In the center of the forest, Shukaku's massive sand body, headless, staggered a few steps forward due to inertia before finally collapsing with a crash, kicking up a cloud of dust and broken wood. A torrent of sand spread outwards; without the sustainment of Chakra, this once-invincible body was rapidly disintegrating, returning to ordinary sand.
In the chaotic center of this, five Shadow Clones, covered in boiling red Chakra, landed silently like five precise red lightning bolts on the giant sand head still tumbling in the air. Their landing was incredibly stable, as if the ground beneath their feet wasn't disintegrating sand but solid earth. Their target, clear from the very beginning, was now precisely locked onto Gaara's true body, the core of everything, currently in a state of the Fake Sleep Jutsu, located at the head's glabella.
The leading Shadow Clone showed no hesitation or emotional fluctuation. He didn't even look at the Tailed Beast Ball that had exploded in the distant mountains, enough to alter the landscape. His mission was not yet complete. He extended his hand, wrapped in Nine-Tailed Chakra, the viscous red energy flowing like a living thing, finally converging at the tips of his joined index and middle fingers. He leaned down, and with an almost surgical precision, he touched Gaara's forehead with his fingertips.
A high-frequency, high-intensity Chakra vibration instantly pierced through Gaara, directly impacting his mental sea, forcibly severing the mental link maintaining the "Fake Sleep Jutsu" in the most brutal yet delicate manner.
"Ugh!" A sharp, inhuman gasp erupted from the depths of Gaara's throat. His body arched violently, as if struck by an invisible electric shock. The thick sand armor covering him, at the instant the Jutsu was interrupted, lost all support, crumbling inch by inch like weathered rock and falling away. The enormous Shukaku head also completely disintegrated, turning into a sky full of yellow sand, swirling through the forest.
Gaara fell heavily to the ground, gasping for air, his lungs like a worn-out bellows. The sensation of his consciousness being forcibly torn from the Tailed Beast's violent ocean of slaughter and hatred caused his vision to blacken in waves, as if his soul had been ripped open by a huge gash.
He shook his head with difficulty, his blurry vision struggling to focus. The first image he saw was a Naruto Shadow Clone looking down at him from above. There was no emotion in those ice-blue pupils—no joy of victory over a powerful enemy, no pity, no anger, only the calm scrutiny of an object.
Gaara's body began to tremble violently and uncontrollably. This tremor stemmed not just from the recent battle, but from a deeper place. It was the fear, planted during the preliminary rounds when he was gazed upon by those eyes and repeatedly corrected by that incomprehensible theory, a fear carved deep into his soul.
He was genuinely terrified of this formidable guy named Uzumaki Naruto.
"You..." He tried to speak, but found his throat so dry it felt filled with sand, unable to utter even a complete syllable.
"Ichibi Jinchuriki, your out-of-control state has been terminated," the Shadow Clone declared in a flat, emotionless tone, delivering the verdict. "According to Konoha Village's wartime regulations, you will be considered an important prisoner of war, and all your mobility will be temporarily stripped."
No sooner had he finished speaking than another Shadow Clone stepped forward, his movements swift and precise. He took a special sealing tag, covered in complex Jutsu formulas, from his pouch and, with an unyielding force, directly affixed it to Gaara's abdominal seal. A powerful sealing force instantly took effect, completely severing Gaara's remaining Chakra connection to Shukaku.
Under a distant tree, Sasuke witnessed the entire process, which was as efficient as it was ruthless. From devising the plan to sever Shukaku's head, to using the impact of the Tailed Beast Ball to advance, then precisely interrupting the Jutsu, and finally capturing Gaara. The entire process flowed smoothly, without a single superfluous movement, like a standardized procedure rehearsed a thousand times.
He clenched his fists, his fingernails digging deep into his palms, but the stinging pain couldn't suppress the turmoil in his heart. The flame that had always driven him, named "Surpassing Naruto," for the first time experienced a violent tremor after witnessing a fighting style he couldn't even comprehend. The flame hadn't extinguished, but it had lost its direction, transforming into a deeper, more powerless bewilderment... Meanwhile, inside the Four Violet Flames Formation barrier above the arena.
