The transition from peace to apocalypse did not happen in stages. It was instantaneous.
One moment, the village of Konohagakure was bathed in the soft, milky luminescence of the full moon, its streets quiet, its windows dark. The only sound was the rustle of leaves in the forests and the distant, rhythmic chirping of autumn crickets.
The next moment, the sky tore open.
Ren Yamanaka, sitting atop the Great Gate, watched the physics of the world invert. The Summoning Jutsu was not merely a puff of smoke; it was a violent displacement of atmosphere. A vacuum formed in the center of the village, sucking the air out of the streets for a microsecond before expelling it in a shockwave that shattered every window within a three-mile radius.
BOOM.
The sound hit Ren a second after the sight. It was a low-frequency concussion that rattled his teeth behind his mask and made the bones in his inner ear vibrate.
Rising from the billowing dust cloud, silhouetted against the moon, were nine tails. They uncoiled like colossal snakes, whipping through the air with enough kinetic force to level skyscrapers. And there, riding atop the beast's head, was a figure.
Ren adjusted his vision.
Right Eye (Byakugan): Active. Zoom. Left Eye (Sharingan): Active. Analysis.
He saw him. A man in a black cloak patterned with red clouds? No, just black robes. A singular eye visible through an orange spiral mask.
The Controller, Ryuichi whispered from the Council table in Ren's mind. His voice was trembling with a mixture of rage and awe. Look at the connection. Chains of chakra linking his eye to the beast. He is holding a calamity on a leash.
Tactician: Threat analysis: Catastrophic. The village defenses are designed for external siege, not internal detonation. Goro: The civilian sector is ground zero. Structure integrity is zero. Casualties are already in the thousands.
Ren stood up. The wind from the explosion tore at his Anbu armor. He felt the heat—a searing, dry heat radiating from the Fox's chakra.
Most men, even Anbu Captains, would freeze. The sheer biological terror of seeing a Tailed Beast in the flesh was designed to paralyze prey.
But Ren was not most men. He was a committee. And the committee had just voted.
Order: Capitalize.
"This is the stage," Ren whispered to the wind. "The lights are on."
He didn't panic. He felt a cool, icy detachments settle over his heart. He felt no grief for the buildings turning to rubble. He felt no horror for the screams beginning to rise from the fire. He felt only the exhilaration of an actor stepping out onto the boards for the performance of a lifetime.
Every life he saved tonight would be a line in history. Every life he lost would be attributed to the failing of the old regime, or the unexpected power of the enemy. It was a zero-risk scenario for Ren's ambition.
"Council," Ren commanded mentally. "Full synchronization. Initiate Protocol: Guardian."
He leaped from the gate, diving into the inferno.
—————
The Vacuum of Command
The streets of the western district were a vision of hell.
Fire had spread instantly, fueled by the Fox's wind pressure. Buildings were reduced to skeletons of burning timber. The air was thick with ash and the smell of ozone.
Ren landed in an intersection clogged with panicked civilians. People were running blindly, trampling each other. A group of Chunin stood frozen, their eyes wide, watching the giant Fox swat a squad of Anbu out of the air like flies.
"It's over," one Chunin whimpered. "We're all dead."
Ren landed in front of them. The impact cracked the pavement, drawing their attention.
He stood tall, his mask reflecting the flames. His chakra flared—a dense, multicolored aura that felt solid enough to lean against.
"Who gave you permission to die?" Ren's voice boomed, amplified by Wind Style.
The Chunin flinched, looking at the masked Captain.
"Squad 4, mobilize!" Ren barked, pointing to the east. "There is an Academy dormitory two blocks that way. Evacuate the students to the Hokage Rock shelters. Move!"
"B-but the Fox…"
"The Fox is my problem," Ren lied smoothly. "You have your orders. Go!"
The certainty in his voice broke their paralysis. They were soldiers; they craved command. Ren gave it to them. They saluted and scattered.
Ren turned his attention to the crowd of civilians. They were screaming, trapped by a fallen watchtower that blocked the alleyway.
Puppeteer: Analyze debris weight. 4 tons. Structural weakness at point B. Goro: Lift with legs. Use the Earth anchor.
Ren walked to the massive timber beam. He didn't use ninjutsu. He wanted them to see physical strength. It was more inspiring.
He jammed his hands under the burning wood. He channeled the Iwa Commander's brute strength into his muscles, reinforcing his skeletal structure with Earth chakra.
"UP."
Ren heaved. The veins in his neck bulged. The beam groaned and lifted, tossing sparks into the night.
