The dead attacked.
Hashirama moved first.
Wood erupted from the rooftop beneath Hiruzen.
The Third Hokage jumped.
Tobirama's water followed him into the air.
Minato vanished.
Jiraiya's Sage eyes widened.
"Above!"
Hiruzen twisted.
A three-pronged kunai passed beneath his throat.
Minato appeared beside it.
His palm struck Hiruzen's chest.
The old Hokage flew backward.
Enma caught him.
"Still alive?"
Hiruzen coughed.
"Unfortunately."
Enma grinned.
"Good."
Jiraiya appeared between them.
Sage chakra exploded from his legs.
His fist met Hashirama's.
BOOOOOOM!
The rooftop cracked.
Hashirama slid backward.
Jiraiya didn't.
Ma smiled from his shoulder.
"Better."
Pa nodded.
"Much."
Orochimaru's eyes narrowed.
Sage Mode had changed everything.
Jiraiya wasn't trying to match the dead Hokage anymore.
He was overpowering them.
At least physically.
"Interesting."
Jiraiya heard him.
"Keep smiling."
Tobirama flashed through seals.
"Water Release: Water Severing Wave!"
A razor-thin stream sliced across the roof.
Jiraiya ducked.
The beam carved through stone behind him.
Hiruzen attacked simultaneously.
"Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet!"
Three torrents of flame exploded forward.
Tobirama answered instantly.
"Water Release: Water Wall!"
Water rose.
Fire collided.
Steam swallowed half the battlefield.
Hashirama's hands came together inside it.
"Wood Release: Deep Forest Emergence."
The roof disappeared.
Trees erupted everywhere.
Massive trunks punched through stone.
Branches twisted toward Jiraiya and Hiruzen.
Jiraiya jumped onto one.
Another wrapped toward his leg.
His hair hardened.
"Needle Jizō!"
Spiked white hair shredded the branch.
Hiruzen landed atop Enma's transformed staff.
"Extend!"
The Adamantine Staff stretched.
Hiruzen rode it through the forest.
His hands flashed.
"Earth Release: Earth Dragon Bullet!"
A stone dragon rose.
Mud bullets blasted toward Orochimaru.
Orochimaru twisted between them.
One clipped his shoulder.
Another shattered beside his head.
Orochimaru smiled.
Then Minato appeared behind Hiruzen.
Hiruzen barely saw the flash.
"Flying Thunder God."
Minato's kunai appeared.
Enma transformed.
A hairy arm caught Minato's wrist.
The Fourth's eyes widened.
Enma pulled.
Hiruzen's knee struck Minato's stomach.
Then Jiraiya arrived.
His Sage-enhanced kick caught Minato across the ribs.
The Fourth flew through three trees.
He landed on his feet.
Jiraiya stared at him.
"Sorry, kid."
Minato straightened.
"Don't be."
His body disappeared.
Pa shouted.
"Left!"
Jiraiya turned.
Too late.
Minato's Rasengan formed.
Jiraiya's eyes widened.
"Seriously?!"
The sphere slammed toward him.
Ma and Pa acted together.
"Frog Kata!"
Jiraiya moved his palm.
It never touched Minato.
Natural energy did.
The invisible strike smashed into the Fourth.
His Rasengan missed.
Minato flew sideways.
Jiraiya stared at his hand.
Then grinned.
"I love this form."
Ma slapped his head.
"Focus!"
Hashirama attacked.
Jiraiya's grin vanished.
The First Hokage's fist met his forearm.
The impact drove Jiraiya through the roof.
He caught the edge.
Pulled himself back up.
Then Hashirama's knee hit his chest.
Jiraiya launched backward.
Hiruzen intercepted.
Enma's staff struck Hashirama's ribs.
The First blocked.
Tobirama attacked from behind.
Hiruzen spun.
The staff caught both brothers.
BOOM!
Hashirama and Tobirama skidded backward together.
For one brief second—
The battlefield stopped.
Jiraiya.
Hiruzen.
Enma.
Ma.
Pa.
Against Orochimaru and three Hokage.
Hiruzen breathed heavily.
Jiraiya noticed.
"Old man."
"I'm fine."
"That's what old people say before dying."
Hiruzen glanced at him.
"You are fifty."
Jiraiya paused.
"That's different."
Enma barked a laugh.
Orochimaru looked irritated.
"You've always been insufferable, Jiraiya."
Jiraiya smiled.
"And you're still creepy."
