With her short blade already drawn, Samui knew perfectly well that her own strength alone would never be enough to cut through a fire dragon of that size.
Karui and Omoi looked even worse. At their current level, they simply were not equipped to deal with an attack on that scale.
Then, at the critical moment, Akira's hands blurred into afterimages, his hand signs so fast they were impossible to follow.
The instant she saw him finally move, the tension in Samui's body eased at once.
The last time she had fought beside him, she had learned one thing for certain.
The moment Akira chose to strike back, it meant the situation was already under control.
And just as expected, the instant his hand signs were complete, Akira shouted, "Water Style: Exploding Water Shock Wave! Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"
With the surge of chakra, an enormous torrent crashed into existence out of nowhere, like a waterfall pouring down from the heavens, slamming toward the battlefield in a massive wall dozens of yards wide.
At the same time, the violent Wind Style jutsu caught that towering column of water and twisted it upward.
Empowered by the wind, the rushing water seemed to come alive, transforming into a roaring water dragon that opened its abyssal jaws and smashed straight into the incoming fire dragon.
"BOOM!"
The violent collision of water and fire triggered a brutal shockwave of energy, making the ground within hundreds of yards tremble wildly.
Shion stared blankly at Akira's tall back, her eyes full of awe.
"So this is Akira-san's true power? He's incredible..."
When the water dragon and fire dragon finally destroyed each other, a massive crater exploded open in the ground, its base quickly filling with muddy water.
The unstoppable fire dragon had been completely stopped.
Yūgao had no choice but to sweep Shion into her arms and leap to higher ground, because the entire area below had already become a flooded wasteland.
The four white-clad ninja nearby were all dumbstruck.
"He blocked our combined jutsu? That's impossible!"
The power of their combined jutsu had clearly crossed into the realm of an S-rank forbidden jutsu.
Forget ordinary jonin. Even a Kage-level fighter might not have wanted to take it head-on. Yet Akira had effortlessly answered it with a combined jutsu of his own and erased it from the field.
That level of strength was enough to make anyone's scalp go numb.
Akira's cold gaze swept across the enemies standing at the four points around them.
"So you're the trash who unleashed Mōryō, aren't you?"
The four ninja frowned, exchanged glances, and then shouted in unison, "Kill him!"
The next second, all four lunged at him like starving wolves.
Akira did not panic. He simply glanced at Neji, Lee, and Samui.
The three of them understood instantly, scattered without hesitation, and each rushed at one of the attackers.
Akira turned and called out to Yugao, "Yūgao-onee-san, don't get dragged into a fight. Get Shion-hime out first!"
Yugao nodded, hoisted Shion up, one hand resting on the hilt of her blade as she protected her way through the edge of the encirclement.
Akira, meanwhile, fixed his eyes on the last ninja left standing alone.
"Killing someone like you is a waste of my time."
Before the words had even finished leaving his mouth, Akira vanished.
"Chidori!"
"Shhk!"
The white-clad ninja had just begun his charge when his vision blurred. A heartbeat later, a sharp agony tore through his chest.
By the time he understood what had happened, Akira's lightning-wreathed hand had already pierced straight through his heart.
Blood burst out instantly.
At that same moment, Yugito had just finished off the enemy she had sent flying earlier.
When she turned back, she caught the entire exchange in full view.
She froze where she stood.
"That instant just now... that was definitely space-time ninjutsu, wasn't it? This guy doesn't just have monstrous Lightning Style. He actually knows one of those legendary jutsus too?"
"And that speed... it's absolutely beyond Raikage-sama's."
Akira expressionlessly pulled his hand free. A pulse of lightning flickered across his body, blasting away every trace of blood that had splashed onto him. His clothes remained spotless.
That level of fine chakra control shocked Yugito all over again.
After dispatching one enemy as casually as brushing dust from his sleeve, Akira didn't even glance at the other three battles. He simply started walking toward the palace gates.
As he passed the still-stunned Yugito, he said offhandedly, "Why are you still standing there? Go after them and protect the priestess."
Then he walked out without another look back.
Only then did Yugito finally snap back to herself. Gritting her teeth, she turned and hurried after him.
After Yūgao had dragged Shion through the forest at full speed for several minutes, Akira and Yugito finally caught up.
The moment she saw Akira unharmed, Yūgao let out a long breath. She had genuinely been afraid more enemies of that level might appear, because if they did, she knew she wouldn't be able to hold them off.
After all, Yūgao was only a tokubetsu jonin. She could handle ordinary combat just fine, but those monsters from earlier were far beyond the level of normal jonin.
That terrifying four-element combined jutsu alone would have been enough to wipe out most elite ninja in seconds.
Shion, who had been tense the whole time, saw Akira arrive and nearly teared up with relief.
"Akira-san, thank goodness you're all right."
Akira gave a slight nod, but his gaze had already gone past the forest and toward the capital in the distance, where dust was beginning to rise into the sky.