Konoha Village – Hokage's Office.
"This is—?!" Buried in paperwork behind his desk, the Third Hokage suddenly snapped his head up, his gaze fixed eastward towards the edge of the village. Undisguised shock was etched onto his aged face.
Before the thought could fully form, Hiruzen vanished from his office in a flicker. Moving swiftly across the rooftops, his eyes were drawn again to the eastern sky.
"What is that? Who could it possibly be?" he murmured gravely, his expression grim. There, towering over the distant mountain forest, stood a colossal blue-purple giant figure.
From this immense form, Hiruzen felt an unprecedented pressure, a suffocating weight he had only ever experienced in the presence of two legendary figures: the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, and Uchiha Madara. Could Madara… could he really still be alive? The thought spurred Hiruzen onward, quickening his already rapid pace.
"Lord Hokage!" A series of whistling sounds echoed behind him as more than a dozen members of the Hokage Guard ANBU followed closely.
"Quickly, follow me!" Hiruzen ordered without slowing down, his voice urgent. The group surged forward, racing towards the eastern mountain forest.
Simultaneously, across Konoha, the prominent ninja clans – the Uchiha, the Hyuga, the Yamanaka, the Nara, the Akimichi, and countless others – were all alerted by the immense presence. Large numbers of shinobi mobilized immediately, all rushing towards the eastern sector. Even ordinary shinobi and civilian villagers were startled by the astonishing sight and the palpable pressure in the air. Panic began to spread; some villagers were already fleeing towards the designated emergency shelters within Konoha. The sheer scale and unknown nature of the phenomenon evoked even more terror than the Nine-Tails attack years ago.
Root Headquarters – Underground Base.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
Within moments, dozens of Root operatives assembled silently in the main hall, gathering before Danzo Shimura.
"Lord Danzo," Aburame Torune asked respectfully, kneeling on one knee before his master, "should we mobilize to support Lord Hokage?"
Danzo gazed towards the east, feeling that intense, domineering pressure wash over the base even deep underground. "No need," he ordered gravely. "The aggressor's identity and intentions are unclear. Hiruzen and the others are out there dealing with it. We will hold our position for now." As he spoke, a flicker of deep-seated worry and fear passed through his visible eye. This powerful, overwhelming pressure awakened unpleasant memories within Danzo – the suffocating fear of being utterly dominated by powers far exceeding his own. Has another Uchiha awakened that kind of power? he wondered grimly.
Konoha Streets.
Kakashi Hatake and Might Guy, who had been walking side-by-side, simultaneously turned their heads eastward.
"This is…?" Kakashi narrowed his visible eye, focusing on the distant blue-purple giant. He keenly sensed a certain familiarity within that overwhelming power, though he couldn't immediately place it.
Guy, however, reacted instantly. "Not good! Kakashi, we have to hurry over there!" Without a second thought, he vanished in a burst of speed, heading towards the village outskirts.
Kakashi, caught off guard by Guy's explosive departure, didn't have time for further analysis and quickly followed suit.
Outside the Yakiniku Restaurant.
Kyoko and Anko stared eastward at the colossal figure looming over the forest. "Hey…" Kyoko murmured thoughtfully, exchanging a glance with Anko. "That feels like Tatsuya-san's aura, doesn't it?"
"Let's go check it out!" Anko immediately grabbed Kyoko's arm and started running towards the disturbance.
Military Police Headquarters.
Shisui and Itachi stood side-by-side atop the building, their eyes fixed on the direction of the blue-purple giant. "That seems to be the direction of Sasuke's training ground!" Itachi exclaimed, his face paling slightly. He immediately vanished in a flicker, speeding towards the location.
Shisui's eyes flashed briefly with an unreadable emotion before he quickly followed Itachi.
The commotion Tatsuya had caused had alerted the entire Hidden Leaf Village.
High in the mountain forest, at the training ground.
Naruto and Sasuke were currently like two helpless fledglings trapped in a hurricane. They were pinned down by the immense, tangible pressure radiating from the figure above them, unable to move a single step. They could only stare upwards, necks craned, at the colossal giant dominating the sky, their young hearts filled with unparalleled shock and awe.
