Chapter 51: Chapter 51: Volcanic Judgment
Through the sharp clarity of his three-tomoe Sharingan, Uchiha Keizumi locked onto the trajectories of the two incoming Vacuum Blade Techniques—one large, one small—hurtling toward him in tandem.
With a precise, almost impossible twist of his body, he sidestepped the attacks. The semi-transparent wind blades sliced through the air, missing him by less than 10 centimeters.
As the devastating Wind Release techniques grazed by, waves rippled across his molten, lava-like skin.
[BOOM—BOOM—BOOM!]
Behind him, the Yamanaka clan compound was torn apart. The twin wind blades had ripped straight through it, splitting the land into three distinct segments.
Countless buildings were obliterated in the blast.
"Lava Release…"
"Great Eruption."
In response to the barrage of jutsu from the six Root shinobi, molten chakra surged violently through Keizumi's right arm. As he thrust it forward in a punch, his arm transformed—becoming a colossal, monstrous fist made of lava.
Every incoming jutsu shattered like twigs before the sheer force of that magma fist.
The explosive momentum mimicked a volcanic eruption—unstoppable, all-consuming.
Lava splattered outward, each fragment turning into a deadly volcanic bomb, each one carrying devastating force.
They rained down seemingly at random—but a deeper pattern hinted they were all homing in on the six Root shinobi, Danzō, Baku, and even the two giant turtle summoning beasts.
One of the turtles failed to evade in time.
A single volcanic bomb—over a meter wide—slammed squarely into its shell.
At first, the beast didn't think much of it. It believed its shell, tough enough to resist most standard jutsu, would easily absorb the impact.
But the next instant, its eyes widened in shock.
[BOOM!!!]
The bomb pierced straight through its thick carapace. Scalding magma melted the shell like butter, boring directly into its flesh. In that instant, most of its internal organs were seared and cooked alive.
Agonizing pain wracked the giant turtle's consciousness, paralyzing it with shock. By the time it realized it needed to dodge the volcanic bombs, it was already too late.
[BOOM!!!]
One of the bombs struck its head squarely.
The giant turtle summoning beast didn't even have time to let out a cry. A massive crater split open across its skull.
Its thick limbs instantly gave out, drained of all strength.
It collapsed to the ground in a lifeless heap.
The second giant turtle saw this and panicked. It hurriedly spewed a torrent of water from its mouth, desperately trying to intercept the volcanic bombs plummeting from above.
But it, too, was struck—a single volcanic bomb smashed into its tail.
The intense heat erased the limb entirely, vaporizing it in an instant. Not even the bones remained.
The excruciating pain made it shriek uncontrollably. Then, in a puff of smoke, the second and final turtle summoning beast canceled its summoning contract unilaterally—and fled.
Uchiha Keizumi's crimson gaze shifted sharply once more, locking eyes with a Root shinobi whose expression beneath his mask showed clear shock.
"…Damn it!"
Panic gripped the Root shinobi's heart. His pupils contracted as he hastily formed hand seals, attempting to cancel a possible Sharingan genjutsu—whether real or imagined.
But when he looked up, all he saw was a sky filled with volcanic bombs raining down like a storm.
He couldn't tell which ones were real and which were illusions.
He didn't even know which direction to dodge.
[BOOM!!!]
One volcanic bomb landed just 3 meters behind him.
The explosion shattered the earth, launching a massive chunk of stone into the air. It came crashing down on the back of his skull. Molten droplets sprayed from the impact like buckshot, each searing glob easily piercing into his body.
The Root shinobi convulsed violently, then collapsed face-first onto the ground.
Over a dozen charred, gaping holes appeared across his body.
Tiny flames still licked around the edges of each one.
The remaining Root operatives had no choice but to fend for themselves. Some countered with their best defensive jutsu, clashing against the deadly barrage of volcanic bombs. Others scrambled toward nearby rooftops, leaping onto civilian houses not far from the battlefield.
—Because they had noticed something.
Although the volcanic bombs weren't deliberately avoiding civilian structures, most of them were falling in open, uninhabited areas.
Even so—
One unlucky Root shinobi couldn't escape in time.
He was consumed whole by a single volcanic bomb.
Not even a corpse remained.
Danzō had thought that using large-scale, high-powered jutsu within the village—completely disregarding civilian casualties and structural damage—was already extreme enough.
But he hadn't expected to come across someone even more extreme.
He couldn't begin to imagine the scale of destruction that would be caused if the barrage of molten volcanic bombs raining down from the sky wasn't controlled.
