Chapter 59: The Price of Truth and the Opening Moves
Uchiha Fugaku's gaze shifted from the distant Nine-Tails to Namikaze Minato, his expression grave. "Minato, there is a critical piece of intelligence you must be aware of."
Minato met his eyes, sensing the seriousness. "Go ahead, Fugaku."
"The enemy who claims to be Uchiha Madara," Fugaku began, his voice low and deliberate, "may have access to a kinjutsu of our clan called Izanagi." He paused, letting the unfamiliar term hang in the air. "Its effect is to rewrite reality itself. For the duration of the technique, the user can transform any situation detrimental to them—including fatal injuries—into an illusion, and make only outcomes favorable to them into reality. The duration varies with the user's power and sacrifice. Minato, you cannot afford to be careless. You must watch for the three hand seals: Boar, Dog, Bird."
This information was the result of the silent communication that had passed between Akira and Fugaku moments before. Seeing Obito's apparent resilience against Minato's Rasengan, Akira had insisted. The original timeline was shattered; they could not assume Obito would behave as some unseen script dictated. The risk of Minato being fatally caught off-guard by a reality-warping technique was too great.
"Such a technique exists?" Minato's voice was tight. Sarutobi Hiruzen and Jiraiya's faces also paled, understanding the nightmarish tactical implications immediately.
"Is there no counter?" Hiruzen asked, his knuckles white on his staff.
Fugaku shook his head once. "None that the clan knows. It is the ultimate forbidden art. The price for using it… is the permanent loss of the light in one Sharingan."
A heavy silence descended. The cost was staggering, which made the threat all the more credible. An enemy willing to pay such a price was truly desperate or fanatical.
"Fugaku," Minato pressed, his mind racing through strategies, "in your estimation, if this 'Madara' uses it, how long could he sustain the effect?"
"It is impossible to be certain. It varies too much with the individual's chakra, will, and ocular strength. But given he possesses the Mangekyō… I would estimate a minimum of two minutes, potentially up to five, within a certain area of effect."
"I understand." Minato took a steadying breath, his resolve hardening. He glanced back at Kushina, who was slumped against a broken wall, her face ashen but her eyes burning with determination as she held their son. They were running out of time.
"Everyone," Minato announced, his voice cutting through the tension. "We can delay no longer. We must end this and reseal the Nine-Tails."
It was then that Kushina spoke up, her voice thin but fierce. "Minato… let Fugaku and the others… drive the Nine-Tails closer to me. I can still use my chains… to bind it."
"Kushina, you can't—" Minato started, his heart breaking.
"Please, Minato," she interrupted, a flicker of her old fire in her eyes. "Let me help… while I still have the strength."
Minato closed his eyes for a fraction of a second, then turned back to the Uchiha. His expression was one of absolute trust and terrible burden. "Fugaku, Akira. The Nine-Tails is yours."
"Understood," they replied in unison.
At that moment, the Nine-Tails made its move. Tiring of the standoff, it reared back, an immense vortex of blue-black chakra swirling between its jaws. In seconds, a Tailed Beast Ball over ten meters in diameter formed, humming with apocalyptic energy. With a contemptuous roar, it fired the sphere not at the fighters, but in a high arc toward a densely populated sector of Konoha still in the process of evacuation.
"No!" Minato vanished in a yellow flash.
He reappeared hundreds of meters in the air, directly in the path of the descending doom. "Flying Thunder God: Guiding Thunder!"
A vast, intricate network of black sealing formulae materialized in the sky before him, forming a glittering net. The colossal Tailed Beast Ball slammed into it and was swallowed whole. An instant later, in the far distance beyond the village walls, a second sun seemed to bloom on the horizon. The earth-shaking boom and the blinding flash that backlit the entire battlefield were a testament to the cataclysm that had just been averted.
Seizing the moment of distraction, the Nine-Tails acted. Instead of pressing the attack, it spun on its massive paws and began to flee, crashing toward the village's perimeter. It had seen enough. The combined forces, the Rinnegan, the persistent Uchiha—the risk now outweighed the rage.
"It's trying to escape!" Fugaku shouted.
Akira was already a streak of blue lightning. He crossed the devastated plain in a heartbeat, appearing as a tiny speck directly in the path of the mountain-sized beast.
