Hokage Building.
The entire building trembled slightly with the shockwave from afar, the window frames making a faint clicking sound.
Hiruzen stood on the roof with a pipe in his mouth, his brow furrowed and his eyes deep. The sparks in the pipe flickered with his breath, just like his current state of mind.
Two Anbu members stood solemnly behind him. Although their masks hid their expressions, their clenched fists and slightly leaning bodies revealed their inner shock and vigilance.
Looking towards the sky above Satomi Hill, two figures could be vaguely identified fighting fiercely in the air. One red figure was particularly eye-catching, carving a fiery trail through the sky.
Suddenly, a flash of purple light appeared on the horizon.
Although the anomaly happened quickly, the Anbu were hand-picked elites.
"Hokage-sama!" The two shouted almost simultaneously.
With a flash, they formed a human wall in front of Hiruzen, hands reaching for the short swords on their backs, their gazes solemn.
The blinding purple light streaked through the air like a meteor, instantly enveloping the direction of the Hokage Rock.
Boom!!!
The light was so intense that people nearby instinctively closed their eyes and turned their heads. Even Hiruzen had to raise his sleeve to shield himself.
Once the blinding light faded, everyone hurriedly turned and looked up.
In the next moment, everyone gasped.
Part of the Hokage Rock had vanished into thin air.
The head carvings of Hiruzen and Minato had completely disappeared, replaced by an incredibly smooth-edged circular crater, as if wiped away by something invisible. No rubble fell, the cross-section was abnormally smooth.
"This power is unbelievable..."
Even the veteran Hiruzen showed a look of astonishment. He slowly removed his pipe, his fingers unconsciously stroking its rim, his gaze locked onto that perfect circular gap, speechless for a long time.
The roar continued to echo like rolling thunder, making the air tremble slightly, and even the window frames of the shops along the street rattled.
On the street, pedestrians stopped one after another, looking up uneasily at the blue sky, only to see a few wisps of clouds drifting leisurely by, finding nothing.
"Did it just shake?"
"You felt it too? I thought I was just dizzy."
"Where on earth did that sound come from?"
Villagers poured out of their homes or shops, gathering on the street to whisper to each other, their voices tinged with a faint unease.
Slight tremors came from the ground from time to time, each drawing a suppressed cry of alarm.
—
On the roof of a hotel on the street.
Baki, Kankuro, and Temari stood side by side on the roof, all raising their hands to block the blinding sunlight as they squinted at the distant horizon.
"What was that?" Kankuro frowned, his voice filled with confusion. "It wasn't thunder, and it wasn't an earthquake. This commotion is too strange."
Temari took half a step forward, her slender fingers resting on her brow as she looked carefully. "It looks like two people are fighting."
"In the air?" Kankuro's tone rose sharply, filled with disbelief. "It couldn't be that Uchiha playboy, could it?"
The first person he thought of was Mamoru. In his impression, the only one who could fly freely in the air was that guy.
"It's too far to see clearly." Temari shook her head gently, her blonde hair fluttering in the wind. "But the battle must be quite fierce. I can feel the vibration of Chakra even from this far away."
"Whatever." Kankuro crossed his arms, his tone slightly mocking. "The ones who should be worried are Konoha. It's best if that arrogant guy gets a good lesson."
Hearing this, Temari glanced at her brother with a hint of pity and sighed softly.
He really held a grudge. He couldn't win an argument or a fight, so it was no wonder he was still brooding.
...
"Yakumo, have you lost your mind!?" Mamoru's voice rang out over Satomi Hill.
He stared intently at the figure floating in the air, his heart pounding with shock and anger.
"I was driven mad by you!" The Phantom (Yakumo)'s face twisted with rage, and her fingers curled again, aiming precisely at Mamoru.
Mamoru didn't dare to be careless. With a flicker of his body, he teleported to the high sky in the distance. He moved rapidly through the clouds, leaving afterimages, his speed too fast for the naked eye to catch.
The Phantom (Yakumo) stared fixedly at that elusive figure, her fingertips trembling slightly.
After several failed attempts to lock on, she suddenly let out a hysterical sneer and abruptly turned her finger toward the most prominent building in the village below—the Hokage Building.
Her voice was bone-chillingly cold. "Since I can't kill you, let's just end all of this."
Mamoru's pupils constricted.
If Purple was fired recklessly into the densely populated areas of the village, the consequences would be catastrophic. With Yakumo's current extremely unstable mental state, she was capable of anything.
"Yakumo! Stop!" Mamoru roared as he dived down, but he knew clearly that it was too late to stop it.
At this critical moment, a sudden change occurred—the technique that was about to be launched came to a screeching halt. The Phantom froze in mid-air in the posture of snapping her fingers, a hint of confusion flashing in his eyes, as if the technique had been forcibly interrupted by something invisible.
How could Mamoru miss this fleeting opportunity?
He immediately stabilized himself, pressing his right index and middle fingers together, as blue energy rapidly gathered at his fingertips.
Blue!
A distorted blue orb of light shot out, accurately hitting the target.
The phantom was enveloped in a violent vortex of energy, his limbs shredded in an instant, and crimson blood splattered like raindrops.
The severely wounded phantom fell straight toward the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.
Mamoru didn't even turn back to confirm the result. His body erupted with even more intense Chakra flames, turning into a streak of light and shooting toward Satomi Villa.