A carriage at full speed was heading toward Konoha's gate, but before it could get close, the man driving it stopped because of a shout and two ninjas.
"Stop!" Two shadows fell in front of them, and the man pulled back on the horses' reins, making them halt.
"Who are you!" one of the jōnin said. A small window in the carriage opened, showing the eyes of a woman with dark circles, just like the driver, revealing they had not slept at all.
"I am the priestess of the Land of Demons. I need and request an audience with the Hokage. It's urgent!" the woman said hastily, making the two jōnin look at each other. Before one of them could go after the Hokage, someone landed near them.
"Hokage-sama!" the two jōnin said respectfully to Minato, who had arrived. Minato had left several clones watching the walls; he did not want the same failure as last time.
"Hokage, it's urgent. Yesterday the shrine of the Land of Demons was invaded by a masked man and—" the priestess stopped before finishing. A vision appeared to her: in the center of Konoha, a serpentine creature with many heads, its entire body dark purple, its dragon heads with red eyes staring at Konoha.
Suddenly, the ground began to tremble as if an earthquake were happening, and the woman's face grew paler than it already was.
"Too late…" the priestess said helplessly as she opened the carriage door to look at the road. In the distance, it was possible to see many people marching like an army.
"How did they come so fast?" the priestess murmured in confusion. She turned to speak to the Hokage only to see the last traces of white smoke fading away.
---
Because of the tremor, many people hid inside their houses, and the ninjas went to the gates. Walking along one of the deserted streets, his black cloak swayed. Obito looked at a house atop the others.
The door was opening.
"I will finish what I started that day." Obito slid his finger under the mask, biting lightly and opening a small wound.
"Summoning jutsu!" Obito murmured before slamming his open palm to the ground, several seals forming.
"This time you won't escape. I'll make you feel the same despair I felt… Sensei!"
---
"It has to be another flavor, I'm already sick of passion fruit." Minato said, while Kushina rolled her eyes at him and shot him an empty look, as if to say, "you ate it all by yourself and now you're saying that."
"It's going to be another one and I'll eat it alone!" Kushina declared with authority, giving Minato a wounded look—he had eaten the whole pie, she had only had one piece, nothing more.
Kushina opened the door, and a slight tremor came from the ground. Since she wasn't expecting it, even though it was mild, it was enough to make her lose her balance for a moment.
A hand held her shoulder, steadying her. Minato supported her as a burst of white smoke appeared outside and the memories of the clone at the gate reached him.
From the white smoke, several red eyes appeared, while a malicious energy began to spread. Several dragon heads let out a laugh.
"Hahahahaha, finally!"
Minato brought his hands together as blue chakra covered his body; it took five seconds in total before he spread that chakra with the intention of sending it throughout all of Konoha. He didn't know if it would work, but for his plan, it had to.
Ecstatic—that was how Mōryō felt. Who knew when the last time he had been free was. Mōryō was not so happy because he had not killed the mother and daughter who were supposed to become priestess when the mother died.
If it weren't for the masked man being in a hurry, Mōryō would have killed them. If it weren't for that eye, Mōryō would not have agreed so easily.
Sharingan… How could just one eye have the power to control him? Mōryō had managed to free himself once; because of that, he cooperated with the masked man.
"What?" This voice came from all the heads that turned their gaze toward a house. Mōryō felt a wave of chakra passing through him and spreading in a very organized and uniform way, spreading rapidly.
He wasn't the only one who felt it—many ninjas did as well.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Minato said and felt a wave of weakness in his body because of how much chakra left him. A white explosion burst from the house—not only there, all of Konoha exploded in white smoke.
When the smoke cleared, many Minatos appeared. Many Minatos were staring at the stunned creature, looking at thousands—or even more than that—all staring at him.
All of Konoha was infested with Minatos in every direction, even beyond the gate where the priestess stood, frozen in shock as she watched countless Minatos appear out of nowhere.
They all moved quickly, entering houses and picking up the citizens. Before the creature even had time to think of anything, a glow appeared throughout Konoha—a yellow glow that vanished as fast as it appeared.
Minato stepped out of his house the next instant. One of his clones had already taken Kushina to safety, leading her away from the imminent danger. The real Minato dropped to his knees for a brief second, breathing deeply, and then chakra began to envelop his feet as he entered Sage Mode.
The ground cracked under the pressure of his dash.
Like a golden lightning bolt, he advanced.
All of Mōryō's heads turned at once, dozens of red eyes locking onto him.
"You… you have to die!" the creature roared.
A monstrous bellow echoed through Konoha's streets, and a purple energy began to spread from its body, like a corrupting mist that contaminated the air, the walls, the very ground.
Minato leapt.
He spun in midair, concentrating chakra in his feet and adding the wind attribute. With a sharp kick, he released a cutting gust that struck Mōryō head-on, making the colossal body stagger.
Before the creature could recover its balance, Minato was already spinning again.
Another kick.
An even more violent current of wind exploded against the monster.
"STOP THAT!" Mōryō roared in fury. "It's annoying!"
The attacks did not injure him significantly, but they broke his stability, disorganizing his enormous serpentine body.
Minato touched the ground for an instant and, in an explosion of strength, launched all the accumulated chakra into his feet.
The wind and the force of the impact hurled him like a living projectile.
He spun through the air toward the creature, drawing his legs in at the last second.
Then, with all the strength he had, he delivered a devastating kick straight into Mōryō's abdomen.
The impact sounded like the clash of two mountains.
The creature was thrown far away, flying through the air until it smashed violently into the mountains around Konoha, causing rocks to collapse in a cloud of dust.
Minato was also thrown backward by the recoil of the blow, sliding several meters across the ground before regaining his balance.