Konoha Streets — Moments After the Explosion
BOOM—!!
The tremor shook windowpanes and sent birds scattering into the sky. A thick plume of smoke curled upward from the Hokage Tower district, distant but ominous.
Civilians began to pour out into the streets, voices rising in panic.
"What was that!?"
"Did a jutsu go off?!"
"It came from the Hokage building!"
"Was it an attack?! Is it war?!"
The peaceful hum of the village had shattered.
But amid the growing panic, one man strolled calmly through the crowd—lean and tall, with short green hair, a black bandana tied to his arm, and three katana sheathed at his side.
His expression was half-asleep, half-bored, like he had no idea what all the noise was about.
To the villagers, he was just some foreign swordsman passing through. Maybe a wandering mercenary or a lost Chūnin from the Land of Iron.
And in this chaos no one had the time to pay attention to his strange image.
But under the surface?
Obito Uchiha was absolutely enjoying himself.
"…They're starting early," he muttered, a faint smirk curling on his face as another muffled explosion rumbled in the background. "Didn't even wait for the signal. Tch. Overachiever."
He adjusted his fake bandana and stopped at a familiar street corner.
Ichiraku Ramen.
A small nostalgic smile tugged at the edge of his real face, hidden behind the henge.
Still… the shutters were halfway down, and the shop was clearly closing.
A moment later, the curtain twitched, and Teuchi peeked out, looking both nervous and apologetic.
"Ah… sorry, young man," the old ramen chef said with a forced smile. "There's some… unexpected trouble near the Hokage's office. I think I'll have to close up early."
Obito, wearing Zoro's face, tilted his head slightly and pointed lazily at the steaming bowl still on the counter.
"…That one looks ready."
Teuchi blinked. "Huh? Oh—uh, it's not finished yet, I haven't even added the—"
The green-haired swordsman reached into his pocket, flipped a few ryō coins onto the counter with a clink, and picked up the bowl casually with one hand.
"Keep the change."
Then he turned, casually, as if nothing were wrong, and began walking away again—steam trailing from the bowl, screams trailing from the direction of the Hokage building, and utter confusion rippling through the street behind him.
Teuchi called out softly behind him:
"Hope you stay safe out there, young man."
The explosions in the distance continued to rumble.
Obito didn't turn around.
He just raised two fingers lazily in the air...half a wave, half a salute and kept walking.
--
Konoha — Just Outside the Forest of Death
"Damn it… what's going on!? Why would Elder Danzō attack the Hokage!?"
Hyuga Hiashi landed beside the others, white Byakugan eyes narrowed, veins pulsing at his temples.
The scene they saw before was pure chaos.
Two Elders — Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane — lay dead, their bodies still fresh, blood soaking into the broken tiles.
Tree roots twisted across the battlefield, violently cracked through concrete and support beams like grotesque vines. Chakra hung heavy in the air, suffocating and oppressive.
The village's central district had already become too unstable to continue the fight.
And so, the Hokage had led the madness into the Forest of Death.
"This isn't the time to question such things, Hiashi," Shikaku Nara muttered, rubbing the bridge of his nose with two fingers. His sharp eyes scanned the terrain. "We should focus on the problem in front of us. Honestly… what a drag."
"He's right," Chōza Akimichi added, his usual smile still present, though a bit tense now. "Let's take him down first. Hokage-sama can sort out the politics afterward."
"Don't make it sound so easy, Chōza," Inoichi Yamanaka cut in, his tone sharp. His gaze flicked toward the twisted trees ahead. "Danzo didn't just lose his mind...he must be prepared. And he's not alone. Root's moving with him."
Chōza scratched the back of his neck with a sheepish chuckle. "Well… we've fought worse odds, right?"
None of them answered.
But they all smiled at each other.
Shikaku. Inoichi. Chōza. Hiashi. All veterans. All leaders if their respective clans.
Behind them, a wave of Hyūga clan members followed, their pale eyes glowing, scanning ahead for ambushes.
And from the treetops, a blur dropped down.
Kakashi Hatake, face grim.
"I've sent Guy to the hospital. He's stable," Kakashi said immediately, "Hokage-sama is fighting him one-on-one right now, but he won't last long alone. Danzo has… changed."
He had already told them some information he could gather at that short while.
They all felt it too. The unnatural chakra ahead, a blend of Wood Style. Things are more complicated it seems.
"Alright," Shikaku said as he moved forward across the mossy terrain. "Then let's make our move."
--
Forest of Death — Current Battlefield
Trees snapped like twigs as Hiruzen Sarutobi soared backward, landing hard against a thick trunk. Bark exploded outward as he grunted from the impact.
Danzo stood across the clearing, cloak ripped, bandages undone.
His right arm — no longer hidden... pulsed with grotesque chakra. A mass of Sharingan eyes blinked in eerie unison along the limb, and wooden roots extended like serpents from his back.
"Is this what you've become, Danzo…?" Hiruzen muttered, gripping his staff tightly.
"This is what the village needs," Danzo said coldly. "Power. Control. Unity. And the will to do what you never could."
Hiruzen closed his eyes and sighed heavily, then the staff spun in his hands, chakra pulsing through it as he opened his eyes.
