The rebellion had begun.
Terumi Mei led her forces through the streets of Kirigakure, thousands of ninja following in disciplined silence. One by one, Yagura's sentries fell, eliminated before they could raise an alarm. The village streets lay eerily deserted. Those loyal to the Fourth Mizukage were already gathering at the Mizukage Building. The neutral parties had made their choice as well: stay home, stay alive, and forfeit any claim to the spoils of war.
Naruto walked near the front of the formation, his black robe concealing his identity. Beside Terumi Mei marched her most trusted commanders: Ao with his Byakugan eye, young Chojuro clutching Hiramekarei nervously, Zabuza with Kubikiribōchō strapped to his back, and Haku moving with quiet grace.
Five leaders. Thousands of followers. All converging on a single point.
This wasn't a fair fight. War never was.
At the Mizukage Building, Yagura had received word of the approaching force. His orders rang out across the village: all loyal ninja, gather immediately. Don't allow the enemy to divide and conquer.
Within minutes, thousands of ninja assembled before the building, matching Terumi Mei's numbers almost exactly.
Yagura's face twisted with fury. When he captured that woman, he'd make her understand the price of rebellion. She dared challenge him? Unforgivable.
The two forces met in the plaza before the Mizukage Building. Killing intent flooded the air from both sides, so thick Naruto could almost taste it on his tongue. Hands moved toward weapons. Chakra began to gather.
"Terumi Mei!" Yagura's voice cut through the tension. "What's the meaning of this? Bringing an army to my doorstep? Do you think you can stage a rebellion?"
The answer was obvious from the battle lines drawn between them, but Yagura had to ask. Had to make this official.
Terumi Mei stepped forward, her expression cold as winter steel. "Yagura Karatachi, during your reign, you've systematically persecuted every bloodline limit user in this village. You've driven Kirigakure from prosperity into ruin. If you have any love left for the place that raised you, you'll abdicate peacefully and turn yourself in."
"Fine." Yagura's response came immediately. "I'll abdicate."
Terumi Mei blinked. "What?"
The declaration sent shock waves through both armies. Ninja on Yagura's side exchanged confused glances. Those behind Terumi Mei relaxed fractionally, hope flickering across weathered faces. If the Mizukage stepped down voluntarily, this war could end before it truly began. Lives could be spared.
Nobody wanted to die.
Terumi Mei caught the shift in her forces instantly. That old fox. She recognized his tactic and turned to address her followers. "Don't listen to him! Yagura's trying to shake your resolve. He's persecuted too many people, killed too many innocents. He knows what awaits him if he loses. There's no way he'd actually abdicate."
Her words steadied the wavering hearts. Eyes that had softened with hope hardened once more into determined fury.
Yagura didn't care that she'd seen through his ploy. It was a throwaway move anyway. If it worked, excellent. If not, no loss.
But Terumi Mei was right about one thing. He couldn't step down. Too much blood on his hands. The bloodline limit users he'd hunted would tear him apart given the chance, drinking his blood and eating his flesh.
Even though he hadn't really done those things. Not consciously.
A few days ago, he'd suddenly woken up. The foreign presence controlling his mind had vanished without warning. But when he'd realized what he'd done while under that control, cold sweat had drenched his body.
By the time Yagura Karatachi had regained himself, it was already too late to turn back.
"Terumi Mei." His voice dropped to arctic temperatures. "You know what happens to traitors."
Terumi Mei opened her mouth to respond, but Naruto stepped forward, cutting her off. He looked directly at Yagura. "You're Yagura Karatachi, correct?"
Terumi Mei shot him an exasperated glance. This guy loved interrupting.
"Who are you?" Yagura studied the black-robed stranger.
"I'm a ninja ranger." Naruto's voice came out steady and confident despite the voice distortion. "Namikaze Menma."
"Namikaze Menma." Yagura's eyes narrowed dangerously. "This is an internal Kirigakure matter. I suggest you leave while you still can, Mr. Menma. There's still time to avoid making a fatal mistake."
"Hmph." Naruto lowered his voice further. "I hate injustice more than anything."
He turned to Terumi Mei. "Leave this Yagura Karatachi to me."
Terumi Mei nodded without hesitation.
"Overconfident fool." Yagura's lip curled. He didn't know where this black-robed upstart had come from, but that contemptuous attitude grated on his last nerve.
"Kill him." Yagura gestured dismissively at Naruto. Better to eliminate the nuisance quickly before the real fighting began.
"Everyone!" Terumi Mei's voice rang out across the plaza. "Fight to the end!"
"FIGHT TO THE END!" Thousands of voices roared back. Behind her, Chojuro and the others drew their weapons, chakra surging as they prepared to charge.
