"Five Release: Great Combination Bullet Technique? Heh… I can do that too."
Kakuzu slammed his palms together. Black threads writhed along his shoulders as two more grotesque masks emerged.
His mouth opened wide.
So did the four masks.
Wind. Lightning. Water. Fire. Earth.
Five different chakra natures roared forward at once, colliding head-on with Sarutobi Hiruzen's Five Release technique.
BOOM—!
Five elemental forces annihilated each other in midair. The valley trembled as shockwaves tore outward, shredding trees and blasting apart stone.
Something Isn't Right
Enma's voice rang out as the Adamantine Staff flew back into Hiruzen's grasp.
"Something's off. What he's using doesn't feel like standard ninjutsu—it's raw elemental manipulation!"
"Retreat. Your men are almost finished."
Hiruzen's eyes swept the battlefield.
Two ANBU squads.
Now reduced to four people.
Sarutobi Shinnosuke.
Sarutobi Sachiko.
And two remaining operatives—barely holding on.
The enemy still outnumbered them heavily.
At this rate, they would all die here.
There was one option left.
Hiruzen could break through alone.
With his strength, his chances were high.
But—
His gaze drifted to his son and daughter-in-law.
And his resolve faltered.
Kakuzu Presses the Advantage
"You dare lose focus fighting me?"
A violent gust struck.
Hiruzen tilted his head—just barely avoiding a fist.
But his pupils contracted.
The fist wasn't attached to Kakuzu's body.
Black threads trailed from it like living tendrils.
Not good!
The detached fist twisted midair and wrapped around him.
Hiruzen raised the staff in defense—but too late.
He was bound tight and yanked forward.
BAM!
A sandbag-sized punch smashed into his face.
His features warped grotesquely under the impact.
Kakuzu raised his arm again, this time coated in hardened black chakra—aimed to crush his skull outright.
But—
A hand shot out from an impossible angle.
It emerged from the Adamantine Staff itself.
Enma.
The arm clamped onto Kakuzu's wrist.
"Thanks, Enma!"
Hiruzen's body dissolved into mud.
Substitution.
He reappeared over ten meters away, already gripping a massive shuriken.
He hurled it and formed seals in one fluid motion.
"Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
The spinning giant shuriken split into dozens midair, roaring across the battlefield—not at Kakuzu—
—but at the shinobi attacking his subordinates.
The masked enemies were forced to scatter.
For the first time, Shinnosuke and the others could breathe.
Buying Time
"You all retreat! I'll hold them!"
Hiruzen flung the Adamantine Staff forward again.
Ignoring the drain on his chakra, he completed another seal.
"Adamantine Prison Wall!"
The staff split into dozens of extending rods, expanding into a massive cage that trapped the majority of the enemy, dividing the battlefield.
"I think you're underestimating me."
Kakuzu's voice came from beside him.
Too fast.
Too close.
A heavy punch slammed toward Hiruzen's head.
Hiruzen barely raised his guard in time—but the hurried defense shattered under the blow.
The punch landed clean.
He was launched into the air.
Blood and broken teeth sprayed across the sky.
This was a fist reinforced by Earth Release: Hardening.
A normal shinobi would've died instantly.
Kakuzu didn't stop.
He closed in.
Punch after punch crashed into Hiruzen's frail body.
A Son's Choice
"Father!"
Shinnosuke broke free from encirclement, eyes bloodshot.
He lunged forward.
Sachiko grabbed him desperately.
"Leave! Don't waste the chance Lord Hiruzen created!"
Shinnosuke tore free.
"We are the Hokage's direct ANBU! How can we flee while he stays behind?!"
In the distance, Hiruzen barely disengaged from Kakuzu's assault, beginning to counterattack.
He saw it.
And panic surged through him.
"Shinnosuke, go!"
"I am no longer Hokage!"
"There is no place for me in the new era!"
"You are Konoha's future!"
His voice cut through the battlefield.
Kakuzu's eyes sharpened.
"Too much talking."
Another hardened fist smashed into Hiruzen's shoulder, driving him backward.
Even Kakuzu couldn't help but admit it.
The old man was terrifyingly skilled.
If not for the distraction of protecting others, the outcome wouldn't be certain.
Too Late
Shinnosuke still hesitated.
Hiruzen wasn't just the Third Hokage.
He was his father.
"Trying to run? Too late."
A figure crackling with lightning burst in from the flank.
A kunai wrapped in blazing lightning pierced straight through Shinnosuke's chest.
The blade emerged from his back in a spray of blood.
"Shinnosuke!!!"
The valley froze for a heartbeat.
And then—
The nightmare truly began.
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