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NAJ Chapter 52: Magma and Wind, Blood and Shadows
🕑 Added 2025-06-28 03:44:31 +0000 UTC“Uchiha Keizumi…”
Under the veil of night, the faintest ripple in the air shimmered—
And the cloaked figure reappeared.
Only one eye was visible beneath the mask—
And in it, a shadow of ominous intent.
“If it weren’t for Minato-sensei back then, I probably would’ve died by your hand, wouldn’t I?”
He let out a soft chuckle. “Heh… I heard that little guy, Uchiha Itachi, went through something quite similar.”
He mumbled on, seemingly to himself, without any clear logic.
“First day back in Konoha, and I run into you... How unlucky can I get? Should I take this chance to… kick you while you’re down?”
His gaze swept forward, catching sight of multiple figures rushing toward the Yamanaka clan’s compound in the distance.
He sighed—regretfully.
“Forget it…”
“Too many people around now.”
[BOOM!!!]
A surging torrent of molten magma came crashing down toward the dream tapir and Danzō.
Even from tens of meters away, the overwhelming heat scorched the air—irritating Danzō’s eyes and making his skin itch uncomfortably.
The dream tapir inhaled deeply—then opened its mouth and blew.
A howling gust of wind erupted, forming a solid barrier that managed to hold off the rushing magma flow.
But Danzō’s sharp instincts picked up something wrong beneath the dream tapir’s feet.
From the dense network of cracks in the ground, faint red light began to glow—
As though something terrifying was about to erupt from beneath the surface.
Danzō’s breath caught.
His pupils contracted sharply.
“Below you, Baku!!” He shouted urgently.
The beast looked down immediately.
In the next instant—its eyes reflected the blazing glow of rising magma.
[BOOM!]
The ground at the dream tapir’s feet split open and shattered—
A surge of molten lava burst upward like a massive guillotine, slashing straight toward the creature’s head!
The tapir recoiled in panic, stumbling backward—
But the lava’s speed was far too fast.
In less than the blink of an eye, it had already sliced past right in front of it.
Danzō watched helplessly as the crimson blade of magma swept by less than three meters from where he stood.
“Raaaagghhhh!!!”
The dream tapir’s agonized scream rang out—
And as Danzō glanced down quickly, he saw that its long snout—and half its facial skin—
Had been completely vaporized.
The indescribable agony drove the Dream Tapir into a ceaseless, tortured scream.
Sensing something, Danzō's expression darkened. He barked out, “Calm down! Don’t dispel the Summoning Technique on your own! Trust me—just this once!”
At some point, Danzō had already ripped the bandages off his face, revealing a crimson Sharingan, which darted madly in every direction.
The moment he locked onto Uchiha Keizumi—
Danzō clenched his teeth and shouted, “Baku! You only need to hold out for two minutes! Give me just two minutes, and Uchiha Keizumi will die!”
‘Danzō… are you really going to fight that lava monster to the bitter end?’
A sudden voice boomed in Danzō’s mind.
Though the Dream Tapir couldn’t speak aloud, it could communicate directly with Danzō through the summoning link—a one-way telepathic connection.
From the sound of its heavy panting, Danzō could tell it was in extreme pain.
He glared at Uchiha Keizumi standing not far ahead, jaw clenched. “That inherently wicked Uchiha brat—if he’s allowed to remain in Konoha, the Uchiha Clan will seize it sooner or later!”
With that, he slowly unwrapped the bandages around his arm—after all, his Sharingan was no longer a secret to Uchiha Keizumi.
And as for the eight subordinates he had brought along to collect the corpse?
The moment the Dream Tapir was severely burned by lava and his men hesitated to act, Danzō knew—they were already dead. Even if a few still lived, they were no longer capable of assisting.
That meant he had effectively lost sixteen Root shinobi in a single day.
The weight of old grudges and fresh losses made his hatred toward Uchiha Keizumi burn hotter than ever.
‘Fine… just two minutes!’
Suppressing the searing pain on its face, the Dream Tapir chose to trust its old human partner one more time.
It glared furiously at Uchiha Keizumi—the one who had scorched it.
Then, with a thunderous roar that shook the heavens, the Dream Tapir opened its mouth wide and launched a massive Wind Ball—so enormous it nearly matched the size of its own body!
The Dream Tapir had no concept of 'collateral damage'.
This was it giving everything it had.
The giant Wind Ball tore through the battlefield like an unstoppable force of nature.
Everything in its path was obliterated—earth was shredded by the raging gales, towering trees were snapped in half, buildings collapsed one after another. If any Konoha civilians had still been living nearby and hadn’t evacuated minutes earlier upon hearing signs of shinobi combat, they would’ve had no chance of escape now.
The overwhelming blast of wind forced Uchiha Keizumi to squint slightly.
It was as if an invisible wall had slammed into him, pushing his body steadily backward. Beneath his feet, twin furrows were carved into the ground as his heels scraped along the dirt.
Through the razor-sharp clarity of his three-tomoe Sharingan, he caught sight of a blurred figure—someone being carried within the heart of the enormous Wind Ball, surging straight toward him!
