Natsuki's disappearance into the Reality Marble didn't pause the war.
The ninjutsu bombardment phase ended, and eight thousand shinobi collided at close range.
Natsuki's three students charged into the melee alongside Might Duy, who'd been serving as their squad leader whenever Natsuki was occupied elsewhere.
"Iron Body: Wheel!"
Guy accelerated into a spinning drill, crashing into the nearest Stone shinobi. The man tried to kick him away — and was launched off his feet by the impact instead.
Shizune's hand came up instantly. Three senbon fired from her wrist launcher, striking the airborne shinobi in rapid succession. He hit the ground dead.
Water Release: Water Dragon Jutsu!
A Stone ninja nearby completed his seals. A roaring water dragon surged toward Guy.
Tempest Kick!
Kurenai spun and delivered a sweeping kick. The vacuum blade bisected the dragon cleanly.
"Iron Body: Smash!"
Guy passed through the falling water and closed the distance. One punch shattered the Stone ninja's heart.
"Beautiful!" Duy shouted his approval mid-stride. "Eight Inner Gates — first gate, open! Second gate, open! Third gate, open!"
The first three gates sat within the safe zone — sustainable for extended periods without crippling the body. Opening all eight immediately would produce a devastating but brief burst. On a battlefield that could grind for hours, endurance mattered more than a single spectacular moment.
"FALL BACK!"
Duy reversed course mid-charge, shouting the warning.
Kurenai, Shizune, and Guy glanced in the direction he was looking and scrambled backward.
The ground ahead disintegrated — pulverized into fine sediment — and a mudslide the size of a tidal wave surged forward.
Earth Release: Earth Flow River. Kitsuchi's technique.
The wave crashed into the forest ahead of the Stone's line. Trees collapsed, were submerged, vanished beneath the deluge.
"That's... enormous." Kurenai stared.
Guy and Shizune could only nod.
The four of them skirted the engagement zone and threw themselves into fighting elsewhere.
"Should we help them?" Yahiko asked, watching the Earth Flow River consume the treeline.
"I don't think so." Konan assessed the matchup.
Nagato didn't answer verbally. Instead, he turned and attacked a cluster of Stone shinobi on the opposite flank.
That was answer enough.
"Right." Yahiko withdrew his gaze and returned to his own fight.
Two Wood Release users against one Earth Release specialist. The outcome didn't require calculation — especially when one of those Wood Release users was Tsunade.
Even setting aside Wood Release entirely, Tsunade alone could fight Kitsuchi to a standstill.
"Troublesome." Kitsuchi frowned.
The Earth Flow River had suppressed the forest temporarily — trees flattened beneath the mudslide, biomass buried under tons of displaced earth.
A moment later, the forest grew back.
New trees erupted through the mud, roots splitting the sediment apart, canopy reasserting itself as though the attack had never happened.
Wood Release: Binding Nest Jutsu!
Tsunade and Nawaki formed seals in unison. A dense wave of vines surged toward Kitsuchi from every direction.
Earth Release: Tearing Earth Turning Palm!
Kitsuchi slammed both hands down. The ground fractured open — a chasm so deep it looked bottomless. The vines plunged into the gap, grasping at the walls, struggling to climb back.
But Tsunade and Nawaki didn't need those vines. They simply channeled more chakra. The entire surrounding forest responded, producing fresh growth faster than Kitsuchi could destroy it.
He recognized the problem. Without eliminating the forest itself, he couldn't beat them. The trees were an infinite resource — as long as chakra flowed, Wood Release regenerated everything he tore down.
He drew a deep breath.
Earth Release: Mountain Earth Jutsu!
The earth convulsed. On both sides of the forest, two enormous hemispherical mountains erupted from the ground — each one twenty meters high, curving inward, closing toward the center.
Trees splintered on contact. Entire sections of forest were crushed flat as the mountains converged.
"Nawaki!"
He didn't need to be told. Every remaining drop of his chakra flooded into the ground.
Trees erupted in a frenzy of growth — trunks thickening, roots anchoring deep, branches and vines weaving together into a lattice of interlocking wood that spread across both hemispheres like armor.
The mountains' advance slowed. The wooden lattice strained, groaned — but held.
Kitsuchi poured more chakra in. The mountains crept forward, inch by grinding inch.
Stalemate.
Then Tsunade went airborne.
Armament Haki. Monstrous Strength.
Her fist connected with the left mountain's summit.
The impact was seismic. Fracture lines split across the stone face. The peak sheared off and slid groundward in an avalanche of rubble.
