Chapitre 80: Sacrifice

Observing with calm as the ninjas launched themselves at him from all directions, Chen smiled.

"A group of weaklings..."

The enemy ninjas, unaware of the approaching danger, continued their charge.

Some were forming seals, others wielding kunai and shuriken, ready to attack. The air filled with the whistling of thrown weapons.

Just when it seemed Chen would be overwhelmed by the massive attack, his eyes shone with supernatural power. With a voice that resonated:

"Shinra Tensei!"

In that instant, the world seemed to stop. An unnatural silence fell over the battlefield, like the calm before a storm.

Whoosh!

Suddenly, a wave of invisible force emanated from Chen, expanding in all directions like a silent explosion. The air itself seemed to distort, creating visible ripples extending from Chen.

Crack!

The effects were immediate and devastating. The ninjutsu about to be launched dissipated. Shuriken and kunai, which moments ago were flying towards Chen with lethal intent, now spun uncontrollably in opposite directions.

"AAARGH! UGHH!"

The screams of surprise and pain from the enemy ninjas filled the air. Their bodies, as if they were mere leaves in a hurricane, were thrown backward with brutal force. Some crashed against nearby trees with a chilling crunch, others rolled on the ground, raising clouds of dust and debris.

Nawaki and Minato, who had been watching from a safe distance, exchanged looks of astonishment.

Nawaki, with a trembling voice, could barely articulate: "That... that was..."

"Impossible," Minato completed.

"It's like watching an adult hit a child. The difference in power is... terrifying." Shikaku frowned, clearly uncomfortable with his mind's inability to process what he had just seen.

The Blood Eagle, once proud and confident, now found himself on his knees, clutching his chest with one hand as he struggled to breathe. "Damn it... What... what are you? No human can be that strong..."

"I haven't even started to try, and you're already on your knees. How disappointing." Chen shook his head, like a teacher unsatisfied with his students' performance. "I take back what I said before. None of you deserve to have your name written in my notebook."

Although his words sounded like disappointment, internally Chen was exultant. This was exactly the effect he had sought: to sow fear and doubt in his enemies, to establish his supremacy in such a resounding way that no one would dare challenge him.

With irritation, Chen said, "I really had no intention of killing anyone today. But you... you came to try to assassinate me. Well, I'll show you the error of your ways."

Suddenly, his feet lifted off the ground. Slowly, he began to rise into the air, gravity had ceased to affect him.

"Banshō Ten'in!" he exclaimed, his voice resonating with power.

He extended both hands forward, palms open. The air around them seemed to distort, as if an invisible force emanated from his hands.

Whoosh!

Suddenly, two of the Jōnin lying on the ground were violently dragged towards his hands.

Their bodies rose from the ground, unable to resist the gravitational force pulling them.

"AAAARGH!" the Jōnin screamed, terror evident in their voices as they flew uncontrollably towards Chen's hands.

In a matter of seconds, each hand closed around a Jōnin's neck. The silence that followed was broken by broken necks.

Crack! Snap! Crunch!

With cold calm, he twisted their necks. The sounds of breaking bones and crushed cartilage made everyone present shudder.

As quickly as he had attracted them, Chen released the now lifeless bodies.

Thud! Thump!

The corpses fell to the ground with a dull thud, raising clouds of dust.

The silence that followed was deafening.

Still floating in the air, looking at the bodies with an expression of indifference. He spoke with boredom.

"To be honest, I feel no satisfaction in killing them. It's like crushing insects."

These guys who don't even have Kage-level strength are here just to give away their heads.

"Wow! Big brother is amazing!" exclaimed Konan, her eyes shining with admiration and awe. From Mikoto's protective arms, the little girl couldn't take her eyes off Chen.

At that moment, for her, Chen wasn't just powerful; he was the embodiment of everything she considered heroic and admirable.

Kushina, noticing the adoration in Konan's eyes, approached the girl with a warm smile. Gently patting Konan's head, she said:

"You know, Konan, your big sister is very strong too. If I set my mind to it, I can easily take care of those guys."

