Chapter 15: One Strike
The battlefield had fallen silent, save for the faint hiss of scorched earth.
A vast crater split the land where the clash had ended, steam rising from molten rock.
Uchiha Raizen stood at its edge, his expression unreadable, Sharingan slowly dimming back to black.
He was not surprised by what he saw.
"So… he slipped away. Kamui. That eye technique truly is troublesome."
His gaze lingered on the empty space where Obito and Nagato had vanished.
Kamui was no ordinary space–time ninjutsu. It led to a unique dimension, one that existed outside the flow of this world. Whether that realm had been born with Obito's Mangekyō or had always lingered in the void, Raizen did not know. What mattered was that it allowed his enemies to escape.
But he showed no regret.
"It changes nothing," Raizen murmured, closing his eyes, his chakra already beginning to cycle into new patterns.
"The future of this world is already sealed."
The technique he had unleashed moments ago was still fresh in his mind. A crude creation, born from a night of relentless experimentation. Simple in principle — he had released his energy in a devastatingly compressed form — yet its destructive scale had been undeniable.
Nagato might have survived it under other circumstances.
But arrogance had betrayed him.
By forcing his puppets to funnel chakra into Raizen, he had only sharpened the blade that struck him down.
---
Far away, in the hidden refuge of Kamui's dimension, Konan's hands trembled as she lifted Nagato's broken body.
"Nagato! No, stay with me—please!"
The air reeked of seared flesh. The lower half of Nagato's body was gone, reduced to ash. His skin was blistered, his organs nearly cooked within him, blood hissing as it touched the smoldering wounds. Only the unnatural vitality of his Uzumaki bloodline kept him clinging to life.
"Madara! Do something!" Konan's voice cracked with desperation.
Black Zetsu's eyes widened, panic seeping into its normally calm voice.
"He can't die. Not yet. If Nagato falls now, everything collapses!"
Obito did not waste a breath. With a flick of his wrist, he summoned a White Zetsu clone. His blade flashed once, severing it cleanly in two. Grabbing the lower half, he pressed it to Nagato's ruined torso, weaving hand signs furiously.
The grotesque graft took hold. White Zetsu's pliant flesh melded with Nagato's body, knitting what remained of his charred frame together.
Nagato's breath rasped, shallow, uneven. His consciousness flickered on the edge of darkness — but he lived.
For now.
Obito exhaled slowly, his single Sharingan narrowing. Black Zetsu hovered at his side, silent at last.
They had miscalculated.
They had believed Nagato, bearer of the Rinnegan, to be the world's strongest weapon. Yet in a single night, this unknown Uchiha — Raizen — had nearly ended him. If Obito had not dragged him into Kamui at the final moment, both Nagato and the Rinnegan would be gone forever.
The plan was unraveling.
And in its place stood a monster.
---
Meanwhile, far from the battlefield, the remnants of Konoha's shinobi marched with their displaced villagers.
The night sky suddenly ignited. A towering column of light pierced the heavens in the distance, its shockwave rattling the earth beneath their feet.
The shinobi halted, staring in silent awe.
"...What kind of power is that?" one whispered.
"Whoever they're fighting… no ordinary shinobi could unleash that."
But not one among them dared approach. They understood. That was not a battle between humans. That was something greater, something terrible.
Their only thought was survival. To find someone — anyone — who could lead the broken fragments of their home.
---
In the Land of Fire, coins clattered into a tray.
"Win. Win. Win…"
Tsunade's brow furrowed as the slot machine lit up for the fifth time in a row.
Her hands clenched, unease prickling through her gambler's instincts. Luck this perfect was not fortune — it was omen.
Her excitement bled away, replaced by dread. With Shizune at her side, she left the casino in silence, a heavy weight pressing on her chest.
"I have a bad feeling… something's happened."
She did not yet know that Konoha had already been reduced to ruins.
But soon, the entire world would.
---
High atop Mount Myōboku, in the deepest chamber of the temple, the Great Toad Sage stirred from slumber. His milky eyes snapped open, clouded with terror.
"Quah… fate has shifted… a calamity unlike any before has arrived…" His croaking voice shook the cavern. "The world is doomed… doomed to end in silence. Quickly… summon Jiraiya!"
The lesser sages leapt into motion.
Hours later, Jiraiya stood in the sage's hall, confusion etched on his face.
"Great Sage… what's going on? You called me back so suddenly."
The ancient toad trembled. "Jiraiya… the world's fate has turned. In my vision, the ninja world was swallowed by endless frost. Everything — every life, every flame, even our sacred mountain — buried beneath ice. The Child of Destiny must be stopped… before all is lost."
The words chilled Jiraiya more than any winter wind.
The idea of the world ending, of life itself extinguished, was unthinkable.
His fists clenched. "The Child of Destiny… you want me to kill them?"
The great sage's silence was answer enough.
The shadow of Raizen's single strike spread like ripples across nations.
The future of the shinobi world was no longer uncertain.
It was already breaking.