The sun was beginning to tilt west, its rays a blood-stained gold.
The battlefield was drenched in smoke, ash, and silence broken only by explosions and cries.
The initial advantage Uzu gained through seals was now eroding.
Medical tents were overwhelmed.
Uzumaki Genin were collapsing from chakra exhaustion.
Aiko's squad was down to half.
Even the elite Jonin had depleted their scrolls.
And Chōmei, the Seven-Tails, was tearing through the southern line in bijuu cloak phase, sending poison-laced chakra blasts and explosive spores across the terrain.
Despite all the traps and reinforced walls, they couldn't hold her back much longer.
Akashi, standing over a bloodied map, whispered:
"If she breaks through the third ring… the heart of the village is exposed."
He clenched his fist.
Then slowly looked up at a scroll sealed with red wax: The Forbidden Uzumaki Arts.
He made his decision.
"I'll do it."
---
As he walked toward the ritual chamber, Emperor Eye dimmed, something halted him.
An old voice spoke behind him:
"Don't you dare, boy."
Akashi turned.
Elder Jiro, the oldest surviving council member, stood with a hunched back and sharp eyes that had seen three Hokages rise.
"You carry the legacy now. The village doesn't need a hero who dies… it needs a Kage who survives."
Akashi's jaw tightened.
"No one else can contain it. The seal takes not just life… but soul."
"Good."
Jiro stepped forward and placed his trembling hand on Akashi's shoulder.
"Then let this old soul do what it's always done best — protect you all. Let my name end in meaning. Let yours begin in purpose."
Akashi's eyes trembled — but he didn't cry.
He bowed deeply, forehead touching the stone floor.
"Thank you… Elder."
---
Within a sacred chamber lined with crimson spiral glyphs, torches flickered with blue flame.
Jiro stood in the center, surrounded by four sealing masters in a circle. Akashi and Ashina watched from a distance, solemn.
Jiro opened the scroll.
"Shiki Fūjin… Dead Demon Consuming Seal… awaken."
His hands moved with painful precision — shaky but firm. The symbols glowed, a mist formed, and the veil between life and death tore open.
The Shinigami emerged — faceless, eternal.
Chōmei felt it at once — she froze mid-assault, then turned toward the ritual site, screaming in instinctual terror.
"You're mine, beast," Jiro said hoarsely.
He pulled.
The soul chain of Chōmei writhed in the air, screaming in a high-pitched insect-like screech. The bijuu resisted, shrouding itself in a massive tail cloak — but the shinigami dragged the core inch by inch into its gaping maw.
And with a final whisper—
"Live well, Akashi…"
The ritual completed.
Jiro's soul vanished, smile still lingering.
Chōmei's energy imploded in a massive pulse.
Gone.
---
There was silence.
Then…
Cheers.
Crying.
Some just fell to their knees.
Akashi stared at the center of the seal where Jiro once stood.
Aiko approached, whispering:
"He saved us."
Akashi closed his eyes and replied:
"He bought us time."
But deep inside, Akashi knew:
Victory was still not assured.
The worst… was still coming.
Blood matted the earth where titans clashed.
Ashina's left arm was broken. One eye swollen shut, robes torn.
Genka's barriers flickered erratically — chakra nearly gone.
Tosho's sealing scrolls were used. His fingers were raw and shaking.
Daiki lay unconscious behind collapsed rubble.
And yet, they stood.
Against them:
Onoki still floated, but now with a scorched leg and labored breathing.
Mizukage bled from his lips, his mist less lethal.
The Third Raikage had visible cuts, breathing heavily, one arm sagging slightly.
Chōmei… was gone.
That was the moment everything changed.
A wave of nothingness — a void of chakra pressure — rolled across the battlefield.
The Kage stopped mid-attack. Onoki's eye widened.
"The Seven-Tails… it vanished."
Raikage growled.
"No… sealed."
The Mizukage narrowed his eyes.
"Damn it… these people won't break."
Ashina, though barely standing, gave a half-smile.
"Welcome… to Uzushiogakure."
---
Far beyond the edges of the battlefield, inside a shadowed cliff, Hatake Sakumo crouched silently. His white hair shimmered slightly beneath the moonlight.
He and five elite ANBU watched the chaos below.
One whispered.
"The tide is turning. The Seven-Tails' absence is shaking their morale."
Sakumo nodded.
"Orders remain. Do not engage. Wait for the war's conclusion."
A pause.
"But… if it turns into a massacre?"
"Then we move. Fast, silent, clean. We're here to save who we can, not to change fate."
From behind, a raven dropped a scroll.
Sakumo caught it.
"Priority Target: Akashi Uzumaki. Extract if alive. Eliminate all threats preventing evacuation."
---
In the dark beneath Konoha, Root moved like a virus.
Within a long corridor of stone, Danzo stood before his operatives. His voice was like ice.
"Uzu is falling. When the final seal detonates or the last barrier breaks… move in."
He unfurled a map marked in red:
Red zones: Barrier collapse prediction.
Blue zones: High-value targets.
A black mark: Akashi Uzumaki.
"Kill all. Pillage anything of value — scrolls, artifacts, sealing texts. Only one is to be spared. A Girl. Bring her alive… or useful."
One agent asked, "And if ANBU interferes?"
Danzo's response was simple:
"They won't. Hiruzen wants clean hands. That makes us the hidden blade."
---
In the jungle of ash and blood, Root agents moved silently toward the outer perimeter, waiting like vultures.
Sakumo's team spotted them through a sensor in the team.
"Root?" one ANBU asked.
Sakumo's gaze hardened.
"They're not here to save anyone."
The storm of war still raged behind them.
But a second storm — colder, darker — was forming.
And Akashi Uzumaki stood at the center of both.
---