When Kiyosuke arrived, the Hokage Building had already been reduced to rubble.
From within the wreckage, Tsunade struggled to crawl out, her body covered in wounds.
The masked man spoke softly.
"I came to Konoha for only one thing—the Red Moon Scroll. Hand it over."
"Over my dead body!" Tsunade hissed.
"Then you have only yourself to blame."
The masked man raised his hand. Behind him, a masked priestess flicked a silken ribbon that cracked through the air like a steel whip.
A burst of flame shot in, knocking the attack aside.
Standing protectively in front of Tsunade, Kiyosuke grinned.
"Well, well, well—who do we have here? You think you can just waltz into Konoha with a few lackeys and cause trouble? Did you even bother to ask me first?"
"Asakawa Kiyosuke? Quite the troublesome opponent," the masked man said calmly. "But I didn't come alone. Come out."
The moment his words fell, the space around him began to distort.
A woman wearing a black robe and the same kind of mask as Obito's stepped out from a spatial rift. She had a graceful figure and spoke in a cool tone.
"So, you've already reached your limit? Well, I suppose anyone would, facing Asakawa Kiyosuke."
"Hmph. I don't need your commentary. Handle him."
"Against him? That's not going to be easy."
As the woman was about to make her move, another spatial vortex formed beside Kiyosuke.
The semi-transparent figure of Obito emerged.
"Sorry. I'm late."
"You know you're late? If you'd taken any longer, Naruto and I would've just left on our own."
"Huh? You can leave on your own?" Obito blinked, confused. He didn't know about Kiyosuke's tricks—he only knew that normally, he was the only one who could cancel this jutsu.
"Hmph." Kiyosuke snorted. "Not yet. Let's take care of this masked guy first."
"No problem. You go after him—I'll take the woman. We both use space–time ninjutsu. I doubt she can beat me. Without the Uchiha bloodline, even Kakashi couldn't bring out the full power of the Sharingan," Obito said lightly.
The Sharingan was, after all, the Uchiha clan's kekkei genkai.
Only when both eyes were united and wielded by a true Uchiha could the Sharingan's full potential be unleashed.
No matter how much of a genius Kakashi was, he could never truly master it.
"Arrogant fool!" the woman snapped.
Their battle began in a flash of distorted space.
Kiyosuke pointed at the masked man.
"In that case, you're next—masked man!"
"Courting death!"
The masked man stepped forward.
Kiyosuke smirked.
"Instead of running away, you're coming closer? Then why not come a little closer still?"
"Bastard!"
The masked man finally lost his patience.
From behind him, a masked puppet—grim as the god of death—lunged forward, swinging its scythe.
The blade sliced downward, releasing a wave of chakra so eerie it chilled the air.
Kiyosuke knew he couldn't block it and leapt aside.
The attack struck two Konoha shinobi instead—instantly severing their souls.
"What the hell are these things?" Kiyosuke muttered, his eyes scanning the puppets rampaging through Konoha.
Then realization struck.
The Nine Masked Beasts!
A terrifying technique that no one in Konoha currently knew how to perform.
It involved summoning nine divine beasts through a special summoning art.
Each puppet possessed its own unique abilities.
From the Azure Dragon to the White Tiger, the first five commanded different chakra releases, while the remaining four wielded other mysterious powers.
It was an incredibly advanced technique—so difficult that even in Konoha, it was said only Uzumaki Mito had ever mastered it.
This ninjutsu had been designed specifically for jinchūriki—more precisely, for the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki.
It worked by dividing the Nine-Tails' power and infusing it into nine sub-foxes, then summoning those nine puppet beasts to fight.
Each puppet had a degree of self-awareness and could fight without direction.
Not only that—their strength far surpassed that of ordinary jōnin.
They were terrifyingly powerful.
"I see now," Kiyosuke said slowly. "You're the distorted reflection of this world, aren't you? How interesting."
He finally understood who this man was.
Naruto—or rather, Menma Uzumaki—the son of Minato and Kushina in this alternate world.
Kiyosuke's own counterpart was likely in another version of Konoha, while Naruto's counterpart here had become a rogue ninja—a masked man who roamed the shinobi world, collecting forbidden jutsu and bloodline limits.
"My, my... you're quite something," Kiyosuke chuckled, baring sharp teeth.
"With both parents alive and you still managed to go dark? Then let your uncle teach you a little lesson—show you what's right, what's wrong, and what's called... the Fist of Love!"
"Bastard!" Menma roared. "Kill him!"
Behind him, the Celestial Maiden, the Death God, the Northern and Southern Sages, and the White Tiger and Vermilion Bird all charged forward.
ROAR!
The White Tiger let out a thunderous roar, its body crackling with lightning as it fired a devastating thunderball from its jaws.
High above, the Vermilion Bird spat blazing flames.
The Celestial Maiden, Death God, and both Sages launched their own attacks simultaneously.
Faced with that overwhelming onslaught, Kiyosuke knew he couldn't counter it head-on.
He grabbed Tsunade and sprinted away.
Leaping onto a rooftop, he saw Naruto and Minato arriving at last.
He handed Tsunade over to Naruto.
"Take her somewhere safe," he said, then leaned toward Minato. "Minato.. what kind of person is Menma?"
"Why are you asking that now?"
Minato blinked. This hardly seemed like the right time for conversation.
"Just curious," Kiyosuke replied. "Anyway, this is how things stand right now. It's not like—wait, what the hell is this?"
Beneath their feet, a purple sigil suddenly appeared, pulsing with suppressive force.
Menma's voice echoed through the air.
"If you want this woman back, trade me the Red Moon Scroll."
A massive Azure Dragon swooped in, clutching a girl in its claws—Sakura.
"Let me go, you bastard!"
Sakura struggled, but the dragon's grip was iron. The more she thrashed, the tighter it held, her resistance only making things worse.
The masked man ascended into the sky with Sakura in hand. He raised one arm.
A massive sphere of chakra condensed in his palm, surrounded by two white rings.
Its power surged violently, and Kiyosuke's face darkened.
If that thing hit the ground, Konoha would be obliterated.
He couldn't let that happen.
"Can you teleport that thing away?" he asked sharply.
Minato shook his head.
"No—there's no marker."
"Damn it... then I'll have to do this the hard way!"
Chakra burst violently from Kiyosuke's body.
"Flame Ring: Pillar of Fire!"