Konoha Village
Around the mountainside where Konoha's civilians had taken refuge, a magnificent dome of dark golden chakra stretched across the sky like a divine barrier. The ethereal membrane shimmered with protective energy, casting everything below in an amber glow that spoke of both hope and desperate determination.
"ROAR!"
Naruto, who was helping evacuate civilians alongside his fellow academy students, suddenly felt a powerful resonance emanating from the seal on his abdomen. The Nine-Tails' chakra within him responded to the protective barrier with what could only be described as recognition—and perhaps approval.
Throughout the crowd of refugees, most of Konoha's residents stood transfixed by the incredible display of power above them.
"It's that technique again!" Suzuka Hatake exclaimed, her voice tight with memories of terror from eleven years past.
She raised her eyes toward the heavens, her gaze penetrating through the golden energy field to catch glimpses of the figure floating impossibly high above them all. The same overwhelming presence that had nearly destroyed their village during Naruto's birth had returned.
"This is Mom's chakra!" Naruto suddenly declared with absolute certainty, his voice cutting through the frightened murmurs of the crowd.
While he possessed no formal training in chakra sensing, some instinctive connection told him beyond any doubt that his mother's power was what stood between them and annihilation.
"How can you possibly know that?" Sasuke and Chiharu demanded in unison, their expressions skeptical despite the conviction in their friend's voice.
Whoosh!
Before Naruto could respond, several familiar figures materialized in front of the assembled young ninja—moving with the desperate urgency that marked truly dire circumstances.
"Lord Third!"
"Sensei Shisui!"
"Big brother?"
Each of the students called out to their respective mentors and family members, but the arriving adults had no time for emotional reunions or explanations.
"Organize every chunin-level ninja and above for civilian protection!" the Third Hokage commanded with battlefield authority, addressing Itachi and Shisui directly. "Form defensive perimeters immediately!"
Both young prodigies nodded without hesitation and vanished in swirls of leaves and crows respectively, moving to coordinate Konoha's remaining defenders.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
Within moments, every available ninja in the village had converged around the civilian population. Since most had already been engaged in evacuation duties, they were already positioned on the outer edges of the protected zone—a small mercy that would prove crucial in the coming moments.
"Earth Style: Earth Flow Wall!"
The Third Hokage's hands moved through familiar seals before pressing firmly against the ground beneath his feet, channeling decades of experience into one desperate defensive measure.
RUMBLE! RUMBLE!
All around the mountainside, within the range of Kushina's protective barrier, the earth itself began to respond to Hiruzen's call. Massive walls of stone and clay erupted upward, creating additional layers of defense that surrounded the entire evacuation site like the ramparts of some ancient fortress.
Meanwhile, throughout the rest of Konoha's ruins, the remaining combatants were reaching similar conclusions about what was about to unfold.
"Is this the true extent of that monster's power?" Sasori of the Red Sand mused, his artistic soul actually appreciating the terrible beauty of what was about to occur.
He glanced at Hatake Sakumo, whose expression had shifted from determined focus to barely concealed alarm, then looked toward Nagato floating in the sky like some wrathful deity. There was something almost admirable about such overwhelming destructive capability.
When his gaze returned to the White Fang, he noticed that his opponent's earlier fighting spirit had evaporated entirely, replaced by the tactical wisdom that came from surviving countless battles.
Sasori made no move to prevent Sakumo's withdrawal. At this distance, they would all be caught in the devastation of the super-massive Shinra Tensei. There was no point in continuing their battle when mutual annihilation was the only possible outcome.
Flash!
Kakashi suddenly vanished from in front of Deidara using his Lightning Blade technique, abandoning their aerial combat to seek shelter.
The explosive artist's face contorted with rage as he realized he was being abandoned mid-fight, but survival instincts quickly overrode artistic pride. He created one of his largest clay birds and directed it toward Sasori's position, seeking to extract his partner before the coming catastrophe.
"Susanoo!"
Deep crimson chakra erupted from Uchiha Yoruki's form like liquid fire, his skeletal framework rapidly evolving into the armored figure of a spectral samurai. The Totsuka Blade materialized in the warrior's grasp, its edge gleaming with sealing properties that could cut through almost anything in existence.
"This is troublesome. He's already destroyed two of my hearts," Kakuzu muttered, his masked face showing the strain of prolonged combat.
The power of the Uchiha clan's flame techniques had proven far more devastating than his intelligence reports had suggested. Even with his multiple lives, he was rapidly approaching his limits.
CLANG!
Just as he prepared to retreat, the scarlet blade descended with lethal precision. Kakuzu threw himself backward, but the sword's ethereal nature allowed it to pursue him relentlessly.
When it seemed certain that the bounty hunter would be bisected, white paper suddenly interposed itself between blade and target—Konan's origami techniques providing last-second salvation for her ally.
In the village center, Jiraiya's expression had completely transformed as he stared toward the heavens. The massive form of the Yamata-no-Orochi that had been menacing him suddenly collapsed and dispelled in a cloud of smoke.
With a tremendous BANG, the summoned serpent vanished entirely, leaving Orochimaru standing in its place with an expression of pure malevolence.
"Damn you, Jiraiya!" the Snake Sannin snarled, his golden eyes blazing with fury at being consistently outmatched.
He glared at his former teammate, whose attention had clearly shifted to more pressing concerns, but the two Great Sage Toads on Jiraiya's shoulders remained vigilantly focused on the immediate threat.
