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Deep within the shared mental landscape of Narubito, the throbbing flesh cocoon pulsed. The black curse marks sealing its surface loosened. From within, a torrent of golden light surged forth, illuminating the abyssal dark sea!!
Ever since the battle between Madara and Itachi, Naruto's suppressed will had been stirring. Now, it erupted with a force that left the Uchiha reeling.
CRACK!—BOOM!
The Susano'o… shattered.
Narubito dropped to one knee, his face contorted in a vicious snarl of pain.
"That brat… Naruto!" The thought roared in Madara's mind, a storm of fury and grudging shock. "How has he grown this much?!"
For Iruka and the surviving Konoha shinobi, this sudden shift was nothing short of divine intervention.
The first to find his voice, a chuunin screamed, "Iruka! Now! Finish him!!!"
Iruka jolted back to reality. His hands trembled as he fumbled for a kunai. He stood over the kneeling, seemingly defenseless form of 'Naruto'. The blade felt like lead in his grip. He couldn't move.
"Iruka!" another ninja yelled from the periphery, voice raw with desperation. "What are you waiting for?! He's the one trying to destroy the village!"
Iruka gritted his teeth. He raised the kunai, his whole arm shaking. By duty, by logic, the safety of the village came first. It had to. But the face before him—familiar, yet warped by an alien presence—was twisted in unmistakable agony. A silent struggle played out on features he'd watched grow from a scrawny, lonely boy.
He… couldn't.
Clatter.
The kunai slipped from his fingers, hitting the rubble. His shoulders slumped in defeat. "I'm sorry… I can't. Not to Naruto."
"If you won't do it, we will!"
A wave of shinobi surged forward.
From within the mouth of the Rinnegan-summoned lizard, Izuna watched it all. Aniki… his chakra is fluctuating violently. Is that Naruto brat fighting back again? Damn it, he's in danger!
He prepared to leap out, to shield his brother—but then he saw it. The kneeling figure of Narubito straightened. Trembling, but resolute.
Izuna is watching from above, Madara's will scoffed internally, the Rinnegan pupil flickering. I won't let him see me like this.
And so, the man who acknowledged almost no one, made a concession.
"Naruto," the thought echoed into the shared consciousness. "Fighting now only weakens us both. I'll spare Iruka. Stand down."
…Whoosh.
The moment the offer was made, the rebellious golden light receded, drawn back into the cocoon. Darkness reclaimed its shell.
Full control snapped back to Madara. A thin, cold smile touched his lips.
"So… his main consciousness isn't awake. Just instinctual resistance." A low chuckle escaped him. "What an unexpectedly troublesome child."
THUMP!
He kicked Iruka, sending the teacher flying out of the immediate combat zone. The other advancing shinobi weren't so lucky. Branches of dark wood erupted from Narubito's shoulders, spearing them mid-charge, lifting them into the air like grotesque trophies.
Iruka slumped against a broken wall, vision blurring. A pain worse than any physical wound consumed him. "I'm sorry… everyone. I'm sorry… Naruto…"
Reinforcements arrived.
The Aburame, the Nara, the Hyuga, the Sarutobi—their forces streamed into the square, led by their clan heads. They took in the carnage. And the source of it all.
Shibi Aburame adjusted his glasses, his voice low and grim. "Even seeing it… I find it difficult to accept."
Beside him, Shino's hands were clenched tight in his pockets. "Yes… If you were to ask why… it is because he walked the path of his seemingly impossible dream with unwavering steps. He changed many people along the way. Including… me."
Shibi glanced at his son's profile, a complex mix of pride and sorrow in his heart. "Precisely because of that… we must stop him from falling any deeper into this abyss."
Shino's hands emerged from his pockets. "Understood."
—Secret Technique: Insect Juggernaut!
From every gourd carried by the Aburame present, a tsunami of insects erupted. A living, buzzing black curtain descended upon the figure they believed had lost his way.
—Almighty Push!
BOOM!!!
The repulsive force wave blasted the insect swarm apart into chaotic clouds. Before the shinobi could react, Narubito's hands flew through seals, and a cataclysmic blaze erupted from his mouth.
"This… this goes beyond ninjutsu!!" a Sarutobi clansman cried out, shielding his face from the overwhelming heat wave. The Aburame scrambled back, their insects useless against such an inferno.
