Four blazing orange-red tails lashed violently in the air, each whip of chakra a living inferno. The sight made even the battle-hardened Hiruzen Sarutobi feel his breath hitch.
It wasn't the familiar menace of the Nine-Tails that unsettled the Third Hokage. No—this was something different. A presence that pulsed with the raw, volcanic fury of the Four-Tails.
Impossible, he thought, jaw tightening. How is this masked intruder using the Nine-Tails' power when even Konoha's own shinobi cannot? The notion was both absurd and bitterly ironic: their village's greatest weapon now danced like a puppet for someone else.
Around him, Konoha's ninja stared wide-eyed. Even Might Guy, who rarely lost his nerve, couldn't keep silent. "Kakashi!" he shouted, eyes locked on the figure cloaked in writhing red chakra. "The Nine-Tails' Jinchūriki belongs to us! How can an outsider command that power?"
Kakashi's throat worked soundlessly for a moment. "I… I don't know," he finally rasped.
A low hum filled the air—buzz—as the masked man rose. His feet left the ground with an eerie calm, crimson chakra swirling like a tattered royal robe around him.
Neji.
Under the hood and mask, it was Hyūga Neji, yet not the boy anyone remembered. He floated effortlessly, the Nine-Tails' chakra shimmering like a second skin.
Before the stunned onlookers, glowing chakra beads formed at Neji's brow—first one, then another, until eight perfectly round rosaries hovered in a slow orbit.
"What… what is that?" Hiruzen murmured, sharp eyes narrowing. Even with decades of experience and the keen vision of a master, he could not identify these strange constructs. Instinct alone told him they were dangerous.
"Prepare yourselves," someone shouted, tension snapping through the ranks.
Neji remained utterly still, but his very presence pushed against their senses like a storm about to break. Without waiting for orders, Konoha's shinobi moved in unison, hands flashing through seals.
"Katon: Dragon Fire Technique!"
"Katon: Great Flame Burst!"
"Fūton: Great Breakthrough!"
"Fūton: Fierce Wind Palm!"
Flames roared upward, fanned by slicing winds. The combined ninjutsu lit the sky in an apocalyptic glare. Heat rippled across the field; even seasoned veterans felt their breath catch as the air itself seemed to burn.
A deafening boom shook the village. For a heartbeat the heavens were fire.
"Is it over?" Nara Shikaku whispered, eyes fixed on the blazing column.
But as the flames ebbed, his breath stalled. The eight chakra beads were gone, replaced by a black, hemispherical shield that hugged Neji like an unyielding cocoon.
The combined assault—powerful enough to make even a Kage hesitate—had done nothing. Not a singe, not a crack.
High above, Neji's eyes gleamed with quiet amusement. "So," he said softly, "with enough chakra I can freely alter the form of these prayer beads."
Shock flickered in Hiruzen's pupils. The defense surpassed even the legendary Rashōmon. What kind of kekkei genkai is this?
His face hardened. Four shadow clones appeared with a single seal, fanning out like seasoned hunters.
Neji raised a palm. The eight beads spun faster, their orbits a blur of silver light.
"Five Elements—Magnificent Consecutive Ball!" Hiruzen barked.
Wind, lightning, fire, earth, and water surged forth, the combined might of five natures roaring skyward. The sheer force dwarfed the earlier barrage.
Neji's voice was almost casual. "Silver Wheel Reincarnation Explosion."
A perfect silver ring bloomed before him. From it, a whirling storm poured downward—a luminous tornado that swallowed the Five Elements as if they were mist.
The Silver Wheel Reincarnation Explosion. Ultimate art of the Tenseigan's gravity manipulation. Anything caught within its argent tempest turned to dust.
To unleash it, three conditions were required: entry into Tenseigan Chakra Mode, mastery of the chakra rosaries, and complete command of gravitational forces. Neji lacked the first, yet the Nine-Tails' overwhelming chakra supplied enough energy to meet the other requirements.
The ground quaked with violent tremors. Howling winds, thick with pulverized stone and dust, ripped outward in every direction.
"Aaahhh!" Shinobi screamed as the silver storm devoured all in its path.
Hiruzen's face blanched. The Five Elements release—stronger than anything a dozen elite jonin could conjure—vanished without resistance. The silver vortex kept going, scything through the ranks and leaving shattered bodies in its wake. At least thirty ninja perished in an instant.
This was no ordinary S-rank technique. It was annihilation incarnate.
Near the edge of the maelstrom, clan leaders like Kurama Sōun and Nara Shikaku stared in stunned disbelief. The Third Hokage, famed as the strongest in Konoha's history, suddenly seemed old and frail against this impossible power.
