Chapter 168: Phoenix Flower Flame Bullet

Rat-Boar-Dog-Ox-Rabbit-Tiger

"Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Flame Bullet!"

With the completion of the hand signs, a large, highly concentrated chakra fireball began to take shape in Toshirō's hands. The fireball spun and compressed in front of him, transforming into flame bullets the size of ping-pong balls, then shot towards the backs of the Rock Shinobi.

This was a Fire Style ninjutsu that Toshirō had developed himself after many years of study, inspired by the original series when Pain invaded Konoha and Naruto, in his rage, released a barrage of continuous fire bullets. Of course, he couldn't fire dozens or hundreds of these highly compressed chakra fire bullets at once like a Naruto in his Tailed Beast form. Nor could he use this move continuously to attack the enemy saturatively.

This ninjutsu was developed by him using the Uchiha clan's Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu as a blueprint and combining it with the principles of the Fourth Hokage's Rasengan, creating a highly practical offensive ninjutsu. It retained the original Phoenix Flower Jutsu's properties of multiple quantities and controllable attack trajectories, and made significant improvements in attack speed and power.

The original Phoenix Flower Jutsu could only manipulate soccer-sized fireballs to deliver some non-lethal blows, forcing the opponent to reposition or restricting their movement. But now, by incorporating principles copied from the Rasengan, after spinning and compressing the fireballs, they had increased destructiveness. Nonetheless, given the difficulty of combining fire chakra with the Rasengan, and the consumption of chakra it would demand, he made some compromises.

Unable to perfectly merge nature transformation with shape transformation, such a high difficulty was rendered impractical. However, when hitting the target, the highly compressed, spinning fire-natured chakra could still cause small-scale explosions, forming fireballs roughly two to three meters in diameter.

Moreover, this jutsu featured faster and harder-to-evade rotating flame bullets due to their smaller size. 

"Watch out! Someone's attacking from behind!"

As Toshirō began to gather chakra and prepare to cast the ninjutsu, Qingyan, the sensory ninja who had been vigilantly monitoring the surroundings under his captain's orders, immediately noticed the abnormality behind them. Without wasting time wondering why there would be someone behind them, his expression changed drastically, and he urgently shouted warnings to his teammates.

"Dodge!!!"

His superior, the seasoned Jonin Gangshan, sensed the danger almost simultaneously thanks to his honed instincts from years of flirting with death. Such veteran Jonin had acute battle instincts, making them nearly impossible to hinder with simple sneak attacks. 

Like now!

But turning around to confront the threat was already too late. His gaze fell upon numerous, vibrant flame bullets, resembling the fruits of the phoenix flower and exuding imminent peril. Realizing he had no time to cast a defensive jutsu, he could only shout these two syllables with every ounce of his strength.

Meanwhile, Toshirō did not stop his actions after launching his first wave of attacks. He swiftly reached into his ninja tool pouch and pulled out eight kunai, four in each hand, throwing them toward the enemy.

Time was of the essence!

His hands danced seamlessly through a series of hand seals while simultaneously pouring his chakra into the jutsu. Once more, the kunai split into multiples, transforming into a rain of kunai that descended like a merciless downpour upon the rock ninjas evading the Phoenix Flower Flame Bullets. 

"Ninjutsu: Shadow Shuriken Jutsu!"

Only now did Toshirō calmly announce the name of the jutsu, derived from the Third Hokage's development using the Shadow Clone Technique principles. While Toshirō couldn't wield this jutsu to an S-rank effect like Minato Namikaze, it was enough to deal a powerful AoE damage to the rock ninjas.

Simultaneously, understanding the importance of relentless aggression in battle, Toshirō did not pause his actions. He knew that pressing the advantage was crucial rather than allowing the enemy to regroup and launch a counterattack.

With a crimson flash in his Sharingan, locking onto some of the enemy positions, Toshirō's expression remained stern, devoid of mercy as he formed additional hand seals:

"Fire Style: Dragon Flame Caterwaul!"

Roar!

With the roar of the dragon, five colossal fire dragons surged towards the already beleaguered Rock ninjas evading Toshirō's previous two waves of attacks.

Toshirō didn't stay in place while casting his jutsu; he leapt into the air. This served dual purposes: providing more space for the Dragon Flame Caterwaul and reacting to a subtle disturbance approaching rapidly underground.

Just as he ascended into the air, a thick arm burst from the earth, aiming for Toshirō's afterimage left behind. The muscles and bulging veins on the arm indicated formidable strength from its owner. If Toshirō had stayed grounded and continued his jutsu, the outcome would have been grievous.

At this critical juncture, the Rock ninjas, already dodging Toshirō's Phoenix Flower Flame Bullets and the subsequent kunai rain, now faced the Dragon Flame Caterwaul assaulting them. Their dire situation escalated.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

A string of explosions erupted among them, accompanied by expanding orange flames that enveloped those unable to evade. While most of the Rock ninjas evaded Toshirō's first wave of attacks thanks to their superior's and sensory ninja's alert, five or six less experienced or panicking Rock ninjas were caught in the relatively weak initial blast and then consumed by the ensuing fire, emitting desperate, agonized screams before their demise.