"WRETCHED UCHIHA!" the fox bellowed, its left front claw sweeping down in a blow that could flatten a fortress, tearing up the network of wooden roots beneath it.
WHOOSH-CRACK!
The next sound was not of impact, but of a massive flinch. The Nine-Tails roared in surprised pain, its entire left shoulder jerking back as if struck by an invisible titan. It stumbled, retreating several thunderous steps. On the ground, Akira stood with one fist extended, the aftermath of the Mystical Palm Technique's invisible force still shimmering in the air around him.
"AHHH!" Enraged, the fox became a whirlwind of claws and tails, striking the area around Akira with blows fast enough to leave afterimages in the air, each capable of pulverizing rock.
THUD! Another concussive impact landed on its right foreleg, buckling the limb and forcing it back again. Akira danced through the storm of attacks, a bolt of lightning impossible to pin down, his super-strength strikes like pinpoint artillery against the beast's limbs.
Minato, who had been about to intercept, paused. He's not just holding it… he's herding it. A grim smile touched his lips. It was enough. The Nine-Tails was stopped.
On the other battlefield, Uchiha Obito watched the exchange, his Sharingan burning with cold fury behind the mask. He turned his head slightly toward Nagato. "I will handle the Fourth. You will occupy the others. Do not underestimate them."
"Understood… 'Madara'," Nagato replied, his Rinnegan fixed on the approaching Konoha elders.
The final engagement erupted. In one synchronized movement, Minato, Hiruzen, Jiraiya, and Might Dai shot forward. As expected, Minato and Obito vanished from the central field in a blur of distorted space, leaving only a ripple in the air as they translocated to their own dueling ground.
Jiraiya skidded to a halt before the wooden platform, his face a mask of profound sorrow and anger as he looked up at his former student. "Nagato! Look at what you've become! Have you forgotten every lesson, every hope we shared? It's not too late to stop this!"
Nagato gazed down, his Rinnegan eyes holding no warmth, only a deep, settled certainty. "I have forgotten nothing you taught me, Sensei Jiraiya."
"Then why?!" Jiraiya roared, gesturing at the burning village. "Why ally with a monster like Madara? Why do this?"
"Because what you taught me, Sensei," Nagato said, his voice chillingly calm, "proved to be nothing but a dream when put to the test in the real world."
Jiraiya flinched as if struck, the words robbing him of a rebuttal.
"Do not hold back, Sensei," Nagato continued, raising his hands. "Our paths have diverged completely. I have discovered the true path to peace."
"And what is this 'true path'?" Jiraiya demanded, a horrible suspicion dawning. "Does it involve the power of the Tailed Beasts? Is that what you and that masked fiend are after?"
Nagato's expression did not change. "If you survive this night, Sensei, you will see in time. For now… witness the power meant to create a new world."
He clasped his palms together. "Wood Release: Advent of a World of Flowering Trees!"
The colossal roots blanketing the battlefield trembled. From their surfaces, enormous, bulbous flower buds swelled and burst open in mere seconds, releasing vast clouds of glittering, golden pollen.
"Don't breathe it in!" Hiruzen bellowed, his voice carrying across the field. "All Wind Release users, clear the air! Now!"
The response was immediate. Dozens of Konoha jonin, from those on the front line to others positioned on nearby rubble, formed seals.
"Wind Release: Gale Palm!"
"Wind Release: Air Current Dance!"
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"
Jiraiya and the two sages added their power. "Sage Art: Wind Style Storm!"
A hurricane-force gale, conjured from over twenty simultaneous techniques, roared across the battlefield. The beautiful, deadly pollen was ripped away before it could settle, swept into a useless vortex and dispersed harmlessly into the upper atmosphere.
As expected. Against Konoha's collective might, mere Wood Release is insufficient, Nagato thought, his Rinnegan gleaming with a harder light. Then let us see how they fare against the power of a god.
He raised both hands to the sky, his chakra surging in a terrifying, palpable wave that made the very air hum. "Let us begin. Shinra Tensei!"
But this was no ordinary push. The gravitational force he unleashed was vastly more powerful, a visible distortion that flattened everything in a wide radius. Then, without pause, he clasped his hands again, his voice echoing with finality.
"Chibaku Tensei."
High above Konoha, at the zenith of the repulsive force's path, a tiny black dot appeared. It pulsed once, and the world began to tear itself apart to answer its call.
(End of Chapter)
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