeing the massacre already underway, they kicked themselves for being too slow, but quickly jumped into the fray. With four of them now in action, the slaughter only accelerated.

"Run! Run for your lives! They're demons! Demons!!!"

The remaining Sunagakure shinobi lost all will to fight and fled in terror.

Kiyosuke turned and asked, "Should we chase them?"

"No need," Shinnosuke said calmly. "Right now, Sunagakure and Konoha are locked in a land-grab. Even if those escapees report back, Sunagakure won't be able to respond. We should pull out too."

He paused, then added, "They'll be punished when they return. There's no need for us to pursue."

Never chase desperate enemies. Besides, who knew if those fleeing shinobi might set traps? When it came to traps and mechanisms, Sunagakure was among the best in the shinobi world.

"Got it."

"Alright, time to go home," Shinnosuke said. "The mission here is complete. All we need to do now is report back—and get ready for the next one."

That's the life of a shinobi—receive a mission, complete it, report back, rest, repeat. Until the war ends, that cycle will be their everyday reality.

And right now, the missions were far more grueling than they'd been during peacetime.

...

Over the course of two full months, Konoha executed its plan meticulously and finally drove Sunagakure completely out of the Land of Fire. The war had escalated from skirmishes to full-blown warfare.

The front lines had now shifted to the Land of Rivers.

There, Konoha's ninja were unleashing their full strength. Orochimaru was preparing to take the entire Land of Rivers in one decisive blow—and even push into the Land of Wind.

If that happened, the Daimyō of the Land of Wind would likely surrender, and Sunagakure would be forced to withdraw its forces.

Not every country was like the Land of Fire, where the Daimyō allowed their ninja villages to act with complete autonomy.

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Pls Drop some Power Stones

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