Naruto moved first.
He shot forward like an arrow released from a bow, heading straight for Yagura. At the same moment, his Iron Body technique activated. The transformation happened in an explosive instant—
CRACK. BOOM.
His black robe shredded into ribbons. The inner garment beneath tore apart. Even the reinforced mask Terumi Mei had provided couldn't withstand the sudden expansion and disintegrated into scraps of cloth.
Only his pants survived, the special fabric holding together as Naruto's body erupted into a fifty-meter giant.
The sound was like a thunderclap. The shockwave from his transformation alone sent dust billowing outward in a ring.
The massive figure charged directly at Yagura Karatachi.
"Stop him!" Yagura's eyes widened in genuine alarm as the giant bore down on him. His voice cracked slightly. "Someone stop—wait. Those are Konoha headband markings! Is that Uzumaki Naruto?"
With Naruto's transformation, all disguises had become useless. His distinctive blonde hair caught the light. His whisker marks were clearly visible even at his enlarged scale. There was no hiding his identity anymore.
Naruto didn't care. He kept charging.
"STOP HIM!" Yagura shouted again, his composure cracking. This was Uzumaki Naruto—the Fifth Hokage who'd killed Sarutobi Hiruzen in single combat. Yagura had read the intelligence reports. He knew the truth.
Against Naruto's strength, Yagura stood no chance alone.
His second cry was unnecessary. Hundreds of Kirigakure ninja were already moving to protect their Mizukage. A storm of shuriken filled the air, so dense it looked like a black cloud converging on Naruto's massive form.
Ting ting ting ting ting—
Sparks exploded across Naruto's body as the projectiles struck and bounced away harmlessly. Not a single scratch marked his skin.
Behind him, Terumi Mei's face darkened as she watched the black robe fall away in tatters. Beside her, Zabuza and Ao's mouths twitched. Chojuro's eyes went wide.
The ninja in Terumi Mei's forces had a different reaction entirely. Recognition dawned across hundreds of faces simultaneously. Konoha's Fifth Hokage had come to help them. They knew his reputation. They'd heard the stories.
Relief washed through the ranks like a wave.
"Sister Terumi Mei!" Naruto's voice boomed across the battlefield. "Take your people and spread out. Form a perimeter around the building. Don't let anyone escape. Leave Yagura and these small fry to me."
Terumi Mei didn't hesitate. "You heard him! Spread out and form an encirclement! No one gets past us!"
She gave the order immediately for two reasons. First, she trusted Naruto's strength completely. Second, she wanted to minimize casualties among her own forces.
They didn't need to win through superior numbers. They just needed to win. After this battle, Kirigakure would need to be rebuilt from the ground up. Without enough surviving ninja, the village would collapse into a minor power, easy prey for manipulation by other villages.
Her forces moved instantly, spreading around the Mizukage Building like water flowing into position. Within moments, a complete encirclement had formed.
"Small fry?" Naruto grinned down at the hundreds of ninja scrambling to defend Yagura. "Let me show you what that means."
He didn't slow his charge. The defenders' attacks continued uselessly bouncing off his skin. His massive form crashed into their defensive line like a landslide hitting a fence.
BOOM. CRASH. THUD.
Ninja flew through the air, blood streaming from their mouths. Bodies tumbled across the ground with sickening crunches—bones breaking, joints dislocating. Where Naruto passed, defenders fell and didn't get back up.
But they were still alive. Broken, yes. Combat-ineffective, absolutely. But alive.
Dozens of muscular tentacles erupted from Naruto's back, each one controlled with perfect precision. They whipped out at the ninja trying to flank him, sending them flying with devastating force but calibrated not to be lethal.
The System had told him that every great emperor rose from mountains of corpses and seas of blood. But Naruto still couldn't bring himself to slaughter these Kirigakure ninja wholesale. The main culprit—Yagura—deserved his full attention. The rest could have their chakra networks destroyed, turned into ordinary people, spending the rest of their lives paying for their sins through labor.
A single breath. That's all it took.
In one breath, Naruto had reduced hundreds of defending ninja to broken forms littering the plaza. The sight struck terror into every watching heart—those serving Terumi Mei and those loyal to Yagura alike. Legs trembled. Hands shook.
Naruto was terrifying.
One of Terumi Mei's ninja swallowed hard. "I'm so glad Naruto-sama isn't our enemy."
"Agreed," several voices chorused around him.
"Yagura Karatachi." Naruto turned his attention to the Mizukage, showing his bright white teeth in a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "Your turn."
Yagura forced down the fear clawing at his throat. He glanced quickly at his remaining forces, thousands of ninja frozen in shock, and raised his voice. "Everyone! Attack together! He's only one person and we're thousands! Even if each of us lands one hit, we'll overwhelm him!"