Moonwalk.
She launched higher, forming seals mid-flight.
Wood Release: Tree Bind Eternal Burial!
Trees exploded from inside the damaged mountain — roots and trunks drilling through the stone from within, tearing it apart from the core. The structure buckled, fragmented, and collapsed in a cascading landslide.
Kitsuchi's expression turned grim.
He'd pushed everything he had into maintaining both mountains. Losing one made the remaining hemisphere useless — the technique required bilateral compression.
Wind screamed overhead.
Tempest Kick!
Tsunade descended, driving a vacuum blade toward him.
Earth Release: Fist Rock Jutsu!
Stone encased Kitsuchi's right fist. He punched the incoming blade and dispersed it.
Armament Haki. Monstrous Strength.
Tsunade appeared in his face — instant closure, no warning. Her fist drove forward.
Earth Release: Hardening Jutsu!
His body turned harder than stone. He swung his rock-coated fist.
The fists connected.
The stone casing on Kitsuchi's arm shattered on impact. The force launched him backward ten meters before he found his footing, skidding through dirt and debris.
Tsunade pursued — but two Stone jōnin intercepted her, attacking from flanking angles.
Both were violently hurled aside before their techniques could land.
Tsunade glanced toward the distance. Nagato's hand was raised, the Rinnegan glowing.
She filed away the observation — those peculiar eyes — and resumed her charge.
Earth Release: Golem Jutsu!
Kitsuchi had used the window to stabilize. He spat a lump of clay that hit the ground and expanded into a massive stone golem — a lumbering titan that swung immediately at Tsunade.
Wood Release: Great Forest Jutsu!
Nawaki materialized in the golem's path. His arm transformed — flesh becoming wood becoming dozens of grasping vines that coiled around the golem's limbs. But the construct was too large, too strong. It thrashed and dragged Nawaki forward.
Wood Release: Adamantine Tree!
Tsunade's seals completed. An enormous wooden beam erupted from the ground and slammed down across the golem's shoulders, pinning it.
Nawaki released his vines, grabbed Samehada, and went for Kitsuchi directly.
Water Breathing — Eighth Form: Waterfall Basin!
A torrent of water cascaded downward.
Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!
Kitsuchi threw up a barrier. The wall took the hit — then crumbled. Water sprayed across the clearing.
Before Kitsuchi could recover, the sound of displaced air came from behind.
Iron Body: Smash!
Tsunade had circled him.
Earth Release: Fist Rock Jutsu!
He spun. Stone fist met Armament Haki — and his arm was driven back into his own body by the force differential.
Tsunade flickered forward, closing the gap.
Kitsuchi reacted — mouth opening.
Earth Release: Rock Gun Jutsu!
Stone fragments fired point-blank.
She didn't dodge.
Iron Body: Smash.
She punched straight through the barrage, her fist connecting with his torso.
The impact drove through his body. His expression twisted. Blood sprayed from his mouth.
Nawaki seized the opening — wooden vines whipped out and bound Kitsuchi where he stood.
He was still trying to break free when his pupils dilated.
Behind Nawaki, behind Tsunade, standing at the battlefield's edge as though he'd been there all along —
Natsuki.
Tsunade's breath caught. Relief flooded through her.
"Natsuki!" Nawaki shouted. "I knew you'd make it!"
"Where is Rōshi?" Kitsuchi managed the question through a fit of coughing.
"Dead."
"That's impossible—"
"Jinchūriki aren't invincible," Tsunade said coldly.
Kitsuchi convulsed. More blood surged. His entire bearing collapsed — not from his wounds, but from the weight of what Rōshi's death meant.
Even if he didn't believe it, Rōshi's absence from the battlefield was proof enough.
Their jinchūriki was gone. Their commander was captured. The Stone's defeat wasn't a possibility anymore — it was a fact.
"RETREAT!"
Kitsuchi poured chakra into his voice. The shout carried across the entire battlefield.
Stone shinobi everywhere snapped their heads toward him. They saw the vines. They saw the blood. They saw his face.
Expressions shattered.
In seconds, the Stone's forces broke — disengaging, sprinting, fleeing in every direction.
"NO PURSUIT!"
Natsuki's counter-order was just as loud.
Every Leaf and Rain shinobi froze. Confusion rippled through the ranks. Tsunade stared at him. The other jōnin stared. Even Kitsuchi stared.
What?
Natsuki's accumulated authority held. Despite the bewilderment, no one moved.
Three thousand Stone shinobi streamed away across the rocky wasteland.
