Feathers drifted down from the sky.
At first, they fell only sparsely. Very quickly, they turned into a storm of white, fluttering everywhere over the arena.
Inside the stadium, the crowd that had been roaring like a tidal wave just a moment ago began to fall strangely silent.
Their eyes grew hazy.
Their movements slowed, voices fading away as, one after another, people slumped down into their seats and sank into deep sleep.
Nehan Shōja no Jutsu (Temple of Nirvana Technique).
A large-scale genjutsu cast by specialist illusionists, it blanketed the entire arena.
"Kai (Release)!"
In the VIP section, Jiraiya and the Leaf jonin reacted almost at the same time. Their hands flashed through seals, and a surge of powerful chakra shattered the genjutsu binding their minds.
On the other side of the stands, Kakashi's Sharingan saw through the illusion in an instant. He clapped a hand onto Sakura's shoulder and barked,
"Wake up!"
Guy chose a more… direct approach.
He slammed a fist into his own thigh, using the jolt of pain to snap his mind free, then bellowed at Lee and Tenten beside him. The vibration of his voice carried chakra that shook the two from their trance.
But for the ordinary civilians and unprepared genin, it was already too late.
Chaos, in that instant, officially began.
A cruel smile spread across Orochimaru's face.
His body blurred, and in the next heartbeat he appeared behind the Third Hokage, Hiruzen, a sharp kunai pressing against the old man's throat.
At the same time, on the four rooftops surrounding the stadium, four Sound ninja appeared together. Their hands moved rapidly through identical sequences of hand seals, every motion perfectly synchronized.
"Kekkai Ninpō: Shishienjin (Barrier Ninja Art: Four Violet Flames Formation)!"
Walls of purple chakra shot up from the four corners, rising into the sky and slamming together to form a massive rectangular barrier that sealed off the VIP section and the entire rooftop area.
Anyone who tried to touch the barrier would be incinerated by the purple flames.
"Minato!"
Kushina's heart leapt into her throat. She instinctively grabbed her husband's arm.
Minato merely glanced at the kunai held to the throat of his shadow clone, then looked toward the four Sound ninja standing outside the barrier, their focus fully locked on maintaining their jutsu.
His expression didn't change at all.
He even reached over and gently patted Kushina's hand, silently telling her not to worry.
Orochimaru, "holding" the Third, leapt to the very top of the roof. From this vantage point, he could look down over everything below.
When he spoke, his voice was amplified by chakra and rolled across the entire stadium—hoarse and mad.
"Let's begin!"
"Let Konoha dance in the symphony of its own destruction!"
That voice was the signal for the all-out attack.
Outside the western wall of the Leaf Village…
Hundreds of Sand and Sound ninja had long since assembled, lurking in the forest and waiting for this moment.
At their head, Kabuto pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and checked his pocket watch. Not a second was off.
Through a tiny communicator, he gave his final orders to every squad.
"Move according to plan."
"Team A, use summoned beasts to breach the wall. Team B, whip up a sandstorm for cover. Teams C and D will pour through the gap and prioritize destroying Konoha's key infrastructure—cause as much chaos as possible."
"Our only objective is to completely eradicate the Will of Fire."
The ninja behind him could no longer suppress the wild glint in their eyes.
They poured out of the treeline, charging straight toward the village wall.
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Technique)!"
Three Sand jonin formed seals together, smearing their blood across massive summoning scrolls spread on the ground before slamming their palms down.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Three huge clouds of white smoke erupted, the shockwave bending the surrounding trees backward.
Three enormous serpents appeared outside the village, their heads rearing higher than the wall itself. Every breath they took churned out a foul wind.
Their massive bodies slammed into Konoha's outer wall.
Stone shattered, boulders exploded outward. The chunin on guard didn't even have time to shout a warning before they were buried under collapsing masonry and snapping fangs.
In the billowing dust, the snakes raised their heads and began to crawl toward the bustling central streets of the village, their bodies crushing houses to rubble with ease.
More Sand ninja pressed their hands to the ground.
"Fūton: Dai Sajin (Wind Style: Great Sand Dust)!"
The jutsu activated.
Raging winds scooped up sand and dust, knitting them together into a sand wall dozens of meters high at the village entrance, then driving it forward through Konoha's streets.
In the most direct way possible, the war had begun in full.
Back in the VIP section, Shinju still sat in his seat.
Orochimaru's little performance on the rooftop, the destruction in the distance, the panicked crowds below—none of it changed his expression.
Everything unfolding before his eyes was just a play following a script he had written long ago.
He raised a hand and tapped the earpiece in his ear.
"Shin Court, heed my order."
The command reached every receiver, clear and sharp.
"Phase one of the 'Cleanup' plan—begin."
The moment the order was given, the Anbu and security forces hidden throughout Konoha received the signal.
They emerged from their concealed positions and rushed to the defensive points that had already been assigned to them.
Their targets were the key transport routes within the village and the pre-arranged defensive locations around important facilities.
As for the broken western wall—there were already others assigned to deal with it.
A meticulously prepared counterattack had begun, and the enemy had no idea.
On the rooftop, Orochimaru spread his arms wide.
In his mind, he was the director of this grand performance—the one pulling every string. He was about to savor the sight of Konoha writhing and screaming in the flames.
The tiles beneath his feet lit up.
Golden formulae flowed out from the gaps between the tiles, racing across the entire rooftop. When he looked down, he saw the same glowing patterns covering the arena floor.
This was a sealing jutsu.
A massive, four-sided barrier rose from underground, enclosing the entire stadium.
Walls of golden light surged upward faster than the Sound Four's barrier.
They punched straight through the purple walls of the Shishienjin without slowing down.
When the two barriers touched, the purple flames were forcibly smothered and overwritten by the flowing golden script.
The Sound Four coughed blood. The force that slammed into them hurled their bodies backward and knocked them to the tiles.
The golden cage snapped shut, trapping Orochimaru, the Sound Four, and every enemy who had invaded the VIP area within its confines.
For the first time, the madness and confidence on Orochimaru's face twisted into shock and disbelief.
He looked down and saw Minato sitting calmly in the VIP section, smiling up at him.
From their clash during the preliminaries, Orochimaru had already realized that Minato's current strength was in no way inferior to his peak. This Hokage could not be underestimated.
At Minato's side, the Hiruzen who was supposed to be his hostage stood unharmed, gazing up with eyes turned to ice.
It was as if they were saying,
My dear disciple… is this how you repay your teacher? You still have a long way to go.
Orochimaru finally looked at the "hostage" in his hand.
With a puff, "Hiruzen" burst into white smoke and vanished.
A shadow clone.
From the very beginning, the "hostage" he'd captured had been nothing but a clone.
The intricate plan he'd been so proud of hadn't even made it past its first step before he stumbled straight into a trap laid out by his enemy.
"Orochimaru."
Minato's voice rang out, calm and clear inside the golden barrier, reaching every corner.
"We prepared this stage just for you. Do you like it?"
(End of Chapter)
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