Chapter 16: Super Giant Great Fireball Technique

Chapter 16: Super Giant Great Fireball Technique

Uchiha Fuhuo's hand trembled slightly as he held his blade, his crimson pupils emitting a grayish-white aura.

The Uzumaki before him was as strong as a monster. While Fuhuo's taijutsu wasn't particularly poor, he had been suppressed for several rounds. Uzumaki Hanado's powerful fists could even withstand the heavy saber forged from fine iron in his hands.

Not only that, but the opponent's chakra reserves far exceeded his own. Despite releasing chakra externally for so long, there was no sign of depletion. Even so, the opponent had yet to use his trump card; fighting him felt like playing with a child.

Losing interest, Uzumaki Hanado let out a yawn. His opponent was the renowned "Kamikakushi Fuhuo."

He had initially held great expectations, but he hadn't expected it to end before he even warmed up. That genjutsu had caused him a minor nuisance.

"How boring. If this is all you've got, get out of the way. I need to find little Mito."

Without even lifting his eyelids, Hanado waved his hand, swatting away the shuriken Fuhuo had thrown. Seeing his projectiles easily deflected, Fuhuo did not look discouraged. Instead, he wore an expression of "just as planned." He swung both hands forward violently, and the deflected shuriken suddenly changed course as if being manipulated, swarming toward the stationary Hanado.

In an instant, the shuriken circled Hanado several times, perfectly missing all his vital points.

"Is this the extent of the Uchiha's throwing skills?"

Hanado mocked him, remaining unmoved. A moment later, he felt a sudden constriction around his body.

"Wire Manipulation Technique!"

With his fingers entwined in Uchiha Silver-style wire, Fuhuo forced Hanado to experience a form of binding play similar to what his sister enjoyed. But it didn't end there.

"Fire Style: Dragon Fire Technique!"

A searing flame brewed in Fuhuo's mouth. A fire dragon erupted from his lips, surging along the wires toward the bound Hanado, swallowing him in flames instantly.

Watching the opponent turn into a human fireball, Fuhuo did not let his guard down. He raised his katana and slashed toward the flame-enveloped Hanado.

As the blade drew closer to the opponent's head, a sense of victory rose in Fuhuo's heart.

But in the next second, a terrifying scene unfolded. A flaming arm reached out and firmly gripped his blade. No matter how much strength he exerted, he could not break free.

"A combination technique? Truly uncommon," Hanado's composed voice drifted out.

Only then did Fuhuo realize that despite being engulfed in raging flames, the man hadn't uttered a single cry of pain.

*Bang!*

As Hanado's aura tightened, the binding wires and the clinging flames were blasted away, revealing his unscathed body.

Brushing away a few stray sparks from his hair, Hanado offered a compliment

"As expected of the Uchiha of the Fan. Your fire tricks are indeed magnificent."

With dry, stinging eyes, Fuhuo swallowed hard. This Uzumaki guy's physical body was simply too broken.

A sense of despair surged in his heart. On the other side of the battlefield, Uchiha Ryoichi and the others were still fighting fiercely. The long-haired Uzumaki opposite them looked completely at ease; it seemed defeat was only a matter of time.

"Is it really going to end here?"

Thinking of his life spent on the battlefield, only to perish on a mission like this, Fuhuo couldn't help but feel a sense of melancholy.

Feeling his chakra reaching its limit and his Sharingan losing its strength, he struggled to lift his head toward the sky. The events of his life flashed before his eyes like a revolving lantern.

The vision finally settled on a curly-haired man with a warm smile. A trace of nostalgia flickered in Fuhuo's eyes, but then, as if remembering something, his gaze grew even more determined.

"I haven't burned out yet. As long as I can stall you a little longer, the boy's chances of survival will be higher."

With that thought, a new surge of power erupted within Fuhuo, and his previously closed Sharingan quietly reopened.

Driven by this emotion, the three tomoe in his eyes began to spin rapidly, showing a tendency to gradually connect.

Frowning, Hanado relied on the powerful sensory abilities of the Uzumaki clan and discovered that this Uchiha, who should have been at death's door, was actually erupting with intense chakra. A sinister aura rushed toward him.

"This is...?"

It wasn't that Hanado hadn't seen enemies burn their life force in a desperate attempt at mutual destruction, but the Uchiha didn't seem to possess such a method. Or was he merely bluffing?

While Hanado was distracted by his thoughts, a strange chakra rose behind Fuhuo, slowly condensing into an odd shape.