Tsunade watched with a deepening frown. If the main force escaped intact, the Stone would survive — weakened, but with their foundation preserved.
Then Natsuki raised his hand.
Hadō #99: Goryūtenmetsu.
The sky ignited.
Five colossal dragons materialized overhead — radiating chakra pressure so dense that the air itself seemed to solidify. Simultaneously, spiritual energy expanded outward in a crushing wave.
Across the wasteland, hundreds of Stone shinobi collapsed unconscious — overwhelmed by the pressure before the dragons even reached them.
The Stone's jōnin rallied and counterattacked — jutsu flying skyward, earth walls rising, defensive formations snapping together.
None of it mattered.
The five dragons descended.
Three thousand shinobi scattered like insects.
"PURSUE!"
Now Natsuki gave the order.
The allied force surged forward — Leaf and Rain together, pouring across the wasteland in the dragons' wake, overwhelming the shattered remnants of the Stone's army.
It was over in less than thirty minutes.
Every Stone shinobi was accounted for — dead, wounded, or surrendered. Over four thousand combatants. Not a single one escaped.
Konoha's forces erupted.
The cheering was deafening — raw, visceral, the release of months of tension. This victory surpassed even the overnight annihilation of Gari's forces. Four thousand Stone shinobi — exactly double their previous record — destroyed in a single engagement. And the quality of the losses was devastating: Rōshi, the Four-Tails jinchūriki, dead. Kitsuchi, Ōnoki's son, captured alive.
Since the establishment of the shinobi village system, fewer jinchūriki had died on the battlefield than Kage.
"Thanks to you, our casualties were minimal." Tsunade smiled — genuine, warm, unguarded.
Natsuki's Goryūtenmetsu had broken over half the remaining Stone force before the pursuit even began. Without it, the Leaf would still have won — but at significantly greater cost.
Catching three thousand fleeing shinobi would have been a grinding, bloody affair. He'd converted it into a sweep.
"Is Rōshi truly dead?" she asked again.
"Dead."
"A shame, in one sense. Capturing him alive would have given us enormous leverage." She paused. "But a kill is a kill. We won. That's what matters."
A living jinchūriki meant a captured Tailed Beast — priceless strategic value. But on a battlefield, you fought to kill. Attempting a capture against Kage-level opposition could turn a guaranteed victory into a disaster.
"Let the cleanup crews handle the field. We treat the wounded first."
"Mm."
Both sides needed medical attention — Leaf and Stone alike. Konoha's wounded were the priority, but Stone prisoners stabilized meant negotiating chips preserved.
Sunset.
The engagement involving over eight thousand shinobi was finally, conclusively over.
Every survivor returned to Konoha's main camp.
The command tent convened immediately.
"I'll keep this brief." Natsuki looked across the assembled jōnin. "Because of everyone's effort today, we achieved victory."
"The credit belongs entirely to Lord Natsuki," Shikaku said immediately. "The rest of us were supporting cast."
"Agreed," echoed across the tent.
After today, Natsuki had become, in every jōnin's private assessment, the strongest active shinobi in the world. He'd killed a jinchūriki in single combat, then singlehandedly shattered three thousand retreating combatants. The number of living shinobi who could claim a comparable record fit on one hand.
Among Kage-level fighters, he wasn't just competitive. He was the apex.
"Everyone will receive merit recognition proportional to their contribution," Natsuki said. "Next priority: monitoring the Stone's response."
"After a defeat this severe, they won't engage us again in the short term." Tsunade's lips curved. "We should be going home soon."
Smiles broke out across the tent.
No one didn't want to go home.
"We've won, but vigilance doesn't end." Natsuki considered. "Reconnaissance teams maintain full operations for two more days. Everyone else — stand down and rest."
He could press the advantage — drive deeper into the Land of Earth. But a half-dead Stone Village served Konoha's interests better than a fully conquered one. A crippled Stone still occupied the Cloud's attention, still forced the other villages to allocate resources. Total conquest would create a power vacuum that every remaining village would rush to fill.
Natsuki's long-term calculus was different from a conventional commander's. He intended to bloody every major village — weaken them all enough that whether he chose open domination or covert control, resistance would be minimal.
And beyond the Five Great Villages, his true opponents remained: Uchiha Madara, Black Zetsu, and Ōtsutsuki Kaguya.
He needed to keep climbing.
"Yes, Lord Natsuki!"
Underground.
Uchiha Madara sat in silence, replaying the battle.
Rōshi. His Shadow Clone. White Zetsu's possession boost. Combined, that lineup should have been sufficient to kill any Kage in the shinobi world.
