Beneath the cliffs of Howling Gorge, five heavily modified transport ships powered upstream against the current.
Searchlights swept across the jagged canyon walls, scanning for any hint of an ambush.
At the head of the convoy stood Sunagakure Jōnin Kazama Sōsuke—a hunched man with a massive scroll strapped to his back, his eyes narrowed into the rain-soaked darkness ahead.
"Have the puppets extend the sensory net to max range," he growled."The vanguard went dark earlier. There are rats nearby."
"Understood!"
Over a dozen humanoid puppets launched into the air, spinning like grotesque bats above the convoy, suspended by chakra threads.
…
Atop the cliffs, in the tall grass.
Hyūga Kō's eyes bulged, veins throbbing as he locked on below.
"Enemy has entered the kill zone. Lead vessel… 300 meters from detonation point… 200… 100… We're in range!"
"Now."
Tetsu's fingers tightened slightly around the detonation cord. He turned to the blond boy crouched beside him.
"Minato—go."
Minato took a deep breath. His azure eyes sharpened into diamond focus.
He said nothing—just gave a small nod. His chakra signature contracted into silence, blending perfectly into the downpour.
"Three seconds," he whispered.
Then—flash.
Golden light tore through the rain.
Through the Byakugan, Kō witnessed a sight he'd remember for the rest of his life:Minato's body vanished. In his place—a golden flash darted madly across the vertical cliff face, slick with moss and rain.
No ropes. No anchors. Just raw chakra control keeping him stuck to the sheer basalt.
Each step sent a ring of mist bursting from the rock.
Swish. Swish. Swish.
He left streaking afterimages in the canyon like a dancing phantom.
First kunai—planted.
Third. Fifth.
Below, the Suna puppeteers barely noticed a flicker of light, glancing up to see only cold stone and storm clouds.
"What was—" one of them began.
But the golden streak had already returned.
Minato landed in the tall grass, chest heaving, rain dripping from his bangs.
"Mission complete." He grinned and gave a thumbs up."Exactly three seconds."
A few Chūnin stared at him as if he were an alien. Precise placement of twelve kunai along a near-vertical cliff—in a torrential downpour—within three seconds?
Was this kid really a Genin?
Even Kō, a seasoned Hyūga Jōnin, had never seen raw speed and control like that.
"Well done," Tetsu said simply.
"Now it's up for the science."
He formed a Tiger seal.
"Detonate."
There was no thunderclap.
Twelve specially engineered kunai, embedded deep into fault lines, exploded simultaneously.
But not with force alone—Tetsu had fine-tuned their frequencies to create resonance.
A strange hum pulsed through the canyon.
Wooooom—!
The cliffs began to groan, as if some sleeping giant had stirred in its depths.
On the ship, Kazama Sōsuke's face contorted.He spun toward the cliff—just in time to see it crack.
A thin fracture ran down the basalt wall.
Then—it spread, spiderwebbing outward with sickening speed.
"No… that's impossible!" he gasped.
"That's a monolithic formation!"
"Against resonance," Tetsu said above, "even the hardest rock is tofu."
CRACK!
RUMMMMMBLE—!
The support stratum collapsed.
Tens of thousands of tons of stone tore free, hurling down the cliff in a roaring avalanche—mud, rock, uprooted trees—crashing toward the river like the wrath of nature itself.
A mountain was falling.
Darkness swallowed the convoy.
The proud Suna puppets, once so fearsome, now looked like toys beneath a god's heel.
"Abandon ship!!"
Kazama screamed—but the roar drowned his voice.
DOOOOOOOM!!!
A boulder smashed into the water.
A geyser soared fifty meters high.
The first two transports were obliterated on impact—splintered by waves and shattered by rock.
Shockwaves blasted the river outward, hurling vessels into canyon walls like matchboxes.
The current stopped. The gorge was dammed.
In seconds, a makeshift lake began forming.
Water, smoke, shrapnel—Howling Gorge became a churning cauldron of chaos.
…
On the cliff above.
"...That's insane."
Kaitō swallowed hard. His legs nearly buckled.
Twelve Explosive Tags had just triggered an artificial landslide.
He stared at Tetsu—not with skepticism, but with fear.
What kind of brain does this kid have? This is monstrous.
"Stop staring!"
Fugaku's voice snapped the team back to focus. He drew his short blade, eyes burning.
"Rubble crushes fodder. True elites won't die that easy."
"All units—attack!"
"Yes, sir!"
Konoha's shinobi surged forward, leaping down the cliff like falling stars.
…
Amid the wreckage below.
"Cough—cough! Damn you… damn Konoha rats!"
Kazama Sōsuke emerged, barely alive, standing atop a drifting plank.
Moments earlier, he'd yanked himself to safety with chakra threads—sheltered beneath an outcrop. Still, his left arm was crushed, blood pouring down his side.
Behind him: sunken ships, floating corpses.
It's over.
The supplies were gone.
Even if he lived, Hanzo and the Kazekage would never forgive this failure.
"Come out! Show yourselves!"
Furious, he hurled the scroll from his back.
"Summoning Jutsu: Puppet Army!"
POOF POOF POOF!
Smoke burst forth. Despite the losses, he still summoned 30 battle puppets—bladed, venomous, deadly.
"I'll tear you all apart!"
"Your opponent is me."
A voice, low and icy, pierced the storm.
Fugaku dropped onto a boulder across from him, Sharingan glowing in the dark.
"Jōnin Kazama Sōsuke of Sunagakure—your life belongs to the Uchiha."
"Uchiha?!"
Kazama's heart sank. He knew those eyes.
But madness replaced hesitation.
"Perfect. I'll take your head to atone!"
"Kill him!!"
The puppets lunged, spewing poison and launching needles.
"Hmph."
Fugaku didn't flinch. His hand seals blurred, a flurry of afterimages.
Tetsu was right. I was too wasteful before.
He inhaled deeply. Chakra spun violently in his throat.
"Fire Release: Special—Great Fireball Jutsu."
FWOOM—!!!
A roaring blue fireball erupted from his mouth.
It tore through the first wave of puppets, incinerating them before they could even explode.Wood, metal, seal arrays—melted.
"What?! Blue flames?!"
Kazama's face twisted in panic as the fire streaked toward him.
…
Meanwhile—
Minato's golden flash danced through the puppet formation, each kunai stroke slicing chakra threads with deadly precision.
On the ridge, Tetsu knelt beside a custom launcher.
Next to him, Kō reported enemy positions in rapid bursts.
"Heading 105. Elevation 30. Distance 200."
"Locked."
CLANG—WHOOSH!
The oversized Fūma Shuriken, laced with an Explosive Tag, flew—and struck true, obliterating a hidden Suna Chūnin.
"Perfect sync."
Tetsu watched the chaos below with calm detachment.
This battle ended the moment that cliff began to fall.