Previously
Alaric walked slowly toward the center of the clearing, stopping beside the defeated Sannin. He looked down at Jiraiya, offering a small, respectful smile.
"You fought well, Jiraiya," Alaric said gently, extending a hand to help the older man up. "But remember the lesson. When someone faces the true leader of the Akatsuki... they should not rely on your standard playbook. Otherwise, death."
Now - Konoha - Training Ground 5
The silence in the shattered clearing was absolute, save for the ragged, wet breaths of the fallen Sannin.
Jiraiya layed on his back against the churned, muddy earth, his imperfect Sage Mode having violently unspooled the moment Alaric's six enhanced clones had dissolved into harmless wooden logs. The ancient toad sages, Shima and Fukasaku, crouched heavily on his shoulders, their small bodies heaving with exhaustion as they surveyed the impossible devastation around them.
Yet, despite the overwhelming, undeniable totality of his defeat, Jiraiya gritted his teeth. His hands, caked in mud and blood, dug fiercely into the soil. With an agonizing groan that seemed to pull from the very marrow of his bones, the Toad Sage forced himself up onto one knee, his white mane hanging heavily over his bruised face.
Standing a few paces away, Alaric simply watched the struggle. He did not raise his hands. He did not shift into a combat stance. He merely tilted his head, his electric-blue eyes shifting toward the tree branch where Hiruzen Sarutobi stood as the official proctor.
Alaric raised a single, platinum-blonde brow, throwing the Third Hokage a look of profound, deadpan confusion. 'Are you not going to call the match, old man? He's literally coughing up dirt.'
Seeing that Hiruzen was silently, stubbornly waiting for Jiraiya to either stand or fully collapse, Alaric let out a long, long-suffering sigh. He rolled his broad shoulders and walked slowly toward the kneeling Sannin.
"Not yet," Jiraiya rasped, his voice a gravelly, defiant grind as he felt Alaric's shadow fall over him. He planted a trembling hand on his knee, trying to force his legs to obey. "I can... I can still fight."
Alaric stopped right in front of him. He looked down at the battered legend, an expression of genuine, unmocking respect softening his sharp features.
"I highly commend your perseverance, Jiraiya-san," Alaric said, his voice quiet but carrying the unyielding weight of an absolute truth. "Your will to fight is monstrous. However... a truly great shinobi must also know when to back down, so that they may live to fight another day."
Before Jiraiya could formulate a stubborn retort, a massive, tectonic shadow eclipsed the sun.
"Jiraiya!" Gamabunta, the colossal toad boss who had been momentarily sidelined by the sheer velocity of the clone assault, stepped forward. The earth quaked beneath his massive, warty feet. The giant amphibian did not heed Alaric's words of surrender; his pride as a warrior of Mount Myōboku had been deeply insulted by the casual dismissal of his summoner.
With a deafening, metallic shing, Gamabunta drew his titanic tantō from its sheath, the blade gleaming dangerously as he readied himself to strike the tiny, blonde anomaly into the mud.
Alaric looked up at the looming blade, shaking his head with a mild, disappointed sigh.
"I'd advise you to leave, toads," Alaric warned, his tone entirely conversational. "The lesson is over. You aren't needed here anymore."
Gamabunta didn't listen. He raised the massive sword high above his head, the sheer displacement of air creating a localized gale that whipped through the ruined clearing. "I'll show you who isn't needed, brat!"
Seeing that the giant toad stubbornly intended to continue the violence, Alaric took one final, slow drag from his cigar. He let the rich smoke fill his lungs before he casually plucked the stub from his lips and discarded it onto the muddy earth.
"Well then," Alaric announced, his voice carrying clearly to every single spectator hiding in the treeline. "For those of you watching... pay close attention. I will now show you a light mimicry of one of Pein's ultimate abilities."
The murmurs in the canopy ceased instantly.
Tsunade leaned forward, her amber eyes widening. Kakashi and Sasuke, their Sharingans already spinning, focused intensely on the blonde Jonin. Even the hidden ghosts miles away… Minato, Kushina, and Itachi… stilled their breathing, recognizing that a demonstration of the Akatsuki leader's power was invaluable, top-tier intelligence.
Alaric looked at the expectant faces hidden in the brush, a sharp, incredibly dangerous smirk curving his lips. He turned his attention back to the descending blade of the giant toad, raising his right hand smoothly, his palm facing directly toward Gamabunta's massive chest.