They'd lost. Decisively.
The question that haunted him hadn't changed: how?
The ninja world was built on bloodlines. Since the Warring States era, the two strongest shinobi had been himself and Hashirama — products of the Uchiha and Senju bloodlines. Power traced to genetics.
Natsuki had no notable bloodline. His only kekkei genkai was transplanted Wood Release. Yet his chakra reserves approached Tailed Beast levels, and his self-created techniques were devastating beyond anything Madara could explain.
Where did it all come from?
"Lord Madara." A White Zetsu surfaced. "The Stone's total losses exceed four thousand."
Unsurprising. With Rōshi dead, no one in the Stone could oppose Natsuki. And Konoha's four thousand, bolstered by Tsunade, Nagato, and the rest, had been more than sufficient to overwhelm the remainder.
"Continue monitoring Nagato and his group. Observation only."
"Yes, Lord Madara." A flicker of surprise — the order meant abandoning the kill operations against Yahiko and Konan.
But the logic was unavoidable. With the Stone shattered and Natsuki's power on full display, any assassination attempt was now suicidal.
"The next priority is Uchiha Obito."
The following day.
The news detonated across every intelligence network on the continent.
Hokage's office, Konohagakure.
Orochimaru read the report and raised an eyebrow.
He'd expected a victory. He hadn't expected a rout this complete — four thousand Stone shinobi eliminated, the Four-Tails jinchūriki killed, Ōnoki's son captured.
"Natsuki's contribution is beyond measure," Homura said quietly.
He'd known Natsuki was strong. This strong was another matter.
Koharu nodded. This war had been, in practical terms, Natsuki's personal campaign. Once the full account spread, his fame and political weight would reach a level no one in Konoha could challenge.
"Natsuki has grown into a shinobi who can carry a nation on his own." Orochimaru smiled faintly. "When he returns, we'll initiate the election process for the next Hokage."
"Isn't that... premature?" Homura's surprise was genuine. "You're still young. Another decade in the seat would be—"
"Natsuki is better suited to the role than I am."
The others exchanged stunned glances. Before anyone could mount a second objection—
"My decision is final."
The research called to him. It always had. The Hokage seat had been a necessity — none of his students had been ready when he'd taken it. Now one was. Natsuki and his people already handled the bulk of governance. Formalizing the transfer simply acknowledged reality.
And whatever Orochimaru wanted to pursue afterward, would Natsuki refuse him? Of course not.
Tsuchikage's office, Iwagakure.
Ōnoki sat slumped in his chair, looking every one of his years.
Over four thousand lost in this campaign. Combined with the previous two thousand, the total exceeded six thousand.
Iwagakure's total combat-effective shinobi numbered just over ten thousand.
They'd lost half.
But the numbers weren't the worst of it. Rōshi — dead. Kitsuchi — captured. The Four-Tails — gone.
A jinchūriki was a village's ultimate deterrent. The Stone still had one remaining, but losing Rōshi was a wound that would take years to close. The Four-Tails would eventually reform — but there was no guarantee it would materialize within the Land of Earth. If it appeared in another nation, recovering it would mean another war.
Ōnoki pressed a hand over his heart. The dizziness was getting worse.
Every jōnin in the room wore the same expression — devastated, hollowed out.
This was the most catastrophic defeat in the Hidden Stone Village's history. Half their military strength, erased.
Their comprehensive power could no longer match Konoha or the Cloud. Against the Mist or the Sand, even victory was no longer guaranteed.
"Cease all hostilities against the Leaf. Immediately."
If winning were possible, he'd commit every remaining shinobi without hesitation. But the math was irreconcilable. Even if he personally took the field, his probability of defeating Natsuki was low.
Particle Style was powerful — but its release speed was its weakness. Against most Kage-level opponents, that limitation was manageable. Against a man with space-time ninjutsu, it was fatal. How could he hit someone who could simply vanish mid-engagement?
The jōnin swallowed their protests. The bitterness was visible, but they understood. Continuing meant annihilation.
"Send an envoy to the Leaf. Sue for peace."
With over four thousand Konoha shinobi still positioned at the Land of Earth's border, capable of advancing at any moment, the Stone had no leverage. Peace was the only option that prevented further losses.
"Once we withdraw, the Leaf becomes the Cloud's primary enemy." Ōnoki offered what comfort he could. "If they exhaust each other, our opportunity returns."
Even as he said it, he recognized the bitter truth: entrusting the village's recovery to the conflicts of other nations was the clearest possible admission of weakness.
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