Seeing Onoki's fear replaced by a stubborn resolve, the Raikage, A, snorted coldly. He glared at Kagami's clone, his voice dripping with disdain. "You little Uchiha brat, do you really think a few empty words can make us retreat?"
He cracked his knuckles, a proud, savage grin spreading across his face. "Don't flatter yourself by acting like you're Madara! Even if you were the real Uchiha Madara, I'd beat you so hard today you'd never get up again!"
With his body crackling in its Lightning Release Chakra Mode and the piercing power of his Hell Stab, he was confident in his invincibility. How could a mere Uchiha, even one of Madara's caliber, possibly compare to his supreme power? And this time, he wasn't alone; his brother Killer B was with him. Together, he believed they could make even a resurrected Madara grovel at their feet.
"Well said!" Onoki, his confidence restored, stood tall and defiant. "Uchiha Kagami, if you want us to retreat, then show us your true strength! It's impossible to scare us away with mere threats!"
Rasa, the Kazekage, watched from the side, his eyes flickering with cold calculation, but he said nothing. His plan was simple: if the Cloud and Stone villages withdrew, so would he. But if A and Onoki were confident enough to fight, he would lend his power to the winning side. His strength was in his adaptability.
A cold light flashed in the deep, indifferent eyes of Kagami's clones. Contempt was etched onto their faces. A sneer touched their lips, their collective voice low and majestic, echoing across the battlefield. "The weak should learn humility and respect, but you have learned only arrogance and pride."
Their gaze, as sharp as a sword, swept over the three Kage, reflecting their own defiant faces back at them with chilling disdain.
Onoki's jaw tightened, a vein bulging on his forehead, his face flushing with anger. A's eyes burned with an unyielding fire, his massive fists clenched so tightly they seemed ready to explode. Rasa's brow furrowed, his body tensing, ready to strike at a moment's notice.
"I wanted to spare your lives," the clones continued, their tone laced with a theatrical pity, "but you insist on seeking your own destruction. In that case, I will grant your wish."
One of the shadow clones stepped forward from the group, its figure floating to the forefront as if carried by an unseen force, its aura impossibly vast. It intended to trap the three Kage here forever, a permanent monument to their foolishness.
The clone clapped its hands together, and the very air seemed to freeze.
"Fire Style: Great Fire Annihilation!"
In an instant, the world changed. An unprecedented torrent of searing energy erupted from the clone's mouth, transforming into a colossal sea of fire that roared across the landscape, a tidal wave of pure destruction. The flames burned with such intensity that they distorted space itself, turning the world into a shimmering, blurry hellscape.
The expressions on the faces of Onoki, A, and Rasa twisted in horror. They instantly unleashed their most powerful defensive techniques.
"Earth Style: Mobile Core!" Onoki roared. The ground trembled violently as massive chunks of earth and stone shot into the sky, forming a thick, formidable wall to block the inferno.
"Lightning Release Chakra Mode!" A's body exploded into a blur of blue lightning, crackling arcs of pure energy enveloping him. He became the incarnation of thunder, his speed and strength amplified to their absolute peak. He leaped into the air, his hands forming a blade of lightning powerful enough to split the sky, aimed directly at the heart of the approaching firestorm.
"Magnet Release: Gold Dust Shield!" Rasa's voice was steady as he raised his hands. The air grew heavy as countless grains of golden sand materialized from the void, rapidly coalescing into a massive, shimmering shield that pulsed with a strange magnetic force, designed to repel any and all attacks.
But against the unified might of the three Kage, the sea of fire only seemed to grow stronger. It roared with the will of an ancient dragon, each surge of flame expanding its reach, the temperature soaring until it could turn everything to ash.
Onoki's earthen wall was ruthlessly melted into molten slag. A's lightning blade evaporated the instant it touched the flames. Rasa's shield, though incredibly tough, began to crack and splinter under the relentless assault, the golden sand losing its luster as it was superheated and blasted away.
"Impossible!"
With a final, unified scream of disbelief, the three Kage were completely engulfed by the inferno.
Seeing their leaders fall, the shinobi of the three great villages felt their hearts stop. The fiery red waves of doom were reflected in their terrified eyes, and a palpable despair spread through their ranks like a plague. In a desperate, final act of defiance, they combined their own jutsu.
"Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet!" a Cloud ninja roared, a massive dragon of water surging forward only to be turned to steam before it could even reach the flames.
"Earth Style: Earth-Style Wall!" the Stone ninja cried out in unison, raising a series of thick earthen walls that shattered like glass against the fire.
"Wind Style: Sandstorm!" the Sand ninja screamed, their sand only serving as fuel for the fire, helping the destructive flames spread even further and faster.
Agonized screams filled the air, each one a grim announcement of another life extinguished. Shinobi fell to their knees, their last-ditch defenses crumbling to nothing, their efforts utterly, hopelessly, insignificant.