"Sorry about this, pal," Alaric smiled apologetically at the amphibian.
Deep within his core, Alaric did not summon the esoteric gravity manipulation of the Rinnegan. He couldn't; he didn't possess those eyes, and he didn't buy the Gravity Release. But he possessed something arguably just as terrifying: an absolute, tyrannical mastery over the elements.
'Wind Style...' Alaric thought, funneling a staggering, oceanic volume of chakra into his outstretched palm, compressing the air molecules until they screamed against the pressure.
Alaric's voice dropped into a hollow, resonant echo.
"Shinra... Tensei."
In the trees, Kakashi furrowed his brow. Almighty Push? A push? The ultimate technique of a god-like terrorist leader was a simple repulsion jutsu?
A fraction of a second later, they understood.
It was not a gust of wind. It was a physical, invisible wall of absolute, localized destruction.
The hyper-compressed sphere of wind chakra expanded outward from Alaric's palm at hypersonic speed. Gamabunta, in mid-swing, suddenly grunted, his massive, slitted eyes bulging in sheer, unadulterated horror. He didn't even have time to swing the sword. He could feel it… an invisible, hemispherical dome of pressure colliding with his entire body simultaneously.
He wasn't merely pushed back; his very being was violently crushed by a kinetic force that defied reason.
"GAAAAAH!" Gamabunta roared, the sound instantly swallowed by the apocalyptic roar of the jutsu.
The pressure shattered the giant toad's physical cohesion, forcing him to violently violently dispel into a colossal plume of white smoke before his internal organs could be pulverized.
But the jutsu did not stop there.
The invisible wall of compressed wind rolled forward like a tsunami of glass. It struck the forest behind where Gamabunta had stood. The earth itself screamed as it was violently sheared away. Ancient trees, boulders, and hundreds of tons of soil were ripped from the bedrock, propelled backward and upward as if scooped out by the shovel of an angry titan.
The shockwave knocked several Genin from the lower branches of the spectator trees, while Jonin like Asuma and Guy had to aggressively channel chakra to the soles of their feet just to avoid being blown away by the secondary atmospheric displacement.
When the deafening roar finally subsided, the dust slowly settling back to the earth, the aftermath was revealed.
A collective, horrified gasp echoed through the canopy.
Directly in front of Alaric, a perfect, semicircular trench had been violently carved into the landscape. For exactly one kilometer straight ahead, the forest simply ceased to exist. It was a barren, smooth crater of exposed bedrock, stripped entirely of life, timber, and topsoil.
Hiruzen's pipe nearly slipped from his jaw. Tsunade's hands gripped the bark of her tree hard enough to splinter it. The sheer, catastrophic scale of an invisible attack was a tactical nightmare; if you couldn't see the jutsu coming, you couldn't block it.
Haku, standing on the veranda in the distance, merely adjusted his kimono with a calm, polite smile. To him, flattening a kilometer of empty forest was a standard Tuesday for his Sensei.
But for the Sharingan users observing the demonstration, the horror was tempered by profound analytical shock.
Kakashi and Sasuke, their crimson eyes spinning, saw exactly what Alaric had done. It wasn't gravity. It was Futon… Wind Release… layered and compressed so densely that it mimicked physical mass.
Far away, hidden in the densest foliage, Itachi Uchiha's breath hitched. He had seen the true Shinra Tensei during his time in the Akatsuki. He knew Pein's ability was genuine gravitational manipulation. Yet, Alaric had replicated the exact visual, kinetic, and destructive footprint of the legendary jutsu using only wind chakra and raw, unapologetic power.
Down in the mud, Jiraiya sat paralyzed. His mouth hung open, his dark eyes staring down the kilometer-long scar carved into the earth. The toads on his shoulders were equally stunned into silence.
Did his previous student, Nagato, really possess power on this scale? If Alaric wasn't pulling his leg, if this was truly what the Rinnegan could produce... then Nagato was a walking apocalypse.
Seeing the sheer, paralyzing terror painted across the faces of Konoha's elite, Alaric let out a soft, amused sigh.
He reached beneath the tattered remnants of his shirt, tapping the storage seal inked onto his collarbone. He retrieved a fresh, unblemished Cigar, placing it between his lips. With a casual flick of his index finger, a spark of golden fire ignited the tip.
