The Crisis Erupts!

Just as the crisis reached its peak and Rock Lee was about to despair,

a rush of wind came whistling past his ears.

Listening closely, he realized it wasn't wind at all, but the sound of something speeding past his ears and slicing by his side.

The next moment, Uchiha Sora leaped down from the stands.

He was holding some strange contraption!

"Uchiha Sora!"

Rock Lee was overjoyed.

"Duck and get out of my line of fire!"

Uchiha Sora shouted. He was perfectly calm.

He had already guessed that things were about to get ugly when Gaara had started losing it just moments ago.

Things had strayed from the original story, but there was a reason for that.

In the original story, Sunagakure's goal had been to unleash a Tailed Beast inside Konoha and cause widespread destruction.

Rock Lee really had driven Gaara over the edge just now, which was what had led to this scene.

In other words, the plot had arrived early, and instead of taking place in the wilderness, it was happening inside the village.

The weapon in Uchiha Sora's hands was a proper Gatling Gun.

He had unleashed more than a thousand bullets in that last burst alone.

They had riddled Gaara's sand defense with holes.

Gaara stared at Uchiha Sora in shock.

"Impossible! What is that thing you're holding?"

As a shinobi born and raised in this world, Gaara had never seen anything like a Gatling Gun.

It felt as if Uchiha Sora had hit him a thousand times in that single burst.

And the bullets were incredibly powerful.

If he hadn't been protected by his sand and released the power of the Tailed Beast, that burst would have killed him!

"Heh. Enough talk. Aren't you supposed to have absolute defense?"

"Then let's see whose defense is stronger: your sand or my Merciful Gatling Gun!"

Uchiha Sora scoffed and braced the Gatling Gun in front of himself as its cold barrel began to spin.

Bullets loaded one after another, continuously pulled from Uchiha Sora's Tech Space.

He was ready to fire at any moment!

Meanwhile, atop a rooftop in Konoha, at the very top of the stands,

Hiruzen Sarutobi stared coldly at the group before him.

He was close to despair.

They had actually sent this many powerful people to kill an old man like him?

Every one of them was famous.

Especially Itachi Uchiha. He was giving him no chance to survive!

"Heh... You've brought this many people just to kill an old man like me. I suppose I should be flattered!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi began unwrapping the bandages around his body,

revealing a muscular physique.

At the same time, he shot Orochimaru a cold look.

Anyone could have guessed that Orochimaru was involved in all this.

"I'm just curious. How did you lot end up working with Orochimaru again?"

Itachi Uchiha's expression was cool and detached.

"We're not working with him. We simply have the same goal. This time, you could say you're just out of luck!"

What Itachi Uchiha didn't say was that he had come to protect his little brother.

If he hadn't shown up, Orochimaru would have swallowed both Sasuke and the other boy whole.

The Hokage gave a cold laugh.

"Is this about the Nine-Tails? You may be disappointed. So many powerful fighters are keeping me occupied. Do you really think Konoha's children can't handle your brats?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi was putting on a brave front.

After all, he knew that Konoha was no longer what it had once been.

There hadn't been any exceptional young prodigies in recent years.

It wasn't like back then, when they had people like Orochimaru, Jiraiya, and Tsunade.

The older generation was still capable, but there was no one in the younger generation ready to shoulder the burden.

Hiruzen Sarutobi understood that even if these people kept him occupied, the younger generation might still be able to hold their own.

The problem was that, with this crop of brats, they probably couldn't defeat Gaara and the others.

Orochimaru gave a sinister laugh.

"Haha! Konoha has been short on talent for years. As long as you stay put, our people will completely wipe out the village before long!"

Deidara kept glancing around.

He was anxious!

He and Orochimaru weren't even on the same side.

He had only come to witness some art.

So Deidara was a little worried about Lin Fan.

"Damn it! Weren't we supposed to let me go find Uchiha Sora as soon as the plan began?"

Deidara couldn't wait any longer.

Itachi Uchiha turned a cold gaze toward him.

His eyes seemed to say, You think I came along today for what?

To help you control the Hokage? As if.

Itachi Uchiha had come to protect Uchiha Sora.

The Hokage had seen through it, too.

He understood that his only real enemy was Orochimaru, with Deidara—who was merely watching and looking around—being the most he might have to deal with besides him.

So the Hokage knew that they had only one possible chance of winning.

Since the battle between the older generation was already set in stone and couldn't be changed,

what about the younger generation?

Could they still perform a miracle?

But when he glanced at Gaara and thought of the Tailed Beast, the Hokage let out another sigh.

He was close to despair.

"Old man! Enough with the nonsense. You're going to die today, and we're taking the Nine-Tails, too!"

Orochimaru's tongue stretched several meters out of his mouth. He looked utterly bizarre.

Deidara still couldn't bring himself to focus on all this.

He kept wanting to find Uchiha Sora.

At the same time,

down below in Konoha, Kakashi, Jiraiya, and the others had regained consciousness.

They were leading a group of Konoha fighters around the village, helping with the rescue efforts.

That was because Orochimaru wasn't the only one invading this time.

There were also many powerful fighters from Sunagakure.

With so many enemies rushing in at once, danger had erupted all over the village.

"Damn! Good thing I got back to the village in time. Gamakichi, come out!"

Jiraiya gave a cold snort and used the Summoning Technique, calling forth a large number of toads.

"You lot, protect our Konoha competitors! They're all we've got!"

Kakashi's expression was grim as well.

He had seen that many people, including Naruto and Sasuke, had passed out.

"Damn it. Looks like we're the only ones who can turn the tide of this battle!"

In Kakashi's view, there were no strong fighters among the younger generation.

That meant the adults like them were now the key to victory.

If they could quickly clear out the many Sunagakure invaders in the village,

then, once they had a moment to regroup, they could help the Hokage resolve the crisis.

Just then, Asuma and Kurenai hurried over from a distance.

After seeing Kakashi and Jiraiya,

Kurenai suddenly spoke.

"Oh, right. This is Hinata. Uchiha Sora asked us to keep an eye on them, and then he said to leave the rest to him!"

Kakashi froze.

"What? At a critical moment like this, that kid actually said that? He's got all the confidence of youth."

Jiraiya came to his senses, too, and hurriedly looked down at the battlefield.