Juro formed the seals faster than ever. His chakra boiled around him, raising the temperature of the air. The ground beneath his feet turned into molten glass.
—Lava Style: Dragon's Inferno!
A lava dragon emerged from his mouth, enormous, with incandescent scales and a mane of fire. The dragon lunged at Noah roaring, opening its jaws to devour him.
Noah smiled.
A lava dragon, he thought. How fitting.
He brought his hands together. But he didn't form the seals of any known jutsu; instead, he created a new one.
He felt the chakra flow through his body, shaping itself into a form he had never attempted before. Wood burst from the ground, not as chaotic branches, but as a defined structure.
—Wood Style: Wood Dragon's Inferno!
From the ground in front of him emerged a wood dragon much larger than the conventional wood dragons he could normally use.
It was enormous, bigger than Juro's lava dragon. Its scales were of dark oak, its eyes a bright red, its open jaws revealing fangs of hardened wood.
The wood dragon did not directly engage the lava dragon. Instead, it opened its mouth.
And from its throat burst a torrent of condensed lava, expelled under pressure like the breath of a true dragon. The liquid stream tore through Juro's lava dragon as if it were paper, dissipating it into cinder.
And it kept advancing straight toward Juro.
Juro tried to flee. He ran left, but the wood dragon turned its head, keeping the lava stream aimed at him. He ran right. The dragon followed.
—No... it can't be!
The lava stream struck him in the back.
There was no scream. Only a dull hiss, like that of a log thrown into a bonfire. Juro's body melted within seconds, reduced to a smoking black stain on the scorched ground.
The wood dragon closed its mouth and stood still, like a dog waiting for its next command.
Noah held it for a moment, admiring his creation. The dragon's head was imposing, with details he hadn't even planned —the scales had veins that looked almost real, the fangs gleamed as if polished—. The lava stream had been an improvisation, a fusion between his Wood Style and his Lava Release.
—Not bad for a first attempt —he murmured, and let the dragon disintegrate into charred wood splinters that fell to the ground.
The forest around him was devastated. Burned trees, smoking craters, patches of fused glass. The smell of ash and scorched flesh filled the air.
Noah took a deep breath and let his dōjutsu deactivate.
—Byakugan, Sharingan, Lava Release... —he listed, as if reviewing a shopping list—. They work well. But I still need to practice the synchronization between the two dōjutsu. And Lava Release combined with Wood Style has potential.
He looked at the remains of his enemies without any remorse.
—I suppose this counts as training.
He turned and continued walking along the forest path, heading toward his original mission.
Behind him, the forest burned slowly, consuming the last evidence of the battle.
---
The Naka sanctuary lay in silence under the faint moonlight. Its stone walls, eroded by centuries of history, jealously guarded the secrets of the Uchiha clan. Inside, an old man with gray hair and deep wrinkles walked with slow but steady steps.
He stopped before the main altar. His sharp eyes scanned the offerings before settling on the floor. With trembling but precise hands, he began to perform a sequence of hand seals.
—Snake, dog, boar, tiger… —he murmured under his breath.
The stone slabs beneath his feet vibrated slightly. With a deep sound, several plates shifted sideways, revealing a dark passage that descended into the depths.
The old man took a small torch from the wall and began to descend the spiraling steps. Upon reaching the bottom, he found himself in a vaulted chamber filled with shelves. Scrolls from all eras rested, arranged by age and category.
He walked between the shelves, took a recent scroll from one shelf, and placed it on another, alongside others of similar theme. Then, satisfied, he left the place.
He climbed the steps carefully and, once at the top, performed the same seals in reverse order. The slabs returned to their place with another noise, once again hiding the passage.
The old man headed to the sanctuary entrance, where two guards stood motionless on either side of the door.
—Everything in order, Fugachi-sama —said one of them with a bow.
—Indeed —replied the old man—. Good work, boys. Keep up the vigilance.
He stepped outside, and his footsteps faded into the night.
Inside the sanctuary, silence returned. Several minutes passed.
Then, a small flame flickered in the center of the room. The wavering light illuminated the stone walls, and slowly, the shape of a child began to become visible.
The invisibility spell dissipated completely, and Noah appeared in the place.
He had already returned from his previous mission and was now about to obtain some benefits from the Uchiha.
—Well, well —he murmured with a smile—. It seems old Fugachi has lost some of his faculties; he didn't even notice me secretly following him here.
Noah took out the Enchantus from his pocket. The grimoire floated for a moment before opening to a blank page. Then, he took the first scroll he found from one of the shelves.
As soon as his fingers touched the scroll, the Enchantus began to glow. Lines of text appeared on the white page as if by magic, faithfully copying every character, every diagram, and every marginal note. Within seconds, the process was complete.
—Perfect —Noah whispered, returning the scroll to its place.
He repeated the operation over and over. Scrolls of fire jutsus: Great Fireball, Immortal Phoenix, Flame Dragon. Genjutsus of all kinds: Paralyzing Shadow, Intoxicating Mirror, Cherry Blossoms. Forbidden and secret techniques of the Uchiha clan passed into the Enchantus without leaving a trace.
As he worked, his mind wandered over the recent changes in his body. Since integrating the three Kekkei Genkai, his repertoire of chakra natures had expanded enormously.
—The Sharingan granted me yin nature —he thought, as another scroll was being copied—. The Byakugan, yang. And finally, Lava Release granted me fire nature. Now I naturally have integrated into my genes the natures of water, earth, and fire as basic elements, plus yin and yang.
That added up to five basic natures. To these were added Wood Style, his innate derivative nature inherited from his grandfather, a fusion of water and earth, and Yōton, a fusion of fire and earth.
—I only need two more: lightning and wind. The seven basic chakra natures will be within my reach sooner or later.