Uchiha's personal opinion

Furthermore, the continuous bombardment caused by the exploding tags repeatedly interrupted the Third Mizukage's hand seals.

Left with no other choice, the Third Mizukage drew upon a large amount of chakra to maintain the Water Armor Technique and extended the protective range outside his body, determined to complete the technique even at the cost of doubling his chakra consumption.

However, the technique he was about to use was a secret technique developed by the Second Mizukage, Hozuki Gengetsu, based on the family system. The Third Mizukage did not have the bloodline of the Hozuki clan, so both the structure of the technique and the difficulty of its execution were many times greater.

Furthermore, the original body of the Third Mizukage did not fully master this technique; it was Madara Uchiha who found it through memory searching, so it is normal that he failed to perform the technique multiple times.

"Water Release: Steam Violence!"

As the last mark settled, the Third Mizukage, whose original form was fairly normal, suddenly became withered and emaciated, like a mummy that had been dehydrated for a long time.

What followed was a child-like clone with a face that bore some resemblance to it.

The exterior of this clone is made of oil, while the interior is made of water. It is characterized by being easily heated and cooled. Once it is activated, the oil on the surface will be rapidly heated, causing the water inside to evaporate, which will cause the water vapor to explode. Then it will cool down and shrink in volume by turning into hail, preparing for the next explosion.

The Third Mizukage planned to use the infinite explosion feature of this secret technique to break through the Uchiha Fire Array's encirclement and the bombardment of the multiplicative explosive tags through continuous high and low temperature changes.

However, even with the Steam Violence Technique he himself used, the explosive damage was still indiscriminate.

In other words, if this method is used to break the Uchiha Fire Formation, the Third Mizukage would be the first to be hit by the blast.

"Seriously, I'm the first person to experience the power of this ninjutsu up close..."

The Third Mizukage chuckled self-deprecatingly, feeling somewhat helpless.

Neither his original self nor Madara Uchiha, who was controlling him, had ever personally tested the power of his ninjutsu.

"burst!"

The Third Mizukage silently recited this in his mind.

The vaporous explosive clone, which had expanded to its critical point under high temperature, immediately exploded.

The high-temperature explosion further intensified the temperature within the fire array barrier, but it also cleared out some of the multiplicative detonating tags.

"what!"

Uchiha Tokumitsu, who was outside controlling the summoning bombardment of the Mutual Multiplication Explosive Tags technique, also sensed that something was wrong.

Not only did some of the detonating talismans that served as the medium suddenly malfunction, but even the fire array began to ripple.

Clearly, those trapped inside the barrier were in an unobservable and unpredictable state, but the changes within the barrier clearly showed that the Third Mizukage was not willing to be roasted alive in the fire array and had begun to try to save himself.

Therefore, to prevent the mutual explosion tags from being completely eliminated, Uchiha Tokumitsu decided to intensify his efforts!

The sealing scroll, which had been gradually burning with the light of the summoning spell, suddenly lit up with a red light and then burst into flames!

Uchiha Tokumitsu sent the remaining six thousand-plus explosive tags into the fire array barrier in one go!

"go to hell!"

Uchiha Tokumitsu viciously activated the explosive tag to detonate.

"You shameless brat!"

The Third Mizukage, inside the fire array barrier, was also cursing angrily.

Nearly six thousand explosive tags were thrown in at once, and even the Third Mizukage, who was used to big scenes, was almost scared to the point of having a heart attack.

The Third Mizukage could no longer care about the consumption of chakra and repeatedly activated his Steam Violent Clone Technique, which exploded and condensed multiple times in a very short period of time. However, these efforts only destroyed a portion of the more than 6,000 explosive tags.

The Third Mizukage narrowed his eyes again as he looked at the large pile of burning explosive tags in front of him.

"Water Release: Water Armor Technique!"

"Water Release: Water Prison Technique!"

After the Third Mizukage had placed multiple layers of protection on himself, the explosive tags detonated as expected.

"boom!"

With a deafening, earth-shattering explosion, the barrier of the fire array swelled, nearly shattered by the powerful shockwave.

Just as Uchiha Tokumitsu was struggling to maintain the stability of the fire array, another series of explosions came from inside the barrier.

"Even this explosion couldn't kill him?"

Hanzo, the salamander standing nearby, was also somewhat surprised.

Thousands of explosive tags exploded in a high-temperature furnace; it's truly remarkable that they could withstand it!

"After all, he's the leader of a village; he must have some secret techniques to save his life..."

Uchiha Tokumitsu took a moment to reply.

The color of the fire array barrier varied in intensity, indicating that the explosions inside were caused by a combination of fire and ice.

The bombing, with its extreme temperature difference, put immense pressure on the barrier.

Even with Uchiha Tokumitsu's chakra control skills, he started sweating profusely just to maintain the barrier.

"Firelight Venerable!"

Uchiha Tokumitsu threw out the Creation Firelight Venerable, which flew towards the barrier. The fire dragon's body circled around the barrier and spewed out streams of flame to repair the gaps in the barrier, barely stabilizing the fire array.

