Chapter 114: Rampage in Konoha
In Konoha, it was late at night, and the streets were mostly empty. The occasional person out for a bit of fun would be chased away by the Military Police Force.
Fugaku Uchiha threw a drunken man into an inn. "He's staying here, right?" he said to the owner.
The owner nodded and thanked him profusely. Fugaku just waved his hand and left. He had been troubled lately. One of his colleagues, a Jonin from his clan, had gone missing half a month ago. No matter how hard they searched, they couldn't find him, dead or alive. If he had gone missing on a mission, that would have been one thing. But he had disappeared from within the village. It was a slap in the face to the Uchiha. The entire clan was in an uproar, but after all this time, they had found nothing.
As he was stewing in his frustration, he heard a strange noise from the sky. He instinctively looked up.
A figure in a fantastical, glowing suit of armor was standing on a rooftop. Fugaku froze.
The strange markings on his face, the unfamiliar armor—it was all glowing, so brightly that it hurt his eyes.
This was definitely not someone from the village.
The figure glanced at him, then continued on.
"Who are you?!" Fugaku shouted, and then immediately leaped onto the roof and gave chase.
Dana had, of course, intentionally made himself so conspicuous. It was the only way to attract enough attention, to create enough chaos. A sneaky, stealthy attack would not be enough to force Hiruzen and Sakumo to return.
Well then, he thought, let's make a scene. First, the Hokage Tower.
It was easy to spot, with the character for "Fire" written on it.
"Sage Art: Multiple Thunder Dragon Technique!"
Eight massive, several-meter-thick thunder dragons shot out, circled in the air for a moment, and then roared as they charged at the Hokage Tower. They were not like ninjutsu, but like summoned beasts, with a life of their own, rolling and crushing, roaring with fury.
An unknown barrier flickered to life around the building, blocking the dragons' assault, but it soon began to crumble. The surrounding buildings were not so lucky. Countless houses collapsed.
With the Hokage Tower under attack, countless ninja appeared. Some tried to fend off the still-raging dragons, while others charged at the incredibly conspicuous Dana.
"Sage Art: Overclocked Thunder Severing Burst!"
A wrist-thick laser shot from his mouth, sweeping across the rooftops. Several ninja were killed on the spot. The laser did not dissipate, but continued on, striking the Hokage Rock in the distance. After a brief delay, a massive explosion tore through it, disfiguring the faces of the Kage.
The still-unfinished face of the Fourth Hokage, Sakumo Hatake, was half-destroyed. Massive chunks of rock rained down like cannonballs.
The explosion woke up the entire village.
It was a sufficiently spectacular opening. Ninja began to converge on the scene from all over.
"Get to the shelter!" Tsume Inuzuka's mother said, throwing a bag of supplies at her daughter.
"Konoha is under attack!" Tsume shouted back. "I'm a ninja too! I have to fight!"
Her mother grabbed her. "The safety of Konoha is not your responsibility, you little brat!" she snarled. "Don't cause any trouble! What kind of person do you think would dare to attack Konoha? A Genin?"
Hiashi Hyuga was woken by the explosion. He immediately activated his Byakugan and saw the chaos in the village.
The sliding door to his bedroom opened, and Hizashi Hyuga, who looked almost identical to him, knelt on one knee. "Lord Hiashi," he said, "what are your orders?"
Hiashi had no time for their usual squabbles. He quickly began to dress. "Someone is attacking Konoha!" he said. "Come with me!"
But as he was about to leave, one of the main family elders stopped him.
"Without an order from the Hokage or Elder Sarutobi," the old man said, "we are not to interfere. It is just one person. Someone will deal with him."
"I am a ninja of Konoha," Hiashi said, looking at the decrepit old man. "Am I supposed to just stand by and watch the village be destroyed?"
Without another word, he left through the roof. Hizashi hesitated for a moment, then followed.
In a dark laboratory, Orochimaru's hand froze as he heard the explosions outside. But after a moment of hesitation, he returned his attention to the test tube in his hand.
