The Third Hokage's sharp eyes glittered as he watched Naruto slip free from the rushing torrent of the Earth Flow River using the Water Formation Wall. His chest rose and fell as he took a steady breath, the wrinkles on his face deepening, not with fatigue, but with a mixture of awe and pride.
This boy's growth was far beyond what even he had anticipated.
From the time Naruto was small, Hiruzen Sarutobi had seen his struggles and his determination. He had seen the lonely child who tried so desperately to be acknowledged, and now, before his eyes, he saw the young man who had clawed his way into strength through relentless effort.
Minato, Kushina… you can rest easy in the heavens. Your son has surpassed every expectation.
A faint smile flickered across the Third Hokage's lips, a rare softness in the middle of battle.
At that moment, a small figure came sprinting toward the training grounds outside.
"Konohamaru-sama, the Hokage has forbidden anyone from entering," an ANBU operative appeared in a blur, blocking the boy's path.
"Out of the way! I have to see big brother Naruto and Grandpa fight!" Konohamaru barked, barely slowing his stride.
The ANBU hesitated. In the end, he stepped aside. This was the Hokage's grandson some rules could bend.
Panting, Konohamaru arrived at the edge of the grounds, where Sasuke and Hinata were already watching in tense silence.
"Brother Sasuke, Sister-in-law Hinata!" Konohamaru greeted loudly.
Sasuke gave him only the briefest nod. Hinata's cheeks flushed instantly at the boy's casual address, her lips pressing together in a flustered pout. She had corrected him countless times, but Konohamaru never changed. Still, she knelt and gently patted his back, helping him catch his breath.
"Has the fight started?" he asked, eyes already glued to the devastated battlefield.
The once-flat training ground was now a wasteland, gouged and scarred by elemental force.
Sasuke gave a curt reply. "Yes."
Konohamaru didn't mind the brevity. The Uchiha survivor had long since shed the brightness of childhood, replacing it with the cold steel of vengeance. Konohamaru swallowed hard and focused.
On the battlefield, Hiruzen's chakra roared like molten magma, the sheer pressure shaking the dust in the air until it quivered like frightened insects.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
With twin bursts of smoke, two clones appeared beside him.
The left clone moved first, hands flying through seals. "Fire Style: Blazing Pillar Torrent!"
Columns of flame erupted from the broken earth, swirling into triple spirals that twisted upward like ancient dragons reawakened. The inferno turned the training ground into a furnace, searing hot wind cracking the ground and filling the air with choking steam. The sky itself seemed to bleed scarlet.
The right clone was not idle. "Earth Style: Titan's Rock Prison!"
The ground groaned and split open, and from its depths, four colossal hands of molten stone clawed their way up, each towering as high as a three-story building. Rivers of magma ran down their arms, every drop hissing and spitting smoke as it hit the ground, leaving holes in the already-ruined earth.
And while fire and stone closed in, the original Hiruzen's voice rumbled like thunder from the underworld. "Lightning Style: Sixteen Pillar Binding!"
Sixteen massive pillars erupted in a circle, each wrapped in blinding violet lightning. The crackling current lashed across the surface of the barrier, weaving into an electric net of death. Every crack and snap of the current was like a death knell, rattling the bones of the spectators.
From the sidelines, Sasuke's Sharingan spun violently, his pupils narrowing to pinpricks. "That's already four combined jutsu… This is the true power of the Professor of Ninjutsu!"
Even the ANBU squad leader's hands trembled as he gripped his recording scroll. His voice cracked with awe. "Fire, earth, lightning… combined with flawless timing. This is not combat. This is art."
Naruto, trapped inside the cage of destruction, did not cower. His eyes blazed with resolve. The chakra within him surged wildly, bursting outward in gusts that hissed like fire against the air. His hair whipped straight up from the force.
"Wind Style: Super Cyclone Wall!"
With a roar, he spun and lashed out with a whirlwind kick. Countless vacuum blades erupted in a storm, tearing into the fire pillars and slicing open a burning gap through the inferno.
Without pause, he twisted midair, channeling chakra to his leg and crashing down with explosive force onto one of the massive lava hands. The blow shattered the molten joints, the limb crumbling into fragments.
"That was Guy-sensei's Iron Cyclone Kick… but with wind chakra added, it's even stronger!" Naruto grinned, sweat glistening across his face as he formed another rapid string of seals.
"Water Style: Thousand Water Spears! Lightning Style: Swift Current Flow!"
Water surged from every direction, forming countless arrows that shot toward the crackling lightning pillars. Naruto darted across the scattered streams, his body moving like lightning itself. The electric currents raced toward him, but each time contact sparked, he diverted the charge, guiding it directly into the magma prison below.
The Third Hokage's own techniques began to clash against each other, detonating in a storm of fire, stone, water, and lightning. The battlefield shook as if the very world were being ripped apart.
Konohamaru's jaw dropped. Sasuke's fists clenched tight. Hinata's Byakugan trembled as she tracked every impossible move.
Naruto's figure burst free from the chaos, breathing hard but eyes alight.
Across from him, five Sarutobis now stood in a pentagon, each clone holding a different elemental aura.
"Naruto," the Third Hokage called, his tone firm but almost grandfatherly, "this next technique is my strongest. If you have no trump card left, this battle will end here."
Naruto wiped the sweat from his brow and flashed a wild, eager grin. "Don't hold back, old man! Whatever you've got, bring it on!"
Hiruzen's gaze sharpened. "Then prepare yourself. Ninja Art… Grand Elemental Barrage!"
The five Sarutobis moved as one, unleashing their power:
Fire Style: Dragon Flame Bombs!
Water Style: Exploding Water Dragon Bite!
Lightning Style: Roaring Thunder Dragon!
Earth Style: Rock Dragon Collapse!
Wind Style: Tempest Dragon Tornado!
Five dragons of fire, water, lightning, earth, and wind spiraled together, weaving into a cataclysmic torrent that consumed the entire training ground in its destructive embrace.
Naruto's body blazed with blue chakra, the aura searing the ground beneath his feet. He took a deep breath and shouted, his voice echoing like thunder.
"Eight Inner Gates… Seventh Gate Gate of Shock, open!"
His aura flared, tearing the very air apart.
"This is my original taijutsu… the Wind God Kick!"
Spinning into the air, Naruto's legs became twin scythes of roaring wind. He rotated faster and faster, transforming into a whirling storm of blades. The cyan-blue tornado he unleashed roared upward, colliding head-on with the combined might of the five elemental dragons.
The world split open with the impact.
BOOOOOOM!!!
The explosion was so massive that the entire Sarutobi clan compound trembled. Trees bent backward, stone walls cracked, and the ground caved into a massive crater. Dust and smoke billowed high into the sky, blotting out the sun.
When the shockwave finally began to fade, only the echoes of that impossible clash remained, vibrating through the bones of everyone present.
This was no longer just a spar. This was the clash of generations, the bridge between the old guard and the new.