Overwhelming pressure descended upon the valley.
The crimson chakra surrounding Menma thickened, hissing like boiling liquid. The corrosive aura distorted the air itself, pebbles lifting from the ground under its violent current.
At this stage, drawing upon the Nine-Tails' chakra even without full transformation had already pushed Menma's combat capacity beyond standard jōnin parameters. The Root operatives had miscalculated. What they faced was not a rogue genin.
It was a jinchūriki actively weaponizing the Kyūbi's chakra.
"Wind Release: Vacuum Sphere!"
Compressed bullets of wind chakra erupted from Menma's mouth in rapid succession.
"Whoosh whoosh whoosh!"
The pressurized projectiles tore forward at oblique angles, forcing the remaining Root shinobi to scatter.
"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique!"
One operative formed seals with sharp precision. A roaring water dragon surged upward, colliding head-on with the incoming wind spheres.
"Boom!"
Water and compressed air detonated in violent turbulence, mist exploding outward across the stone platform.
Through the dispersing vapor
The Root leader stepped in.
Lightning chakra gathered along his arm, extending outward into a flexible current.
"Lightning Release: Thunder Binding!"
The electric arc lashed forward like a living whip, snapping toward Menma's torso in an attempt to restrain and paralyze.
Menma did not retreat.
The chakra cloak flared violently
A second tail burst forth behind him.
The crimson aura thickened, skeletal chakra structures faintly forming beneath the surface.
With a sharp motion
He seized the lightning construct in his bare hand.
"Crack!"
Electric current surged through him.
The stench of ozone filled the air.
For a split second, paralysis bit into his muscles.
Then the Nine-Tails' chakra devoured it.
The Root leader's pupils constricted.
He pulled to disengage
Too late.
Menma twisted his torso and hurled him sideways with brutal force.
"Not good!"
The airborne shinobi collided midair with another Root operative rushing in from the flank.
The lightning current wrapped around both bodies.
"Zzzzt!"
Their screams tore across the valley.
Menma moved instantly.
No hesitation.
No speech.
His kunai flashed.
"Pfft!"
One throat opened.
A second slash followed in a seamless arc.
Blood scattered across the stone.
Both bodies fell lifelessly into the gorge below.
"Plop."
The water swallowed them.
Silence followed heavy, suffocating.
In less than ten minutes, more than half of the Root unit had been eliminated.
The remaining operatives faltered.
Then
A new chakra signature descended.
Firm.
Controlled.
Familiar.
"Stop, Menma!"
A silver-haired figure landed between the battlefield lines.
One eye visible.
The other covered by a forehead protector angled to conceal it.
Three tomoe spun within the exposed Sharingan.
Hatake Kakashi.
Menma's gaze sharpened.
But his killing intent did not waver.
With deliberate indifference, he completed the strike he had already committed to ensuring the two fallen Root shinobi were beyond survival.
Kakashi's expression darkened.
Three dead.
Two incapacitated.
Only two remaining in viable condition.
And the jinchūriki stood unharmed in a two-tailed cloak.
"Menma…" Kakashi said quietly. "Why push this so far? You are Minato-sensei's son. Konoha is your birthplace. It doesn't have to end like this."
The words carried no theatrical righteousness only strain.
Menma laughed softly.
"End? No, Kakashi. This is a beginning."
His crimson chakra flickered violently around him.
"You speak of Konoha as if it has ever truly acknowledged me."
His eyes narrowed.
"You served in ANBU. You know what festers beneath that village's surface."
The wind howled between Madara and Hashirama's statues.
"Shimura Danzō's operations. Unauthorized assassinations. Political manipulation. And Hiruzen's tolerance of it."
Kakashi's silence confirmed more than denial ever could.
Menma continued.
"You want me to believe the Third Hokage was ignorant? Or that he lacked authority? Either option reflects failure."
Kakashi's jaw tightened.
He knew the truth.
He had seen Root's shadow operations.
He had even witnessed internal power struggles during his ANBU years.
But knowing darkness and condemning it were not the same.
"This isn't the answer," Kakashi said firmly.
Menma's expression hardened.
"You stood by for twelve years."
The accusation was not shouted.
It was stated.
"Don't lecture me about paths."
The two-tailed cloak expanded further, chakra cracking against the ground like unstable flame.
"Here in this valley, strength decides."
His body lowered.
Chakra surged explosively.
"Either you stop me," Menma declared coldly, "or you fall."
He vanished in a burst of speed, crimson afterimage streaking across the battlefield
Not toward Kakashi directly
But toward the remaining Root operatives.
If Danzō had issued a kill order
Then Danzō's subordinates would pay first.
Above them, the statues of Madara and Hashirama loomed in silent witness.
Once more, ideology and blood were about to collide in the Valley of the End.
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