Just as the aura was about to take form, a figure flashed in front of Fuhuo. Holding a katana in one hand, Uchiha Gin landed in what he considered a cool pose.

"Am I late?"

Having said that, he flashed what he thought was a dashing smile.

With Uchiha Gin's sudden appearance, the changes in Fuhuo's body came to an abrupt halt. He stared at the newcomer in disbelief.

"Late my ass! You—*&%#...*..."

Fuhuo was fuming. He had finally prepared to sacrifice himself to buy Gin a chance at survival, only for the kid to come back and seek death.

"Uh, shouldn't you be moved to tears, you old geezer?"

Being scolded profusely, Gin was a bit bewildered. He had come back to save the day only to get yelled at; he immediately felt disgruntled.

"You came," Fuhuo sighed after his outburst.

"I came."

"You shouldn't have come."

"But I did."

"Are you two done yet? Are you just here to pad the word count?"

Having been ignored by the two for a long time, Hanado's head filled with symbols, and veins bulged on his forehead.

"Oops, my bad," Gin scratched his head sheepishly, offering a perfunctory apology with deadpan eyes.

"Despicable Uchiha! You actually dare to return? Where did you hide Mito?"

Seeing that the newcomer was the lecherous Uchiha who had been "getting handsy" with his precious sister, Hanado clenched his fists, which cracked loudly.

Staring at the Uzumaki powerhouse's sandbag-sized fists, Gin swallowed hard and felt the "divine tool" given to him by Uzumaki Mito in his robe.

"I hope that little girl Mito gave me something useful."

"Uchiha Gin, why aren't you following the Captain's orders?"

The calmed Fuhuo asked in a heavy voice. He was anxious; what was this kid's purpose in coming back?

"Captain, stop the small talk and focus on the enemy," Gin replied, drawing his katana from behind his back.

"You, who doesn't even have a Sharingan... when did you awaken it?"

Fuhuo was speechless at Gin's overconfidence. Did the kid not realize his own strength? If he couldn't even beat the man in front of him, what use was another Uchiha?

But in the next moment, he saw the spinning tomoe in Gin's familiar deadpan eyes. He froze, as a familiar silhouette overlapped with Gin's.

"What use is a single tomoe? The opponent is a taijutsu expert, and you are naturally physically weak. Against an opponent like this, you have zero chance of survival."

Though he was happy Gin had awakened his eyes, the current situation was not something a single tomoe could turn around.

"Don't test my patience, despicable Uchiha. If you hand Mito over, I might consider leaving you a whole corpse."

Hanado, now enveloped in a red chakra cloak, spoke coldly. His handsome face was set with furrowed brows, looking like a lion released from its cage.

"I'd like to say this is all a misunderstanding, but it seems this misunderstanding won't be easily resolved."

Feeling the opponent's overwhelming chakra, Gin felt as if he were being stared down by a predator; his muscles instantly stiffened.

"At this point, enough with the misunderstandings. Once I break your limbs, you'll naturally spit out the truth."

With that, Hanado instantly lunged at Gin, throwing a heavy punch toward his arm.

The strike carried the force of thunder. As his adrenaline spiked, the tomoe in Gin's Sharingan began to spin rapidly.

Just as the punch was about to land, the tomoe in Gin's eyes turned into two. In a split second, he thrust his blade from a tricky angle toward Hanado's wide-open armpit.

With his superior perception, Hanado knew that if this strike landed, both of them would lose an arm.

He immediately twisted his body, redirecting the punch toward a nearby giant tree. The tree, thick enough for three men to embrace, was instantly pierced by the punch and began to totter and fall.

As the smoke cleared, Hanado looked at a small cut on his lower ribs with lingering fear.

The wound was already beginning to heal thanks to the broken physical constitution of the Uzumaki, but he was still shocked by the opponent's ruthlessness and decisiveness.

On the other side, Gin wasn't doing much better. He touched his right arm. Although Hanado had changed the direction of his punch out of caution regarding Gin's "trade-a-wound-for-a-wound" tactic, the sheer wind pressure from the fist had still torn the flesh on the outside of his arm, causing it to bleed profusely.

Strangely, however, within a few breaths, the wound began to sprout new tissue, and the bleeding slowed. Furthermore, he realized that the world around him had become much clearer.

"The Uzumaki's regenerative power is indeed incredible. I've only absorbed a trace of the Uzumaki bloodline, yet I have such powerful recovery."

About ten breaths later, Gin's wound had miraculously healed, leaving only a small, loose scab.

