At this moment, Hikari looked a little awkward.
In the eyes of everyone staring at her wide-eyed, she could see a storm of emotions surging.
But she really had no other choice.
The effective range of her Jūshi Sendan (, "Ten-Finger Bullet") was no more than 100 meters—beyond that, both accuracy and power dropped sharply.
With the enemy being so massive, her finger bone projectiles were useless unless they struck the brainstem. Otherwise, they'd do next to no damage.
Given Shikamaru and Ino's limited chakra, they only had one shot at this. She couldn't gamble on the Jūshi Sendan landing a precise hit on the giant bird's brainstem through gravity and wind resistance.
If she wanted a guaranteed kill…
She'd need to minimize the effects of gravity and wind while also unleashing a large-area attack. Even if it couldn't take the enemy down in one blow, it had to at least cripple its ability to fly.
Among all the techniques Hikari had mastered, Fūton (Wind Release) was the most suitable for this. And she just so happened to have Neji's gift—Hakke Kūshō (八卦空掌, "Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm")—which could launch focused chakra strikes.
"I've got a secret technique I haven't had the chance to train in. If I can pull it off, we might have a shot."
Facing everyone's skeptical and surprised expressions, Hikari's voice grew a little weak as she explained.
She'd spent all her recent training time on Kaiten (, "Rotation")—one of the most difficult Hyūga techniques—because she already had Jūshi Sendan for ranged attacks. That meant she had neglected Hakke Kūshō, which was relatively simpler.
She never expected to face an enemy in the ninja world who could actually fly.
"How long will it take?"
Shikamaru rubbed his forehead, exhausted by the chaos unfolding around them.
"I don't know…"
Hikari didn't really know the difficulty of mastering Hakke Kūshō. It was a secret jutsu reserved for jōnin-level shinobi, so it likely wasn't going to be easy.
Shikamaru looked toward the horizon.
The sun was sinking below the earth, and the light in their surroundings dimmed further. Packs of wild beasts licked the medicinal powder scattered on the ground, while carnivorous tigers and leopards even chewed up the grass, savoring its taste.
"The sun's almost down. Without sunlight, I can't use Shadow Imitation Jutsu. And the beasts are about to finish off all the powder. After that… we're their next target."
"Hikari, you need to hurry."
"I know."
Hikari nodded solemnly.
Without wasting another second, she sat cross-legged on the ground and closed her eyes, focusing all her energy on recalling the training method for Hakke Kūshō.
Seeing Hikari commit herself, Shikamaru turned to Naruto and Chōji:
"We've got to buy Hikari time. Ino and I need to conserve chakra to use our secret techniques. You two will have to handle the brunt of the defense."
"Leave it to us."
The now-giant Chōji rumbled, "I just ate a ton of meat. My chakra reserves are still solid."
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!!"
Naruto formed a cross sign with his fingers.
A thick puff of smoke exploded through the forest.
In the next moment—
Hundreds of Narutos in orange jackets surrounded the team in a protective circle.
"Whoa—"
Ino and the others stared in shock at the swarm of Narutos.
"This is a technique Hikari taught me. I won't let those beasts lay a finger on her!"
The clones' voices echoed all around them, loud enough to drown out the growls of the beasts in the forest.
"Nice one, Naruto!"
With an army of Narutos in front of them and Hikari behind them radiating a glowing chakra light, Shikamaru and his team finally saw a glimmer of hope.
At the same time —
Hokage's Office, Konoha Central Building
BAM!
The desk trembled under Sarutobi Hiruzen's furious palm strike.
"What's the point of having a perimeter if the enemy can stroll right up to our front gate?!"
"Reports say they descended from the sky…"
A masked ANBU member, wearing an elephant-faced mask, responded in a low voice.
Hiruzen, normally calm and composed, rarely lost his temper. But when he did, it was like a flood breaking loose. Even Elder Danzō dared not speak up when he was like this.
The Third Hokage was boiling with frustration.
The Uchiha crisis had just been resolved—he thought the village could finally have a moment of peace. He had barely packed his things to leave when the Barrier Corps caught up with him with a shocking report:
Three jōnin attacked Konoha's front gate.
At first, Hiruzen thought he'd misheard. Surely not three jōnin, but maybe three jōnin units?
But no. After triple-confirming the intel, it turned out to be even more absurd.
These three jōnin had somehow bypassed two full defensive lines outside Konoha and appeared right in front of the main gate.
The outer forces needed time to return. The internal security team had just been disbanded from dealing with the Uchiha situation. Half the ANBU were on leave from overwork, while the other half were spread thin across the village.
Despite Konoha's size, at this very moment, they had no elite shinobi available to defend the main gate.
Thankfully, two Tokubetsu Jōnin stationed at the gate stepped up.
Without backup, they fought to the death and managed to hold the enemy at bay until the ANBU arrived. The enemy didn't take a single step past Konoha's threshold.
Even so, Hiruzen looked grim.
His hand pressed down on the desk with a creak.
"Hagane Kotetsu, Kamizuki Izumo… they perfectly embodied the Will of Fire. They are heroes of Konoha. They must be honored at the Konoha Memorial Stone."
"Yes, sir."
The ANBU nodded solemnly.
When backup arrived, the two were barely identifiable. Their bodies had been so mangled that only childhood friends in the unit could recognize them.
But still—
The enemy had not broken through.
Though only Tokubetsu Jōnin in title, they were closer to specialized chūnin. And yet they had somehow held off three elite jōnin.
No matter how Hiruzen thought about it, he couldn't understand how they had done it or what techniques they had used.
"This… must be the miracle brought on by the Will of Fire."
"Were those three bastards captured?"
"No."
"Still no?"
Hiruzen's sharp gaze made the ANBU member sweat. He hurried to explain:
"The ANBU pursuing them say the enemy used a technique from Kumogakure—Raiton no Yoroi (雷遁の鎧, Lightning Release Armor). High defense, incredible speed. They're fighting while fleeing. It's hard to pin them down immediately, but they've been surrounded. It's only a matter of time."
"Kumo…?"
Hiruzen was surprised. Only reckless Kumogakure would send three jōnin to charge the front gate of Konoha.
But what was their motive?
These weren't genin or chūnin—they were high-level combatants. Every jōnin in a major village was part of the top tier. Many were even capable of leading small armies or entire missions alone.
Kumo wouldn't send them just to kill two gate guards.
It made no sense.
There had to be a deeper reason.
Suddenly, Hiruzen thought of Kumo's long history of underhanded tactics and grew alarmed.
"Where's Naruto?"
The ANBU paused to think. "You don't remember, sir? To prevent the Uchiha from making a desperate move, the Academy organized a village-wide survival training. It's at Training Ground Zero."
"*That's today?*"
"Uh… yes!"
"Damn it!"
The moment Hiruzen heard that, alarms went off in his mind.
"Send a team to Training Ground Zero immediately! Naruto's safety is *top priority!*"
Knowing Naruto's true identity, the ANBU instantly understood the gravity of the situation.
"But Training Ground Zero is far from the village… and a good number of ANBU have already been dispatched to track the intruders. We might not make it in time—"
"Then I'll go myself!"
Sarutobi Hiruzen tore off the Hokage's ceremonial hat. His eyes burned with fury and killing intent.
Naruto must not be harmed.
The disaster caused by the Kyūbi years ago had left deep scars on Konoha—ones that still hadn't healed.
If Kumogakure provoked the Kyūbi again...
Konoha might not survive a second time.