"How… how is this possible? That was Lord Killer B's Tailed Beast Ball!"
"This can't be real! The Eight-Tails' Tailed Beast Ball—blocked so easily? That's a Tailed Beast Ball! A force of nature!"
The Allied Shinobi Forces erupted into an uproar. Countless shinobi stared in disbelief. Since when could the Tailed Beasts' strongest attack—something treated as a natural disaster—be stopped by a single person's hand?
Even Killer B was stunned.
"Yo, no way—this is wild! Not even the Nine-Tails got power this exaggerated!"
But it wasn't Killer B's voice trembling—it was Gyūki's. The Eight-Tails' pupils shrank sharply.
Gyūki stared at Naruto, horrified.
On Naruto's body… he saw two faint silhouettes, overlapping—shadows of figures he thought he'd never see again.
How can such power appear so easily in the shinobi world? How can a human… mirror him?
Naruto simply sneered. The condensed sphere of destruction in his hands dissolved into shimmering motes of light, scattering into the wind.
He stepped forward. Killer B and Gyūki instinctively stepped back.
Naruto said coldly, "Frogs at the bottom of a well… You still don't understand what true power is."
Hearing this voice—this tone—Gyūki felt his memories twist. In a flash, he saw the silhouette of the Sage of Six Paths overlapping with Naruto's form.
Suddenly, black chain-like seals burst outward from Naruto. Runes glimmered faintly along their lengths—Adamantine Sealing Chains, enhanced and evolved far beyond their Uzumaki origins.
The chains wrapped around Gyūki, pinning the massive beast in place. The sealing force radiating from them was overwhelming—refined, mastery-level, absolute.
Naruto's Sealing Techniques had reached their peak. In the entire shinobi world, there was no one—save those who wielded the Six Paths' power—who could surpass him.
The chains tightened, suppressing Gyūki's form and forcing him back into Killer B's body in a single violent surge of sealing power.
Before Killer B could react, Naruto flickered beside him. His palm touched B's chest.
A flash of sealing light.
Killer B's chakra was sealed instantly—and Naruto severed his chakra link with Gyūki in the same motion.
Then—
Thud.
A swift chop to the neck. Killer B collapsed unconscious.
Naruto tossed B's body toward Tsunade. She caught him and immediately signaled to two shinobi.
"Restrain him—now!"
The Kumogakure forces saw this and panicked.
"Rescue Lord Killer B!"
A large number abandoned their opponents and charged toward him.
But the Umbrella forces intercepted them instantly.
No one broke through.
Only now did the Allied Shinobi Forces begin to notice the battlefield shift. Umbrella had somehow seized complete control of multiple fronts. Their fellow shinobi were falling one after another.
On the Iwagakure side, the Tsuchikage Ōnoki was locked by two unexpected opponents—Orochimaru and Jiraiya, fighting together once more. Near them, Kumogakure's Two-Tails jinchūriki battled Might Guy, the momentum swinging back and forth.
Konoha's clans—Hyūga, Uchiha, Nara, Akimichi, and others—were engaging elite Allied shinobi across the battlefield.
What the Alliance didn't yet realize…
Their casualty ratio against Umbrella had reached seven to one—
Seven casualties on their side for every one from Umbrella.
And still, the Raikage's grievous injury and Killer B's capture only pushed them into greater desperation.
The battle became frenzied.
Orochimaru & Jiraiya vs Ōnoki
Orochimaru had originally been at a disadvantage. Ōnoki—even aged—possessed experience carved by decades of war. His mastery of Dust Release forced Orochimaru to proceed with extreme caution.
But with Jiraiya's sudden arrival, the balance shifted.
Now, the Tsuchikage was the one being pressed back.
"Hahaha! Ōnoki, your time is over. When you get old, it's time to go to the Pure Land!"
Orochimaru mocked, voice dripping with venomous delight.
Ōnoki didn't even flinch.
"Hmph. When this old man was fighting on the battlefield, you were still playing in the dirt somewhere!"
He shot back without hesitation.
"Youngsters these days… truly don't know their place."
The words carried a hidden jab.
Orochimaru's lips curled—not in offense, but in amusement. He looked every bit the serpent he was.
How could this decrepit relic understand his ambition?
Why cling to a long life… when one could pursue eternal life?
He wasn't immortal yet—but he could see the dawn of it. And nothing—not even Ōnoki—would stand in his way.
"You people—just fight. Why say such inexplicable things?"
Jiraiya's irritation spiked. He glared at the two cunning old men before him. He'd always hated this type—scheming, sly, always talking circles.
The Third was like that. Ōnoki was like that. And Orochimaru… Orochimaru was the worst offender.
"Dust Release: Detachment of the Primitive World Technique!"
Ōnoki rose into the air, exhaling softly. His hands came together, then spread apart as a blinding light formed between them.
A white cube materialized, its core radiating a circular glow—the unmistakable shape of Dust Release.
Jiraiya and Orochimaru's expressions changed instantly. Without hesitation, both vanished from their positions.
A heartbeat later—
BOOM—!!
The ground where they had just stood dissolved into a bottomless black void, matter erased so completely that not even dust remained.
Even though both had witnessed Dust Release before, the sight still forced a chill down their spines.
This was Dust Release, the Bloodline Selection that surpassed normal Kekkei Genkai—capable of breaking matter down to molecules.
In the original canon, even Susanoo couldn't withstand it. A technique considered among the most devastating in the shinobi world.
Ōnoki frowned. The two in front of him were unbelievably troublesome—slippery as eels when confronted with his Dust Release.
He couldn't overuse the technique. Its power was enormous, but its chakra cost was equally outrageous.
What he needed was one opening. One decisive strike.
As long as Dust Release connected even once… no shinobi alive could survive it.
But Dust Release had weaknesses—activation time and a strict linear trajectory.
If not for that, Ōnoki would've unified the entire shinobi world decades ago.
And there were his own unspoken limitations—age, a weakening back, and the strain of wielding such power.
The opponents before him were young, strong, and in their prime.
If he had the body of his youth, even the two of them together wouldn't concern him.
"Orochimaru," Jiraiya said warily, "if that Dust Release hits you, there won't even be bones left."
Orochimaru let out a quiet, serpentine laugh—one that, to Jiraiya, felt oddly mocking.
What was that supposed to mean?
That Jiraiya was the one likely to get hit?
That he wasn't strong enough to survive without warnings?
Jiraiya's eyebrows twitched.
"Worry about yourself!" he shot back. "I am Jiraiya—the Toad Sage of Mount Myōboku!"
He laughed boldly, and for a moment, the banter pulled him back to the past.
To simpler days.
To the time when he and Orochimaru sparred, argued, and competed endlessly.
For just a moment…it felt like the old Orochimaru had returned.
...
TN:
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