Shwoop!
A ninja appeared at a crossroads, looking at the villagers bustling through the streets, and shouted, "Everyone! An emergency alert has just been issued from above!"
"Huh?" An inevitable wave of commotion rippled through the crowd.
"Everyone, stay calm! Please follow the evacuation orders and proceed to the shelters!"
"Although I can use the Byakugan for X-ray vision..." Otsutsuki Isshiki sighed faintly, gazing at the dense crowd that had entered his field of vision. "It's still a bit more efficient than direct visual observation."
"Is that someone floating up there?" Below, villagers gradually began to notice his presence.
Inside the interrogation room, Nara Shikamaru covertly observed the enemy in mid-air through a crack in the window. His mind raced, issuing one order after another. "The Police Force will take the lead in guiding the villagers to evacuate. Leave Otsutsuki to the Seventh Hokage and Uchiha Sasuke to handle... Tell everyone, no one is to engage the enemy!" After giving the last order, he gritted his teeth. To have one's home invaded, yet only be able to watch helplessly as the enemy rampages, unable to even fight back... from any angle, it's utterly pathetic.
Boruto suddenly rushed out of the room. Shikamaru hurriedly chased after him.
"Dad! I..." Boruto began, looking at his father who was standing outside, but was cut off mid-sentence.
"How many times do I have to tell you, Boruto?!" The Seventh Hokage's tone was extremely stern. "Go to the shelter with everyone else!"
Boruto opened his mouth: "..."
Thud!
"He's landed?!"
Gazing at the Konoha ninja surrounding him, Otsutsuki Isshiki politely inquired, "I'm looking for someone, a young man named Kawaki. Do you know where he is?"
"Huh?" The Konoha ninja were stunned. Are you kidding me, buddy? You're the invader, currently surrounded by us... Do you have to be so calm and composed?
Thinking this, one of them threw several shuriken.
But a bizarre scene unfolded: the shuriken struck an empty space a few inches in front of the enemy and were deflected back, with even greater force.
Pfft! Pfft!
In an instant, a Konoha ninja lay dead.
"Apologies, I'm in a bit of a hurry," Otsutsuki Isshiki said, his tone casual, as if he had just killed an ant by the roadside. "Please answer my question quickly. Otherwise, the target of my next attack won't be just one person."
The surrounding ninja's expressions changed. "...We don't know."
"That's enough. No need to waste each other's time." Otsutsuki Isshiki nodded slightly and leaped away.
"The enemy is near the main gate! One combatant injured!"
"Damn it!" The Seventh Hokage and Sasuke increased their speed once more.
"Do you need me to take you away from Konoha?" Naruto asked, turning his head to look at the mother and daughter who had just stepped out of the house. With Otsutsuki Isshiki's strength, if Konoha became a battlefield, the casualties would undoubtedly be catastrophic. The mere shockwaves from his battle would be something few in Konoha could withstand.
"We'll go to the shelter with everyone else. I believe in him," Hinata replied, shaking her head and declining his offer.
"Himawari believes in Daddy too."
"Then be careful." Naruto left a shadow clone behind and vanished from the spot.
Shwoop!
"The informed party has appeared on his own." Otsutsuki Isshiki stopped, looking at the Seventh Hokage blocking his path. "I'm very curious, how did you escape my seal?"
"We have many excellent ninja in Konoha," the Seventh Hokage stated.
"Is that so..." Otsutsuki Isshiki said noncommittally. "More importantly... isn't it time we settled things between us?"
"It would be my utmost honor."
BOOM!
The air around the two of them suddenly erupted chaotically. Nearby fragile objects shattered under their terrifying pressure. The two figures intertwined, and the Seventh Hokage's figure was sent flying backward at high speed.
"Kurama Chakra Mode plus Sage Mode..." Watching the Seventh Hokage being completely overwhelmed, a grave look flashed in Naruto's eyes. Not long ago, this had also been his strongest mode.
"Oh right, where's Uchiha Sasuke?"
The thought had barely formed when Uchiha Sasuke's figure suddenly appeared at the center of the battle, a heavy kick sending Otsutsuki Isshiki flying into the distance.
"You're too slow, Sasuke," the Seventh Hokage said, getting to his feet.
"My apologies." Uchiha Sasuke let out a light breath and drew the long sword from his waist. "Cover me in a moment. Shuriken, kunai, throw whatever you have."
"Sasuke, what's your plan?" the Seventh Hokage asked, but his hands didn't stop moving, a barrage of throwing weapons covering his comrade's advance.
"That detestable Rinnegan." Otsutsuki Isshiki rose from a pile of rubble.
"Reckless..." Naruto frowned upon seeing the true nature of the long sword in Uchiha Sasuke's hand.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Otsutsuki Isshiki levitated, and a large number of throwing weapons fell harmlessly beneath him.
"Amenotejikara!" Uchiha Sasuke's tomoe Rinnegan activated its dōjutsu. He swapped places with a shuriken, appearing directly in front of his enemy. The long sword in his hand carved a semicircle through the air.
"Sukunahikona!" Otsutsuki Isshiki also activated his right eye's dōjutsu, about to shrink the long sword. With weapons of the same material, the damage caused by a long sword versus a sewing needle was simply incomparable.
"Huh?!" The long sword showed no change whatsoever. Otsutsuki Isshiki was slightly surprised. Sukunahikona, one of his right eye's abilities, could basically shrink anything. Unless...
Poof!
A cloud of white smoke erupted. The long sword in Uchiha Sasuke's hand suddenly transformed into a young boy.
"Boruto?!" The Seventh Hokage was shocked.
"Your dōjutsu doesn't seem to work on living beings other than yourself!" Uchiha Sasuke shouted. "Do it!"
Boruto, looking at the Otsutsuki so close at hand, grinned. The Karma on his right hand suddenly tore open a spatial passage. The two of them instantly vanished from the main world, entering Otsutsuki Momoshiki's alternate dimension.
"Let's go!" Uchiha Sasuke grabbed the Seventh Hokage, his Rinnegan dōjutsu activating, and the two of them also entered the alternate dimension.
"After so many years, haven't they managed to train a single ninja capable of using the Flying Thunder God Technique?" Naruto was puzzled. Sasuke's tactic just now had an extremely low margin for error. He understood they wanted to move to an uninhabited battlefield to fight with all their might. But placing Boruto at the core of the tactic was practically a joke. What was Otsutsuki Isshiki's strength? And what was Boruto's? If there had been just one Konoha ninja capable of using Flying Thunder God, the battlefield would have been changed long ago. He could do it, but unfortunately, these two didn't trust him.
Yomotsu Hirasaka activated. Following the spatial traces Boruto had just left, he pursued them.
"This is?" Otsutsuki Isshiki surveyed the desolate surroundings of the alternate dimension.
"Hey!" Boruto's figure also appeared in the alternate dimension.
"This little brat... is Momoshiki's Karma... To be able to use this level of power, is the Karma already about to complete its thawing...?" Otsutsuki Isshiki's mind stirred. In other words, the boy before him would soon become one of his clansmen.
"Boruto, are you alright?" The Seventh Hokage and Sasuke also appeared in the alternate dimension. Now that things had come to this, he no longer blamed Boruto for his recklessness.
"I'm fine!" Boruto grinned, wiping his nose.
"Inferior creature." The rubble beneath Otsutsuki Isshiki exploded, and his figure vanished.