But Konan, with the typical stubbornness of a child, shook her head. "Maybe," she conceded, "But my brother is the best. No one can surpass him!"

"Hmph!" Kushina snorted, a mixture of amusement and slight irritation in her expression. "We'll see how good your 'sister' is. I'll show you what I'm capable of."

With a determined step forward, Kushina shouted at Chen.

"In the next battle, you don't need to intervene. I'll take care of everything."

Still floating in the air, Chen simply shrugged before descending to the ground.

A barely perceptible smile appeared on his lips, knowing well Kushina's taste for being the center of attention and willing to grant it to her. After all, he had already demonstrated his power conclusively.

"Go ahead," he said, bowing. "The stage is yours."

He had left the strongest opponent, the Blood Eagle, practically incapacitated. Those who remained, although strong, were no match for someone with Kushina's skills.

As Kushina prepared for battle, the air around her began to ripple with heat.

The Magu Magu Fruit, with its ability to control and become magma, was a force to be reckoned with. Even Mikoto, with her Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, would find it problematic to face Kushina in combat. Without Armament Haki, she couldn't even touch her.

And the full use of this Fruit can destroy a city in an instant.

The remaining Jōnin, sensing the desperation of their situation, decided to launch a combined attack as a last resort.

"Damn it! They're underestimating us! Fire Element: Dragon Flame Fire Bullet!" roared one of them, his hands forming seals.

"Let's attack together! Fire Element: Great Dragon Fire Jutsu!" seconded another, the veins in his neck bulging from the effort.

A third, taking advantage of the synergy of the techniques, added: "Wind Element: Great Breakthrough!"

Whoosh! Roar! Crackle!

The air filled with the deafening roar of flames, fed by the wind. A hellfire headed towards Kushina, so intense that the air around it distorted from the heat.

Observing from the side, Chen noticed that the Blood Eagle, with his right arm injured, was unable to form seals. Now he could only watch, waiting for an opportunity to deliver a fatal blow if it presented itself.

But Kushina, far from looking worried at the approaching wall of fire, flashed a confident smile. Her eyes shone with anticipation.

"Unless those flames exceed a thousand degrees, they're nothing more than a delicious meal."

Fwoosh!

When the flames reached Kushina, something amazing happened. Instead of consuming her, the fire seemed to be absorbed by her body. Her skin glowed with a reddish glow, but neither her clothes, nor her hair, not even an eyelash was singed.

Hiss!

The fire swirled around her, as if drawn to her. Little by little, the flames diminished, absorbed by the kunoichi's body. Her skin emitted an intense but controlled heat, like the surface of a dormant volcano.

"Mmm," she murmured, closing her eyes for a moment, savoring this meal. "Thanks for the appetizer."

When the last vestige of fire disappeared, she opened her eyes.

"What... what the hell?" The Jōnin's voice trembled uncontrollably as he looked at Kushina, completely unharmed. "Impossible..."

"GULP"

The sound of several dry swallows was heard among the enemies.

Behind the scene, Nawaki and the others let out a collective sigh of relief. The tension that had been building in their bodies dissipated slightly, although the amazement persisted.

"Whew," exhaled Nawaki, wiping sweat from his forehead. "For a moment I thought..."

He didn't need to finish the sentence. Everyone had felt the scorching heat of the flames, even from more than ten meters away. The idea that someone could survive that, let alone come out unscathed, defied all logic.

Realizing something, Nawaki, with his eyes still wide open, turned to Chen.

"Hey, Chen... Isn't this similar to your Kekkei Genkai? It's like... as if Kushina turned into magma, just like you turn into light."

The memory of Chen transforming into flashes of light during his training was still fresh in Nawaki's mind. The similarity between both abilities was undeniable.

For his part, Chen simply smiled enigmatically. He offered no explanation, letting his companions' imagination fill in the blanks.

How could he explain the concept of Devil Fruits to people in this world? The idea of obtaining superhuman powers by eating a fruit seemed too fantastic, even in a world of ninjas and jutsu.

Whoosh!

