The training field was a death trap. To Dan's left, Sasori of the Red Sand began to unspool the scrolls on his back, the air clicking with the movement of hundreds of poisoned needles. To his right, Obito—his spatial phasing temporarily jammed by the Void Anchor—recovered his footing, his gaze murderous.
"Shisui, Anko! GO!" Dan roared.
Shisui hesitated for a heartbeat, then grabbed Kushina. With a burst of his Body Flicker, he and Anko vanished toward the village center.
"You're brave, kid," Sasori said, the Third Kazekage puppet sliding out from its seal. "But bravery is just a lack of data. You're at 15% chakra. You can't even maintain your Sharingan for another minute."
"You're right about the math, puppet-man," Dan said, his breathing heavy. "But you forgot to carry the remainder."
[System Command: Initiate 'Emergency Sage Mode' Integration.]
[Warning: Sage Mode Mastery is only at 45%. Partial transformation will result in 'Inorganic Petrification' of the extremities.]
"Do it," Dan whispered.
In the Eternal Mirror Space, the spectral clone stopped all combat training. It sat in a meditative posture, acting as a lightning rod for the Natural Energy flooding into Dan's tenketsu.
Suddenly, the air around Dan began to vibrate. The grass at his feet turned to stone, and his skin took on a grayish, marble-like texture around his forearms. His eyes didn't turn yellow like Naruto's or purple like Jiraiya's; they turned a piercing, luminescent violet.
[Sage Mode: 45% (Partial) — ACTIVE.]
"What is this?" Obito hissed, sensing the sudden, violent shift in the atmosphere. "This isn't Uchiha chakra."
"This is the world," Dan said.
The Speed of Thought
Sasori didn't wait. "Iron Sand Drizzle!"
The Third Kazekage puppet opened its mouth, and a cloud of magnetized iron sand erupted, forming thousands of tiny, lethal bullets that blanketed the area. In his weakened state, Dan couldn't have dodged.
But with Sage Mode, he didn't need to dodge. He could feel the intent of the sand before it even moved.
Zip.
Dan moved, but it wasn't Hiraishin. It was raw, Sage-enhanced speed. He appeared in front of the Kazekage puppet, his hand glowing with a concentrated sphere of violet energy.
"Senjutsu: Purple Pulse!"
He slammed his palm into the iron sand cloud. The Natural Energy within the strike disrupted the magnetic field of the sand, causing the entire cloud to collapse into a useless pile of lead.
"Impossible!" Sasori clicked his tongue, his fingers dancing to move his puppet back.
"Obito, now!" Sasori yelled.
Obito lunged from the blind spot, his hand reaching for Dan's head. But Dan's Sage-senses were 360 degrees. Without looking, Dan leaned back, his body moving like a reed in the wind. He grabbed Obito's wrist—the solid one—and used the momentum to throw him toward Sasori.
"Mokuton: World-Binding Thorns!"
Because he was in Sage Mode, Dan's Wood Release wasn't just wood; it was living stone-wood. Gnarled, petrified roots erupted from the ground, encasing both Obito and Sasori's puppets in a forest of jagged spikes.
The Price of Godhood
The effort sent a surge of agony through Dan's nervous system. His left arm was now completely stone up to the elbow.
[System Warning: Petrification spreading. 30 seconds until permanent paralysis.]
"You... you're a monster," Obito said, coughing blood as he used his Kamui to slip out of the petrified wood. He looked at Sasori, whose Kazekage puppet was partially crushed. "We're leaving. The Fourth Hokage's chakra is approaching. We've lost the window."
"My collection..." Sasori hissed, looking at his damaged puppet, but he knew Obito was right.
The space swirled around Obito, and the two Akatsuki members vanished just as a streak of yellow light hit the center of the field.
Minato Namikaze arrived, his kunai drawn, followed by a dozen ANBU. He looked at the petrified forest, the piles of iron sand, and then at Dan, who was slumped on the ground, his arm looking like a statue.
"Dan!" Minato rushed to him, his hands glowing with healing chakra. "What did you do?"
"I... calculated the risk," Dan wheezed, the violet light fading from his eyes. "Kushina... is she safe?"
"She's at the estate. Shisui and Anko got her there," Minato said, his face a mask of worry. He looked at Dan's stone arm. "Is this... Sage Mode? How?"
"The Architecture," Dan whispered, before his eyes rolled back into his head.
For a week, the village was in an uproar. The "Hero of the Uchiha" had fought off two S-rank international criminals alone. The Council was demanding to know how Dan had used Wood Release and Sage Mode, while the Uchiha Clan was demanding Dan's release from ANBU custody.
Inside the hospital, Dan was awake, but his left arm remained petrified.
[System Status Report]
Physical Damage: Severe. Left arm unresponsive.
Sage Mode Progress: 48% (Stabilizing).
New Skill Unlocked: 'Stone-Fist' (The ability to use the petrified arm as an indestructible bludgeon).
"You're the talk of the five nations, you know," a voice said.
Dan looked up. It wasn't Minato. It was Itachi. The five-year-old was sitting by his bed, holding a bowl of apples he had meticulously peeled.
"They say you fought a god and turned into a mountain," Itachi said, his eyes filled with that same quiet intensity.
"I didn't turn into a mountain, Itachi," Dan said, trying to move his stone fingers. "I just forgot to let the mountain go."
"Shisui is crying in the hallway," Itachi added. "He thinks it's his fault."
"Tell him to stop," Dan said. "Tell him the Architecture doesn't have room for guilt. Only for progress."
Itachi nodded solemnly. "I told the Elders that if they tried to take you away, I would help Shisui burn the reports. I think they were scared of me."
Dan laughed, though it hurt his chest. Even at five, Itachi was a force to be reckoned with. "Good. We'll need that fire soon."
The New Blueprint
As Itachi left, Dan closed his eyes and entered the Mirror Space.
His clone was already back to work. But it wasn't training Taijutsu anymore. It was looking at a map of the Land of Water.
"System," Dan commanded. "If the Akatsuki is moving this early, then the 'Bloody Mist' is already under Obito's control. We can't stay on the defensive."
[System Notification: New Objective Formulated.]
[Quest: 'The Mist Infiltration'.]
[Goal: Locate the Three-Tails (Sanbi) and liberate the Fourth Mizukage.]
"We're going on the offensive," Dan told the system. "And I'm taking the petrified arm with me. If I can't be a man, I'll be the stone that breaks the world."