"Now, before everyone starts panicking," Alaric called out, taking a long drag and exhaling the smoke into the settling dust. "Keep in mind that what I just did was a light, elemental mimicry. Pein's true Shinra Tensei is pure, unadulterated gravitational repulsion. It doesn't use wind. And if he puts a full charge into it... he can flatten this entire village into a crater in a single breath."
Alaric grinned around his cigar, shrugging his broad shoulders. "I mean, I can do that too, obviously. But there's no need to destroy Konoha when I just bought a really nice property here."
The casual reassurance did absolutely nothing to comfort the audience. In fact, it only deepened their existential dread.
Tsunade leaped down from her branch, landing heavily in the ruined clearing. She marched toward Alaric, her amber eyes burning with a mixture of immense stress and profound pragmatism.
"If the Akatsuki leader is truly capable of that level of destruction," Tsunade demanded, pointing a finger at the blonde anomaly, "then you should be the one to handle Pein, Alaric. We cannot risk the village."
From the branch above, Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded his head solemnly. "I second the Godaime's motion. If you possess the power to mimic his techniques so casually, you are our greatest deterrent."
A sudden, booming sound broke the tension.
Jiraiya, still sitting in the mud, began to chuckle. The quiet sound rapidly escalated into a full-bellied, echoing laugh that shook his massive frame. He looked down the kilometer of annihilated forest, then up at Alaric, wiping a tear of mirth and exhaustion from his eye.
"Hahaha! Well, damn..." Jiraiya sighed, pushing himself up to his feet with a groan, the mud sliding off his red haori. He looked at Alaric, a profound, undeniable respect softening his gaze. "I'll admit it, Alaric. That jutsu... it gave me a hell of a wake-up call. I was arrogant to think my Sage Mode alone could bridge the gap against the eyes of a god."
Alaric nodded his head slowly, taking the cigar from his lips.
"That is exactly why you shouldn't go rushing off to face Pein alone, Jiraiya," Alaric commented, his voice carrying a rare, gentle sincerity. "You still have a student to go back to. Naruto needs his godfather. And if you die acting the martyr... Konoha loses its most valuable spymaster."
Jiraiya stared at Alaric for a long, quiet moment. He absorbed the truth in the man's words, the foolishness of his own sacrificial tendencies finally laid bare.
A warm, genuine smile spread across the Sannin's face. He walked up to Alaric, ignoring the difference in their power, and firmly offered his hand.
Alaric raised a platinum brow, slightly surprised by the formal gesture, but he took a drag from his cigar and reached out, firmly shaking the Sannin's calloused hand.
"You are terrifyingly strong, Alaric," Jiraiya said, his voice ringing with absolute conviction. "And Konoha is incredibly lucky to have someone like you wearing our headband."
"I completely agree!" Hiruzen's voice echoed loudly from the canopy, carrying a distinct note of grandfatherly pride.
As they released the handshake, Alaric's electric-blue eyes flicked upward.
It was a microscopic movement, a brief, penetrating glance directed toward the dense foliage a half-mile away.
Hidden in the branches, Kakashi and Sasuke… both maintaining their active Sharingan to analyze the aftermath… caught the subtle shift in Alaric's gaze. Instinctively, both shinobi whipped their heads toward the distant treeline.
For a fleeting second, their heightened perception caught the faint, undeniable flicker of three distinct, incredibly potent chakra signatures. But before Kakashi could even process the familiarity of the energy, the signatures vanished seamlessly, retreating into the distance with absolute, ghost-like efficiency.
Kakashi and Sasuke immediately snapped their heads back to Alaric, their eyes wide with alarm and unspoken questions.
Alaric merely met their frantic stares with a slow, knowing smirk, taking another puff of his cigar as if to say, 'You saw nothing.'
Standing nearby, Naruto Uzumaki had also noticed his sensei and his rival suddenly jerking their heads toward the distant woods. Naruto knew exactly who was stationed out there to observe the fight; his parents and Itachi had told him their plan beforehand.
A single, massive drop of sweat slid down the back of Naruto's neck. He forced his face into a mask of total, unbothered innocence, whistling a tuneless melody as he pointedly looked at a cloud, playing the ignorant fool with a desperate, comedic intensity.
Seeing that the tension of the spar had finally dissipated, Naruto bounded forward, determination burning in his bright blue eyes.