Orochimaru's eyes sharpened.
The dead moved again.
Outside the barrier—
Kakashi and Gai had reached the highest floor.
Purple flame burned directly above them.
Kakashi drove Chidori into the ceiling.
KRAAAAAA!
Stone exploded.
Gai punched through the remaining concrete.
They looked up.
Purple fire.
Still there.
Gai frowned.
"The barrier extends downward."
Kakashi studied it.
"Not far."
He raised his Sharingan.
Chakra moved through the flames in repeating patterns.
Four corners.
Four operators.
One network.
A voice came from behind them.
"Don't touch it!"
Kakashi turned.
A Naruto clone landed through the shattered hallway.
Gai smiled.
"Naruto!"
"Clone."
"Naruto's youthful clone!"
"Still clone."
Kakashi pointed upward.
"You know something?"
Naruto stared at the barrier.
His eyes narrowed.
Advanced Fūinjutsu took over.
Purple chakra.
Four anchors.
Energy traveling between them.
Repeating formulas.
Containment.
Boundary.
Reinforcement.
Feedback.
Naruto's expression changed.
"Oh."
Kakashi knew that tone.
"What?"
Naruto walked closer.
"It's a seal."
Gai blinked.
"A flaming seal."
"A huge flaming seal."
Kakashi's eye narrowed.
"Explain."
Naruto pointed toward one corner.
"Those four Sound guys aren't just making walls."
His finger moved.
"They're the anchors."
Then across the flames.
"The barrier is the formula."
Kakashi stared.
Naruto continued.
"Each guy feeds chakra into his section, and the sections feed each other."
He squinted.
"If you attack one wall..."
"The others reinforce it," Kakashi finished.
Naruto nodded.
"Exactly."
Gai crossed his arms.
"So we strike all four!"
Naruto looked at him.
"No."
Gai deflated.
"It's worse."
Naruto crouched.
His finger traced an imaginary formula across the floor.
"Destroy one anchor and the other three compensate."
Kakashi understood.
"So brute force keeps stabilizing it."
"Yeah."
Naruto smiled.
"But seals don't like being wrong."
Kakashi's Sharingan focused harder.
Naruto pointed toward the floor.
"See how the chakra comes together?"
Kakashi watched.
Then saw it.
A tiny point beneath the center of the formation.
All four chakra flows crossed.
Not physically.
Structurally.
"The junction."
Naruto nodded.
"Every part of the barrier agrees that point exists."
Gai stared at the ceiling.
"Can we punch it?"
Naruto considered.
"Actually..."
He smiled.
"Yeah."
Kakashi almost smiled.
"Of course."
Naruto pulled out three tags.
He slapped them onto the broken ceiling.
Fūinjutsu lines crawled outward.
Gai leaned closer.
"What do they do?"
Naruto kept working.
"Confuse it."
Kakashi blinked.
"Confuse the barrier?"
"It's a seal."
Naruto shrugged.
"Seals are instructions."
He finished the last line.
"If you make the instructions contradict each other..."
Kakashi's eye sharpened.
"The formula destabilizes."
"Exactly."
Naruto stood.
"But it'll only be for a second."
Gai cracked his knuckles.
"A second is an eternity for youth!"
Kakashi sighed.
"Sometimes I hate that he's right."
Naruto pointed.
"Kakashi-sensei, hit the junction with Chidori."
Kakashi nodded.
"Gai-sensei."
Gai smiled.
"Yes?"
Naruto pointed at the same spot.
"Hit it harder."
Gai's smile became terrifying.
Inside the barrier—
Minato appeared behind Jiraiya again.
Jiraiya blocked the first strike.
Not the second.
Minato's elbow hit his jaw.
Tobirama's water bullet struck his ribs.
Jiraiya flew.
Ma shouted.
"Jiraiya!"
He flipped in midair.
Landed.
Then coughed blood.
"Fine."
Pa frowned.
"You're lying."
"Obviously."
Hiruzen wasn't doing much better.
Hashirama's Wood Release had trapped one leg.
Enma ripped through it.
Tobirama appeared.
A sword flashed.
Hiruzen blocked with a kunai.
Minato appeared beside them.
Three Hokage attacked simultaneously.
Hiruzen's eyes widened.
Then—
Jiraiya landed beside him.
"Combination!"
Ma and Pa inhaled.
Jiraiya formed seals.
"Fire Release: Giant Flame Bomb!"
Ma opened her mouth.