Still, Danzō understood one thing very clearly—neither he nor his summoned beast could afford to be struck by that magma!
He had already experienced firsthand the terror of magma several days ago.
"Wind Style: Vacuum Serial Bullets!!!"
Danzō took a deep breath of the thick, sulfur-laced air, and the dream tapir beneath him raised its head, opening its jaws wide.
A flurry of compressed wind bullets shot rapidly from its mouth, so densely packed that they looked like they might hold their own against the descending volcanic bombs.
The two forces collided violently in midair.
But just then—
Out of the corner of his eye, Danzō suddenly noticed—
Uchiha Keizumi had vanished!
Damn it!
His gaze darted frantically in all directions, worried that Uchiha Keizumi was using the chaos as cover to close the distance.
However, this time, Danzō was overthinking it.
Because Keizumi's first targets weren't him or the tapir—but rather those pesky little 'flies'.
A blazing, molten-orange hand—seething with terrifying heat—had already grabbed one of the Root shinobi by the face.
The Root agent's mask instantly melted away. The lava-like hand pressed in, branding itself onto his face like a branding iron.
"Aaaaarrrghhhhhh—!"
Amid the agonizing shrieks, Keizumi didn't even need to push down.
The ninja's face collapsed inward like softened butter, melting nearly halfway through on its own.
The screaming stopped.
Life extinguished.
"He's open!!!"
While Danzō and the dream tapir focused on defending against the magma bombardment, one Root shinobi gritted his teeth and charged in from behind, determined to land a fatal blow on Keizumi.
He tore open his flak jacket, then ripped through the underlayer beneath.
Biting his thumb, he slashed it across his abdomen.
Immediately—
A series of twisted, crisscrossing black seal patterns erupted across his stomach.
His chakra was rapidly being consumed by the technique—so much so that his muscles visibly withered and shrank right before the eye.
"Ninja Art: Puppet Binding Seal!!!"
[Whoosh—]
From the dark sealing marks on his abdomen, three black chains suddenly burst forth, tearing through the air toward Keizumi's back.
[Thud! Thud! Thud!]
The chains pierced straight through Keizumi's body.
Although not a single drop of blood was spilled, the iron links spread eerie seal patterns outward, gradually crawling over the lava-like surface of his skin.
Under the gaze of the withered Root shinobi, now little more than skin and bones, Uchiha Keizumi appeared to be struggling against the iron chains binding him—but no matter how he moved, he couldn't break free.
"Hah…"
Drained of chakra and deathly pale, the Root agent let out a cold sneer.
"This technique… it's from the Uzumaki clan…"
"What are you doing?! He's behind you!!!"
A sudden shout cut through the air, catching the Root ninja completely off guard.
Before he could react—
He felt the ninja blade at his waist being drawn from behind.
[Shlkk—]
His head, large and bloated, slid cleanly from his neck and tumbled to the ground.
Uchiha Keizumi glanced impassively at the headless corpse at his feet, then shifted his gaze to the black iron chains still lodged in the illusion before him.
The Sharingan's genjutsu really was overkill.
Especially in a battle where every second meant life or death—
Even a single moment's illusion could determine everything.
...
"Meow! These bastards are ganging up on Keizumi-sama! Rookie—move it! We've got to help him!"
Tachibana Jirō rushed ahead, leading a swarm of ninja cats as they raced toward the Yamanaka clan's compound.
Izumi followed right behind.
"Jirō, what is that thing?!"
As they darted through the streets, Izumi looked up, stunned, at the towering dream tapir in the distance.
Jirō quickly corrected her: "Call me Jirō-senpai, thank you very much!"
Then he added, "That thing is Shimura Danzō's old mutt of a summon—something called a dream tapir. A really powerful beast. Specializes in wind-style jutsu without hand signs."
As the cats and Izumi leapt from rooftop to rooftop—
Suddenly, a cloaked figure appeared on a building ahead, catching both her and Jirō's attention.
As Izumi passed by, she instinctively turned to get a better look—
But the figure had vanished.
As if it had never been there.
As if it were just her imagination.
"Jirō… senpai!"
Her pupils shrank as she shouted, "Did any of you see that person just now?"
Jirō's feline face turned grim.
"I saw them… but I couldn't see how they disappeared. Meow… I think I caught a glimpse of a mask. Looked like one of those single-eye masks. Doesn't matter for now—we need to back up Keizumi-sama!"
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