[NTU] [ARC-06-WAR] Chapter : 100 (Patreon)

Toshiro dispatched the rock ninjas blocking his path and continued his breakout without pause, aware that time was of the essence.

When he landed, he quickly assessed his surroundings. Though only this group of Iwa ninjas stood directly in front of him, nearly 200 more were scattered within a two- to three-kilometer radius, many with chakra levels indicating they were Jonin. If they didn't leave the area swiftly, they risked being overwhelmed by a continuous stream of enemies converging on their position. The Iwa ninja had dispersed to encircle Toshiro and his team, aiming to eliminate them once they landed.

As Toshiro killed the last of the rock ninjas, a rumbling roar and the ground's vibration reached his ears.

“What’s that noise?” he muttered, looking up. His eyes widened as a curse escaped his lips.

It wasn't that Toshiro was easily surprised, but ahead of them, three or four hundred meters away, a massive figure was approaching. Bathed in the rising sun's light, an earth-yellow giant, nearly forty meters tall and made entirely of rock, came into view.

“Earth Release: Rock Colossal Titan,” Toshiro identified the technique immediately.

Images of Madara's Susano technique flashed through his mind, recalling how he had entertained the Second and young Third Tsuchikage with his own giant during peace talks with Konoha. He suspected that this Rock Colossus was developed by the Third Tsuchikage as a response to that encounter.

"What should we do? Should we continue to break out from here?" asked Ryu, one of Toshiro’s companions, visibly shaken by the sight of the giant.

“It’s too late! The nearby Iwa ninjas are already surrounding us!” Toshiro closed his eyes briefly, sensing the encroaching enemies, and replied softly.

“I’ll try to hold them back. You all find a chance to break out. I’ll catch up later!” Toshiro declared, glancing at his companions.

“How can we leave you behind? You expended so much chakra performing that ninjutsu last night!” Asuka protested, frustrated by their own powerlessness.

“Do you think I’m exhausted?” Toshiro asked with a slight smile. Despite his companions' worries, he knew they wouldn’t be much help if they stayed.

Asuka, taken aback by Toshiro’s calm assurance, hesitated. His earlier display didn’t suggest he was low on chakra; he seemed ready for another explosive fight.

“There’s no time to hesitate. The attack is already coming!” Toshiro warned as a whistling sound filled the air.

A massive boulder, nearly three meters in diameter, hurtled towards them from a distance. Toshiro’s eyes twitched as he calculated its immense potential energy, wondering if even his sage mode could withstand such an attack.

“Go now!” Toshiro urged his companions and then dashed toward the approaching giant.

He hadn’t gone far when the boulder crashed behind him, causing a tremor and breaking into smaller, more deadly fragments. The resulting debris left deep cracks and a massive crater in the ground where they had just stood.

“This is insane! This power rivals that of rail-gun cannons from my previous life!” Toshiro muttered, feeling fortunate they had moved in time, thanks to their sharingan.

He turned his gaze back to the colossal figure. The giant was now readying another attack: a stone ball nearly three meters in diameter, which it hurled high into the sky.

“Is it the Light and Heavy Rock Jutsu?” Toshiro wondered, observing through his Sharingan. He understood the enemy's method: the Kitsuchi was converting ground soil into stone balls, using the Light and Heavy Rock Technique to lighten them for the throw. As the spell’s effect waned, the stone balls regained their full weight, hitting with immense force and scattering deadly fragments over a vast area.

“Damn it, this is bad,” Toshiro muttered, recognizing the formidable opponent in front of him. “He’s indeed the Tsuchikage’s son, a true force to be reckoned with; he even went against the Gedo Statue in the future.”

With resolve hardening in his chest, Toshiro prepared to face the Rock Colossus and the figure commanding it from its shoulder, knowing he was in for the fight of his life.

"Did they avoid it?"

Seeing the small figure in the distance, deftly avoiding the splashing stones, Kitsuchi whispered softly and didn't pay much attention. Controlling the rock giant beneath him, he grabbed another stone ball from the ground and hurled it towards the distant figure. However, given the opponent's speed, this would be his last long-range attack.

Just as Toshiro had observed, Kitsuchi used the Light and Heavy Rock Technique combined with the rock giant to throw the stone balls. Though simple, the method was highly effective, given the potential energy the stone balls carried when they fell.

Kitsuchi and his guards were the ones who had tossed six ninjas and his team into the air with this ninjutsu earlier. Initially, only one arm of the rock colossus was visible, but now the entire colossus is in full view.

"Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld"

Seeing Toshiro rushing towards him and already close to the rock giant, Kitsuchi created a large swamp, four to five meters deep, enveloping both the rock giant and Toshiro. For the rock colossus, this depth only submerged its calves, barely affecting them. But for Toshiro, it posed a significant problem.

"Water Release: Great Waterfall, Jutsu"

Faced with the swamp trap, Toshiro created a large volume of water, flooding the entire swamp and standing atop it. But before he could relax, a massive arm came sweeping towards him with the force of a thousand fists.

Brush!

With no other option, Toshiro leaped into the air to avoid the rock arm that stretched across the entire water surface.

"Earth Release: Rock Cannon"

As Toshiro jumped, the rock giant's enormous mouth opened wide, and boulder-sized stones rushed towards him.

"Fire Release: Fire Dragon Jutsu"

To defend himself, Toshiro used the Dragon Fire Technique, simultaneously attacking the Kitsuchi on the rock giant's shoulder. The rock giant, controlled by Kitsuchi, shielded itself with its arms and shifted to the opposite shoulder. Toshiro's Dragon Fire Jutsu managed to destroy one of the rock giant's arms but did little else.

