Chapter 293: You Were Pretty Arrogant Just Now!
The surging flood continued to wash over everything, and steam filled the air like a thick fog.
Uchiha Hikari stood there, having activated her Mangekyo Sharingan.
The patterns in her pupils spun rapidly, her powerful ocular prowess granting her the ability to penetrate ordinary visual obstructions.
She strained her gaze to pierce through the layers of mist and steam, locking onto and tracking the Chakra signature at the center of the giant waves—one that remained blazing and violent, though clearly suppressed and disrupted.
That was Roshi!
She could "see" Roshi struggling to maintain his Lava Release Chakra Mode within the torrent, his four lava tails waving frantically in an attempt to disperse the water and create some space.
At the same time, he constantly created new magma beneath his feet to stabilize his footing and evaporate the water near him. However, facing this endless, seemingly inexhaustible "Heavenly River Tilt," his resistance appeared quite strained; his Chakra was being consumed rapidly, and his range of movement was severely compressed.
Right then, Naruto suddenly moved.
He didn't continue to maintain or strengthen the "Heavenly River Tilt"; instead, he closed his eyes, using Kagura Minds Eye to sense Roshi's location.
"Found you..." Naruto muttered to himself, the corner of his mouth curling slightly.
The next moment, he snapped his eyes open, a sharp light flashing in his blue pupils.
Ice Release: Vanishing Trace.
He leaned forward slightly and actually leapt straight down from the gold dust platform!
But he didn't fall into the turbulent flood below.
The instant he leapt out, a smooth and solid ice pedal naturally condensed beneath his feet, and he landed lightly on the surface of the rushing waves.
Controlling the ice pedal with precise Chakra, he moved like an ice spirit treading on waves, standing firmly atop the billows as he continued to close in on Roshi's sensed position.
He unfastened the White Greatcoat he was wearing and, without even looking, tossed it casually toward Hikari on the gold dust platform behind him.
Hikari subconsciously reached out and caught it.
The fabric was soft and still held Naruto's body heat; it seemed stained with a bit of soil and the fine dust of battle, but it carried even more of Naruto's scent.
She froze for a moment, looked down at the pure White Greatcoat in her hands, and then looked up at Naruto, who had already leapt onto the water's surface. Her gaze was somewhat complicated, but she soon carefully tucked the Greatcoat into the crook of her arm, continuing to focus intently on guarding the surroundings while monitoring the battle.
At this moment, Naruto, standing atop the waves, finally began to truly demonstrate the power of "Ice Release: Sealed Trace"!
Ice began to spread outward frantically from the ice pedal beneath his feet at an incredibly violent speed!
It wasn't a simple freezing of the water's surface.
A bone-chilling, deathly white cold air rose and diffused from around him like a living mist.
Wherever the cold air passed, the roaring giant waves of the "Heavenly River" solidified instantly.
The spray froze in the very moment of its impact, turning into crystal-clear ice sculptures.
The surface of the flowing water was rapidly covered by a thick, ever-growing layer of ice. This ice layer spread, thickened, and solidified like a plague toward the depths, the surroundings, and especially toward the core area where Roshi was located.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
The tooth-aching sound of rapid freezing echoed throughout the area.
The temperature plummeted at an alarming rate, as if jumping instantly from late summer into the depths of winter.
The white cold mist permeating the air grew thicker, even beginning to condense into falling ice crystals.
As the frozen range expanded rapidly, a heart-palpitating sense of "dead silence" began to spread.
No birds in the sky, no beasts on the ground, no tracks of travelers—all traces vanished in the ice and snow!
This was the true meaning of the name "Vanishing Trace."
Using an absolute-zero-like cold and rapidly spreading freezing power to lock down all signs of activity, turning the target area into an absolute ice Domain where life was severed and all things were stagnant.
It didn't just trap the enemy; it created a lethal environment of isolation, cutting off all outside help.
"I can't let this go on!"
Inside the water, alarm bells rang wildly in the mind of the semi-Tailed Beast-transformed Roshi.
Just the Water Release and Ice Release Naruto had shown—their scale, intensity, and his terrifying control over Chakra—had already far exceeded his estimates.
With a technique of this level, filling the entire Hidden Stone Village with ice wouldn't be a difficult task.
This simply wasn't the amount of Chakra or "understanding" of Ninjutsu a normal Kage-level Ninja should have!
He had to use even greater power!
"Son Goku!"
Roshi let out a roaring call in his mind, no longer suppressing that violent, scorching will that seemed ready to incinerate everything!
His Chakra boiled instantly.
More crimson, lava-like Chakra erupted from his body; his frame swelled slightly, and his aura became even more savage and burning!
But the extreme low-temperature Domain created by Naruto's "Ice Release: Sealed Trace" seemed to have its own life and will; the cold ice continued to stubbornly erode and freeze the newly surging Chakra.
Roshi felt as if he were inside an ever-tightening ice cage; the pressure didn't lessen in the slightest!
"Dammit! This cold... can it even suppress semi-Tailed Beast Chakra?"
