SKIES ABOVE KONOHA – DAYBREAK
The dawn that broke over Konoha was not gentle. It was a pale, sickly light that seeped through a high, thin layer of cloud—the kind of sky that felt like a held breath. On the walls, along the rooftops, in the forests beyond, every shinobi of Konoha stood at their posts. The evacuation sirens had fallen silent, replaced by an eerie, waiting quiet. The civilians were gone, hidden deep within the earth. What remained was a village stripped down to its armored shell, its streets empty, its windows dark.
On the Hokage Monument, Tsunade Senju stood flanked by Jiraiya and Shizune. Her gaze was locked on the western horizon.
Tsunade: (Her voice low, carried by the morning wind) They're late. Thunderhead's projection was six hours forty-seven minutes. We're at seven hours, twelve minutes.
Jiraiya: (Eyes narrowed, his sage senses stretching out) Don't sound so disappointed. Pain's smart. He's probably assessing the new barrier configurations, looking for a soft spot. Thunderhead's data feed might have forced him to recalibrate.
Shizune: (Monitoring a portable terminal linked to the Coalition network) All sectors report ready. Barrier is at one hundred percent output. Sensor grid is clear for two hundred kilometers… wait.
A single, discordant ping sounded from her terminal.
Shizune: Massive chakra signature. Singular. Not the army. It's… it's appearing. Forty kilometers west. Altitude: three thousand meters and climbing. It's moving fast. Unbelievable fast.
Tsunade's eyes hardened. "One signature? Not the army?"
"The army signatures have stopped at fifty kilometers out," Shizune confirmed, her voice tightening. "They're holding position. This one… it's coming straight for the village center."
Jiraiya's face went grim. "A spear. He's coming himself first. To test the anvil personally."
High above, a small, dark speck appeared against the gray sky. It grew with terrifying speed, resolving not into a bird or a summon, but into a humanoid figure descending calmly, robes fluttering, without any visible means of propulsion. Six purple rings glowed in eyes that held no emotion, no life, only a profound, weary authority.
PAIN (Deva Path): (His voice, amplified by chakra, rolled over the silent village like distant thunder, devoid of inflection) People of the Leaf. You live in a world of suffering. You cling to your bonds, your village, your Hokage, and in doing so, you create the very pain you seek to avoid. I am here to deliver you from this cycle. Hand over the Jinchuriki of the Nine-Tails, and your suffering will end. Resist, and you will be shown the true meaning of pain.
From the central tower, Kakashi Hatake's voice crackled over every comm-line and amplification seal.
Kakashi: (Calm, commanding) All units, hold positions. Do not fire. Do not engage. This is a Kage-level threat. Leave it to the designated response team.
On the monument, Tsunade cracked her knuckles, a green glow of chakra already enveloping her fists.
Tsunade: Like hell we're handing anyone over. Jiraiya!
Jiraiya: (Already forming hand seals) On it! He's not getting a free shot!
But Pain was not waiting for a reply. He raised a single hand, palm facing down toward the heart of Konoha.
PAIN: You choose resistance. Then understand. This world is built upon pain. Shinra Tensei.
There was no blast of wind, no torrent of fire. It was simpler, and more absolute. A sphere of invisible force erupted from the Deva Path, expanding at the speed of thought. It was not an attack that moved through the world; it was an attack that redefined the world around it.
The effect was cataclysmic.
The multilayered barrier over Konoha, the pride of the Uzumaki and the recent Thunderhead upgrades, flashed into visibility for a microsecond—a brilliant kaleidoscope of hexagons and sealing formulas—and then shattered. It didn't buckle or break; it disintegrated, the chakra constructs torn apart at a fundamental level.
Then the force hit the village itself.
The sound came a heartbeat later— a deep, groaning THOOM that was less a noise and more a physical pressure on the eardrums. From the Hokage's vantage, it looked as if a giant, invisible foot had stomped on a model village.
The central district exploded. Buildings did not topple; they were pulverized. Homes, shops, the old mission desk, the Ichiraku Ramen stand—all were flattened into swirling clouds of splintered wood, shattered stone, and pulverized plaster. The force radiated outwards in a perfect circle. The tower housing the Jounin Standby Room collapsed in on itself. Entire streets were scoured clean, leaving only cracked earth and foundations.
The defensive positions on the walls were swept away like leaves in a gale. Shinobi were thrown hundreds of meters, their formations broken instantly.
Tsunade: (Eyes wide with horror, not for herself, but for the village being unmade before her) NO!
Her reaction was pure instinct, born of a lifetime as a medic and a protector. She slammed her palms together, channeling a colossal surge of chakra.
Tsunade: Kuchiyose: Katsuyu!
With a sound like a mountain sighing, the massive, iridescent form of the slug summon, Katsuyu, materialized, not in one place, but in dozens of smaller copies across the village—in alleyways, atop crumbling buildings, in the paths of the expanding shockwave. Each Katsuyu immediately expanded, becoming a living, gelatinous barrier.
The Almighty Push hit them.