"Move!" Ren shouted to the trapped families. "Under the beam! Go!"
They scrambled past him, mothers clutching babies, old men weeping. As they passed, they looked at him. They saw a masked demon lifting a burning building to save them.
Ren etched the image into their minds. Remember me. Remember who held the roof up when the sky fell.
He dropped the beam once the last child was through. He dusted the ash from his hands.
+15 Lives Saved, the Tactician tallied in the back of his mind. Current efficiency rating: Optimal.
Focus, Isamu hissed. The Fox is turning.
Ren looked up. The Nine-Tails had stopped its rampage in the northern sector. The masked man on its head had turned the beast. Its red eyes were scanning the village, looking for the highest concentration of chakra.
It was looking for the Hokage. Or the evacuation centers.
"It's targeting the shelters," Ren realized.
—————
The Wood and the Earth
The Fox opened its mouth. Negative and Positive chakra gathered. A Tailed Beast Ball began to form. It wasn't full size—the beast was rushing—but it was large enough to vaporize the hospital.
"He's aiming for the medics," Ren noted coldly.
In the distance, Hiruzen Sarutobi was engaging with Enma, trying to draw the Fox's attention. But he was too far. He couldn't stop the projectile.
Ren was the only piece on the board in position.
Can we stop it? The boy-Ren's echo whimpered deep in the Memory Palace. We don't stop it, the Tactician said. We deflect it.Goro: We need a wall. A big one. Ren: Standard Earth Style won't hold. The density of a Tailed Beast Ball decomposes earth molecules. Puppeteer: We need absorption. Or regeneration. Ryuichi: We need the First Hokage.
Ren's mind flashed to a scroll he had "processed" three months ago. A Root experiment involving the cells of Hashirama Senju. The corpse of a failed test subject—a child who had died because his body turned into a tree. Ren had eaten the brain stem. He had gained a microscopic trace of the Wood Release affinity. It wasn't the full bloodline, but with enough chakra…
"It's time to show them," Ren decided.
He sprinted across the rooftops, moving parallel to the trajectory of the Beast Ball. He landed on the roof of the hospital.
Below him, hundreds of wounded ninja and doctors looked up. They saw the purple sphere of death forming in the Fox's mouth. They saw the lone Anbu standing on the edge of the roof.
Ren bit his thumb. He slammed his hands together.
He visualized the forest. He visualized the deep roots. He drew on Goro's Earth, Isamu's Water, and the trace Yang energy of the Senju cells.
"Secret Earth Style: Forest of Iron Pillars!"
It wasn't true Wood Release—that would expose him to Danzo immediately as a thief of Root secrets. He disguised it. He encased the wood in rock.
Massive pillars of stone-covered wood erupted from the ground in front of the hospital. They grew at an unnatural speed, twisting and braiding together to form a gigantic, fan-shaped shield, three layers thick.
The Beast Ball fired.
SCREEEEEEEECH.
The sound was blinding.
The ball slammed into Ren's barrier.
The first layer shattered instantly. The second layer cracked, groaning under the thermal pressure. Ren poured his chakra into the third layer.
"HOLD!" he screamed, blood leaking from his eyes beneath the mask.
He channeled the Magnet Release into the stone, creating a magnetic field to repel the energy.
The Beast Ball was deflected. It didn't stop; it skidded off the angled surface of Ren's barrier, shooting upward into the night sky.
It detonated two miles above the village.
FLASH.
The sky turned purple. The shockwave blew the tiles off the hospital roof and knocked Ren flat on his back.
But the hospital stood.
Silence—stunned, reverent silence—filled the courtyard below.
Then, a cheer erupted. Ragged, terrified, but hopeful.
"Anbu!" someone shouted. "The Anbu saved us!"
Ren pushed himself up. He was trembling. His chakra reserves had taken a 30% hit in one move.
That was too close, the Tactician warned. Next time, we won't get the angle right.
Ren stood on the edge of the roof, his cape billowing in the hot wind. He looked down at the medics. He offered a simple nod.
He felt no pride. He just checked the scoreboard. +500 Lives Saved. Political Capital: Massive.
"Moving to Sector 7," Ren said into his comms. "Hospital is secure."
—————
The Duel of Gods
Ren moved toward the center of the carnage. As he moved, his sensory net picked up a new development.
Minato Namikaze had arrived.
Ren sensed the Flying Thunder God signature—a frantic ping-ponging of space-time leaps. Minato had engaged the Masked Man.