"Yes! The Fourth Mizukage is right!" One of his ninja shook off his paralysis. "We'll drown him in attacks!"
The declaration was slightly garbled in his panic—not quite the rousing speech Yagura had hoped for—but at a time like this, nobody cared about eloquence.
"KILL HIM!" The cry went up from thousands of throats. Hands formed seals. Chakra surged as Yagura's entire remaining force charged at Naruto simultaneously.
They would create a miracle. Ants could kill an elephant if they swarmed in sufficient numbers.
"You think you have more people than me?" Naruto's mocking tone cut through the battle cries. He looked at the wave of ninja rushing toward him and spoke three words: "Multiple Shadow Clone Technique."
The space behind Naruto erupted with bodies.
Clones filled the air in impossible numbers—ten thousand, twenty thousand, more. They stacked on top of each other like arhats in a temple painting, creating a living mountain of Narutos that dwarfed even Yagura's thousands.
The moment they appeared, they surged forward to meet Yagura's forces. Three or four Naruto clones converged on each defending ninja.
"Mountain Embrace!"
The words echoed from ten thousand mouths simultaneously, creating a rolling thunder of sound. In an instant, every Kirigakure ninja found himself grabbed by a Naruto clone. Arms locked around them in crushing bear hugs. Faces turned red. Bodies went rigid, unable to move a muscle.
The remaining Naruto clones raised their fists.
THWACK. CRACK. THUD.
The sound of flesh meeting flesh rang out across the plaza in horrifying synchronization—thousands of punches landing at once in a grotesque percussion.
Watching from the perimeter, Chojuro's jaw dropped. Beside him, Haku, Terumi Mei, Ao, and Zabuza all stood frozen in shock, eyes wide and mouths agape.
Terumi Mei's entire force stared in disbelief.
Yagura's face went ashen. Thousands of his ninja—defeated by one person using shadow clones.
"Die, Yagura Karatachi." Naruto's true body launched himself directly at the Mizukage.
"Water Style: Water Mirror Technique!"
Yagura's hands blurred through seals. A massive water mirror materialized between him and Naruto—fifty meters tall to match Naruto's current size. The surface rippled like disturbed pond water.
A perfect copy of Naruto emerged from the mirror, matching his size, his appearance, even his posture. The mirror-Naruto's fist shot forward to meet the real one.
"Your opponent is yourself, Naruto!" Yagura's voice held a note of triumph. "My Water Mirror Technique creates a copy with strength equal to the original. Let's see you defeat that!"
Naruto ignored the taunt. He studied his duplicate with genuine interest as it rushed toward him, fist cocked back. He raised his own fist to meet it.
BOOM.
The two massive fists collided. Air itself seemed to shatter at the impact point. An invisible shockwave exploded outward in all directions.
The Kirigakure ninja forming the perimeter around the Mizukage Building felt a wall of force slam into them. Clothes whipped backward. Hair streamed away from faces. Several ninja tried to speak and immediately regretted it as the wind forced their mouths shut and stole their breath.
The gale also revealed an uncomfortable truth about hairlines among the assembled forces.
"Haha—your hairline—gah!" One ninja started to mock his companion's receding hair but quickly shut his mouth as the wind poured in.
BOOM. CRASH. BANG.
In midair, the two Narutos exchanged blows with devastating force. Every collision created sonic booms that rolled across the village. When their fight carried them to ground level, deep craters appeared wherever they struck. The earth cracked and buckled under the impacts.
This wasn't a fight between humans. This was gods and demons battling. Every ninja who witnessed it felt their own insignificance settle on their shoulders like a crushing weight. A single stray blow from either combatant would mean instant death for anyone caught in the radius.
Yagura's face split into a satisfied smile. The Water Mirror's copy was keeping Naruto occupied. Now he just needed to find an opening for a decisive sneak attack.
His eyes tracked the battle, searching for his moment. Waiting. Analyzing the patterns.
"There!" Yagura's eyes sharpened. He spotted his chance.
His body flickered with the Body Flicker Technique, reappearing directly behind Naruto's back. The instant he materialized, crimson chakra erupted across his body. The Tailed Beast transformation took hold—not full, but partial. A violent, oppressive aura filled the space around him. His body distorted and swelled. A single tail burst from his back, writhing with barely contained power.
Yagura, now in his partial Tailed Beast state, swung his clawed hand at Naruto's exposed back without hesitation.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Writing takes time, coffee, and a lot of love.If you'd like to support my work, join me at [email protected]/GoldenGaruda
You'll get early access to over All chapters, selection on new series, and the satisfaction of knowing your support directly fuels more stories.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~