Allied Shinobi Forces

On the horizon, a vast, dark mass of Allied Shinobi Forces surged forward like an advancing tide, bearing down on Phantom Branch Village with enough force to crush anything in its path. Banners fluttered, chakra glimmered across the ranks, and their murderous aura scattered the clouds overhead. This was the Shinobi World's last great force, gathered to deliver the final reckoning for the atrocities committed by the Sasuga organization.

At the front of the Allied Forces stood the Five Kage, including the acting Tsuchikage. Their faces grave, they stared at the unnervingly silent city with its bizarre architecture.

Yet the answer to their pre-battle ultimatum was not an army, but a lone, proud figure.

Uchiha Sakuya slowly emerged through the open gates of Phantom Branch Village. He still wore the white spiral mask, along with a black cloak patterned with red clouds and a white overcoat. His steps were steady, as though he were not walking toward tens of thousands of soldiers, but inspecting his own territory.

He stopped at the farthest point within the Allied Forces' arrow range, alone and facing the might of the entire Shinobi World.

"Uchiha Sakuya! Release the Jinchūriki and the Tsuchikage at once, then surrender and face justice! This is your last chance!" the acting Tsuchikage roared, his voice amplified by chakra and carried across the battlefield.

Sakuya answered with a contemptuous snort—and a sudden burst of terrifying chakra so powerful it seemed almost tangible!

BOOM!!!

Pale blue chakra erupted skyward, blazing like fire! It swiftly gathered and took shape—ribs, a spine, arms... A colossal Susanoo, complete only from the waist up, descended onto the battlefield!

But this was no ordinary Susanoo! Its solidity and oppressive presence far exceeded anything most people could imagine. It was unmistakably Susanoo's second stage! Though not yet complete, it already had both arms and part of a breastplate, radiating a despair-inducing power.

More shocking still, its hands were not empty!

In its right hand, it gripped an enormous straight sword wrapped in purple chakra flames! Its blade gleamed coldly, as if it could cleave through space! In its left hand, it held an even larger chakra gunbai, engraved with six red tomoe—the signature weapon of the Uchiha Clan, and a replica of the gunbai once wielded by the "Dancing King of the Battlefield," Uchiha Madara!

A blade sharp enough to sever all things in one hand, and a shield capable of reflecting anything in the other!

Uchiha Sakuya stood within the crystal at Susanoo's brow. Beneath his mask, his Eighty Gods Mirror gazed coldly down at the Allied Forces.

His stance, his power, his overwhelming presence—all made him seem like Uchiha Madara, who had once faced ten thousand alone, had returned to the world!

"Attack!!!"

The Allied Forces' commander roared the order to advance! Arrows, ninjutsu, Explosive Tags... rained down on the blue giant like a torrential storm!

But then!

Sakuya moved!

Susanoo swung the gunbai in its left hand sharply forward!

"Uchiha Reflection!"

The terrifying torrent of ninjutsu slammed into the gunbai. Not only did it fail to cause any damage, but it was absorbed in its entirety, then reflected back in an even more ferocious and chaotic wave!

BOOMBOOMBOOM!!! The Allied Forces' vanguard was instantly blown apart by its own attacks, suffering heavy casualties!

At the same time, the straight sword in Susanoo's right hand moved!

There was no flashy technique—just a simple horizontal slash!

SWISH—!!! A condensed purple blade of light, hundreds of meters long, broke free from the sword and swept across the Allied Forces' ranks like the scythe of death!

Earth walls, Water Formation Walls, and all manner of defensive ninja tools crumpled like paper before its overwhelming force! Wherever the blade passed, flesh flew and limbs were severed, clearing a vast swath of the battlefield in an instant!

"Monster! He's a monster!" "Scatter! Don't bunch together!" The Allied Forces were thrown into panic and chaos!

Sakuya drove Susanoo forward, each step shaking the earth! He had no need for tactics. He simply advanced, swung his sword, blocked, and reflected!

Each strike of the straight sword took countless lives! Each swing of the gunbai made the Allied Forces suffer the consequences of their own attacks!

He was a cold killing machine, carving a bloody path through the Allied Forces' formation by sheer force! He was unstoppable, and no one could stand against him! Before his overwhelming strength and divine weapons, the Allied Forces' numerical advantage seemed laughable and meaningless!

Screams, explosions, and furious shouts mingled as the battlefield became a true living hell!

The Five Kage watched, their eyes nearly bursting with fury!

"We can't let this go on!" Gaara made the first move! An enormous mass of sand poured out from behind him, forming a hand that blotted out the sky as it reached for Susanoo! "Desert Layered Imperial Funeral Seal!"