"Summoning Jutsu: Monkey King – Enma!"
A burst of smoke erupted beside him, and from it emerged a towering, muscular monkey with fur like steel and sharp, burning eyes.
"Hmph. You've gotten older, Hiruzen," Enma grunted, cracking his knuckles. "Still picking fights with madmen?"
"You know me," Hiruzen replied grimly. "This time… it's Danzo."
"Tch. Should've let me rip him apart years ago."
"Transform—!"
In a flash, Enma's form twisted into a massive, reinforced Adamantine Staff, crashing into Hiruzen's waiting hands.
Danzo raised his right hand, and the grotesque arm of Sharingan eyes twitched.
Wooden roots burst from the earth, spiraling up in violent coils.
"Wood Style: Advent of Thorned Forest."
A massive wall of jagged vines erupted between them, the trees barbed and claw-like, trying to crush and pierce the Hokage from all sides.
But Hiruzen moved fast.
"Fire Style: Dragon Flame Release Song Technique!"
A stream of fire roared from his mouth, weaving with rapid, seamless hand seals into three blazing heads of flame—each one striking a different angle of the wooden wall.
BOOM!
The flames tore through Danzo's forest, fire meeting wood in a blaze of destruction.
But even as the trees burned—
Danzo was already gone.
He reappeared behind Hiruzen in an instant, Wood Style branches snaking from his back like fanged vipers.
Hiruzen spun, Enma's staff widening in length mid-swing—CLANG!—blocking the strike just in time.
The two war-hardened leaders clashed amidst falling branches and swirling chakra.
BOOM!
And beside them…
ANBU vs. Root
Root moved like machines.
They were deadly and extremely loyal. Dying for Danzō was their wet dream.
But even among them, two stood above the rest.
Torune Aburame, arms shrouded in black, chakra laced with a deadly swarm of nanoscopic destruction bugs. His strikes didn't need strength. Just contact.
Where his palms landed, flesh corroded. Armor melted. Skin blackened with infection in seconds.
And beside him, Fu Yamanaka, with his cold eyes and rapid seals, snatching minds mid-fight with brutal precision.
"Mind Transfer Puppet Curse: Control Technique—!"
An ANBU's body jerked. His eyes went wide.
Then without warning, he turned on his own comrade, blade flashing toward their neck.
Another ANBU tried to block Torune's palm and screamed as his shoulder instantly blistered, chakra pathways burning with invisible poison.
"Shit! Don't let them get close!" an ANBU captain shouted.
But it was already happening.
Root, empowered by Danzō's insanity and with Fu and Torune cutting a direct path forward, was turning the tide—
Until...
Reinforcements Arrived
THOOM—!!
A massive chakra signature descended from the trees like a hammer.
"Eight Trigrams: Sixty-Four Palms!"
Hiashi Hyūga descended in a blur, his palms striking like lightning. Each hit closed tenketsu points on Torune's body, halting his chakra flow mid-motion.
Th-th-th-th-th—!
"Ghh—!" Torune coughed blood, blown back across the field. His body slammed into a thick root with a bone-rattling CRACK, vines snapping behind him.
"Shadow Sewing Jutsu!"
Shikaku Nara's chakra threads surged up from the underbrush, skewering three Root agents by their limbs and pinning them like dolls to the forest floor.
"Partial Expansion Jutsu: Arm Slam!"
Chōza Akimichi bellowed, his massive fist crushing through trees and agents alike, the earth shaking with the force of the blow.
"Mind Destruction Transmission!"
Inoichi shot his consciousness into the battlefield, freezing an enemy mid-jump and forcing them to slam their weapon into their own squadmate.
And then...
Kakashi Hatake emerged from the shadows behind Fu, his kunai coated in crackling white electricity.
"Lightning Style: Flash Fang!"
A wave of focused electricity surged along the ground in a straight, cutting line—like a lightning-laced trench knife. Fu cursed, barely leaping aside as the ground behind him exploded in sparks.
"You're not the only sensor, Yamanaka," Kakashi muttered, adjusting his stance.
The battlefield flipped again.
ANBU reformed their lines behind the Clan Heads.
Root operatives faltered.
The tide had turned.
Danzo's Flank – Regroup
From the shadows, Torune staggered through the trees, smoke trailing from his body. His chakra was a mess—some points permanently sealed from Hiashi's strikes.
"Ghh…"
He dropped to one knee, barely catching himself.
A heartbeat later, Fu landed beside him, bruised, his breathing heavy.
"…We are sorry, Lord Danzo."
The two Root captains bowed their heads.
Danzō raised a single hand, halting Fu and Torune in place. His Sharingan eye gleamed crimson with a flicker of madness.
"Now that all of you are here…" he said, lips twisting into a wicked grin.
"…it makes the job easier."
Hiruzen's pupils shrank. "No—!"
Danzō clapped his hands together, chakra surging like a violent tide.
"Wood Style: Deep Forest Emergence!"
The ground beneath them convulsed.
Massive roots exploded upward, tearing through soil and stone, splitting trees like kindling.
Ancient trunks erupted skyward, thick and gnarled, as if the earth itself had come alive.
"Everyone...defend yourselves!!" the Third Hokage roared, slamming his staff into the ground.
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