Chapter 207 Endless Hellfire Projection

"How dare you... How dare you tear my clothes..."

Jashin hesitated briefly, then his face twisted and became extremely ferocious, "Shinigami, you dare oppose me for the sake of a mere ant? You no longer have the right to exist. Disappear!"

As his words fell, a dark purple flame erupted from his body. The previously eerie aura now grew so overwhelming it seemed to shake the world.

Raising his right hand, the flames coalesced into a massive purple greatsword, its blade shrouded in the same deep purple fire.

Whoosh!

With a swing in the air, Jashin unleashed a ten-meter-long arc of sword energy. Everything in its path disintegrated into nothingness, the very air igniting and warping as though the space itself were about to be torn apart.

"Seal!"

The Shinigami didn't dodge or flinch. It merely uttered a single word before raising its short blade to meet the attack.

The moment the sword energy touched the short blade, it truly seemed to be sealed, vanishing completely without a trace.

"F*ck!"

Despite the Shinigami's skeletal appearance, the way it blocks the attack is really cool to Naruto.

While Jashin's flamboyant attack had been met with ease, the Shinigami's understated response spoke volumes. The difference in their levels was clear.

"This is it! This guy's the real deal!"

Naruto laughed heartily and then mimicked Jashin's tone, "Mere Jashin, how dare you flaunt your arrogance before the Shinigami? You're done for, pal!"

"You ant… This god will engulf you in endless hellfire, leaving you unable to live or die!"

Jashin's eyes narrowed slightly.

Before Naruto could retort, he saw the purple-black flames reflected in Jashin's eyes.

Naruto instinctively shut his eyes, but it was too late.

In the instant they locked eyes, Naruto's surroundings shifted entirely. He found himself trapped within an endless sea of purple-black fire.

"Damn it, you sneaky bastard! A so-called god resorting to cheap tricks!"

Naruto didn't need to think much about it and immediately concluded that this was a mental attack unleashed through Jashin's gaze. But whether this was Genjutsu or not, he couldn't be sure.

As the flames burned, Naruto let out a pained groan, unable to think clearly.

"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique!"

Naruto quickly formed hand seals, summoning a massive water dragon behind him.

However, as soon as the dragon appeared, it was vaporized by the purple-black flames.

"Dammit!"

The Water Release Ninjutsu proved utterly useless, while the searing pain in Naruto's body only grew worse. He couldn't help but curse aloud.

Unable to sense the Flying Thunder God's mark, Naruto became certain that this wasn't Genjutsu but a special space created by Jashin, a space with unending hellfire.

But even if he understood it, it would be useless. Without proficiency in Space-Time Ninjutsu, escaping was an impossibility for Naruto.

"Arghhhh!"

Naruto screamed in agony, desperately calling out to his system for help, "System-sama, is there any way to get me out of this hellhole?"

[Friendly Reminder: No!]

Hearing this response, Naruto let out an even louder scream, his suffering growing unbearable.

But after screaming in agony for a while, Naruto began to notice something strange.

The flames capable of instantly vaporizing his Water Dragon Bullet Technique were unable to actually kill him.

He couldn't help but recall Jashin's words, "Leaving you unable to live or die!"

At that moment, it dawned on him, 'Jashin's intent wasn't to kill me outright, but to torture me endlessly with this hellfire, making me wish for death as a release.'

The realization made the burning pain intensify. The flames weren't just scorching his body, they were searing his very soul. The agony left him convulsing, unable to cry out, as no sound would escape his throat.

Even worse, he couldn't even pass out. His body refused to surrender, forcing him to endure the torment, which only grew stronger over time.

The sensation transformed from burning to needle-like stabs, each sharper than the last. Naruto's agonized screams reverberated through the endless space.

The cycle repeated endlessly, every moment dragging on like an eternity.

Naruto's mental state began to unravel. Yet, for some reason, his consciousness remained clear, as if something were deliberately ensuring he stayed lucid to feel every bit of the pain.

"So, this is the power of a god?"

Naruto let out a bitter laugh. His body felt like it was his own yet alien to him, as if he were nothing more than a puppet on strings, easily manipulated.

He finally understood why humans feared gods. It wasn't the unknown… it was the terrifying reality that gods truly possessed the power to control everything.

This only strengthened Naruto's resolve: he must become a god himself!

Obtaining the Rumble-Rumble Fruit has made him qualified to become a god. As long as he can survive this ordeal, he swore to double down on his efforts, complete every mission, and become the God of Thunder!

Just as he was thinking about this, a system prompt sounded in Naruto's mind.

[It is detected that the host has stayed in the Endless Hellfire Projection for one hour. Sign-in successful. Reward: Endless Hellfire Projection.]

[Endless Hellfire Projection: A unique ability derived from Jashin's projection. Allows the user to create a space filled with endless hellfire. Consumable ability. The flames' power is...]

"Perfect!"

Seeing this system reward, Naruto's eyes immediately lit up with hope.

As he always believed: to defeat magic, one must use magic.

Without any hesitation, Naruto activated the Endless Hellfire Projection. Instantly, the original purple-black flames around him seemed to double, like an overlapping shadow of fire.

The two sets of flames clashed, rejecting each other due to opposing wills.

The space, overwhelmed by the doubled energy, began to collapse. The projection was never designed to withstand such a conflict.

With a sound akin to an eggshell cracking, the entire space shattered.

Naruto felt a dizzying sensation, and when he opened his eyes again, he was back in the real world.

"Damn, what a waste!"

Naruto sighed in frustration. He hadn't even had time to read the full description of the ability when the system notified him:

[Friendly Reminder: Endless Hellfire Projection has been neutralized by the opposing Endless Hellfire Projection. Host has lost this ability.]

The reason was simple: Since the two projections are both infinite in nature, they had canceled each other out.

Even though the flames were technically consumable, their boundless essence meant they couldn't coexist. Against an identical, infinite force, they simply negated one another.

This was why Naruto hadn't delved into the skill's full potential, as knowing more would only have made the loss feel more regretful.

Turning his gaze back to the battle between Jashin and the Shinigami, Naruto noticed a significant change.

The purple-black flames that had once enveloped Jashin were gone, leaving it in a semi-transparent state.

Meanwhile, although Shinigami's white robes were tattered, it remained cloaked in its ghostly gray aura.

This outcome didn't surprise Naruto.

It was clear that the Shinigami he had summoned was its true form, while Jashin, as introduced in the skill's description, is simply a projection of real Jashin.

No matter how powerful Jashin might be, a projection could never hope to match the real Shinigami.

With a heavy slash, the Shinigami's blade descended.

Boom!

Jashin let out a final roar of defiance before disintegrating completely.

The dark, cloud-covered sky cleared almost instantly, returning to a bright, cloudless blue.

Seeing this, Naruto smiled.

It wasn't the defeat of Jashin that pleased him. After all, even with Jashin gone, the Shinigami was bound to claim his life as a sacrificial offering.

What gave him hope was the fact that Jashin had only been a projection.

This realization opened a door for Naruto.

During his torment, he had already made up his mind… he wouldn't merely kill Jashin.

Instead, he would ascend as the Thunder God and subject Jashin to endless storms, making him suffer the same unrelenting agony of neither living nor dying.