Forest - Beginning of the War
The sky was overcast. The silence of the forest was broken when figures appeared atop the highest branches — elite shinobi from the Villages of Cloud, Stone, Mist… and a few renegades from Rain.
One of them jumps forward, face covered, voice loaded with hatred:
— This is the ninja world's revenge! For hiding the man from another world… Konoha will be purified with blood!
But before the first seal was formed, Naruto is already among them.
His orange eyes blaze, Sage Mode activated perfectly. Natural energy pulses around his body like a living aura.
JIRAIYA (thought, proud):
— He mastered Sage Mode… on his own. He surpassed the master.
Naruto forms the clone seal with a swift motion:
— Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!
Two hundred clones erupt in a blast of smoke, forming a living wall of chakra. The ground shakes.
NARUTO (thought):
— Thanks to training at Mount Myōboku, I can absorb natural energy on the move. I'm not the impulsive idiot I used to be.
He charges like lightning, Rasengan formed in his palm with mastery. A Mist ninja tries to react, but it's already too late.
The Rasengan crashes into his chest, the explosion echoing like thunder. The enemy crashes through a whole tree before passing out.
Lee watches with shining eyes.
— Naruto! You're amazing! But I'm not staying behind!
He drops his leg weights. The ground sinks.
— Let's go, Tenten!
Tenten spins chains with explosive kunai tied by chakra threads. With a leap, she spins in the air like a silver whirlwind, the kunai detonating around the enemies.
Lee activates the First Gate:
— Hachimon Tonkō: Kaimon... Kai!
The air vibrates. He charges at absurd speed, a green blur.
A Cloud ninja tries to block. Fatal mistake.
— Konoha Senpū!
The spinning kick breaks the defense and launches him meters away.
Another ninja tries to react, but Lee already vanished into a frenzy of taijutsu. The blows are fast, clean, and relentless.
A Stone jōnin watches in panic.
— Is… is this human?
Elsewhere, Gai cracks his neck and smiles.
— This… is youth burning!
He jumps spinning in the air and lands in the middle of a Stone squad. One of the enemies tries to use a jutsu:
— Doton: Doryūheki! — A wall of earth rises. But Gai is already above.
— Dynamic Entry!
The kick smashes the wall, the impact breaking the air. The ninja is launched like an arrow.
Further back, Kakashi watches everything with his Sharingan active. Silent. Precise.
He forms seals with his right hand, and lightning crackles between his fingers.
— Raikiri.
He runs.
He crosses the battlefield like a shadow. The enemy's eyes don't even register his approach.
— Raikiri!
The lightning slices through the opponent's chest like paper. Kakashi vanishes again.
Another tries to attack from behind. Kakashi activates a seal on the ground:
— Fuinjutsu: Kekkai Shikaku!
The seal explodes, trapping the enemy in a lightning prison.
— This is for amateurs — he says coldly.
Up ahead, Neji spins in the air:
— Kaiten!
The chakra spin repels three attackers at once. He lands softly, white eyes analyzing everything.
— Byakugan!
He advances between two enemies and begins the technique:
— Hakkeshō: Rokujūyon Shō!
In less than a second, 64 strikes hit the enemy's chakra points.
The body collapses to the ground, powerless.
Tenten, nearby, manipulates dozens of shuriken connected by chakra threads. She forms quick seals and shouts:
— Bakurai no Jutsu!
Explosions in sequence stop the Mist ninjas trying to surround her.
Farther ahead, Sakura and Sai fight together.
Sakura activates her forehead seal. Chakra explodes from her body.
— Byakugō no In!
With a punch to the ground, the forest trembles. The earth cracks, throwing four enemies into the air.
Sai, calm, opens his scroll and draws with absurd speed.
— Chōjū Giga!
Ink tigers leap from the paper, taking physical form. They charge and tear the enemy ninjas apart in a blink.
SAKURA (thought):
— We're no longer just disciples. Now we fight as equals.
At the center of the battle, Jiraiya stands still. Serious. Calm. He watches Tsunade preparing to fight, fists clenched, energy pulsing like a contained thunder.
But he stops her.
— Hey, Tsunade.
She turns, ready to give an order, but what she sees disarms her: his look. A deep gaze, full of weight, but also full of love.
— You finally became Hokage, Tsunade — he says, smiling.
— You can't fight these dying fools now. Let me handle them.
She widens her eyes. For a second, she forgets the battlefield.
— Jiraiya...
He smiles once more and moves forward. His chakra bursts around him, summoning Gamaken in a puff of smoke.
— Let's go, partner!
— Hai! — replies the giant toad, spinning his halberd.
Jiraiya punches the ground.
— Yōton: Yomi Numa! — the ground turns into a viscous swamp, trapping dozens of enemies.
Immediately after, he activates Sage Mode, and his hair grows like iron needles.
— Senpō: Kebari Senbon! — he fires thousands of hair-made needles, piercing enemies from all directions.
Tsunade, behind, breathes deeply. For a moment, she sees the young man who declared himself to her countless times, now fighting like a war god. Her heart tightens.