Hiruzen Sarutobi's heart had already made peace with death. He looked at the two familiar yet strange faces opposite him—his most respected teachers, the First and Second Hokage of Konoha. To be summoned in such a sacrilegious manner by his most favored disciple, to be used as tools to destroy the Village, was in itself the greatest irony for him, the Third Hokage.
His gaze instinctively drifted outside the barrier, where he saw Naruto's Shadow Clones below, efficiently eliminating enemies and organizing civilian evacuation. Each clone's actions were filled with discipline and purpose, forcibly suppressing a major chaos that could have overthrown the Village, keeping it within controllable limits.
On Hiruzen Sarutobi's aged face, amidst his grim determination to die, a rare, bittersweet smile of relief appeared.
"Minato, Kushina... your child has grown into the most outstanding Ninja, truly capable of protecting this Village," he murmured to himself, his voice filled with resignation. "Then, as Hokage, it is time for me to fulfill this last responsibility."
He tore off the Hokage's ceremonial robe, revealing the black battle suit underneath. In his mind, he had already begun to rapidly rehearse the upcoming battle, including how, at the most critical moment, he would use the life-gambling Reaper Death Seal to completely seal the First, Second, and Orochimaru, his greatest mistake in life, all together.
"I am old, and I don't particularly want to live anymore, but before I die, I must correct the greatest mistake of my life!"
Just as he focused all his will, preparing to launch his final charge, a powerful, suffocating aura appeared outside the barrier without warning.
This aura was cold, heavy, carrying an iron-like will and sense of order, utterly different from the Nine-Tailed's violent, hateful Chakra, but its absolute oppressive force was no less, if not greater.
The battle inside the barrier paused for a moment due to the appearance of this aura.
Orochimaru stopped his attack with interest, his golden snake eyes turning outside the barrier. His long tongue licked his lips, and he let out a hoarse laugh: "Oh? It seems there are quite a few guests today."
Outside the barrier, Naruto's true body finally arrived at the scene.
He ignored the surrounding fighting and chaos, simply looking up calmly, his ice-blue pupils analyzing the massive purple barrier before him. There was no panic or anger in his gaze, only the indifference of an engineer scrutinizing a substandard product.
"Standard four-point barrier, energy supplied by four Jutsu users, vertices are structural weak points, with twelve percent energy leakage. Vertex demolition can be performed, or... the energy supply can be directly cut off."
He murmured calmly to himself, as if evaluating a crude industrial product.
Immediately, Naruto formed hand signs, but they were not any Ninjutsu signs known to Konoha.
"Summoning Technique: Karsten Protocol."
He let out a low shout, pressing his palm heavily on the ground.
"Boom!"
A thick cloud of white smoke dissipated, revealing not any of the giant summoned beasts familiar to Konoha Ninja.
From the smoke, five figures emerged.
They wore uniform dark gray combat suits of unknown material, yet they exuded an indestructible quality. Tactical gear from head to toe enveloped them completely, their faces entirely obscured by grim and cold tactical masks, revealing only pairs of eyes devoid of any emotion. Their aura was as solid as a mountain, and their movements carried a deeply ingrained, soldier-like killing intent.
"Karsten Squad, clear the obstacles," Naruto issued the extremely concise command.
"Yes, Political Commissar sir."
The leading soldier, Karsten, knelt on one knee, responding in a tone that was both incredibly respectful and mechanically uniform. The four behind him performed the same action. Their voices, processed through the masks' voice changers, blended together, sounding cold and unified, not quite human.
The next second, with Karsten remaining by Naruto's side as a guard, the other four transformed into four gray afterimages, rushing at speeds difficult for the naked eye to catch, towards the four vertices maintaining the Four Violet Flames Formation—the four Otogakure hidden in the shadows, believing themselves safe.
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