What kind of incredible power is this?! Can a shinobi… can anyone… truly wield such power?
In that moment, both Naruto's and Sasuke's existing perceptions of the world, their understanding of strength and ninjutsu, completely shattered. They were utterly overwhelmed, stunned into immobility by the sudden, unbelievable display of power Tatsuya had unleashed.
Beneath the hundred-meter tall, half-bodied energy giant, Tatsuya slowly lowered his previously clasped hands. The torrential overflow of raw Dragon Vein energy from his body ceased. By now, his physical form was clad in an outer coat of visible, shimmering energy. His eyes, golden with the slitted pupils characteristic of Sage Mode, now seemed to burn with a dazzling, intense violet glow.
He glanced over at the immobilized Naruto and Sasuke nearby, a faint smirk touching his lips. Then, looking upwards towards the heavens, he focused his intent.
RUMBLE— CRACKLE!
The colossal energy giant above Tatsuya thrust both its massive hands upwards fiercely. Instantly, the very sky above the giant seemed to ripple and tear as if rent by some incredible, unseen force. The clouds floating peacefully moments before vanished in a heartbeat, leaving only clear, empty blue above the giant's palms. Simultaneously, centered between those outstretched energy hands, a jagged crack of pitch-black emptiness appeared out of thin air – a raw tear in the fabric of space itself. Around this spatial rift, visible ripples of distorted space propagated outwards like waves on a pond.
Under the energy giant's incredible display of power, space itself had been directly torn open.
Witnessing this terrifying spectacle in the sky, the countless Konoha shinobi rushing towards the scene were momentarily stunned into stopping, their rapid advance faltering.
The sky… it's torn!
After that brief, shocked pause, everyone surged forward again, their speed even greater than before. They desperately needed to see who, or what, could possibly be responsible for such an unbelievable, world-altering phenomenon.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
Sounds of high-speed movement began to echo constantly through the mountain forest as more and more shinobi arrived. Led by the Third Hokage, a large contingent finally reached the top of the hill where Tatsuya stood with Naruto and Sasuke.
"Lord Hokage…" Naruto murmured, still pinned by the lingering pressure. "Father…" Sasuke breathed, equally immobile.
The Third Hokage was the first to arrive fully on the scene. When his eyes landed on Tatsuya, standing calmly beneath the slowly dissipating form of the colossal energy giant, his face first showed a flicker of stunned disbelief. This quickly morphed into an extremely complex expression – a mixture of awe, concern, and perhaps something else entirely unreadable. Behind him, the elite ANBU operatives accompanying him simply stared, their faces masks of profound shock beneath their porcelain coverings.
Close behind the Hokage, Uchiha Fugaku, Hyuga Hiashi, and the heads of Konoha's other prominent ninja clans arrived one after another, their expressions mirroring the Hokage's shock and complexity as they took in the scene. Seeing Tatsuya standing beneath the fading remnants of the overwhelming blue-purple giant, Fugaku's face was particularly indescribable. In that moment, a part of him felt profoundly, unexpectedly relieved that he hadn't opposed Shisui and Misuke's reform proposal.
With someone like him present in the village, Fugaku thought grimly, his political mind racing even amidst the shock, the Uchiha clan could never hope to overthrow the Hokage's faction.
Under the intense, complicated gazes of the assembled shinobi elite of Konoha, Tatsuya calmly formed a single hand seal. The remnants of the blue-purple energy giant outside his body began to rapidly dissipate, the majestic natural energy harmlessly dispersing back into the atmosphere. The oppressive pressure finally lifted.
Tatsuya let out a light breath, feeling inwardly satisfied with the demonstration. That colossal energy giant was the ultimate single attack he had developed using his bio-chip's analytical capabilities after becoming the Dragon Vein's Jinchuriki. It was a technique only possible by harnessing the vast reservoir of pure natural energy contained within the Dragon Vein itself.
Sage Art: Heaven and Earth Giant!
Judging solely from the effects of the attack just now – tearing space itself – Tatsuya estimated its raw destructive power was likely in no way inferior to Uchiha Madara's legendary Perfect Susanoo.