While Kitsuchi dodged, Toshiro landed, wielding a giant Chidori spear over ten meters long and half a meter wide, slashing at the rock giant's legs.

Slice!

A soft sound signaled the cut, and the rock giant slowly toppled to the side, its balance lost.

"Don't even think about it!"

Kitsuchi, gritting his teeth, appeared on the other shoulder and formed a seal, controlling the soil beneath the water to reform the rock giant's legs.

Seeing this, Toshiro dismissed the Chidori spear and charged towards Kitsuchi. Attacking the Kitsuchi directly seemed more effective than engaging the giant.

Without Kitsuchi's control, the rock giant would be nothing more than a heap of stone and earth.

Whoosh!

Dodging another rock arm, Toshiro landed on the giant, feeling something unusual underfoot.

"It's limestone clay!"

His feet were wrapped in a layer of soil, sinking about ten centimeters. The soil's stickiness made movement difficult.

The entire rock giant, infused with Kitsuchi's chakra, disguised the clay trap, making it invisible even to Toshiro’s Sharingan.

"I'm still too inexperienced," Toshiro thought, realizing he'd fallen into a trap. Kitsuchi had lured him into attacking the colossus, then attacked his true body.

"Earth Release: Eartch Coffin"

Before Toshiro could react, Kitsuchi changed his hand seal, and the rock giant's right arm disintegrated into mud, swarming towards Toshiro to envelop him.

"Lightning Release: Chidori Stream"

Feeling the suffocating clay, Toshiro used the Chidori Stream, hoping its properties would break the clay’s grip.

Squeak! Squeak! Squeak!

The Chidori Stream's senjutsu chakra created a sharp birdsong as it worked through the clay, which began losing its viscosity and collapsing.

'Though Sasuke isn’t known for showmanship, his developed ninjutsu is quite effective.'

Toshiro, successfully escaping using the Chidori Stream, felt a mix of relief and admiration for himself for copying Kakashi and Sasuke’s techniques. Without them, he would have been in dire trouble.

—

Under the morning light, a massive rock giant stood amidst a battlefield littered with swamps and water puddles. Beside it, a large mass of mud and rocks was rapidly disintegrating, vaguely revealing a figure in a green vest—Uchiha Toshiro, who was attempting to hold back Kitsuchi and allow his companions to break out of the encirclement.

The rock giant, already missing arms and legs, looked battered. However, mud continuously gathered to fill in the damage to its body. Just as Toshiro escaped the Earth Release: earth coffin created by Kitsuchi, a rock arm nearly 20 meters long swung at him, fist first. The pits and black marks on the giant arm showed it had recently endured severe fire damage, but this did not diminish the force and wind pressure it carried.

"Superhuman Punch!"

Ignoring the soil on his body, which had lost its characteristics due to the interference of Lightning Chakra, Toshiro exploded his chakra, shaking off the dirt and countering with a punch of his own. At this moment, no substitution technique could help; he had to meet the rock giant's attack head-on.

Click! Boom!

As the two disproportionate fists collided, Toshiro's punch shattered and then exploded the rock giant's fist. However, the massive reaction force threw Toshiro far away, forcing him to constantly evade the scattered gravel, landing in a heap.

"Cough!"

Upon landing, Toshiro coughed uncontrollably, a trace of blood hanging from his mouth, showing the trauma from the previous clash. Usually at the strength of an elite jounin, now in sage mode, his speed, defense, and recovery had significantly improved, though not to an inhuman level.

Despite his enhanced physical qualities, his combat experience still had gaps. The punch from Kitsuchi, controlling the rock giant, had sent him flying, causing an inevitable injury.

“What the hell? He only took minimal damage from the Titan's fist!”

Standing on the rock giant's shoulder, Kitsuchi observed Toshiro's condition. Surprised to see the enemy relatively unscathed, he hadn't expected even his augmented 'Earth Release: Rock Fist jutsu' to fail in killing the opponent.

"You want to leave? It’s not that easy!"

From his vantage point, Kitsuchi saw Kirishima and Asuka in the distance, trying to pass through the swamp under Toshiro's cover. Manipulating the rock giant, he raised its arm, which held a large stone ball, and hurled it at them. Despite the swamp, the resulting wave of mud from the falling boulder posed a significant threat.

“It’s really troublesome,” Toshiro muttered, seeing Kitsuchi continue to attack his companions. Ignoring his dwindling senjutsu chakra, he formed a seal and performed ninjutsu.

"Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation!"

A line of flames erupted from Toshiro's mouth, crossing seventy or eighty meters towards the giant target. The fierce burning chakra, astonishing speed, and high temperature caused the ninjutsu's front end to form an arrow-shaped protrusion, which pierced the rock giant's body.

Kitsuchi, displaying his skill as the Third Tsuchikage’s kin, controlled the giant to slap the ground, forming a tall stone wall from the swampy earth to block Toshiro’s attack. However, Toshiro’s fire jutsu was designed to counter such defenses. The stone wall melted into orange-red magma within seconds, burning a large hole and continuing towards the rock giant.

"As expected of an Uchiha!"

Kitsuchi, seeing the barrier he created melt into magma, praised Toshiro. Though the stone wall was hastily built, it was formed from his chakra-infused lava, making its rapid defeat impressive. The Uchiha clan's reputation for their prowess with fire jutsus was well-deserved.