— Jiraiya...
Flashes of the past cross her mind — his smile, silly jokes, forced compliments, his hand on her shoulder when she cried for Nawaki and Dan.
She breathes deep, clenches her teeth, and whispers:
— Damn you... always making me feel this way in the middle of a battlefield...
The forest is in flames. Screams, lightning, fire, and wind spread. The Leaf ninjas, even outnumbered, control the battle with skill and strategy.
The battlefield, once covered by dense trees and canopies blocking sunlight, now transforms into a sea of destruction. Burnt trunks, craters from jutsu explosions, blood dripping on rocks and blackened leaves… The forest is gone. Only an open field remains — brutal, dry, violent.
But Konoha still stands.
Despite the clear numerical disadvantage, the Leaf ninjas resist. Improvised tactical formations, teamwork, and the strength of their most notable shinobi keep the tide of war balanced.
But not for long.
From the top of a rocky hill, three imposing presences observe everything below with sharp eyes and determined hearts.
Ohnoki, the old Tsuchikage, sighs deeply with crossed arms.
"Even under pressure, those damn Leaf shinobi keep reacting like they're the hunters."
Mizukage Mei nods, jade eyes narrowed.
"This generation of Konoha is dangerous… But not invincible."
Beside them, Raikage A keeps a rigid posture, arms like rocks crossed over his broad chest.
"Time to crush their pride. No more games."
With a simple hand gesture, he signals.
On the field below, Naruto Uzumaki dives between explosions and enemy blows. The Kyuubi's chakra cloak surrounds him, the heat of battle vibrating in his bones.
Suddenly…
A chill.
"...Naruto."
The guttural voice of the Kyuubi echoes in his mind.
"What now?" — he thinks, still dodging kunai.
"This chakra… it's coming from someone like me. Don't underestimate him."
"Like you?"
"Eight tails. Fierce, free. And the idiot carrying him is even more unpredictable than you."
Naruto stops, panting. A giant shadow leaps over a crater. The impact of the landing makes the ground quake.
— Yo! — shouts the energetic voice of a dark-skinned man, wearing sunglasses and a Kumo headband. His muscular build, relaxed posture contrast with the chaos around.
— I'm here on the beat, you about to get defeat, and boy, you just can't handle my feat!
Beside him, three fierce-looking Kumo ninjas take position.
Naruto clenches his fists.
"This guy… he has a beast inside him too."
Elsewhere, Kakashi Hatake is at a disadvantage.
His Sharingan burns in his left eye, body tired from countless skirmishes.
Explosive shuriken, clones, coordinated attacks — everything he knows is being pushed to the limit.
And then…
He sees them.
Two figures advancing through the smoke. A tall man with light hair and an electric sword on his shoulder. Beside him, a chakra sensor with analytical eyes ready to anticipate every move.
— Darui… — Kakashi mutters. — …and Cee.
Both stare at him without hesitation.
— Let's end this — says Darui, voice calm like distant thunder.
On another flank, Might Gai smiles amidst fallen bodies.
— I haven't even reached the Fifth Gate… Tsk. Too weak.
But his expression changes as he senses two heavy presences.
A young woman with tied dark hair and a sharp gaze. Beside her, a brute of stone and muscle.
— You must be the famous Gai — says Kurotsuchi, with disdain. — My grandfather wants your head.
Gai cracks his fists.
— I'm flattered.
At the center, Sakura and Sai fight expertly side by side, until a blade slices through Sai's ink with brutality.
A boy with a legendary Kiri sword appears: Chōjūrō. And next to him, Ao, the Mist sensor, with his Byakugan activated.
Sakura clenches her fists.
— Kiri sold out too…
Sai responds only with ink flowing.
Neji Hyūga, white eyes focused, cuts through the enemy's attack line beside Rock Lee. The field already feels like a maze of smoke and upturned earth.
Then, three chakras surround them.
Omoi. Karui. And a man with an arm exploding in bursts.
— Gari… — Neji recognizes. — A user of Explosion Style…
Lee grins.
— Hah! Now it's getting interesting!
Farther off, Tenten spins her steel chain, dropping two ninjas with a triple-blade kunai.
Then, the ground trembles.
From within the earth, Kitsuchi rises, Iwa's colossus, arms like boulders and an unbreakable expression.
— A Leaf girl… will fall under the weight of Earth.
Tenten simply spins a scroll.
— We'll see who falls first.
Atop a stone outcrop at the battlefield's rear, the three Kage watch their champions descend like predators upon prey.
Mei smiles.
— The war has turned.
Ohnoki frowns.
— Now we'll see if Tsunade can endure.
Tsunade, at the center, raises her eyes. On the other side, standing on a rock like a living monument, is Raikage A.
He shouts:
— Konoha betrayed the ninja world by sheltering a monster! This is the price of arrogance!
Tsunade grits her teeth.
Jiraiya beside her doesn't blink.
— They will pay… — he says, voice low. — For turning against the Leaf. For attacking our own.
The entire battlefield explodes into a threatening silence.
The real chaos was just beginning.