Starting with Naruto, I'll become stronger through my own efforts.

Chapter 195 [Combination Ninjutsu: Wind and Fire Inferno]

Aww—!

A terrifying roar echoed through the forest as a gigantic, ugly yet majestic white dragon soared through the sky.

This awe-inspiring scene terrified most of the ninjas participating in the exam, who desperately retreated in the direction away from the dragon.

But the four shadows perceived this scene in a completely different way.

The Fourth Raikage couldn't help but say, "No wonder you envied our Kumogakure ninjas, Third Tsuchikage. It turns out your disciple is so—simple-minded."

The Third Tsuchikage couldn't refute it, and could only grit his teeth and curse, "Damn brat, I told you not to fly around like that, why didn't you listen?"

The Fourth Kazekage chuckled and smoothed things over, saying, "As long as we can dodge the first wave, we can still gain an absolute advantage by flying even higher."

The Fifth Hokage smiled slightly and said nothing.

The other three Kage all understood that the first round of ninjutsu attacks would not be easy to dodge, as there were simply too many powerful genin monsters in the examination hall.

Just as the Kage had predicted, some Genin were startled by the dragon, but many others felt excited and moved closer to where it was.

They were planning how to shoot down this big guy.

The most excited among them were Naruto Uzumaki and Tenten, especially Tenten.

That roar just now was the result of the girl's excitement. Deidara's dragon was a dud and didn't have the energy to create the organs that could roar.

Naruto was equally excited, his hands constantly conjuring up various ninjutsu techniques, which he then reluctantly released.

"【Rasengan】 won't work. I don't know how to throw 【Wind Release: Rasengan】 yet. I can't reach the giant dragon in the sky."

"【Wind Release: Great Windmill Blade】 won't work either. It's powerful enough, but too slow. It can't catch up with that giant dragon."

"【Wind Release: Great Breakthrough】 doesn't seem to work either; its range and power are significantly reduced."

"Hey, I've got it! I can use [Wind Release: Great Tornado]."

Just as Naruto was excitedly reviewing his list of ninjutsu, Sasuke was already rapidly forming hand seals and preemptively using his most proficient ninjutsu.

【Fire Release: Flame Whirlwind】

A massive pillar of flame rose from the ground, twisting and sweeping towards the dragon in the air.

Naruto complained, "Sasuke, why did you attack first? You didn't even wait for me."

Uchiha Sasuke snorted coldly and said, "Hmph, you're too slow."

But the upward curve of his lips was harder to control than an AK firing with a belt of ammunition.

Naruto Uzumaki smiled gently, quickly formed hand seals, and unleashed his ninjutsu.

【Wind Release: Great Tornado】

A giant funnel-shaped tornado, clinging to Sasuke's fiery pillar, effortlessly absorbed the massive pillar of fire as it connected with the heavens and earth, transforming it into a gigantic fire tornado.

【Combination Ninjutsu: Wind and Fire Inferno Prison】

With the support of the giant pillar of fire, the tornado suddenly surged upwards, directly connecting heaven and earth, turning the entire sky into a vortex-shaped funnel-shaped cloud system.

The flames rose rapidly along the funnel-shaped structure of the tornado until the entire vortex-shaped tornado structure in the sky turned red.

Uchiha Sasuke activated his Sharingan, raised his hands high as if grasping the entire massive spiral of flames, and then suddenly pulled them downwards.

Silently, countless flames resembling phoenix feathers formed in the fire cloud, and then fell like a torrential rain.

Sasuke Uchiha's attack was not aimed precisely, but rather focused on absolute density and range, ensuring that no matter how the enemy's clay dragon dodged, it would be covered by the rain of fire.

A torrential rain of flames fell, igniting countless sparks. The entire forest was ablaze; the sky, the air, and the ground were all ablaze. The flames dyed everything in the world red, as if it had become a fiery hell.

Xiang, who had just been rescued, was captivated by the magnificent scenery.

Because it was the Konoha team that saved her that released the ninjutsu, and she lacked basic ninjutsu knowledge, she had no idea how terrifying it was.

The red-haired girl grasped Sakura Haruno's hand, her legs trembling, her eyes glazed, and she murmured, "So beautiful."

Sakura Haruno was far more frightened than Kaori. She could easily deduce how terrifying the ninjutsu used by her two teammates was. If she were touched, she would inevitably be burned to ashes.

Fortunately, Sakura Haruno had great confidence in Naruto Uzumaki and trusted him enough to believe that her two teammates wouldn't kill her, which allowed her to barely calm down.

