Shinju clenched his teeth, refusing to let out even a single groan.
Most of his links to the heroic spirits had already been severed.
And with the Gotei 13's withdrawal, his most crucial fighting power had been ripped away.
"Shinju-sama, C3 sector is requesting support! The enemy's assault is too fierce—we can't hold much longer!" A young shinobi's voice came through the comm channel, packed with panic and fear.
Shinju's eyes locked onto the light-screen for C3.
The shinobi there were being swarmed by a group of grotesque Hollows, their line on the verge of collapse.
The forces still available around him were already stretched to the breaking point.
Every squad was at its limit.
"Father."
Minato's expression had turned grim to the extreme. "I'm here."
"We need to get to C3 immediately and pull them out."
"That defensive line…" Minato hesitated.
"Abandon it," Shinju spat out.
Abandoning the line meant exposing even more areas to the enemy's blades—meaning the village's destruction would inch even closer.
Minato didn't ask again. His figure vanished instantly.
High above, Aizen looked down at everything.
He had no intention of lifting a finger.
To him, the flames and smoke were nothing more than a grand performance.
"Dance, my Espada."
"Let this village become the steps that carry you to the summit."
With Aizen's order, the assault grew even more insane.
On the village's eastern side, Barraggan stepped forward.
Everything around him began to wither, rot, and turn to ash.
Buildings, trees, the earth itself—everything died before him.
"Wood Style: Mokuryu no Jutsu (Wood Dragon Jutsu)!"
A colossal wood dragon roared up from the ground, its massive body coiling toward Barraggan.
Hashirama stood atop the dragon's head, his face more serious than ever.
The life force within Wood Style slammed into Barraggan's power of aging in a violent clash.
The dragon's body visibly decayed at a speed the eye could follow, ultimately collapsing into a storm of wood splinters.
Hashirama formed seals again—more trees erupted from the earth, forming a living bulwark that barely managed to slow the spread of death's aura.
Every second devoured an ocean of chakra.
On another battlefield, Szayelaporro let out a shrill laugh.
Countless writhing chunks of flesh poured out from behind him, rapidly assembling into all kinds of bizarre modified Hollows that lunged at Jiraiya and his toad army.
"Sennin Mode: Goyōemon (Sage Art: Five Right Guardsmen)!"
Bunta, Ken, and Hiro—three brothers—spewed oil, gale-force wind, and flame at once, and a vast sea of fire swallowed the modified Hollows ahead.
But the monsters that were burned into charcoal… stood back up.
Still on fire, they charged again.
Cold sweat rolled down Jiraiya's forehead.
These things… wouldn't die.
"Little Jiraiya, this won't work!" Fukasaku yelled.
Jiraiya knew that.
His senjutsu chakra was draining fast, while the enemy kept coming without end.
All across the village, the same desperation was playing out.
Minato and Tobirama flickered across the battlefield nonstop.
They were the battlefield's firefighting squad.
Tobirama used Flying Thunder God Slash to pull a Konoha jonin out of an encirclement—then, in the next second, Minato appeared elsewhere and drove back an Arrancar sneaking toward the medical unit with a Rasengan.
They were moving at the absolute limit of speed—and still couldn't cover everyone.
Shinobi kept falling.
Shinju stared at the life signals winking out one after another on the screens, a deep sense of powerlessness tightening in his chest.
But he couldn't show weakness.
"Medical unit, fall back three hundred meters and re-form Defensive Line Three. All genin still able to fight—move to D5 and assist with trap construction. Repeat: this is not a request. This is an order."
"But Shinju-sama! There are wounded over there!" a medic-nin sobbed into the channel.
"Execute the order," Shinju said, leaving no room for argument.
The most brutal battlefield was at the village's center.
Madara's Perfect Susanoo—like a demonic god descending upon the world—held back the largest portion of the enemy.
Ulquiorra, Harribel, and Starrk—three top-tier Espada—were attacking him from different directions.
Cracks laced the blue armor formed from chakra.
"Tengai Shinsei (Heaven Concealed Star)!"
Madara formed seals.
A flaming meteor plummeted from the sky.