At the same time, the other Kage launched their attacks! The acting Tsuchikage joined forces with several Iwagakure jōnin: "Earth Release: Mountain Earth Technique!" Two enormous hemispheres of rock closed in on Susanoo from both sides! The injured Raikage roared as he transformed into a bolt of lightning and charged: "Lightning Release: Lariat!" He slammed into Susanoo's legs! The Mizukage unleashed "Water Release: Water Dragon Biting Explosion!" A massive water dragon lunged to bite! Naruto, still unsettled by Boruto's uncertain situation but fighting with all his strength, shouted, "Wind Release: Rasenshuriken!" A gigantic chakra shuriken whistled through the air!

Faced with the Five Kage's combined assault, Sakuya finally grew a little more serious.

Susanoo's left-hand gunbai precisely blocked the Raikage's all-out charge, then violently reflected him away! Its right-hand sword cleaved the Water Dragon Biting Explosion in two! Against the Mountain Earth Technique closing in from both sides, the massive sand hand descending from above, and the Spiral Shuriken flying in from the flank—

The light in Sakuya's Eighty Gods Mirror flashed wildly! Susanoo spun sharply, its sword tracing a perfect circle of light! "Ring Sever!"

CRACK! BOOM! The enormous hemispheres of rock formed by the Mountain Earth Technique were instantly cut apart and shattered! The blade of light also sliced away most of the giant sand hand! Susanoo deftly deflected the Spiral Shuriken with the side of its gunbai, sending it flying off into the distance, where it exploded!

In a single strike, it had broken through the Five Kage's encirclement!

But Gaara's sand was endless! The shattered sand swiftly flowed back together, reforming and becoming even more agile. It seemed almost alive as it wound around Susanoo from every direction, trying to trap and seal it!

"Annoying sand." Sakuya snorted. Susanoo shuddered violently, trying to shake the sand off, but it clung stubbornly and kept coming.

"Now!" Gaara brought his hands together sharply! "Desert Rebel Slave!" More sand surged forward, even attempting to cover Susanoo's chakra armor!

The other Kage began preparing another assault!

But Sakuya's target instantly shifted to Gaara!

"Take out the leader."

Susanoo abruptly abandoned some of its defenses, enduring the other Kage's attacks as its left-hand gunbai shielded its core and its right-hand sword rose high! All of its chakra surged toward the blade! It blazed with a purple light as dazzling as the sun!

"Eighty Gods Mirror... locked on!"

Gaara felt a cold killing intent envelop him completely, as if invisible shackles had bound him and even slowed his thoughts! Under the Eighty Gods Mirror's scrutiny, the sand defenses around him seemed transparent, exposing their most critical weakness!

"Cut!"

At Sakuya's icy pronouncement, the straight sword, charged with terrifying power, came crashing down like divine punishment! Its target was not Gaara himself, but the ground beneath his feet—and the energy node at the heart of his sand-defense system, where it connected to the underground mineral veins!

Gaara's pupils contracted. He controlled his sand with all his might! "Shukaku Shield!" A powerful sand shield infused with chakra formed in an instant!

BOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!

The blade of light collided violently with the sand shield! The deafening impact sounded like a planet shattering!

They held for one second!

CRACK! Under the attack on a weakness exposed by the Eighty Gods Mirror, and the crushing force of Sakuya's overwhelming power, the supposedly absolute Shukaku Shield... shattered!

The blade of light was mostly dispersed, but the remaining impact still slammed into the spot where Gaara stood!

"Lord Kazekage!" Temari and Kankuro shouted in terror!

BOOM! Dust billowed skyward! The earth was cleaved open, leaving a seemingly bottomless ravine!

As the dust began to clear, Gaara could be seen on one knee at the ravine's edge, blood at the corner of his mouth and his gourd shattered. The sand swirling around him had grown thin and disordered. He had clearly suffered serious internal injuries. If he hadn't used his sand to push himself aside at the last moment, the strike would have split him in two!

Sakuya cast a cold glance at the injured Gaara but did not follow up with another attack. Defeating the Kazekage was enough to deal another devastating blow to the Allied Forces' morale. Susanoo's light had dimmed slightly after enduring the other Kage's attacks and unleashing its strongest strike.

Yet even now, Sakuya stood like a god of war at the center of the battlefield, surrounded by mountains of corpses and rivers of blood, with the Allied Forces' morale on the verge of collapse before him.

One against ten thousand, his blade had struck down the Kazekage!

Uchiha Sakuya's terrifying power was etched deeply into the hearts of every surviving shinobi in the Allied Forces, becoming an indelible source of fear. The battle was far from over, but the Allied Forces' advance had already been halted by him alone!