The air around Kushina rippled with heat, small drops of lava falling from her fingers and leaving smoking marks on the ground.

The others watched in silence. No one dared to ask more questions. In this world, inquiring too much about someone's unique abilities could be dangerous.

Even among friends, certain secrets had to be kept.

Aware of the tension and curiosity, Chen maintained a neutral expression. He reflected on the irony that in this world there existed a fruit even more powerful than the Devil Fruits: the Chakra Fruit, capable of elevating a person to the state of god in a single step.

Kushina, with a fierce smile on her face, extended both hands. The air around her began to ripple from the intense heat as two spheres of burning lava formed in her palms.

"Lava-Rasengan!" she shouted with power. "Turn to ashes, bastards!"

The spheres, of an intense and bright red, spun violently, small drops of lava escaping from their surface and falling to the ground with a hiss.

Whoosh!

With a movement, she launched the two lava spheres towards her enemies. The air distorted in their wake, the heat so intense that it created visible waves.

Sizzle! Boom!

The two Lava Rasengan, a technique that Kushina had developed combining the properties of the traditional Rasengan with the powers of her Devil Fruit, impacted directly on the chests of two Jōnin.

"AAAAARGH!" The ninjas' screams of agony were brief and heart-rending.

In an instant, the spheres penetrated their bodies. For a second, everything seemed to freeze. Then...

Kaboom!

The magma compressed inside the Rasengan exploded like a volcano. An explosion of lava and charred flesh expanded in all directions.

Sssssss!

The two closest Jōnin, unable to react in time, were engulfed by the magma explosion. Their bodies melted almost instantly, reduced to nothing but ashes in a matter of seconds.

Splat! Hisss!

Fragments of lava flew in all directions. The other two Jōnin, although they tried to dodge, were not fast enough. Drops of magma pierced their bodies, burning organs and bones alike.

Thud! Thud!

Four bodies fell to the ground, unrecognizable, smoking and charred.

Only the Blood Eagle, thanks to his superior reflexes and speed, managed to avoid the fatal fate of his companions. However...

"AARGH!" A scream of pain escaped his lips as part of the magma reached his left arm.

The smell of burnt flesh filled the air as the Blood Eagle retreated, his left arm severely burned and practically useless. Drops of cold sweat ran down his forehead, mixing with the sweat caused by the intense heat.

For a ninja, losing the use of an arm was almost a death sentence. Forming seals with one hand was a rare and difficult skill to master.

His breathing was heavy, his mind racing in search of a way out that seemed increasingly unlikely.

Kushina, for her part, remained standing, unperturbed by the chaos surrounding her. Her expression was one of satisfaction. The power of the Lava-Rasengan, an S-rank technique comparable to Chen's Thunder-Rasengan.

With desperation shining in his eyes, understanding that he was at his end, Blood Eagle, with a brusque movement, tore off his shirt, revealing a torso covered in intricate seals and marks.

"For my lord!" he roared, with fanaticism and desperation. "Though I die, I'll take you with me!"

His hand, trembling from pain and adrenaline, formed a complex seal. "Four Symbols Inverted Sealing Jutsu!"

Shhhhrrrkk!

A tearing sound filled the air as the seals on his chest began to glow with a sinister light. Suddenly, black blood began to gush from his body.

Whoosh!

The blood didn't fall to the ground, but expanded in all directions, forming a perfect sphere with the Blood Eagle at its center. The air around seemed to distort, as if reality itself was being bent by the power.

Kushina, immediately recognizing the technique, felt her blood freeze. "It can't be!" she shouted urgently. "It's the ultimate sealing technique of our Uzumaki clan!"

Turning to everyone, she screamed with all her might: "GET AWAY!! QUICKLY!!"

The panic was palpable in her voice. Although the activation of the Four Symbols Inverted Sealing Jutsu was not instantaneous, it represented a mortal threat to all present.

Buzz!

The hum of concentrated chakra filled the air, growing in intensity with each passing second.

Chen, Mikoto, Kushina, and Konan with their abilities, could easily escape the radius of the technique. However, Nawaki and the others didn't have that speed.

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