Orochimaru had to acknowledge the bitter truth—he was simply no match for Jiraiya when the latter had access to perfect Sage Mode. The teammate he had once dismissed as lacking in natural talent had somehow surpassed him entirely.
For someone whose entire identity was built around the pursuit of power and knowledge, this realization was more painful than any physical wound.
"This guy's trying to escape!" Fukasaku observed, but Jiraiya made no move to pursue his former friend.
"Can he still not let go of his hatred for Konoha's people?" Jiraiya whispered, his heart breaking as he stared at the red-haired figure floating impossibly high above them.
"Nagato!" he suddenly shouted toward the sky, his voice carrying all the anguish of a teacher watching his student embrace darkness. "Stop this madness! Don't hurt innocent civilians!"
The memories came flooding back—how he, Yahiko, and Konan had risked everything during the Third Shinobi World War to prevent military conflicts from harming non-combatants. They had literally thrown themselves between armies to protect the innocent, standing as beacons of hope in a world consumed by violence.
But what Nagato was attempting now represented the complete opposite of everything they had once stood for.
How had his student fallen so far? What had transformed the idealistic boy who dreamed of peace into this avatar of destruction?
High above, Nagato seemed to hear his former teacher's desperate plea. For just a moment, his impassive expression flickered, and he looked down with eyes that might have held a trace of the boy Jiraiya remembered.
Buzz!
But then fierce, blinding light erupted from his floating form, illuminating the entire village and surrounding mountains like a miniature sun.
"Shinra Tensei!"
BOOM!
The technique that followed dwarfed anything that had come before—a force powerful enough to level mountain ranges and redirect rivers exploded outward from Nagato's position. The repulsive wave encompassed not only most of Konoha's territory but also the mountainside where desperate civilians huddled beneath Kushina's protective barrier.
Inside the golden dome, Kushina gritted her teeth until blood ran down her chin, Nine-Tails chakra pouring from her body in torrents as she fought to maintain their only defense.
But even with her tremendous power and determination, she'd had insufficient time to prepare for an assault of this magnitude. Nagato's strength had grown significantly since his last confrontation with Minato, fed by rage and the accumulated power of the Rinnegan.
Despite her heroic efforts, hairline cracks began appearing in the chakra membrane, and through these minute fissures, fingers of repulsive force began to penetrate their sanctuary.
The entire mountain shuddered under the assault, as if the earth itself was being torn apart by invisible hands.
The devastating wave struck the massive earthen walls that the Third Hokage had erected around the barrier first. Despite their incredible thickness and the chakra reinforcement Hiruzen had woven into their structure, even these formidable defenses began to crumble under the inexorable pressure.
The mountain itself started to disintegrate. Massive fissures opened across its surface like wounds in the earth, and boulders the size of buildings began tumbling down the slopes with earth-shaking impacts.
Throughout the protected area, Konoha's ninja and civilians found themselves scattered and separated as the ground beneath their feet literally came apart. Some fell into the expanding crevasses, while others were struck by debris and crushed instantly—their bodies reduced to crimson stains beneath tons of stone.
The scene was one of absolute horror, made even more terrible by the helplessness of those trying to save lives.
"How did it come to this?" Naruto cried out as he, Chiharu, and Sasuke desperately moved through the chaos, attempting to rescue civilians who were trapped or falling.
Despite their best efforts and those of every available ninja, there were simply too many people in need and too few hands to help them. The mathematics of disaster were brutally unforgiving.
Sasuke found himself carrying a small civilian girl, but even as they reached what seemed like solid ground, new cracks began spider-webbing beneath their feet.
In a moment of desperate clarity, he grabbed the child's arm and hurled her toward safety with all his strength.
"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura called out as she caught the girl, but there was no time to help the young Uchiha himself.
Ting!
As he fell toward a widening chasm, Sasuke threw a kunai with wire attached, managing to embed the blade in the mountainside and arrest his descent by gripping the thin line.
CRACK!
But the mountain shook again with even greater violence, and his improvised anchor was torn loose from the crumbling stone.
"No!" Sasuke's mind raced as he realized he was falling again, this time with no backup plan.
Caw! Caw! Caw!
Suddenly, a murder of crows dove into the crevasse like living shadows. They seized Sasuke's clothing and limbs with their talons, working together to lift him from the abyss and deposit him safely on stable ground.
"Big brother!" Sasuke exclaimed with relief and gratitude, looking up at Itachi's distinctive silhouette.
But the expression on his older brother's face was unlike anything Sasuke had ever seen before. Where he expected to find the usual calm competence, he instead saw something that chilled him to the bone.
Itachi's gaze swept across the devastated mountainside, taking in the scope of the tragedy unfolding around them. His analytical mind, trained to process battlefield information with clinical detachment, was calculating casualties and probabilities with mechanical precision.
How many civilians and ninja had already been buried beneath the rubble? How many more would die in the next few minutes? The numbers were staggering, and they continued to climb with each passing second.
Without conscious thought, tears began streaming down Itachi's face—the first time Sasuke had ever seen his legendary brother display such raw emotion.
Sasuke stared in shock at this unprecedented sight. As he watched, transfixed by his brother's grief, he noticed something impossible happening.
In Itachi's blood-red eyes, the three black tomoe were beginning to spin faster and faster, their rotation accelerating beyond anything Sasuke had witnessed before. The Sharingan was evolving, transforming under the pressure of overwhelming emotion and desperate need.
The pattern was changing, reshaping itself into something entirely new—something that would forever alter the course of the battle and the fate of everyone Itachi held dear.