Chapter 4: The First Clash
The shadow Otsutsuki army moved without sound.
No battle cries, no stomp of feet — just a silent tide of white figures rushing across the cracked earth toward the shinobi lines.
Boruto stood at the front, Rasengan already spinning in his palm, lightning dancing through it.
Sarada's Sharingan burned crimson beside him, and Kawaki's Kāma mark flared with black flames up his arm.
"Hold the line!" Boruto shouted, voice echoing through the ranks. "We fight together!"
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The First Wave
The first shadows hit the sand shinobi like a crashing wave.
Gaara's hands clapped together, golden sand rising in a wall — but the shadows phased through it like mist, their forms flickering, reforming, then striking.
"Physical attacks don't slow them down!" Darui's voice thundered from the Cloud's flank. "Aim for their chakra cores — center of the chest!"
A chorus of jutsu followed.
"Fire Style: Majestic Destroyer Flame!"
"Water Style: Water Dragon Barrage!"
"Lightning Style: Black Panther!"
Explosions lit the battlefield in waves of orange and blue, scattering the first ranks — only for the shadows to knit themselves back together, stepping forward again.
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Boruto clenched his teeth. "They're regenerating too fast—"
A shadow appeared right in front of him, faster than his eyes could track.
Sarada was already moving — her blade flashed, cutting through its chest. The form dissolved like ash, but two more took its place instantly.
"Tch… this is going to be a problem."
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Naruto and Sasuke Move
From the center line, Naruto surged forward in a golden flash — not Kurama's cloak, but his own chakra blazing so fiercely it shimmered like sunlight.
With a single strike, his Rasengan shattered three shadows into dust.
Sasuke's blade followed, wreathed in lightning, cutting through five more in a single arc.
His Rinnegan spun, warping space, dragging a cluster of shadows into one point before crushing them with a collapsing black sphere.
"Don't waste your chakra!" Sasuke barked, eyes scanning the tide. "They're not the real threat."
Boruto followed his gaze — up.
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The Progenitor Watches
High above the battlefield, Shukuyomi floated, arms folded inside his star-patterned robes.
He wasn't moving.
He wasn't even looking at the fight.
Instead, his gaze seemed to pierce through the horizon itself.
He's testing us, Boruto realized. These shadows… they're nothing to him.
As if sensing Boruto's thoughts, Shukuyomi's head tilted down.
Their eyes met across the battlefield.
Boruto felt a pressure in his skull, like a hand closing around his brain.
A voice slid into his mind, cold and endless.
You carry my blood's echo, little mortal. Let me taste it.
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Boruto gasped, knees buckling. Sarada caught his arm.
"Boruto! What is it?"
He shook his head, forcing air back into his lungs. "He's… looking at me. Like I'm prey."
Kawaki's voice was hard. "Then let's make him choke on it."
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Counterattack
The shinobi lines roared as the Five Kage signaled the second formation.
Long-range units formed up — fire and lightning users in front, wind and water behind to amplify their allies' attacks.
"Fire and wind, combine!" Gaara commanded.
A wall of searing flame shot forward, fueled by roaring gusts, cutting through hundreds of shadows at once.
From the Cloud's flank, Darui unleashed a storm of black lightning, vaporizing entire squads.
In the Mist section, Chōjūrō's blade flashed like a silver blur, every swing felling a dozen phantoms.
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But for every shadow that fell, two more seemed to rise from the cracks in the air.
Sarada's Sharingan whirled as she deflected a barrage of bone-like projectiles. "They're endless! We need to cut them off at the source!"
Boruto's mind raced. "Then we hit him directly."
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First Strike at Shukuyomi
Without waiting for orders, Boruto launched forward, Kawaki and Sarada on his heels.
They tore through the battlefield, smashing shadows aside, until the ground itself fell away — and they were running up the air toward the progenitor's floating form.
Shukuyomi didn't move until they were within striking distance.
Then he raised a single finger.
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A pulse of invisible force slammed into them.
Boruto felt his ribs crack as he was hurled backward. Kawaki's Kāma arm flared desperately to shield him, but even that black flame was ripped apart.
Sarada was caught mid-air by Naruto, who had appeared in a blur of motion.
"You three aren't ready for him yet," Naruto said, voice low.
Boruto's eyes burned with frustration. "We can't just sit back!"
Sasuke's voice cut in like a blade. "You'll have your chance. But first, we thin the herd."
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Shukuyomi's First Move
The progenitor finally raised his head.
"Enough."
With that single word, the shadows stopped moving.
Then — as if melting — they sank into the ground, vanishing completely.
For a heartbeat, the battlefield was silent.
Then the earth itself split, and from it emerged titanic forms — giant Otsutsuki warriors, each the size of a tailed beast, their bodies made of the same pale, shifting energy as the shadows.
Shukuyomi's voice was almost kind.
"Let us see how you fare against my children."
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End of Chapter 4
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