The moment those strands of Kongou Fuuin (Adamantine Sealing Chains) appeared, they ripped apart the chakra chain binding Naruto as if it were rotten wood.
Naruto crashed to the ground, and for a moment he moved as if he weren't really conscious of what he was doing. Several chains of Kongou Fuuin sprouting from his body all shot straight toward Yuto's direction.
Bang! Bang!
From deep within the thick smoke left behind by Shin Susenju (True Several Thousand Hands), a series of violent clashes between chains rang out.
"Impossible!"
A voice rang from within the smoke, full of shock and disbelief.
Maybe, because Kongou Fuuin had appeared on both sides, there was some hesitation.
Maybe that opponent had suffered heavy injuries while fighting the Third Hokage.
In the clash in midair between the two sets of Kongou Fuuin, the chains from that shadowy figure began to fall back, steadily losing ground to the ones erupting from Naruto.
Realizing the situation was turning against them, that figure abruptly withdrew their chakra chains and retreated at high speed, vanishing from everyone's sight.
Only then did Naruto seem to truly "wake up," dazedly controlling the Kongou Fuuin wrapped around his body and slowly reeling them back in.
At the same time, on one of the chains under Naruto's control, the body of the Third Hokage, Hiruzen, was slowly dragged back through the air toward him, bound up in Kongou Fuuin while Naruto watched in a confused haze.
Staring at Hiruzen's corpse as it was pulled back to lie at his feet, Naruto could only stand there, stunned. He clearly had no idea what had just happened.
Whoosh—
A sharp swish of air sounded as Asuma flickered to Naruto's side. The moment his eyes fell on Hiruzen's lifeless body…
Asuma dropped to his knees on the spot, his voice shaking.
"F… Father…"
Tsunade and Jiraiya appeared beside Naruto as well. The two of them fell silent, simply standing there and looking quietly at Hiruzen's body.
Jiraiya shifted his feet, stepping slightly back to stand between Naruto and the others, subtly blocking Naruto from view.
They had driven off the invader and even snatched the Third Hokage's body back from the enemy's hands.
Those two things alone were enough to brand Naruto as a hero.
But…
From the corner of his eye, Jiraiya glanced back at Naruto. Right now, Naruto still hadn't been accepted by most of Konoha's shinobi.
For him to suddenly "earn" such great merit at a time like this… was not necessarily a good thing.
Not to mention, the Kongou Fuuin he'd just used looked exactly the same as the enemy's.
"Jiraiya, this brat is…?"
Tsunade frowned lightly as she looked at Naruto, a faint, hard-to-read suspicion in her eyes.
Jiraiya's expression tightened.
Even someone like Tsunade was starting to have bad thoughts about Naruto?
"Pervy Sage, what the heck just happened back there?"
Naruto looked up at Jiraiya standing in front of him and asked, excitement in his voice.
But the moment the words left his mouth, his smile froze.
All around them, the Konoha shinobi had gathered in a loose ring, and every gaze fixed on Naruto was cold.
That familiar look made Naruto's heart tremble.
It was the same as before—but colder still. So cold it made him feel like his heart was freezing.
——
Some distance away from the heart of the battlefield—
Konan watched with a grave expression.
"Kongou Fuuin… The Uzumaki clan's unique technique. So there was still such a powerful Uzumaki alive?"
Then she turned to Pain, her tone sharpening.
"And he was wearing an Akatsuki cloak. Has information about Akatsuki already leaked?"
Pain fell silent for a moment.
Then, instead of answering her question, he suddenly said something that seemed unrelated.
"So… that Madara is a fake?"
Konan blinked, then understanding flickered in her eyes.
One look at Shin Susenju was enough to tell it was something Hashiboy had left behind in the past.
Even though neither Nagato nor Konan had ever seen Hashiboy fight in person, just from this one jutsu they could glimpse a fraction of his true power.
Even Nagato, who called himself a "god" and was proud to the point of arrogance, felt a faint, unexpected thought rise in his heart after witnessing Shin Susenju:
I can't beat that.
If Hashiboy had been that strong, how could Madara, who once fought him as an equal, be anything less?
And the man they had met—the one who called himself Madara—might have had some strange abilities, but he was nowhere near that level.
Before, Nagato had only been somewhat suspicious. Now, he was sure.
That Madara was a fake.
The same realization occurred to Konan as she stood at his side.
Pain was silent for a beat longer, then spoke in his usual flat tone.
"Go back first. There's something I want to confirm."
He moved his foot and leapt forward, heading away.
Konan watched his figure recede, stood there in silence for a few moments, then her body dispersed into countless sheets of paper, vanishing from the spot.
Not long after Pain and Konan had completely left, space twisted not far from where they'd stood.
Obito and Zetsu stepped out of the warped air.
"Looks like they're already suspicious."
Zetsu glanced at Obito with a carefree smile.
"Suspicious? They never really believed it from the start, did they?"
Obito's tone was calm. After a pause, he added, voice dropping slightly:
"More than Pain's suspicions, what concerns me is that man who wiped out the jutsu Hashiboy left behind."
"The Uzumaki clan was destroyed long ago. Are we supposed to believe there was still such a monster hidden among them?"
"Yeah, yeah, so strong, so scary,"
White Zetsu chimed in, pulling an exaggerated face.
Beside him, the darker half of Zetsu narrowed his eyes slightly and, unusually, spoke up:
"I don't know whether any powerful Uzumaki survived or not."
"But there aren't many people in the entire shinobi world who could handle Shin Susenju so easily."
Obito's brows rose. He looked at Black Zetsu with a hint of surprise.
Normally, Black Zetsu rarely spoke. If he was talking now, that meant this was likely something troublesome.
"Then who do you think it is?"
Obito asked, curious.
Compared to the slightly unhinged White Zetsu, Black Zetsu was far more reliable in Obito's eyes.
Black Zetsu shook his head, indicating he didn't know. But a strange glint flashed in his gaze, and he shot Obito a sidelong look out of the corner of his eye.
For someone to erase Shin Susenju like that… it could only be that one.
But that one wasn't from the Uzumaki clan, and certainly shouldn't have known the clan's unique Kongou Fuuin.
That contradiction was exactly what left Black Zetsu uneasy.
//Check out my P@tre0n for 20 extra chapters on all my fanfics //[email protected]/Razeil0810