"Three Elders... you should be honored to die beneath my half-formed Susanoo."
Amamiya Raizen's voice cut through the battlefield like a blade of its own. Behind him, the crimson giant shifted—its skeletal wings unfurling, its form tightening into something darker, sharper. A massive sword condensed from chakra in its hand, and along its sides hung rows of spectral blades that shimmered with deadly light.
"Go to hell."
Raizen's words were calm, but Susanoo's roar wasn't. The great sword rose high and came crashing down. The ground split apart under the strike, cracking open like a broken shell. Waves of force rippled outward, tearing through the Hatake compound with the violence of an earthquake.
The three elders leapt aside, narrowly escaping annihilation. But Susanoo wasn't done. Its other arm tore a spectral boomerang from its waist and hurled it through the air. The weapon spun once—then space itself began to twist, a gravitational pull dragging everything toward its distorted center.
"Avoid it!" shouted the Third Elder, panic cracking his voice. "Move, damn it!"
The pull was too strong. Dust and debris bent toward the vortex, dragging the old man with it. The Third Elder's chakra flared desperately as he tried to flee—but the space rippled again, and pain tore through his arm. He turned just in time to see it swallowed, vanishing into the distortion.
His scream was short, strangled.
"Old fool. Die already."
Raizen laughed harshly, blood and exhaustion threading his voice. The Susanoo lifted its blade again. The Third Elder looked up just in time to see crimson chakra blot out the moon.
"Wait—!"
Too late.
The sword fell. The explosion swallowed his cry, leaving behind only blood and silence.
Raizen exhaled slowly. The wind carried the stink of smoke and iron through the night. The Hatake compound lay in ruins, corpses scattered among the wreckage.
"Finally over," Raizen muttered. The main culprits were dead; the rest was cleanup. Hatake Gintama could handle that.
Susanoo dissolved around him, the giant form fading like a nightmare at dawn. Relief washed through the Hatake survivors as the crushing pressure vanished.
Raizen pressed a hand to his eye and hissed. "Damn... I overdid it this time." The Sharingan burned in his skull like hot sand. Using Kamui, Kamui Shuriken, and a half-body Susanoo in the same battle had been pure insanity.
"Guess I'll need those eternal eyes sooner or later," he muttered, half amused, half in pain.
While he recovered, Gintama stepped forward, his voice echoing over the broken courtyard.
"The traitorous elders have been executed by Amamiya-dono! Anyone who followed them—drop your weapons now or face death!"
For a long moment, no one moved. Then Hatake Resuke, standing behind him, barked, "You heard the patriarch! Drop them!"
The tension snapped. One by one, Hatake shinobi threw their weapons to the ground. Those who had sided with the elders knelt, pale-faced and defeated. They knew there would be punishment—but at least they were alive.
Raizen nodded faintly. "The rest's up to you, Gintama. Oh, and… here." He snapped his fingers, and a shimmering ripple of space opened beside him. From it, Hatake Hoshino fell forward, dazed but alive. "Returning lost property."
Gintama caught his breath. "…Thank you, Raizen-dono."
Raizen gave a lazy wave and turned away. "Don't mention it. Try not to start another coup while I'm gone."
He left the Hatake compound behind, the night wind cool on his sweat-soaked skin. By the time he returned to the Amamiya clan, the news had already spread.
The Hatake coup had failed.
The Amamiya patriarch's mysterious ally had ended it singlehandedly.
Rumors whispered of a crimson warrior who fought inside a giant made of chakra—of eyes that could tear open space.
Even Uchiha Madara was said to have paused in curiosity.
Days later, the Hatake patriarch officially stepped down. Hatake Gintama took his place. His first decree came swiftly:
The Hatake Clan would join the Amamiya Alliance.
The entire Land of Fire erupted in shock. For the first time in the Warring States, a major clan had publicly aligned with Raizen's coalition. With the seven families united, the alliance's power could no longer be ignored.
Ten days later, a new name spread across the land—one that would one day reshape history.
The Konoha Alliance.