When Yagami arrived at the battlefield, the first thing he saw was the Deep Forest Emergence.
The twisting, churning tree trunks emitted a dense, grinding creak that made one's scalp tingle—as if thousands of ancient wooden arms were stretching and cracking their joints in unison.
Uchiha Madara was here!
Yagami wondered why Madara was so fond of Wood Style. Was it a lingering nostalgia for the man he once held dear, or simply a practical use of his stolen power?
Madara wouldn't have intervened unless Nagato was in mortal danger. Usually, Nagato's "perils" were carefully orchestrated by Madara to force the boy's growth. The sudden intervention of the Leaf ANBU had clearly disrupted those plans.
Lynx with two ANBU squads and K with four Root members far exceeded the limits of Nagato's current abilities. At roughly ten years old, Nagato had only just begun learning elemental ninjutsu; his chakra reserves hadn't matured, and he had yet to develop the Rinnegan's specific path abilities. If the Root and ANBU found him now, Nagato was a dead man.
Madara stood atop a high arching bridge of twisted wood. His hair was stark white, his frame hunched, and he leaned on a scythe for support, yet his eyes burned with pure, unadulterated contempt.
"Hidden Leaf ANBU... insects crawling through the stinking mud of the shadows," Madara rasped. "Things created by that bastard Senju Tobirama. You are just as loathsome as he was."
Two Root ninja and three ANBU had already perished under the crushing weight of the Forest Emergence. Yagami glanced at the dead Root members; their bodies were being flattened by massive trunks and squeezed out the other side like meat pies. He wouldn't even be able to salvage them for Uzumaki Yuka's experiments or study the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal.
Jiraiya had summoned Gamaken and Gamahiro. The two toads provided a massive spray of oil while Jiraiya unleashed a Fire Dragon Flame Bullet, burning a scorched path through the wooden labyrinth.
From his vantage point, Madara offered a critique. "Oil and fire... a decent combined ninjutsu. Far better than that common wind-and-fire trash." Madara possessed the traits of a combat connoisseur, always evaluating others' techniques from the height of his own superiority.
Once the Toad Oil Flame Bullet cleared a path, the remaining ANBU and Root emerged, carrying a comatose Nagato.
Jiraiya squinted through the smoke. Seeing that it was the white-haired old man who had killed the ANBU and not Nagato, he breathed a sigh of relief. If Nagato had manifested some unknown power and slaughtered Leaf comrades, Jiraiya wouldn't have known how to justify it to the village.
The ANBU clutching Nagato didn't even look at Jiraiya, immediately fleeing into the distance with their prize.
"Drop Nagato!" Jiraiya yelled. "And where are Yahiko and Konan?"
He realized the ANBU hadn't bothered with the other two children—they only wanted the Uzumaki. Behind him was his kidnapped student; ahead of him were Yahiko and Konan, trapped in the crushing woods. After a moment of agonizing hesitation, Jiraiya dove back into the forest.
The ANBU wanted Nagato alive for the village; they wouldn't kill him immediately. But the other two would die within seconds without help.
Gamahiro's dual blades flashed, severing trunks left and right. Jiraiya quickly found the unconscious Yahiko and Konan. Fortunately, the ANBU had been too rushed to finish them off.
Just as Jiraiya hoisted the children onto his shoulders, he saw Lynx get swatted by a branch, sent tumbling backward to land right beside him.
"Lord Jiraiya! That's Uchiha Madara!" Lynx gasped. "He's trying to rescue the Uzumaki remnant! We have to fight him together!"
Jiraiya was stunned. 'Uchiha Madara? That legend from the founding era?' This was Year 40 of the Hidden Leaf; Madara would have to be in his seventies.
Jiraiya handed Yahiko and Konan to Gamaken, ordering the toad to take them to safety. Before he could press Lynx for more details, a Wood Dragon soared overhead. Madara stood on its head, diving straight for the ANBU squad carrying Nagato.
"This is bad!" both Jiraiya and Lynx realized.
Chasing after the dragon were K and two other Root ninja. K shouted, "Everyone, seize the remnant! We cannot let him escape!"
Lynx thought bitterly: 'Uchiha Madara isn't someone just anyone can stop.' Without Jiraiya's full help, it was an impossible task.
Right then, the sound of earth shattering echoed across the field.
"Earth Style: Earth Spikes!"
Yagami released the Cross Seal, dumping three standard units of chakra into a single, massive casting. For over a hundred meters, the ground erupted into a jagged forest of stone thorns. The spikes lunged at the low-flying Wood Dragon.
The stone snapped and crumbled under the dragon's weight, and Yagami's heart skipped a beat. 'The density of that Wood Dragon is insane.' A single spike only penetrated a few centimeters—like acupuncture for a beast of that scale. However, by stacking hundreds of spikes in its path, he successfully bled off the dragon's momentum until it ground to a halt.
Yagami let out a breath and released his hand sign. Lynx looked at the Fox in shock. 'His Earth Style is this powerful?' The Wood Dragon was one of the First Hokage's signature moves.
Madara looked down at Yagami. "Average Earth Style, but decent casting technique. But if I use 'this' move, what will you do?"
The ground split open. Countless trunks erupted, shattering Yagami's stone spikes. Yagami was forced back instantly. Within the new growth, vibrant red flower buds began to swell.
Advent of the World of Flowering Trees!
Once those buds bloomed, they would release lethal, paralyzing pollen. Yagami turned to flee, but as he did, he saw a mutation on Nagato's body.
Spores were erupting from the boy—White Zetsu's Spore Technique. It wasn't meant to drain Nagato; it was a final layer of protection. The four ANBU holding him were forced back by the emerging Zetsu clones, and Nagato slipped from their grasp.
Yagami's eyes lit up.
White Zetsu possessed world-class infiltration and hiding abilities. Even Jiraiya, who had lived with the children for two years, hadn't realized Nagato was tagged with spores.
'Should I draw from White Zetsu this month?'
He had already died once at Madara's hands in the past; he didn't want a repeat. Jiraiya wasn't at his peak yet, and Nagato was still weak. But White Zetsu... his abilities were eerie and versatile. Yagami felt he was strong now, but he wasn't "sneaky" enough. He was becoming an ANBU bruiser, and that wouldn't do for the long game.
'I'm an assassin, not a tank. Why am I building a full defense set?'
A dozen White Zetsu crawled out of the surrounding trees. Yagami charged toward Nagato. With a single punch, he shattered one of the Zetsu shielding the boy. Seeing a powerful ANBU threat so close to their prize, the Zetsu swarmed him.
Yagami engaged in a calculated exchange. The Zetsu fought primarily with taijutsu, occasionally using a crude version of the Wood Style: Cutting Technique.
Feigning that his chakra was being drained by the Spore Technique, Yagami let his speed drop. A sharp wooden spike lunged forward, piercing through Yagami's chest and into his heart.
Yagami "died" at the hands of White Zetsu.
[System: Host death detected. Arc of Moon System is initiating...]