"Wind Release!"
Pa followed.
"Toad Oil!"
Fire.
Wind.
Oil.
The techniques combined.
A colossal sea of flame swallowed the rooftop.
Hashirama raised Wood Release.
Tobirama raised water.
Minato vanished.
Orochimaru's smile disappeared.
BOOOOOOOOOOM!
The entire barrier turned orange.
Outside—
Naruto felt the sealing network strain.
"NOW!"
Kakashi's hand screamed with lightning.
"Raikiri!"
Gai crouched.
His chakra erupted.
"FIFTH GATE!"
His skin reddened.
Muscles tightened.
The floor shattered beneath him.
Naruto's eyes widened.
"Oh."
Gai disappeared.
Kakashi hit first.
KRAAAAAAAAA!
Chidori pierced the ceiling.
Lightning struck the barrier junction.
Naruto's tags activated.
The seal formula flickered.
One anchor pushed chakra.
Another contradicted it.
A third overcorrected.
The fourth fed the error back into the first.
The barrier spasmed.
Purple flames turned white.
Naruto screamed.
"GAI!"
Gai appeared.
His fist drew back.
"YOUTH!"
Kakashi closed his eye.
"LEAF STRONG WHIRLWIND!"
His kick struck the weakened junction.
BOOOOOOOOOOOM!
The ceiling vanished.
Purple fire exploded upward.
For the first time—
A hole appeared.
Small.
Unstable.
Closing immediately.
Kakashi didn't hesitate.
He grabbed Naruto.
Gai jumped.
All three shot through.
The barrier slammed shut behind them.
Naruto hit the rooftop.
Rolled.
Stood.
Then froze.
The chakra pressure nearly crushed him.
Hashirama.
Tobirama.
Minato.
Orochimaru.
Jiraiya in Sage Mode.
Hiruzen.
Enma.
Ma and Pa.
Naruto's mouth slowly opened.
"...This was a terrible idea."
Kakashi appeared beside him.
"Stay behind us."
Gai landed on Naruto's other side.
"Young Naruto!"
"Yeah?"
Gai pointed dramatically toward the battlefield.
"YOU HAVE BROKEN INTO A BATTLE BETWEEN LEGENDS!"
Naruto stared.
"I noticed!"
Jiraiya turned.
His eyes widened.
"Naruto?!"
Then he saw Kakashi.
Gai.
His expression changed.
"You got through?"
Kakashi raised his forehead protector.
"We had help."
Naruto pointed at himself.
"I analyzed the seal."
Orochimaru looked toward him.
Golden eyes narrowed.
"Interesting."
Naruto immediately pointed at him.
"Don't say it like that."
Jiraiya laughed.
Even Hiruzen smiled.
Then Minato vanished.
Naruto's eyes widened.
Kakashi moved first.
Sharingan spinning.
He intercepted the three-pronged kunai.
Steel struck steel.
Minato appeared.
Kakashi stared directly at his old teacher.
For half a second—
Everything stopped.
"Sensei."
Minato's expression softened.
"Kakashi."
Then his body attacked anyway.
Kakashi barely blocked.
Gai intercepted the next kick.
Jiraiya came from the side.
Three living shinobi attacked the Fourth Hokage together.
Minato disappeared between them.
Hiruzen saw the opening.
"Jiraiya!"
"I know!"
Jiraiya's hands slammed together.
Sage chakra surged.
Orochimaru stepped backward.
For the first time since the battle began—
He was no longer smiling.
Hiruzen.
Jiraiya.
Kakashi.
Gai.
Naruto.
Enma.
Ma.
Pa.
The numbers had changed.
Hashirama stepped forward.
Wood spread beneath his feet.
Tobirama formed a seal.
Water gathered.
Minato raised his kunai.
Orochimaru's hands moved.
Jiraiya cracked his neck.
Kakashi's Raikiri formed again.
Gai opened another gate.
Hiruzen tightened his grip on Enma.
Naruto reached into his pouch.
Sealing tags filled his fingers.
Hiruzen looked at them.
The next generation.
His student.
His shinobi.
His village.
Hiruzen smiled.
"Orochimaru."
His former student narrowed his eyes.
"You wanted to test Konoha."
Jiraiya stepped beside him.
Kakashi and Gai spread to either flank.
Naruto stood behind them.
Hiruzen raised Enma.
"Then allow Konoha to answer."
The roof exploded into action, the Naruto clone POOFing out of existence as a result.