What Minato and Uchiha Shigure saw before their eyes was a structure that didn't belong in the age of kings or desert ruins. It was a gigantic underground factory, unlike the sandstone towers above Loulan. The air burned with steam, pipes twisted like veins across the walls, and the stench of smoke and molten iron clung to the mist that never cleared.
Everywhere, puppet ninjas stood like executioners over lines of Loulan's young and middle-aged citizens. Shackled at their hands and feet, the men slaved away in chains, feeding an enormous combustion furnace. Their weary eyes glimmered in dim torchlight like embers desperate to flicker out.
That furnace wasn't ordinary fire. Thick conduits linked it directly to the Dragon Vein sleeping beneath Loulan, turning the energy of eternity into an endless power source. Assembly lines rattled and groaned as streams of puppet parts rolled down conveyor belts. Gears clanked, joints snapped into place, and in the blink of an eye, a new puppet soldier stood ready, its lifeless gaze waiting for a command.
"So this is it…" Minato's voice was low, grim. "He's forcing Loulan's people into slave labor and feeding the Dragon Vein into rolling furnaces—an infinite army of puppets. If we don't stop this, it won't just be Loulan. It'll be a war unlike anything the world has ever seen."
Shigure narrowed his eyes, pupils reflecting the red glow of the forge. "Then we destroy the line first," he said. "The Dragon Vein itself can only be severed by Queen Sāra. But this…" He glanced at his comrade and gave a slight nod. "This we can handle."
The two exchanged no more words. With a rush of displaced air, they vanished from the shadows and reappeared inside the factory's ground floor, hiding behind a thick cluster of pipes.
They signaled each other silently—Shigure tapping two fingers against a steel bar, Minato answering with a subtle tilt of his kunai. Then they moved.
"Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique!"
A hundred green-chakra shuriken erupted from Minato's throw, whistling like a storm. They carved through metal frames, sparks bursting as an entire machine collapsed.
Shigure's hair rippled unnaturally, snaking outward into a massive lion's mane. It lashed with the speed of a serpent, smashing an array of giant mechanical claws into scrap. Metal bent, shattered, and fell in twisted heaps.
But before either could press the attack, chakra threads snapped into the air— a dark web pulling the wrecked parts together. Crushed frames realigned with a hideous creak, shattered limbs reattached, and the dismantled puppet soldiers clicked back to their feet, moving as if nothing had happened.
Shigure's gaze sharpened.
A shadow shifted across the smoke.
"Well now… our first time meeting," drawled a man stepping from the haze. A bandaged hat sat crooked over his head, and his greasy beard glistened with sweat. He smiled with rotting teeth.
"Should I call you An Lushan?" Minato's expression hardened. He drew his tri-pronged kunai, chakra glowing faintly around it. "Or Baizu? Doesn't matter what name you hide behind—enslaving innocents, draining the Dragon Vein, flooding the world with puppets. All for war?"
An Lushan's smirk never faltered. "Rats from Konoha wouldn't understand vision. War is the tide of history. My tide. You've meddled far too much… but it doesn't matter. I planned for this. You will die here."
"You think that swarm makes you invincible?" Shigure said, voice calm and flat, though his hand flexed at his side. His composure made even Minato glance, a brief flicker of surprise in his eyes.
The bearded man sneered. "Do not mistake chance for power. You destroyed a few hundred shells—so what? I've been building this army for six years. My puppets number in the tens of thousands, enough to drown the world in iron and fire. With this, the Third Ninja World War will be mine to ignite!" He spread his arms wide, as the factory shuddered.
The walls seemed to come alive. Row upon row of puppets, lined in endless ranks, advanced with metallic thunder. Their blank eyes reflected the forge's firelight, burying Minato and Shigure in an iron tide.
"Hundreds?" Minato muttered with a nervous half-smile. He cut down one puppet, glance flickering sideways. "Shigure-sensei… that was you? Honestly, you're unbelievable."
Shigure exhaled. "Minato. Is this really the time for compliments?"
"Die obediently, both of you!" An Lushan's laughter echoed as he vanished into the shadows.
The sea of puppets crashed forward.
Minato's kunai blinked through the crowd as he teleported again and again, carving space with the Flying Thunder God, but every cleared path filled instantly. The encirclement tightened like an iron prison.
Shigure's lips pressed to bleeding fingers. His hands blurred.
"Summoning Technique!"
Two thunderous cracks shook the factory as smoke blasted across the hall. When the haze dispersed, two colossal shadows loomed, crushing puppets beneath their sheer weight.
"Oi, Minato!" bellowed a scarred, pipe-chomping toad, glaring one-eyed at the cramped surroundings. "This damn place is too small to stretch my legs… tch." His gaze snapped sideways—and froze at the coil of crimson scales beside him. Instinctively, Gamabunta hopped back. "What?! Is that Orochimaru's Manda?!"
On the red-scaled serpent's head, Shigure crossed his arms. His cloak fluttered as the beast coiled, one golden eye glaring at Bunta.
"Wanshe? Don't insult me by comparing me to that worm." The snake's voice rumbled through the chamber. "Remember my name, frog. I am Xinya!"
Shigure's tone was sharp. "Our goal is simple—tear this army apart. Begin!"
Xinya lashed forward, tail sweeping a dozen puppets into splinters. Venom spewed from his fangs, coating swathes of soldiers. Wherever it splattered, lifeless wood and steel crusted over and cracked like petrified stone.
"Oi! Don't let him hog the fun!" Gamabunta roared, drawing his massive tanto. "Minato, let's show these toys what real warriors look like!"
Together, toad and serpent rampaged through the ranks. Armor shattered beneath Bunta's strikes, while Xinya's mountainous coils crushed entire units with one roll of his body.
Still, the tide pressed on. More machines rattled, more soldiers emerged. The factory's pulse seemed endless.
"Rasengan!" Minato's spiraling sphere carved through another puppet, wood and metal tearing apart in a burst. Sweat streaked his brow. "Shigure-sensei, it's no use—the numbers don't end! He wasn't exaggerating. We'll be buried alive in here."
Shigure's eyes narrowed to crimson slits. "Then the source must be cut. These puppets breathe through the Dragon Vein. If it is sealed, they'll falter. That burden falls to Sāra—and that blond boy. An Lushan will most likely go after them." His gaze didn't shift from the chaos. "I'll hold here. You go."
Minato hesitated, jaw clenched. "If you can teleport, we should both—"
"Minato." Shigure's tone cut him off. "Even if the vein is sealed, the strings might endure. I'll sever them here. This factory ends now."
For a long moment, only the clash of steel and roar of serpent and toad filled the air. Then Minato's lips curved faintly upward.
"…In that case, Bunta, fall back. You've done enough."
The great toad snorted, vanished in a puff. In his place, Minato planted his kunai deep into the floor, mark gleaming. His voice rang out steady and true:
"Then I'll stay. I don't know why… but I trust that boy, too. Queen Sāra and he will succeed. As for here—" His blue eyes flashed fiercely. "I'll fight beside you. I've always wondered, Shigure-sensei… who's faster: you or me?"
For the first time, Shigure looked at Minato not as a student, but as a comrade. In the blond's stubborn resolve, he glimpsed the Will of Fire—the unwavering shadow of the Third Hokage himself.
A rare smile curved his lips.
"In that case… Xinya! Throw us straight into their midst."
The serpent hissed in amusement, coils flexing. "Don't die on me, little summoners."
And with a violent snap, Xinya hurled both Uchiha Shigure and Namikaze Minato like spears into the endless wall of puppets.
The clash shook the factory's foundations.
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