The alarm hit like a kunai to the spine.
"Konoha shinobi approaching!"
Wind whipped through the command tent as Fūma Moriki, current commander of the Wind Demon forces, shot to their feet. They'd been in the middle of planning how to hold the narrow mountain pass known as the Great Slant. Apparently the universe had decided planning was optional.
"What do you mean they're already here? The scouting report came in five minutes ago!"
The Wind Demon scouts had barely finished delivering their intel and now Konoha forces were supposedly at the very gates of the gorge. Moriki's stomach twisted. Not because of fear. Because this was absurdly reckless, even for Konoha.
"Why would Konoha try to force the Great Slant? They'd bleed for it."
Nobody answered. Nobody could answer. The only thing Moriki could do was grit their teeth.
"Fine. Defensive formation! All Wind Demon shinobi prepare to hold the pass!"
Orders shot across the encampment in a flurry of chakra-amplified shouts. Wind Demon squads scrambled into formation, stringing wire traps, setting explosive tags, raising defensive barriers. The mountain air hummed with tension.
And yet… nothing.
Minutes ticked by. The gorge stayed empty.
"Where is Konoha?" Moriki muttered, face darkening. "They swear an army was coming… and instead I get trees and bad wind."
A nervous young Wind Demon chunin swallowed hard. "Commander… the scout team definitely saw movement. A large unit, heading straight for us."
The twitch in Moriki's jaw said someone was going to die today, and it might not even be a Konoha shinobi.
"My lord! Someone's approaching!"
Moriki snapped toward the tree line… and saw a single silhouette step into view.
Just one.
"That's… Amamiya Raizen!"
Moriki felt a chill crawl down their spine. What was he doing here? The guy was supposed to be guarding Konoha lands, not strolling into a fortified chokepoint like he owned the place.
Wind Demon shinobi muttered anxiously. Raizen's name had traveled far. Tales of the reincarnated madman from the forgotten Amamiya clan tended to stick in people's heads.
"He comes alone?" Moriki barked. "Does he think we're a training dummy? Attack! Teach that brat some fear!"
"Yes, Commander!"
Wire whistled. Shuriken flooded the air. Dozens of wind-enhanced blades spiraled toward Raizen, followed by a wave of jutsu: slicing winds, sweeping water bursts, earthen spears rising like fangs from the ground.
The world cracked apart.
Flames swallowed Raizen's position, blasting the surrounding rock into powder. The ground shook. A ten-meter crater bloomed where he'd been standing.
"Hmph. Even he can't walk out of that," Moriki exhaled, smirking—
And froze.
The flames twisted.
Wind peeled back like a curtain.
A vortex of chakra surged upward, violent and primal, tearing the air itself.
A massive shape rose from the smoke.
A roar ripped through the mountains, rattling bones.
"R… Raijin help us…" a Wind Demon jonin whispered, knees shaking.
The creature stood armored in jagged plates, mist curling between them. Three colossal tails cut through the air like living scythes. A single baleful eye glowed red with killing intent.
"Three… Three Tails…"
Moriki's heart stopped. He'd heard stories, sure. But seeing a Tailed Beast in person was like staring into a thunderstorm wearing skin.
Three Tails inhaled.
Chakra condensed in its maw, swirling purple and black, the pressure folding the air until it screamed.
"Tailed Beast Bomb?! Brace yourselves!"
Wind Demon shinobi scrambled to form walls of wind and stone, but it was already too late.
The sphere detonated.
Light erased everything.
The mountain boomed like it was splitting in half. Screams vanished in the blast wave. When the smoke finally lifted, the Great Slant Gorge was simply… gone. A crater replaced the natural fortress that Wind Demon Clan had relied on for generations.
Nearly two hundred Wind Demon shinobi were vaporized in a single heartbeat.
Moriki stared at the devastation, eyes hollow. "We… we were never fighting on the same battlefield. Konoha is a monster."
Three Tails growled, stepping forward.
And Raizen's voice cut through the smoke, sharp and merciless:
"Advance!"
The beast surged forward under Raizen's control, smashing into the shattered defensive line.
From the treeline behind him, three thousand Konoha assault shinobi burst forward, their killing intent slamming into the gorge like a second tidal wave.
The Great Slant fell in minutes.