Hanzo the Salamander watched for a long time, and couldn't help but feel sorry for the Third Mizukage who was trapped.

A peerless master of water-style techniques was trapped in a fiery array and desperately tried to break the sealing barrier with his chakra. The amount of chakra consumed was unimaginable.

Putting everything else aside, just converting chakra into water-style nature in a high-temperature environment is already quite a challenge.

"This kind of death is probably the most frustrating for a Kage in the ninja world..."

Hanzo the Salamander shook his head, casually twirled his sword, and then sheathed it.

"Who knows? Maybe there will be even more bizarre causes of death in the future~"

After stabilizing the fire array barrier, Uchiha Tokumitsu, who had been continuously "baking" the area, felt a little relieved and casually joked.

The deaths of the Third and Fourth Hokage of Sunagakure in the future are truly bizarre!

However, it was not easy to share such information about the future with others, so Uchiha Tokumitsu could only keep it to himself.

"There shouldn't be any suspense anymore, right?"

"I can't help but ask," Hanzo asked casually.

The color changes of the fire array barrier are getting smaller and smaller, indicating that the explosive power within it is also constantly decreasing.

"It's hard to say...who knows if these shadows might have some strange or unusual ways to save their lives~"

Uchiha Tokumitsu was also somewhat unsure.

It's important to know that Madara Uchiha possesses many secret scrolls of ninjutsu that have been lost to the Uchiha clan. Who knows if there might be other methods to break them!

Inside the Flame Array barrier, although the explosion time of the Steaming Dangerous Clone was getting longer and longer, its size was expanding and getting bigger and bigger.

The Third Mizukage continuously drew chakra and the oil and moisture from his body into it, causing his body to become as thin and emaciated as an old mummy.

He's planning something big!

"--burst!"

Just as the Steam-Damaged Clone was about to touch the top of the barrier, the Third Mizukage took a deep breath and completely detonated it!

"boom!"

With another violent explosion, the Uchiha Fire Formation shattered!

Uchiha Tokumitsu was so shocked that his eyes almost popped out of their sockets.

"This……"

Even when the loophole in the Fire Array barrier was discovered and the formation was broken through, Uchiha Tokumitsu was not this surprised.

But if the fire array barrier is blown open like this, what kind of damage will the people inside suffer from their own ninjutsu?

"Earth Release: Submarine Navigation Technique!"

Before the dust settled and without uttering any threats, the Third Mizukage, who had just escaped, immediately used Earth Release to flee.

"Lightning Release: Low Descent!"

Uchiha Tokumitsu casually used a technique to try to interrupt the Earth Release escape, but it still had no effect on the Third Mizukage who had already been buried.

"You run really fast..."

Uchiha Tokumitsu used his sensory ninjutsu to investigate and found that the Third Mizukage had indeed slipped away.

Seeing this, the Mist Shadow Anbu, who were still fighting the Mobile Force not far away, stopped their pursuit. They left three of them to act as suicide soldiers to hold off the Mobile Force, while the others jumped into the puddle and fled.

Uchiha Tokumitsu stopped the mobile unit's pursuit.

"That was clearly a great opportunity!"

Hanzo, the salamander, frowned, utterly puzzled.

"If you don't hold back, the Third Mizukage will definitely not be able to escape!"

It must be said that bystanders have a clearer perspective.

Hanzo the Salamander also noticed the inner turmoil that Uchiha Tokumitsu was experiencing when dealing with the Third Mizukage.

"...After all, he is the leader of a village; killing him would be an ominous sign."

Uchiha Tokumitsu casually explained.

Whether this explanation is convincing or not is a matter of opinion.

"Let's go back, I'm tired too..."

Uchiha Tokumitsu used his toe to pick up the katana that had fallen to the ground, and then sheathed it. He then called out to the mobile unit to clean up the battlefield, and then had three Uzumaki ninjas carry the still expressionless Yagura Karatachi away.

Hanzo the Salamander also returned.

He didn't really understand strategy, but since his benefactor wasn't willing to continue the pursuit, he was happy to save himself some trouble.

……

The impact of this battle on Kirigakure was extremely profound.

The two pillars of Kirigakure were captured and fled in battle against Uchiha Tokumitsu and Hanzo of the Salamander, respectively. This terrified the pro-war faction, and several members of the elders announced their resignation and retirement in an attempt to evade responsibility.

However, Uchiha Tokumitsu forcefully suppressed the desire of his ninja army, especially the three clans of Kirigakure, to launch a solo attack. Instead, he opened the door wide and recruited some Kirigakure rogue ninja who had come to join him.

While destroying a ninja village is tempting, even a weakened camel is bigger than a horse, and if things really escalate to a point of mutual destruction, the shogunate's ninja army will suffer extremely high losses.

What Uchiha Tokumitsu found most unbearable was the death of his subordinates in battle, especially his most precious clan ninjas.