The underground chamber shook as rubble collapsed around them. Shigure glanced at Minato, and in that shared moment of understanding, they knew every last puppet factory was gone.
"It seems Kakashi succeeded too," Minato said calmly, though fatigue lined his expression.
Shigure nodded, his eyes sharp. Around them, the air still hummed with lingering chakra from the destruction.
"Now! Sarah, take everyone and escape to the surface before this place caves in!" Naruto called, urgency in his voice.
Queen Sarah, breathless yet resolute, turned to gather her people. "I'll lead them out!" she answered, determination flashing through her exhausted features as she ushered the civilians toward safety.
Naruto stole another glance at Shigure, baffled by what he had just seen. "Hey… why do you know the Rasengan? Only Ero-Sennin and the Fourth Hokage should know that move!"
Shigure stiffened, raising a finger to his lips. "Quiet, yellow-haired boy. We're still in the era of the Third Hokage. Do not ask questions you shouldn't—and do not change history."
Naruto blinked at him, lips parting as if to argue, but stopped. His attention flickered back to Minato, the resemblance impossible to ignore. "Sure enough… you really do look like Yondaime…"
Before the boy could press further, the ground rumbled.
From the rubble, the massive centipede puppet—An Lushan—twitched and lurched back to life. Its segments groaned with metallic screeches as its many legs dug into the cracked earth.
"This thing's still moving!?" Naruto yelped.
"Don't lower your guard," Minato cautioned, kunai spinning into his hand. "Its strength is… unfathomable."
The centipede let out a guttural roar as its head spun unnaturally, twisting a full 180 degrees. Nearby puppet fragments shuddered, then rose into the air as if drawn by an unseen force. The broken soldiers around them were sucked into its body like tiles merging seamlessly with its armor.
The already colossal monstrosity grew larger still, its shell thickening into an armored carapace.
"I told you before!" the voice of An Lushan echoed, distorted yet confident. "My power is limitless!"
Before Minato or Shigure could attack, Naruto leapt ahead without hesitation. Hands flashing through seals, he shouted, "Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu!" In a burst of smoke, dozens of clones charged, each brandishing chakra-forged blades.
The centipede's armored hide, newly reinforced by fragments of dragon vein–infused puppets, rang with a metallic clang. Naruto's chakra knife, glowing with power, struck uselessly against its shell. The vibrations jolted up his arm.
"This… this thing's too hard!" Naruto gritted his teeth as several clones were swiftly crushed or swatted aside, dispersing into smoke.
Shigure's face hardened. Sage markings rippled across his skin as natural energy surged into him. "Sage Mode!" he declared, his chakra cloaking him in raw, natural power.
With a single step, he blurred forward. His punch crashed against the centipede's armored flank—and the massive puppet was sent hurtling into the steel walls of the cavern with a thunderous boom.
The enemy writhed and screeched. Yet still it stirred.
Shigure wasted no time. Nature energy swirled into his palm, condensing into a massive orb. "Immortal Art: Giant Rasengan!" His voice thundered as the devastating chakra sphere roared into existence.
He drove the attack into the centipede's body, the impact detonating with apocalyptic force.
The beast howled, its grotesque head twisting in agony before its body buckled and shattered, pieces raining down into a gaping crater left by the Rasengan's destructive burst.
For a heartbeat, silence.
"Did… did we do it?" Naruto asked, edging toward the smoke-choked cavern. His voice betrayed hope—and disbelief.
Minato, equally cautious, held him back. "Stay alert."
From deep within the crater came a low, guttural roar. Puppet fragments began trembling, then shot back into the pit like iron shards pulled to a magnet.
Naruto's eyes went wide. "No way… again!?"
A mocking laugh echoed. "Behold! Witness the power of my ultimate puppet creation! Look upon my new form!"
Out of the smoke, a monstrous silhouette rose. Shigure's Sharingan flickered as he analyzed it. His jaw tensed. "This thing has grown even bigger…"
An enormous claw surged forward. Shigure and Minato barely avoided it, blurring to safety in twin flashes.
"No longer a centipede," Shigure muttered grimly. "Puppet An Lushan suits this form better."
Even after all his efforts, not even a Giant Rasengan had ended it. The dragon vein's unnatural power continued to fuel this abomination.
"This confirms it," Minato said coolly, kunai glittering with sealing tags. "As long as the dragon vein remains unsealed, this thing cannot die."
The monster lunged, its many limbs carving deep gashes into stone. Its chakra threads whipped out, ensnaring Queen Sarah mid-sprint.
"Your role is over, little queen," the puppet hissed, pulling her closer. "Submit to your death." Her own hands began to rise against her will, tightening around her throat.
"Sarah!!" Naruto cried. He burst in, his chakra blade slicing through the puppet threads just before they crushed her windpipe.
"Five Elements: Great Linking Bomb!" Shigure roared. His clones extended hands toward him, merging chakra as the elemental powers swirled into a volatile sphere. With a violent crack, the combined jutsu erupted across the puppet's body like a miniature cataclysm, hurling it back into the cavern.
But slowly—the creature stirred again. Jagged edges repaired themselves, its size swelling with every passing moment.
"It recovers no matter how badly it's damaged…" Naruto whispered in disbelief.
Queen Sarah staggered forward, tears streaking her dusty cheeks, but steel in her voice. "If we can reach the inner sanctum where you found me, Naruto—the place immune to the dragon vein's influence—we can cut off its power. There, An Lushan cannot follow!"
The creature's distorted voice bellowed with rage. "You won't escape! Sarah will die here!" Its form twisted grotesquely, limbs elongating until it again resembled its centipede shape, hundreds of legs writhing as it tore through the ground toward its prey.
"Protect Sarah," Shigure ordered, his tone leaving no room for argument. "If we split, we save more time. This is my fight."
"No way!" Naruto protested. "I won't let you face that alone!"
"Teacher Shigure is right," Minato interrupted firmly. A rare severity edged his tone. "This opponent is beyond ordinary. Multiple defenses stand a better chance. Trust him."
Naruto clenched his fists but glanced at Minato—the man who resembled the father he never knew—and faltered. "Tch… fine. But don't you dare die here!"
"Trust me." Shigure smirked faintly, then shifted his gaze back to the hulking puppet.
As Sarah and her people were escorted to safety, An Lushan's huge body crashed after them. Its screech reverberated through the chamber.
"Now," Shigure whispered to himself, "with no one else here… I can finally let loose."
Sage markings burned brighter as he wove his seals. From his mouth erupted a swirling black dragon of pure natural energy. "Immortal Art: Black Diamond Technique!"
The spectral beast slammed into the centipede puppet, detonating in a soundless shockwave.
No flames. No rubble. Just cold silence.
"What… what sorcery is this!?" An Lushan thrashed, its grotesque body flailing. "Why… I can't see? I can't hear!? My senses—they're gone!"
Trapped within darkness, its world dissolved into nothing. No sound, no touch, no sight—only the abyss.
But in that abyss, a sudden flash of unnatural purple lightning cracked down from above.
The centipede's body convulsed as jagged bolts surged through its form, purple chakra flooding its limbs. The sealing technique faltered as divine, corrosive power wrapped its shell.
An Lushan's roar shook the chamber, filled with manic triumph. Lightning arced across its massive frame as its chakra surged to terrifying new heights.
Shigure's eyes narrowed in alarm. "Impossible. My jutsu… failed?"
A fresh storm gathered in the chamber, and the puppet loomed, cloaked in violet thunder.
--
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