"Hey, Alaric-san!" Naruto called out, loud enough for the entire audience to hear. He pointed at the battered Toad Sage. "If Jiraiya-sensei was able to use the complete, perfect Sage Mode without needing Ma and Pa to balance him... would he have beaten you?"
Alaric raised a brow at the loud, blunt question. He looked at Naruto, then at Jiraiya, before a soft smile touched his lips.
"No," Alaric replied honestly.
Naruto's face fell slightly, but Alaric held up a hand.
"However," Alaric continued, his voice carrying the analytical weight of a master tactician. "Jiraiya possesses decades of combat knowledge, vast experience, and unparalleled battle instincts. If he had a complete mastery of Sage Mode, and he went into the fight possessing full, detailed intelligence on all of Pein's abilities... he would be able to beat him. It would be highly debatable, and incredibly bloody, but his chances of victory would skyrocket from zero to a very real possibility."
Upon hearing this, Naruto and Jiraiya turned to look at each other. They locked eyes, an entire conversation of shared resolve and unyielding stubbornness passing between master and student in a single heartbeat.
Naruto firmly nodded his head. He slammed his fist into his palm, turning back to Alaric with a fierce, blinding grin.
"Then it's settled!" Naruto declared loudly, his voice echoing with the Will of Fire. "I'll just have to master Sage Mode myself! And when I do, I'll beat Pein left and right!"
Alaric was genuinely taken aback by the absolute, unshakeable confidence in the teenager's statement. He stared at the grinning Jinchūriki for a second before a rich chuckle rumbled in his chest. He nodded his head in approval.
"How about that..." Alaric mused, a dangerous, thrilling challenge lighting up his blue eyes. "I'll make you a deal, kid. If you ever manage to truly use the complete Sage Mode... I will step aside and let you face Pein alone."
The declaration shocked everyone in the clearing. Tsunade opened her mouth to protest the insanity of letting a Genin fight a god, but Alaric simply looked over at Jiraiya and offered a casual shrug.
"If either you or Naruto master Sage Mode, you earn the right to face him," Alaric stated simply. "I'm not here to steal all the glory."
In the audience, Sasuke Uchiha stood rigidly, his hands balled into tight, trembling fists. He looked at the grinning, boastful Naruto, then at the proud smile on Jiraiya's face.
If Naruto gained the ability to use the Toad Sage Mode, combining it with his already monstrous stamina... Naruto would become incredibly, terrifyingly strong. The thought burned like acid in Sasuke's gut. His rival was constantly evolving, constantly reaching for new heights, while Sasuke felt tethered to his own plateau.
'I will not accept it,' Sasuke thought, his dark eyes narrowing as the flames of his ambition roared to life. He still had a mission. He still had a man to kill… even after the horrifying revelations regarding Danzo's manipulations of the Uchiha clan had come to light. 'I refuse to be left behind. I refuse to let him be stronger than me.'
Standing fifty meters away, Alaric easily sensed the sudden, volatile spike in dark emotion radiating from the young Uchiha. The Mind's Eye of the Kagura painted Sasuke's aura in sharp, jagged colors of slight-jealousy and unresolved vengeance.
'Does he really still have his mind set on revenge?' Alaric wondered internally, taking a slow drag from his cigar. 'Even after Tsunade publicly exposed Danzo's schemes and exonerated Itachi's core motives... the kid still wants blood.'
Deciding that teenage angst was above his paygrade, Alaric turned his attention back to the gathered crowd. He offered a lazy wave of his hand, officially greeting everyone goodbye, before turning and walking over to where Haku had just descended from the veranda.
"Alright, Haku," Alaric said, stretching his arms with a tired groan. "I only bought enough food for two days when I restocked. We should probably head to the market and buy some actual groceries for the days forward."
"Yes, Sensei," Haku nodded politely, his teal kimono immaculate despite the surrounding devastation.
As the two anomalies turned their backs and began the long walk back toward the village, the massive crowd of spectators finally began to disperse, leaving with whispered awe and terrified reverence over what they had just witnessed.
Alaric glanced at Sasuke out of the corner of his eye one last time, noting the boy's rigid, brooding posture.
'I wonder when Itachi is finally going to sit down and talk to his younger brother,' Alaric thought, shaking his head slightly.
Haku raised a curious brow at his Sensei's subtle movement. "Is something wrong, Sensei?"
"Nah," Alaric shrugged, a faint, indifferent smirk touching his lips. 'Well, it's ultimately his own decision anyway.'
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