Where it met flesh and stone, it destroyed. But where it met Katsuyu, the force was absorbed, dissipated, spread across a million resilient cells. The slug bodies deformed violently, flattening against the ground or wrapping around groups of stunned shinobi, but they held. They did not break.
A river of force was diverted around the Hokage Monument itself, as a primary Katsuyu shielded Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Shizune. The cliff face below them cracked and sheared away, but they stood firm.
The roar of destruction seemed to last an eternity. When it finally faded, replaced by the horrific symphony of crumbling masonry, screams of pain, and the wail of ruptured gas lines, Konoha was forever changed.
A perfect, circular scar of total devastation, nearly a kilometer in diameter, stretched from the village center outwards. In the annihilated zone, nothing stood taller than a foot. Around the edges, buildings were sheared in half. Dust choked the air, turning the pale dawn into a dim, brown twilight. The number of casualties, even with the evacuation and Katsuyu's intervention, was beyond immediate comprehension.
Shizune: (Choking on dust, her terminal smashed, tears cutting clean lines down her dirty face) S-Sectors One through Eight… gone. The hospital's east wing has collapsed. Barrier teams… no signals from seventy percent.
Jiraiya: (His face a mask of grim fury, staring up at the still-floating figure of Pain) One push. One goddamn push.
PAIN: (Observing the ruin below, his voice unchanged) You see? Your strength, your will, your village… all are fleeting. All can be erased in a moment. This is the truth of your world. Hand over the Nine-Tails, or the next push will erase what remains.
High above the devastation, hovering over what was once the training grounds, Naruto Uzumaki stared, his body trembling not with fear, but with a rage so cold it burned. Sage Mode markings framed his eyes, which now glowed an eerie blue. Beside him, Sasuke Uchiha stood on a unstable ledge, his Eternal Mangekyō whirling, taking in the scale of destruction with chilling, analytical precision.
Naruto: (The whisper was raw, torn from his throat) He… he just…
Sasuke: (His voice was like ice) He declared the rules of the game. Absolute power. He believes he's a god dispensing judgment. We need to prove him wrong. Now.
Below, Tsunade's voice, amplified by chakra and sheer fury, ripped through the dust.
Tsunade: YOU WANT THE NINE-TAILS?! COME AND TRY TO TAKE HIM FROM HIS HOKAGE!
She leaped from the monument, a green comet of medical chakra and righteous anger, aiming straight for the Deva Path. Jiraiya was a split-second behind, summoning Gamabunta mid-air.
STORM COALITION COMMAND NEXUS – KUMOGAKURE
The holographic globe representing Konoha had just flashed a catastrophic crimson, its barrier icon blinking out. Data streams scrolled too fast to read, but the summary was clear: Catastrophic Structural Damage. Mass Casualty Event. Barrier: OFFLINE.
Raikage A's fist slammed into the alloy console, leaving a dent.
A: One technique! Thunderhead, analyze! What in the hell was that?
Indra's voice was calm, but his Rinnegan eyes were moving at inhuman speed across the data.
Indra: Omnidirectional repulsive force of metaphysical grade. It operates on a conceptual level similar to my own Spatial Law decrees, but cruder, less refined. It does not push matter; it redefines spatial relationships within its area of effect, forcing them to a state of 'maximum separation.' Our barrier failed because its cohesive force was deemed a 'singularity' to be dispersed. Estimated yield… equivalent to a focused tailed beast bomb detonated at ground zero.
Rias: (Her hands were pressed against the terminal, her face pale as she listened to the harmonic screams from Konoha's sensor remnants) Casualty estimates are… unreliable. The medical summon mitigated the loss of life among shinobi in the peripheral zones, but the central district… it's gone. Lord Raikage, the other Kage are demanding updates.
A: Patch them through! All of them!
The holograms of Mei, Ōnoki, and Gaara flickered into existence around the central globe. Their faces were etched with shock and dawning horror.
Mei: (Her usual composure shattered) What just happened? Our sensors in Kiri felt the chakra spike across the continent! Is Konoha…?
Ōnoki: (Floating in his chamber, staring at his own feed) The barrier signature vanished. Not breached. Deleted. What kind of kinjutsu is this?
Gaara: (His voice was a desert whisper, his sand shifting agitatedly around him in his Suna command post) The Almighty Push. Intel from Jiraiya of the Sannin suggested this was Pain's ultimate power. To see it quantified… it changes the strategic calculus entirely. Our walls, our armies… they are irrelevant against this.
Indra: Correct, Kazekage. Conventional defense is useless. The only effective counter is a force of equal or greater metaphysical authority, or perfect evasion. Tsunade-sama and Jiraiya-sama are engaging the Deva Path directly. The other five Paths and the Zetsu army remain at a holding position. This was a demonstration.
A: A demonstration that just leveled half a major village! Indra, can our Bastions withstand that?
Indra: Unknown. Their defenses are designed to dissipate energy, not negate conceptual law. Probability of failure exceeds sixty percent. The optimal solution is not to withstand it, but to prevent its use. The technique has a recharge interval. Sensor data from the surviving Konoha grid indicates a five-second window of vulnerability post-use. That is the window.