At last the storm subsided. Neji exhaled lightly, a thin mist rising in the chill left behind. He had considered attempting the even more devastating Golden Wheel Reincarnation Explosion—but the Nine-Tails' chakra abruptly faltered.
The Fourth Hokage must be warning me not to slaughter indiscriminately, Neji mused. He sensed the distant presence of Minato's sealing influence, a reminder that the borrowed power could be withdrawn.
He assessed his reserves. Only about sixty percent of the borrowed chakra remained—too little to risk the Golden Wheel. A tactical retreat was wiser.
Neji's Tenseigan vision swept northwest toward the Uchiha compound. The battle there had ended. Fugaku… likely gone.
So many of the Uchiha had chosen death to buy time for their kin. Neji could almost admire their grim resolve.
With a snap of his fingers, two chakra beads shot downward, striking the cage that held Yugito. The summoned monkey king Enma flinched, instinctively reverting to his human form to evade the strange constructs before landing protectively in front of his master.
As the cage shattered, Yugito felt an unseen gravity seize her. She was drawn helplessly upward, long hair streaming in the wind. The Two-Tails' cloak dissolved, leaving her floating, regal and defiant.
Neji wrapped an arm around her waist, holding her effortlessly. His cold gaze swept the devastated square below. "Hokage-sama," he called evenly, "I'm taking the Nine-Tails' Jinchūriki. Interfere if you wish, but the next clash will not end as gently as this."
With that, he lifted Naruto in his other arm and soared away, a streak of crimson and silver disappearing into the night.
On the ground, clan leaders watched in frozen silence—anger and grief warring with a primal fear.
Hiruzen stared at the half-ruined village and the dozens of lifeless bodies. He felt the weight of years settle heavily upon him. An enemy had stolen the Nine-Tails' host and slaughtered his people, and all he could do was watch.
A flicker of movement: Hyūga Gensuke appeared beside him. "Hokage-sama," he said gravely, "that masked man is Hyūga Neji. Please issue the order to pursue."
"What?" Hiruzen's head snapped around.
"The mask bore a sealing formula that disrupts Byakugan perception," Gensuke explained, "but chakra cannot lie. The signature matches Hyūga Hizashi's line with near-perfect precision. I am certain it is Neji."
The Hokage rubbed his chin, silent. Gensuke was an elite jonin, his judgment rarely in error. Yet Neji… the boy was only six years old. The power he had wielded must have come at a staggering cost.
Should they give chase? Danzo would have—Hiruzen knew the elder would already be calling for blood. But caution was the Third Hokage's nature.
At length Hiruzen shook his head. "It isn't so simple. Recklessness now would be fatal. We must proceed carefully."
Gensuke exhaled in frustration but said no more. The masked man's strength was undeniable. To pursue him—while he still held the Two-Tails' Jinchūriki—would invite another massacre.
"Come," Hiruzen ordered at last. "We go to the Uchiha compound. Perhaps Danzo has news."
---
The Uchiha district was ruin incarnate, scarred by countless jutsu. A black, inextinguishable flame still smoldered at the entrance to a subterranean passage, blocking any attempt to descend.
At the center lay a new crater, ten meters across. In it sprawled the broken body of Uchiha Fugaku, pierced through by wooden stakes.
"Another moment and he would have killed me," Danzo muttered hoarsely, staring at the corpse. Fugaku's final stand had been that of a god of slaughter. Without help, even Danzo's repeated use of Izanagi might not have saved him.
A swirling distortion shimmered nearby. From it stepped a man in an orange mask—Obito.
Danzo's eyes narrowed, a flicker of murderous intent flashing.
Obito knelt beside the fallen clan head, turning the body with a frown. Fugaku's own fingers had gouged out his eyes.
"He destroyed his Mangekyō before death," Obito observed with a dry chuckle. "Prudent, though pointless. His eyes were little more than tools—disposable, like any three-tomoe Sharingan."
A sudden whoosh—razor-sharp wind blades sliced toward him, striking rubble ten meters away. Obito only tilted his head, unharmed.
"You know that won't work," he said lightly, a smile audible behind the mask. "We're allies, remember? You distracted Fugaku from the front, I struck from behind. An excellent partnership."
Danzo's glare remained cold. This masked man possessed not only Sharingan's space-time abilities but also Wood Release—a combination more terrifying than Fugaku himself.
Then Obito stiffened, sensing a vast chakra presence. "The Hokage approaches," he murmured. "Our business here is done."
With a low chuckle he stepped back, body warping into a spiraling vortex. "A pleasure working with you. Until next time." And with that, he vanished into the Kamui dimension, leaving only the whisper of swirling air behind.
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