Isamu: They are moving away. The Yellow Flash has taken the controller out of the village zone. Ryuichi: Smart. Separate the head from the body.
However, that left the body—the Nine-Tails—still in the village. And now that the controller was distracted fighting Minato, the Fox was no longer receiving direct commands.
It was just a wild animal. A force of pure rage.
"It's going to trash everything," Ren realized.
He landed on a water tower near the Fox's flank.
The beast was sweeping its tails, leveling the market district. Hiruzen Sarutobi was there, along with the Ino-Shika-Cho trio, trying to pin it down.
"Earth Style: Earth Flow River!" Hiruzen shouted, turning the ground to mud to unsteady the beast. "Partial Expansion Jutsu!" Choza Akimichi grew to giant size, wrestling a tail.
Ren watched. They were brave. They were heroes.
They are inefficient, the Puppet Master critiqued. Look at the openings. The Fox is faster. It's toying with them.
Ren saw an Anbu squad attempting a flank. The Fox swiped, and the squad vanished in a red mist.
Ren felt a twitch in his finger. One of those Anbu had been Daiki Sarutobi—the boy Ren had saved at Kikyo Pass.
Ren zoomed in with his Byakugan.
Daiki was gone. Just a smear on the pavement.
Ren stared at the spot.
I saved him once, Ren thought, numbly. It was a waste of resources.
No, the ghost of Goro rumbled sadly. It was a delay of the inevitable. That is all we do, Ren. We delay death.
Ren felt a flicker of something. Anger? No. Frustration. He had invested effort in Daiki. The Fox had destroyed his investment.
"It's irritating," Ren murmured. "Disorderly."
He needed to corral the beast.
Ren leaped down, joining the fray. He didn't attack the Fox directly; he played support.
He saw a fireball heading toward a group of pinned Jonin.
"Water Style: Water Colliding Wave!"
Ren spat a massive volume of water (Mist Style) to intercept the fire, creating a steam explosion that masked the Jonin's retreat.
He saw Inoichi Yamanaka (his clan head) trying to establish a mind link with the barrier team but struggling with the noise.
Ren landed next to him.
"Inoichi-sama," Ren said. "Link with me. I will act as the amplifier."
Inoichi looked at the masked Captain. "Chimera? Can you handle the load?"
"I am designed for the load," Ren said.
Inoichi placed a hand on Ren's back.
Ren opened his mind—not the Vault, but the "Reading Room" adjacent to it. He let Inoichi channel through him.
Ren's sensory net broadcast Inoichi's orders instantly to every ninja in a two-mile radius.
"All units, pull back to Perimeter B! Draw the beast toward the forest! Do not engage in close quarters!"
The mental command was crystal clear. The coordination improved instantly.
Inoichi disconnected, looking at Ren with awe. "Your mental bandwidth… it's extraordinary."
"I have practiced," Ren said curtly.
"The beast is too strong," Inoichi panted. "We are just flies to it."
"Then we need to be annoying flies," Ren said.
—————
The Vacuum Returns
The Sharingan pattern faded a little, Showing the slit pupils of the natural beast.
And the rage… the rage doubled.
It realized it had been enslaved. It realized it was trapped.
ROARRRRRR!
It charged a new Beast Ball. This one was larger. Darker. And it wasn't aiming at a hospital. It was aiming straight down, at the earth beneath its feet.
"It's going to nuke the village from the center," the Tactician analyzed. "Suicide tactic. Mutual destruction."
Ren looked around. Hiruzen was out of chakra. The barrier team was scattered. Minato wasn't back yet.
There were no walls left to build. No amount of "Wood" or Earth could stop a point-blank detonation.
Ren realized the terrifying truth.
Physics had failed.
"We have run out of conventional options," Ren said to the Council.
Then we go unconventional, Ryuichi said. We attack the software.
The Mind, Isamu agreed.
Ren looked at the giant, gathering sphere of death. He looked at the terrified faces of his village.
He didn't care about the village in the abstract. But he cared about the order. He cared about the system he intended to rule.
"If it fires that," Ren said, "there will be no Hokage throne to sit on. Just a crater."
He tightened his grip on his tantō, though he knew he wouldn't use it.
"We're going in," Ren announced.
Ren stepped forward, walking calmly toward the beast while everyone else ran away.
To the villagers, he looked like a lone warrior facing a god. A hero prepared to die.
To Ren, it was just another door he had to break down. Another mind he had to eat.
He walked into the shadow of the Nine-Tails, preparing to be the ghost in the machine.
End of Chapter 14.