Ōnoki: Five seconds? You expect someone to close with that monster in five seconds? Madness!
Mei: What are Tsunade's orders? Our forces are at the ready.
Gaara: Our long-range scouts have visual. The Deva Path is engaged with the Hokage and Jiraiya-sama. The combat is… catastrophic. Even from a distance, the chakra emissions are terrifying.
A: Hold your positions! Tsunade hasn't called for the cavalry. She's buying time, feeling him out. Our job is to contain the army and be ready for the next move. Indra, you and Rias are our counter to that push. If he tries it again…
Indra: We are aware. The spatial coordinates are locked. The moment he prepares for a second application, we will intervene. But, Lord Raikage…
Indra's gaze fixed on a secondary feed. It showed the forest to the east of Konoha. A ripple in space, familiar and odious.
Indra: Obito is on the move. He is not with the army. He is circling, like a vulture. His target is likely the containment shelters or the Nine-Tails in the chaos.
A: Damn it! Of course he is! Rias!
Rias: (Nods, her bat summons, Echo, appearing on her shoulder) The Silent Wing Clan is already tracking the dimensional fluctuations. We have his scent. He will not reach the shelters.
BATTLE OVER KONOHA'S RUINS
The sky was a battleground. Gamabunta's massive form weaved through tongues of black flame (Amaterasu, launched from a distant, observing Path) and torrential water dragons. Tsunade, standing on the toad's head, traded blows with the Deva Path in mid-air, each of her punches creating shockwaves that the Path deflected with smaller, targeted Shinra Tenseis. Jiraiya, in Sage Mode, fought a desperate running battle across the rubble below against the Asura Path, its mechanized limbs firing missiles and lasers.
It was a stalemate bought at immense cost. Every second of delay meant more shinobi pulled from the rubble, more wounded stabilized by Katsuyu's divisions. But the Deva Path was methodical, untouchable. He repelled every major assault with minimal effort.
PAIN: Your strength is impressive, Hokage. But it is the strength of a single tree in a storm. I am the storm.
He disengaged from Tsunade, floating higher, out of her immediate reach. He spread his arms wide, looking down at the shattered village, at the survivors struggling in the dust.
PAIN: You still cling to hope. Let me extinguish it.
His chakra began to gather again, a dark, oppressive weight that made the very air hum. The rinnegan in his eyes seemed to swallow the light. Below, Kakashi, directing triage, felt it and his blood ran cold.
Kakashi: (Screaming into his comm) ALL UNITS! BRACE! HE'S DOING IT AGAIN!
Tsunade's eyes went wide with despair. She was too far, too slow. Jiraiya was pinned down. This push would wipe out the rescue operations, the field hospitals, the last standing structures. It would finish what the first one started.
PAIN: Shinra Tensei.
The invisible sphere of annihilating force began to coalesce around him.
But it never completed its expansion.
Directly above the Hokage Monument, the fabric of reality itself tore. It wasn't a Kamui swirl. It was a clean, geometric rip, as if space were a sheet of paper being sliced open. Through the tear, which framed a vista of a starry nebula and glowing crystalline structures, two figures stepped.
Indra Uzumaki-Uchiha descended first, his dark travel clothes stark against the rift's light, his face a mask of cold, analytical fury. The sigils in his Rinnegan glowed with suppressed power. Beside him, Rias Uzumaki landed in a crouch, her crimson hair fanning out, one hand already on the spear-haft hairpin at her ear, her green eyes blazing with protective wrath.
Indra did not shout. He simply raised his right hand, fingers splayed toward the gathering epicenter of Pain's technique. The orbiting silver sigil in his eye—Palkia's mark—flared.
Indra: Spatial Law: Coordinate Lock. Gravitational Constant: Zero.
The space around the Deva Path crystallized. The gathering force of the Shinra Tensei, which relied on the manipulation of spatial vectors, suddenly had no vectors to manipulate. The invisible sphere stuttered, flickered like a faulty lamp, and imploded in on itself with a soundless, localized distortion that cracked the air like glass. The recoil of the failed technique visibly shook the Deva Path, a flicker of what might have been surprise crossing its lifeless face.
The dust-choked silence of the ruined village was now absolute. Every surviving shinobi, from Tsunade on Gamabunta's head to a bloodied Genin in the rubble, stared up at the two new figures standing between the stone faces of the Hokage and the living god of pain.
Indra lowered his hand, his voice cutting through the stillness, addressing not Pain, but the stunned village below.
Indra: By the authority of the Storm Coalition Joint Special Operations Command, the unilateral bombardment of a sovereign member state is hereby classified as an existential threat. The counter-operation begins now.
He finally turned his gaze to the Deva Path. His expression was not one of hatred, but of profound, disdainful assessment.
Indra: Your push is a crude lever. You use it to topple a sandcastle and call yourself a god. We build in granite, and our foundations are sovereignty itself. This ends.
Above the devastation, under a darkened sky now split by a rift to the stars, the storm of Pain had finally met the unyielding, sovereign will of the new world. And for the first time, it had failed to push something aside.
End of Chapter – 102.