Roshi was horrified and gritted his teeth.
He knew that conventional means would likely be unable to contend with this monster-like Hidden Leaf Village Hokage.
He no longer hesitated, sinking his consciousness into the Seal space to engage in deeper communication and request help from the ancient Tailed Beast within him—the short-tempered but equally respectful Four-Tails, Son Goku.
After forty years of life, the relationship between him and Son Goku was not simply that of Jinchuriki and prisoner.
However, Roshi wasn't a perfect Jinchuriki; he still needed bitter cultivation to suppress his own temper and Son Goku's.
"Roar!"
A world-shaking roar, filled with wild and violent power, erupted from the core of the frozen area!
This roar didn't come from Roshi's throat, but directly from the scorching Soul within him.
Boom!
The ice layer surrounding Roshi—several meters thick and incredibly hard—was torn open and shattered from the inside like fragile glass under the terrifying Chakra explosion accompanying that roar.
Fragmented ice mixed with steaming water vapor shot into the sky.
A massive figure, blood-red and seemingly composed of flowing lava and the purest Chakra, leapt suddenly from the shattered ice field and landed heavily on the ice surface, causing the ground to shake and the mountains to sway.
Full Tailed Beast Transformation!
Appearing before Naruto and Hikari was a giant red-haired ape nearly a hundred meters tall, its entire body covered in crimson fur, its muscles knotted, its eyes burning with molten gold flames, fangs bared, and Four-Tails behind it dancing wildly like lava pythons!
This was the complete form of the Four-Tails, Son Goku!
It was also the manifestation of the deep Fusion of Roshi's and the Four-Tails' power!
Roshi used half of his consciousness to suppress his temper.
Calm down...
"Lava Release: Flower-Fruit Mountain!"
The Four-Tails let out a muffled, thunderous roar, slamming its massive fists hard against the ice!
Boom!
With the Four-Tails' landing point as the center, the ice surface heaved and cracked violently!
Countless streams of scorching lava erupted frantically from underground like fountains, instantly turning the surrounding area of several hundred meters into a flaming Hell of churning lava and soaring fire pillars.
"Scorching River Great Firefall!"
Immediately after, the Four-Tails threw its head back and opened its massive mouth, a heart-palpitating crimson light condensing in its throat.
The next moment, a pillar of lava fire over ten meters in diameter—like a volcanic eruption and composed purely of ultra-high-density Lava Release Chakra—erupted violently from the ground beneath the ice mountain with the power to burn mountains and boil seas!
The scale, temperature, and destructive power of this Tailed Beast-level Lava Release attack were incomparable to when Roshi was in his human form!
Sizzle!
Wherever the lava fire pillar passed, the remaining ice mountains, ice layers, and even the parts that had just melted into water were instantly vaporized and evaporated by the terrifyingly high temperature!
White steam mixed with volcanic ash to form a massive cloud of smoke!
The cold was completely dispelled, and intense heat once again dominated this world!
What was a frozen wasteland just moments ago had turned into a purgatory of flowing lava and soaring flames in the blink of an eye! The transition between ice and fire happened in an instant!
Having escaped and launched a counterattack in its full Tailed Beast form, the Four-Tails seemed to have regained its confidence.
Its crimson body, nearly a hundred meters tall, stood amidst the sea of lava fire. It let out a roar to proclaim its power, then spread its massive, muscle-bound arms as if demonstrating its matchless might and savagery to its opponent and the world.
That posture was wild, overbearing, and filled with the primal pressure unique to Tailed Beasts!
However, the very next second after the Four-Tails struck this "I am invincible" pose...
A sudden change occurred!
The space to the front and side of the Four-Tails rippled violently with golden waves, like water, without any warning.
Then, a terrifying giant claw—even larger than the Four-Tails' own, composed entirely of golden Chakra refined to the extreme, with fingertips as sharp as blades—thrust out from those golden ripples.
The speed at which this golden giant claw appeared was extreme, giving the Four-Tails no time to react. With the power to crush mountains and a certain mocking precision, it landed with a "smack," squarely pinning the Four-Tails' face—the one currently displaying its power—just like swatting a fly.
The massive impact forced the Four-Tails' head back, its roar cutting off abruptly and turning into a muffled groan.
Then, a coarse, powerful voice—filled with displeasure, irritability, and the absolute arrogance of a superior—rang out in the Four-Tails' ear like a clap of thunder:
"Hey! Red-haired monkey!"
Along with the voice, the owner of that golden giant claw appeared.
A golden fox head with its mouth pulled back to reveal sharp fangs and eyes burning like molten gold flames slowly "squeezed" out from the golden ripples. Carrying an unrivaled pressure, it unceremoniously brought its face right up to Son Goku's pinned face.
Kurama split his huge mouth open, revealing a savage grin that was anything but friendly and clearly meant "I'm really annoyed by the sight of you."
"You were howling pretty arrogantly just now!"
The complete Nine-Tails, Kurama, has officially joined the battle!
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