"Cloning... is it the key to eternal life?"
Dana did not stay in one place. He used his incredible speed to move through the village, creating explosions and chaos.
With Sage Mode, his "pulse" vision had a massive range. Even from within Konoha, he could sense the situation inside the Four Violet Flames Formation in the Forest of Death. As long as Hiruzen did not dispel the barrier, he would not stop.
He intentionally avoided the populated areas, minimizing civilian casualties. But he showed no mercy to the ninja who pursued him.
One of them, seeing that he couldn't catch him, set an ambush, turning invisible. The moment Dana landed, he struck. The blade shattered against his Sage Lightning Armor, and the attacker, in a state of disbelief, was sent to meet the Sage of Six Paths.
Dana flicked the blood from his hand and clapped his hands together. "Sage Art: Giant Thunder Lance!"
A several-meter-long golden spear appeared in his hand. He twisted his body like a drawn bow and threw it at the pursuing ninja.
"Get back! Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!"
Countless earth walls rose up, but the Sage Art-enhanced lance tore through them like paper and exploded in the middle of the pursuers.
Fugaku Uchiha was among them. But after realizing he was at a complete disadvantage in terms of speed, some of the ninja had stopped chasing him. The enemy seemed to be focused on destruction, running in circles on the rooftops. Many had chosen to try and surround him instead.
Fugaku, with his knowledge of the village, had circled around from the side, his three-tomoe Sharingan spinning, waiting for the enemy to make eye contact so he could use his genjutsu. But when he finally saw him, he discovered that his opponent's eyes were closed.
His greatest weapon was useless. Intimidated by his opponent's power, he didn't dare to get close. He used the Uchiha clan's shurikenjutsu, throwing a few kunai from a distance, hoping to slow him down.
The three kunai collided in mid-air, their trajectories becoming even more unpredictable as they flew towards the enemy.
But the man just casually caught them in one hand. The scene brought back some bad memories for Fugaku.
Dana crushed the kunai in his hand and charged at him.
Fugaku's heart skipped a beat.
A fist, crackling with lightning, grew larger and larger in his Sharingan's vision, but his body could not react in time.
"This is the power of youth!"
With a strange cry, a figure wreathed in green light shot in and kicked Dana, blocking the fatal blow.
The force of the kick was incredible. Dana was sent flying, crashing through a building.
He rose from the rubble and dusted off his Sage Lightning Armor, which was completely unscathed.
He looked at the glowing green ninja. The signature green jumpsuit and hairstyle...
"I forgot about this guy," he thought. "This is a problem. Is that the sixth gate? Or the fifth?"
His senses told him that the battle inside the barrier was still raging. The Konoha side was now fighting even more fiercely, likely because of the commotion here. Blue Bee was taking the brunt of the damage. With his tailed beast chakra's healing ability, he was practically trading his life to protect the others. He knew that the harder Konoha pushed, the more they had to hold on. The longer they held on, the better their chances of escape.
Hiruzen, Sakumo, and the Ino-Shika-Cho trio were fighting like madmen. Hiroto and Kyohei were already using their Healing Talismans.
They were in a desperate situation.
Then I'll just have to turn up the heat.
The chaos had been going on for a while now. The civilians should have all reached the shelters. He no longer had to hold back.
He ignored the man who was shouting about youth and clapped his hands together. "Sage Art: Overclocked Thunder Dragon Technique."
A massive thunder dragon, even larger than before, appeared. He stepped onto its head and flew towards the center of Konoha.
"Don't run!" Might Duy shouted, giving chase.
Dana rode the dragon to the center of the village and looked down at the sprawling city.
After a moment of concentration...
"Sage Art: Lightning Release: Super-Odama Great Thunder Rasengan!"
A massive, purple Lightning Release Rasengan appeared in his hands. He held it up, as if he were holding a purple moon.
The pursuing ninja looked up, bewildered.
"You don't care because I'm not carrying any rice, is that it?"