Starrk lifted his head and simply raised his twin pistols—countless Cero gathered into a massive beam of light that blasted upward, slamming into the meteor head-on.
A violent explosion erupted in midair, and a wave of destruction swept outward.
Susanoo was forced back again and again, its armor shattering even further.
Blood slipped from the corner of Madara's mouth.
Even for Madara, using a heroic spirit body to fight three equal-level opponents at once brought crushing pressure.
"Is that all your power amounts to?" Ulquiorra appeared behind Susanoo, driving a dark-green spear of spiritual pressure forward.
Madara whirled around, Susanoo's great blade slashing back to block the strike.
At the same time, Harribel released her Resurrección, and a roaring torrent became a water dragon that hammered Susanoo's lower body.
"Damn it!"
Naruto slammed a fist into the ground, cracking the earth.
He looked at comrades lying in pools of blood, looked at the blue giant struggling in the distance—his chest twisting worse and worse.
He tried to rush forward, but Kakashi grabbed him hard.
"Naruto, calm down! If you go now, you're just throwing your life away!"
"But—But I can't just watch!" Naruto's eyes were red.
Kurama's chakra leaked uncontrollably, forming a faint red cloak around him.
Beside him, Sasuke gripped the Kusanagi sword tightly.
His Sharingan was already active, three tomoe spinning at high speed.
He could see Madara's chakra burning away, the new wounds constantly appearing on Minato and Tobirama, and Tsunade-baa-chan's Strength of a Hundred Seal fading as she poured everything into healing.
They were too weak.
In a war between gods and monsters, Konoha's so-called new generation didn't even have the right to interfere.
Sakura knelt on the ground, both hands glowing green as she treated a shinobi whose leg had been torn off.
Her chakra was almost empty too.
Why… why had it become like this?
Inside the command center, Shinju's body swayed.
The overload on the system made his vision go dark in waves.
He forced out the last sliver of mental strength, continuing to analyze the battlefield.
The enemy was too many—and too strong.
Konoha's shinobi were using their lives to bridge an impossible gap in power.
At this rate, in at most another hour, Konoha would be completely breached.
His gaze fell on the two light-points representing Naruto and Sasuke.
These were the final pieces.
And the most dangerous move.
"Jiraiya," Shinju opened Jiraiya's channel.
"Kid, I'm about to crack over here! These freaks just won't stop coming!" Jiraiya sounded exhausted.
"Take Naruto and Sasuke off the main battlefield. Go to the Naka Shrine," Shinju said rapidly.
"What? You want them to be deserters? I won't allow it!" Jiraiya snapped back.
"This isn't retreat," Shinju's tone hardened. "They're our last hope. Once you get there, you'll know what to do."
The call cut off.
Shinju slumped back into his chair, panting heavily.
That brief conversation had almost drained the last of his strength.
He knew Jiraiya would follow the order.
The shrine was the Uchiha clan's forbidden ground—and it was also a special "gift" he had prepared for Sasuke.
As for Naruto… it was time for Kurama's power to be fully unleashed.
But the process would be agonizing—and could even push them into total loss of control.
It was a gamble.
A bet using Konoha's last future… for a slim chance at reversing the board.
He turned his eyes back to the battlefield.
Madara's Susanoo had already been pierced through one arm by Ulquiorra's Cero, the blue energy body steadily crumbling.
Hashirama's wooden golem had been corroded by Barraggan's aura, its movements slowing.
Tsunade collapsed—her chakra depleted, Strength of a Hundred undone—aging in an instant.
"All heroic spirits still able to move—abandon your individual fronts. Regroup at the Hokage Rock."
This was his last card.
Gather every top-tier fighter into one place and launch one final, do-or-die charge.
Use Madara, Hashirama, Minato, and Tobirama to rip open the encirclement and buy Naruto and Sasuke the last bits of time they needed to transform.
As for himself…
Shinju stared at the system interface, where collapse warnings flashed nonstop.
He could feel his life force draining away.
This war…
He couldn't lose.
(End of Chapter)
[Check Out My P@treon For 20+ Extra Chapters On All My Fanfics!!] [[email protected]/Draumel]
[Thank You For Your Support!]