But the pink-haired girl could no longer appreciate the magnificent scenery; all she saw was death and fear.

The white dragon, which had just appeared enormous, looked so tiny in this hellish scene of crimson sky and earth, as if it were just a mayfly in the vastness of the world.

The people watching this spectacular sight on the big screen through dozens of cameras at different angles were completely silent. Some people with the right angles had even seen over the fence of the venue and into the distance the swirling red cloud.

Not only were the nobles, wealthy merchants, and villagers, who were ordinary people, shocked into silence, but even the Fourth Kazekage, the Fourth Raikage, and the Third Tsuchikage, who had seen and experienced much, were speechless.

Is this some kind of battle between genin?

They knew there were monsters among the genin of Konoha, but they didn't expect them to be this monstrous.

Honestly, if I were to encounter such ninjutsu, I would probably choose to avoid its sharp edge and then consider how to defeat the enemy with minimal losses.

Of all the Kage present, the Third Tsuchikage suffered the least loss and was the most senior. Looking at the giant dragon covered by the rain of flames falling from the fire cloud, he finally couldn't help but speak sarcastically, "Truly worthy of being the Fifth Hokage's disciple, he can actually utilize his teammates' ninjutsu to such an extent."

The Fifth Hokage glanced at him sideways from his high throne and said expressionlessly, "The one who is now manipulating the fire clouds and bringing down fire rain is Uchiha Sasuke, not Uzumaki Naruto."

The Third Tsuchikage was speechless. His right hand unconsciously clenched into a fist, and if his nails hadn't been trimmed so short, they probably would have dug into his flesh.

It's astonishing that Konoha has such close-knit genin who can team up to perform combined ninjutsu, while Iwagakure only has Deidara as its sole representative.

The Fourth Kazekage felt similar to, or even less than, the Third Tsuchikage.

Deidara of Iwagakure developed his bloodline limit through his own efforts, but what about Sunagakure?

The only person in Sunagakure who was sealed as a Jinchūriki since he was a child is Gaara.

Moreover, not only is the seal very unstable, causing Gaara to be unable to sleep well to this day, but Shukaku, the One-Tailed Beast, was also defeated by the Fifth Hokage.

If a conflict were to break out with Konoha in the future, it would be hard to say which side Gaara, as a Jinchūriki, would actually be on.

[As expected, the root of the problem lies with the Fifth Hokage. Kill him! He must be killed! Even if it costs us our lives!]

The Fourth Kazekage's obsession was gradually turning into a fanaticism, and his killing intent was becoming increasingly uncontrollable.

The Fourth Raikage remained silent, pondering whether there were any young ninja among the new generation of Kumogakure who could team up with Darui.

The scene that filled the Third Tsuchikage and the Fourth Kazekage with despair, however, was, in his heart, hope—true hope.

The Fourth Raikage discovered that while the combination of Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha was strong, they did not have an overwhelming advantage over Darui; they could compete with each other.

Instead of like the current Fifth Hokage, who completely overwhelms himself and all the other Kage.

If they can survive until the Fifth Hokage dies, Kumogakure can dream of the future again.

The four Kage were engaged in fierce competition in the most luxurious private room, but were all suppressed by the overwhelming power of the Fifth Hokage, resulting in a harmonious scene.

The three Kage each had their own agendas, but they were all convinced of the Fifth Hokage's abilities and dared not cause him any trouble.

The young genin from the four major ninja villages were not convinced, especially after Deidara from Iwagakure took the lead and was instead suppressed by Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha from Konoha.

Darui, Gaara, and Haku couldn't help but want to do something, and even Kimimaro, who was also a Konoha ninja, felt itchy to do something.

So, Darui, the Cloud Village ninja, made his move.

As the white dragon battled the fire clouds and rain of fire, an unprecedentedly huge beam of light pierced through the dragon, almost severing it from the waist.

Immediately afterwards, lightning pillars, wind pillars, wind blades, firebirds, and giant sand hands all pounced on the dragon in the air, leaving Deidara powerless to resist despite his best efforts.

At this moment, he recalled the [C0 Self-Destruct] technique he had prepared for Itachi Uchiha, but which was still incomplete.

.

But standing behind Deidara, Kurotsuchi, whose face was full of panic, and Origin, who was trying to remain calm, dispelled his idea of ​​self-destruction.