That was...
Danzō!
[—BOOM!!!]
The massive Wind Ball had already swallowed Uchiha Keizumi whole. Behind him, the Yamanaka Clan compound was devastated—entire buildings uprooted from the ground, with debris and rubble flung wildly in every direction.
Uchiha Keizumi’s magma-formed body looked as if it had been covered in explosive tags—as the Wind Ball struck, he was blown apart with a thunderous “boom!”
Chunks of magma were sent soaring hundreds of meters into the air, some crashing down to ignite roaring fires, others splattering like molten glue across the earth, or bursting into glowing droplets that scattered through the sky like blazing stars.
From his waist, Danzō pulled out five sealing scrolls. He bit down on his tongue, drew blood, and spat it directly onto each of the scrolls.
“Ninja Art…”
“Multiple Evil-Sealing Method!!!”
He slammed his palms together.
The muscles on his weathered face trembled violently.
Behind him, the Dream Tapir inhaled with sudden force, the suction as intense as the previous gale. The scattered magma was being drawn back by this powerful vortex.
Simultaneously, the five sealing scrolls Danzō had thrown into the air began emitting their own forceful suction.
They attempted to pull in every last drop of the gathered magma.
As he watched a glob of molten rock congeal mid-air into a rolling arm of lava, two thoughts surged through Danzō’s mind: Is this brat even human? Can a body like that still be called human?!
Still, he gritted his teeth.
He refused to believe that even five layers of sealing techniques wouldn’t be enough to imprison Uchiha Keizumi’s entire body!
However, in the very next instant, Danzō froze.
“M-My arms…” he stammered, overwhelmed. His shocked gaze drifted down—under the pale moonlight, he saw shadows cast by the magma begin to solidify.
They stretched through the air and bound his hands.
—Shadow Imitation Technique!!!
The name of a secret jutsu from the Nara Clan exploded in Danzō’s mind.
The powerful force carried by those shadow tendrils forced his arms apart, disrupting the chakra flow that had been channeling steadily into the sealing scrolls.
The scrolls' suction became erratic, pulling in useless rocks and fallen leaves along with everything else.
Damn it!
At this rate, he wouldn't be able to control the scrolls precisely—let alone seal Uchiha Keizumi.
Panic shot through Danzō like lightning. He had no time to wonder why a Nara Clan shinobi had suddenly appeared and turned against him.
All he could think about now—
Was that the Sharingan embedded in his arm might be crushed to pieces by the relentless pressure of those shadows!
Clenching his jaw with brutal resolve, Danzō made his move.
From his right arm, thick vines suddenly sprouted, writhing violently. They lashed out and ripped apart the shadows that bound him, forcibly tearing them away.
His expression turned utterly grim—because after exposing the secret of his Sharingan, he had now revealed his trump card: Wood Release!
And both times, it had been because of Uchiha Keizumi!
He had actually been pushed to this point by that inherently wicked Uchiha brat.
Damn it!
Suddenly—
Something else happened. Something Danzō hadn’t anticipated.
—The magma scattered across the sky abruptly vanished from his sight, without any explanation!
Danzō’s first instinct was that he’d fallen into a genjutsu cast by the Sharingan.
But his body was covered with Three-Tomoe Sharingan. Even if he were caught in an illusion, he should’ve sensed it.
Something’s not right…
Where was he?!
Did he escape?!
Then, Danzō’s eyes landed on one of the sealing scrolls—its edges looked scorched and browned, as if singed by intense heat.
Wait—
If that evil Uchiha brat had really fled, why hadn’t the temperature dropped at all?
The moment the burnt edge of the scroll caught fire—and the surrounding scrolls began to ignite in turn—
Danzō finally realized what was wrong.
It wasn’t a genjutsu. Keizumi hadn’t run.
He had simply used some unknown jutsu to conceal himself!
That brat had transformed into magma—invisible, but still tangible!
Danzō could think of only one Kekkei Genkai that matched this phenomenon: Transparent Release.
As a wave of searing heat suddenly struck his face—
The veins on Danzō’s forehead throbbed, and he roared inwardly with desperation:
Izanagi!!!
Just as the secret technique of the Sharingan activated again, he finally saw it—molten orange magma blazing before his eyes.
But it was already too late.
Far too close.
There was no way to dodge.
[—BOOM!!!]
Danzō’s body was instantly engulfed by magma. But under the absurd power of the Sharingan’s forbidden technique, which could 'rewrite reality to nullify fatal outcomes', his vaporized body reformed in an instant.
“An old man like me… won’t die so easily!”
He spat the words through clenched teeth.
Yet to his surprise, Uchiha Keizumi—the one who had just killed him—wasn’t attacking again.
Danzō watched in disbelief as Baku’s terrifying suction force pulled in the deadly magma wave.
Hsss!
So that Uchiha brat’s true target… was Baku!
Danzō’s pupils shrank.
But it was already too late to warn it.
The magma, surging like a tsunami, rose high into the air and came crashing down, engulfing the massive body of the summoned beast.
