Byakuya vs. Ōnoki – The Fall of Iwagakure
Having already slain the Third Raikage, Byakuya no longer held back against the Five Great Nations. So when the Third Tsuchikage Ōnoki appeared on the battlefield, Byakuya unleashed Wood Release without hesitation.
"You're just another Kage to fall," Byakuya muttered, forming seals rapidly.
"Not good...! Earth Style: Giant Rock Shield!" Ōnoki shouted, slamming his hands to the ground.
A massive wall of stone erupted in front of him, dense and fortified with chakra. But it was no use.
"Boom—!"
The rock wall shattered on contact as colossal trees burst forth like spears, crushing stone and earth alike.
Ōnoki, still weakened from his earlier Dust Release techniques, couldn't react in time. His aged body moved a split-second too slow.
"Guh...!"
"Tsuchikage-sama!"
Blood sprayed midair as a tree rammed into him. The elderly Kage was sent flying, coughing blood as he crashed into the arms of several Iwa shinobi who leapt to catch him.
"Medical unit! Tsuchikage-sama is injured!"
A medical ninja rushed forward, but Ōnoki raised a trembling hand.
"Don't waste your chakra... Not now... Run! All of you—run!"
Even as his body screamed in pain, Ōnoki's mind remained clear. He knew the only chance Iwagakure had to survive was to escape.
"Retreat! This is an order!"
"Run—escape for your lives!"
With the Tsuchikage's desperate command, the remaining Iwa shinobi scattered in all directions. They poured every bit of chakra into escape techniques—Lightened Boulder Jutsu, Wind-Enhanced Body Flicker, and Earth Release subterranean dives—anything to put distance between them and the monster called Byakuya.
Still, the trees followed like a plague.
Many Iwa shinobi failed to escape in time—impaled by vines, crushed by roots, or swallowed by expanding forests. In mere moments, hundreds more perished.
Only a fraction—bloodied and shaken—managed to flee back to the borders of the Land of Earth, where the harsh Gobi terrain made further pursuit less viable.
Byakuya stopped at the edge of the desert, gazing coldly at the horizon.
"They're not worth chasing through sand..."
In the Iwagakure camp—
"Tsuchikage-sama! We made it... Byakuya didn't follow..."
Hearing this, Ōnoki exhaled deeply and nodded—but blood spurted from his mouth as the stress overcame him.
"Lord Tsuchikage! Medical squad!"
As the medical-nin worked frantically to stabilize him, Ōnoki's lips quivered.
"...Status report... Casualties..."
An Iwa jōnin hesitated, his voice low.
"Lord Tsuchikage... Only a little over a thousand survived... out of ten thousand."
The silence that followed was deafening.
Ōnoki's eyes widened in disbelief. His pride, his strategy, his army—gone.
Only one out of ten thousand Iwagakure shinobi survived.
This catastrophic loss had not only devastated their forces, but shaken the very foundation of Iwagakure's military power.
The Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki, couldn't endure the report any longer. Blood spewed from his mouth as he lost consciousness, collapsing to the ground.
"Lord Tsuchikage!"
"Quickly—he's fainted!"
"Medical unit! Get over here now!"
Panic swept through the remaining Iwagakure forces. Their command structure was in disarray, their morale shattered.
Konoha Village – Hokage Building
Inside the Hokage's office, Tsunade was reviewing mission scrolls and intelligence dispatches. For a brief moment, she looked up through the wide glass window behind her desk.
Outside, the Hokage Rock was alive with activity. The sculptors had begun carving Tsunade's face into the mountain, while the visage of the late Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, had already been polished and memorialized.
Tsunade narrowed her eyes.
"I wonder how the situation is unfolding on the front lines…"
Her fingers curled into a fist.
"Did Byakuya succeed? We're fighting two major villages at once—Kumogakure and Iwagakure…"
Though she had personally witnessed Byakuya awaken the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan and command Wood Release—a power only ever wielded by the First Hokage—she still felt uneasy.
Even Uchiha Madara had fallen, despite his unmatched strength.
Tsunade's expression hardened.
A part of her still blamed the disaster on Hiruzen Sarutobi.
"If not for that old man's indecisiveness and letting Danzo operate unchecked, we wouldn't be in this mess…"
Just then, an Anbu appeared in front of her in a flicker of leaves, kneeling respectfully.
"Hokage-sama, a battle report has arrived from the front lines."
Tsunade's eyes lit up with urgency.
"Quickly—give it here!"
The moment the scroll reached her hands, she tore it open and began scanning its contents.
Her golden eyes widened.
"Byakuya… he's done it…"
Her lips curled into a rare smile, trembling with adrenaline and disbelief.
"Excellent… Just as I hoped!"
"He defeated both Iwagakure and Kumogakure's forces—
And killed the Third Raikage in the process."
Behind her, the Anbu was momentarily stunned, before his pride surged.
"As expected of Lord Byakuya…"
He couldn't hide his admiration. As a fellow Uchiha, hearing that their clan head had stood alone against two of the Five Great Shinobi Nations and emerged victorious—this was more than pride. It was history being rewritten.
But before Tsunade could savor the moment any further, her eyes caught a final paragraph.
Her breath hitched.
Her expression froze.
"What? …No… this can't be right."
"Byakuya… what did you do…?"
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