"Something is wrong," Miwa Uchiha breathed, the words barely audible over the low, resonant hum of the colossal barrier. Her voice was taut, cutting through the focused silence of the command hub deep within the northern sector of Konoha's defensive fortress.
Around her, dozens of shinobi sat in disciplined rows, hands pressed against glowing fuinjutsu arrays etched into the stone floor, channelling streams of shimmering blue chakra upwards. Their collective energy fed the intricate network that sustained the honey-coloured dome arching impossibly high overhead, shielding thousands of Konoha lives.
Sweat beaded on brows, muscles trembled with sustained effort, the air thick with the scent of ozone and exertion. Miwa stood slightly apart, her Sharingan active – twin crimson pinwheels spinning relentlessly as she monitored the chakra flows within the barrier and scanned the chaotic landscape beyond its shimmering wall through a reinforced observation slit.
Chiba Akimichi, his massive frame seeming to absorb the dim light of the chamber, turned from directing a group of sensor-nin. His usually jovial face was etched with deep lines of fatigue and responsibility. "Miwa? What is it?" His voice was a low rumble, steadying amidst the underlying tension.
Miwa didn't turn, her gaze fixed outward, the tomoe in her eyes whirling faster. "The attack… it's dulling down. Significantly. Across the entire northern arc."
Chiba frowned, stepping closer to peer out the thick crystal pane. Outside, the scarred hellscape was partially obscured by the barrier's golden hue, but the relentless flashes of Kumo ninjutsu – the "Whoosh-Crackle!" of lightning, the "Boom-Thud!" of earth techniques – had diminished. The constant, teeth-rattling vibration thrumming through the fortress's foundations had lessened to a weary tremble.
"Isn't that a good sign, Miwa-san?" Chiba asked, a flicker of cautious hope in his voice. "Less pressure means the barrier lasts longer, gives our people inside more time to organize, lets our chakra replenish... and even time for reinforcements to arrive."
"It should be," Miwa countered sharply, finally tearing her gaze from the distance to meet Chiba's concerned eyes. Her Sharingan reflected the glow of the chakra arrays, making her expression unnervingly intense. "But it feels… calculated. Not like exhaustion. Like they're gathering–"
"KA-Boooooooom!"
The sound wasn't just loud; it was physical. It slammed into the command hub like a giant's fist. The honey-coloured barrier flared violently, not with the familiar ripple of dispersed energy, but with a sudden, terrifying shake.
The entire fortress structure groaned in protest. Stone dust sifted from the ground. Several channelling shinobi cried out, their connection wavering, hands slipping from the arrays as the violent tremor ran up their arms. The resonant hum deepened into an alarmed, discordant.
"Wham!"
"Report!" Chiba bellowed, bracing himself against the shuddering wall. "What hit us? Where?"
The barrier protecting Konoha's forces was quite large, encircling a vast area encompassing miles of No Man's region. Miwa, Chiba, and the core barrier team were positioned at the northern apex, the point absorbing the fiercest concentration of Kumo's fury, where the land sloped down towards Cloud territory. The sheer scale meant that an attack on one section could be miles away from the command hub itself.
"East!" a sensor-nin yelled, hands pressed to the floor, eyes wide. "Major impact!"
Chiba squinted through the observation slit, scanning the distant curve of the barrier miles to the east. The honey-gold light distorted the distance, but he could just make out… something. A figure? A distortion? It was too far, a smudge against the shimmering wall. "What was that? What are they planning on doing?"
Miwa was already staring, her Sharingan piercing the miles, ignoring the glare, filtering the chakra signatures. Her breath hitched, a cold dread washing over her.
"It's… him," she whispered, the blood draining from her face. "The Eight-Tails Jinchuriki."
Fifteen miles east, standing defiantly on a small rise of shattered rock, Killer Bee faced the colossal barrier. No beard softened his young face, only sharp, determined angles.
An aura of immense, volatile power surrounded him – a thick, swirling cloak of blazing orange chakra that snapped and hissed like living fire, forming the distinct silhouette of multiple tails lashing the air behind him. Raw energy crackled around his form, scorching the earth at his feet. He held his right palm outwards, fingers splayed, facing the golden wall that had defied Kumo for hours. A visible spiderweb of cracks, radiating brilliant white light, pulsed ominously where his palm had struck moments before.
He tilted his head, a grin spreading beneath the chakra's glow. "Yo! Konoha wall, thick and tall," he began, his rhythmic cadence carrying unnaturally across the desolate distance, amplified by the chakra cloak. "Thought you'd crumble, take a fall! But you stand firm, gotta give you props, gonna need more juice to make you flop! Bee ain't playin', time to get mean, crank the power up, make this scene obscene! Yeah!"
His voice, laced with the Hachibi's growling undertone, was a bizarre counterpoint to the tension. He drew his palm back, the orange chakra swirling violently, concentrating into a blinding point before his hand.
"Ka-Raaaaaack-Boooom!"
This strike wasn't just sound; it was annihilation. The impact point on the outermost barrier layer flared sun-bright. The intricate fuinjutsu patterns binding it together overloaded, flared white-hot, and then… shattered. Not like weakened glass, but like a vast pane of crystal struck by a meteor.
"Shatter-Crash!"
A deafening sound echoed across the landscape as countless shards of solidified chakra energy, each the size of a house, dissolved into blinding motes of light before vanishing. The loss of the first gate of the barrier sent a sickening lurch through the entire defensive network; the honey-gold light of the remaining barriers dimmed perceptibly.
"MOVE! SUPPORT SECTOR DELTA-SEVEN! NOW!"
Miwa's voice cracked like a whip, galvanizing the stunned hub. "All available barrier corps! Channelers! Prioritize the gates! GO!" She was already blurring, her body flickering out of the command hub in a burst of speed, Sharingan blazing. Dozens followed, streaking like desperate comets across the fortified interior of the barrier zone towards the eastern breach.
But they were shinobi, not gods. Fifteen miles was an eternity at this moment. As Miwa and the fastest reinforcements covered half the distance, flickering past shocked faces of comrades staring skyward, they felt the next cataclysm.
"Ka-Blam!"
The second barrier gate exploded outwards, the concussive wave buffeting Miwa mid-leap, forcing her to tuck and roll.
"Shatter-Crash!"
The third gate followed mere seconds later, collapsing like a soap bubble pricked by a mountain. The sound was a physical blow, the wave of displaced air carrying the acrid tang of vaporized chakra and dust. The protective light over the eastern flank flickered wildly, now only five layers thick where there had been eight.
Miwa skidded to a halt just behind the crumbling edge of the third gate's remnants, joining a rapidly assembling group of panting barrier specialists and channelers who had been stationed closer.
The sight before them was terrifying. Killer B stood wreathed in his chakra inferno, casually surveying the damage, the cracks on the fourth barrier already glowing white under the residual force. Beyond him, through the gaping holes, the massed ranks of Kumo shinobi became visible, a dark, seething tide waiting to flood in.
"FORM UP! LINK CHAKRA! REINFORCE GATE FOUR!
"NOW!"
Miwa commanded, her voice raw but unwavering. She slammed her palms onto a glowing anchor point on the ground, the Sharingan whirling furiously as she analyzed the failing fuinjutsu matrix. Others followed suit, hands linking, chains of shinobi pouring their energy into the trembling fourth barrier.
A collective groan rose as the strain hit – like trying to hold back an ocean with bare hands. The cracks on the fourth gate pulsed, flared… then began to slowly, agonizingly, knit themselves back together, the honey-gold light intensifying, pushing back against the orange chakra radiating from Bee.
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