*Si - Wei - Shen - Hai - Wu - Yin*

"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!"

With his arm restored, Gin performed hand signs to use a ninjutsu for the first time. This was the only long-range technique the original owner knew. In the original story, this technique was also known as the "Merciful Technique" because its actual hit rate was pitifully low.

Feeling the heat brewing in his mouth, Gin felt an irresistible urge to release it.

Taking a deep breath, he puffed out his cheeks and violently sprayed the condensed fire-natured chakra at the nearby Hanado.

Looking at the massive fireball rushing toward him, Hanado's eyes nearly popped out of his head. He looked up in shock.

"Are you sure this is a Great Fireball and not a Great Fire Annihilation?"

A typical Uchiha's Great Fireball was only about a hundred cubic meters with a damage radius of about ten meters. Hanado was intimately familiar with the move, but this fireball was several times larger than a standard one. If he hadn't seen Gin's hand signs, he wouldn't have believed it.

Moreover, this wasn't just a hollow display. With his superior perception, Hanado could clearly sense the immense destructive power contained within the massive sphere.

Unlike the weak Dragon Fire technique from earlier, his physical body might not be able to withstand this. He had to scramble to dodge away.

In truth, no ninjutsu is inherently superior or inferior; it is determined by the strength of the user. When Uchiha Madara released a B-rank Fire Style: Great Fire Annihilation, it possessed world-destroying power.

Having compressed all the air in his lungs, Gin stopped his technique and took a deep breath to revitalize his parched lungs.

At this moment, his chakra was squeezed down to the very bottom of the bottle. He opened his eyes to see a clearing the size of a football field where the forest used to be. He rubbed his deadpan eyes in disbelief.

"Am I under genjutsu?"

His tone was uncertain. Behind him, Fuhuo—who had been "offline" the whole time—had an expression identical to Hanado's, his Sharingan looking like they were about to pop out.

Fuhuo swore that since the day he could remember, he had never seen such a terrifying ninjutsu. Even the strongest in the clan, Uchiha Tajima, had never performed a Great Fireball of this scale.

Though he was standing after the fire had passed, the terrifying residual heat brought a sense of dryness. The moisture in the air had been completely evaporated, making breathing uncomfortable.

"What kind of technique was that?"

Fuhuo's voice pulled Gin back from his thoughts. Looking at the devastation, Gin scratched his curly hair uncertainly.

"Probably... a Great Fireball."

Although the hand signs were from his memory, Gin wasn't sure if something had gone wrong. This fireball was simply too exaggerated, over ten times larger than what the original owner could perform.

*Was it the Uzumaki bloodline?*

Gin wondered if the integrated Uzumaki blood had caused his chakra to surge, allowing him to release such a destructive technique.

But on second thought, that didn't make sense. He had only integrated a trace amount of Uzumaki blood, and according to his system panel, his chakra had only doubled. He shouldn't have the strength to perform a giant fireball like this.

If mere chakra volume could amplify a ninjutsu to this extent, the Uzumaki clan, with their massive reserves, would have dominated the Warring States period and unified the ninja world long ago.

"System, system, what's going on?"

Unable to find a reason within himself, Gin tried to ask the system, but received no answer. Since time flowed differently inside the system, he chose to enter the system space.

"***********"

It was the familiar arena. The furnishings hadn't changed; the Steel of the Heart treasure chest lay quietly there, and the floor count had reset to 0, waiting for tomorrow's refresh.

Turning to the right toward the seemingly useless game console, Gin noticed something.

The console, which previously displayed the number "10," no longer showed a digit but a row of asterisks "*". Where had his hard-earned ten points gone?

"Hey, hey, hey! Big Brother System, are you there? Answer me!"

Sensing something fishy, Gin began calling out.

"System loading..." After a few seconds, a mechanical, emotionless voice drifted from the void.

"Where did my points go? And what happened to my ninjutsu?" Gin pressed urgently.

"Detected host's strength increase. System loading speed +10%. Updating, please wait."

Strength increase? Had he become stronger again? Gin recalled everything that had just happened. It seemed that while confronting Hanado, he could see the opponent's movements more clearly. Had his Sharingan grown stronger?

"Ding! Update complete!" Following the system prompt, the asterisks on the screen slowly disappeared, replaced by a "0".

"Huh?! Where did my ten points go? Ten individual points!"

Gin stared with deadpan eyes, spreading his hands toward the console in protest.

(End of Chapter)