"Sarutobi Clan!!"
—Fire Release: Great Flame Technique!
The combined fire release of the Sarutobi met the cataclysmic wave head-on. Two oceans of flame collided, twisting, wrestling, erupting into a dome of explosive fire that swallowed the center of the square.
"Dammit, we can't see! What's happening?!" shinobi on the periphery yelled, straining their eyes.
The Hyuga, however, saw everything.
Neji's Byakugan veins bulged. His mind was flooded with the image of Naruto from the Chūnin Exams—the boy who had shattered his cage of fate. The one who had saved him… was now the enemy of the entire village.
"Neji," Hiashi's calm voice cut through his turmoil. "Do not let emotion cloud your judgment. The human heart is complex. What you see may not be the truth."
"I know that, Lord Hiashi," Neji said, his voice tight. "Which is why I cannot believe what is happening before my eyes is the truth."
"You believe that is not Naruto? But the Nine-Tails' chakra cloaking him does not lie."
"Even so," Neji insisted, fists clenched, "I choose to believe there is another explanation! If Lady Hinata were here… she would believe it, too!"
"Hinata…!" Hiashi's eyes swept the Hyuga ranks. His daughter was absent.
"When she heard Lord Shikaku's Mind Transmission," Neji explained, voice heavy, "she nearly lost all composure. To prevent her from doing anything rash… I rendered her unconscious. I ask for your understanding."
Hiashi was stunned. "That child… lost control over Naruto? What connection do they have beyond being peers?"
Neji's knuckles were white. "I do not know. But I have never seen the normally timid young mistress wear such an unshakeable, resolute expression. So, Lord Hiashi, allow me to speak plainly. No matter how today ends… you must keep a close watch on Lady Hinata."
KABOOM!
The fiery dome was torn apart from within. A shadow clad in orange-and-black chakra shot out.
"He's coming!!"
The Nara clan, already poised, acted as one.
—Shadow Imitation Technique!
Dozens of black tendrils shot across the ground, merging into a single, powerful binding shadow that latched onto Narubito's feet.
Skreee—!
His charge stopped dead.
"The Nara shadow arts," Narubito mused, the Rinnegan spinning lazily. "A quaint trick. Meaningless before these eyes."
—Preta Path!
Whoosh…
The dark chakra composing the shadow threads was violently siphoned away, unraveling them from the Nara clansmen's feet.
"He… absorbed our shadows?!"
"Hahahaha!!" Narubito laughed. The ribcage of a skeletal Susano'o formed around him. A string of glowing magatama manifested, ready to carve a bloody path through the assembled forces.
Hah—!!!
—Eight Trigrams Vacuum Wall Palm!!!
Hiashi Hyuga stepped forward, both palms thrusting out with explosive force. Twin waves of compressed air cannoned into the Susano'o ribs. The impact wasn't a scratch—it was a freight train. Narubito was hurled backwards, crashing into the cliff face beneath the Hokage Monument with enough force to crack the stone.
Hiashi advanced, his voice ringing with absolute authority. "Whoever. You. Are. Remember this. The Hyuga are the strongest."
Swish! Swish! Swish!
More clans arrived, having completed the civilian evacuation. The square was now a sea of Konoha's might.
Narubito pushed himself from the crater and leapt, landing atop the stone head of Hashirama Senju. He looked down upon the black mass of humanity, a predator surveying a herd. He raised his right arm.
"It's time."
—Asura Path.
K-chak! K-chak! K-chak!
His forearm split open, revealing gleaming mechanical components. A multi-barreled cannon assembly whirred into place, locking forward.
Fwoom!
The golden chakra cloak of the Nine-Tails ignited around him.
A dangerous smile bloomed on Narubito's face, framed by the dark, cursed mist. "Aside from the Rasengan… Nagato already demonstrated how to use 'that technique' in this mode."
VWOOOOM….
The energy gathering in the cannon's maw was unmistakable. Not fire, not lightning. It was the dense, volatile, world-ending chakra of a Tailed Beast.
—Asura Path: Tailed Beast Bomb!!!
The air crackled. The very light bent towards the forming sphere as it SUCKED IN the surrounding energy.
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