He wasn't familiar with Deidara, but he had watched Kurotsuchi grow up. Even without the Third Tsuchikage Onoki's orders, he wouldn't have let the girl be in danger.

Deidara would never intentionally self-destruct and drag Kurotsuchi into the mess.

Thinking of this, he reached out and patted the battered dragon. The black soil and the clay beneath the stones began to wriggle rapidly, splitting open to form a large clay bird.

[Exploding Clay - Giant Bird]

This bird's appearance is far more detailed than the dragon's; although it still has beady eyes, its head, neck, feathers, and wings are all very detailed.

The claws are meticulously crafted, clearly the result of careful research.

Deidara flicked his wrist, and the giant bird carrying Kurotsuchi and the Primal Stone detached from the dragon's body. At the same time, another giant bird also separated from the dragon and flew above Kurotsuchi and the others, shielding them from the dense rain of fire.

Meanwhile, for better protection, Deidara rode the wrecked dragon, swooping down and spewing bombs at every spot where ninjutsu had been activated.

He recklessly dropped bombs on any suspicious location, including places where he could sense chakra fluctuations.

As a dense explosion erupted in the forest, the counter-attacking ninjutsu grew increasingly fierce, quickly tearing the massively shrunken flying dragon to shreds, which fell like canvas torn apart by a storm.

At the last moment, Deidara leaped off the completely out-of-control dragon, while a giant bird made of clay, spitting out from his palm and beak, continued to fly.

After things stabilized somewhat, he created another exploding clay biplane and crashed it into the dragon's wreckage at incredible speed.

With a loud shout from Deidara, "Hah!"

The explosive clay bird was detonated, and the shockwave from the explosion ignited the dragon's remains, causing a massive, earth-shattering explosion.

An orange-red fireball suddenly appeared, tumbling upwards before the flames vanished, leaving only a thick, black-and-white smoke, resembling a lonely mushroom head.

Centered on the explosion point, a spherical shock wave front swept outwards.

The towering fire tornado was snapped in half, and the spinning fire cloud seemed to lose its power, its rotation speed noticeably slowing down.

The forest shattered under the shockwave, the earth caved in under immense pressure, and then countless fragments were propelled into the sky by the returning cyclone.

The smoke and dust followed the rising fireball and quickly merged with it, like newly sprouted mushroom stalks.

The explosion of C2·The Dragon actually formed a mushroom cloud.

As the mushroom-shaped object approached the red clouds in the sky, the shockwave mercilessly tore apart the already weakening clouds, creating a circular hole in the sky.

Sunlight streamed through the hole, only to be blocked by the mushroom cloud, creating a strangely terrifying scene of impending doom.

This extraordinary sight stunned the ninjas still alive in the examination hall, as well as everyone watching the assessment.

Although the shockwave destroyed all the aerial drones, ground-based monitoring equipment remained operational at a sufficient distance, and replacement drones quickly returned to the battlefield, providing close-up details.

Seeing the enormous mushroom cloud, the terrifying circular blast site on the ground, and the scattered limbs and severed bodies near the blast site, the Fourth Kazekage felt as if he had been punched hard in the heart.

His three children are all taking the exam in this very same exam hall; they are all his children.

The Fourth Kazekage couldn't help but speak up, "So this is how all Iwagakure ninja are. They self-destruct whenever they're at a disadvantage. I didn't see you guys being this resolute back in the Land of Rain?"

The Fourth Raikage has sharp eyes, and Deidara clearly had an attack aimed at Darui; he had already seen Darui, who was seriously injured.

Ai gritted his teeth and said, "I don't think the Iwagakure ninjas have such a bad habit, but the Fourth Tsuchikage might be a different story."

The Third Tsuchikage snorted coldly and said nothing.

Actually, his face looked even worse, and he was panicking even more.

Onoki never imagined that Deidara, who had only been away from home for three years, would turn into someone who would commit suicide at the slightest disagreement. Such a person should never become the Tsuchikage.

Absolutely not!

He even regretted that he had been so excited when he saw his son come home that he hadn't properly assessed him before teaching him his most secret skills.

If Deidara really goes mad but still wants to become the Tsuchikage, I can suppress him while I'm alive, but what if I die?

Can Iwagakure really withstand Deidara?

Or rather, were the ninjas of Iwagakure truly willing to prevent Deidara from becoming the Tsuchikage?

If Deidara becomes the Fourth or Fifth Tsuchikage, will he take Iwagakure with him and self-destruct?

Onoki had absolutely no confidence.