Crushing Necrotic Bone Spikes Barehanded, Four Former Kage Airdrop into East Valley!
The pale, bony hand was forced out of the Eight Trigrams Seal on Minato's abdomen, carrying a nauseatingly cold and deathly aura, heading straight for Naruto's throat. The speed was so fast that it tore a black vacuum trail through the air.
This is not the power of the Yin Nine-Tails!
Naruto's muscles tensed instantly, and his Pure Yang Chakra roared like a surging river within him. Just as he was preparing to withstand this fatal blow, in the bedroom below, little Menma unconsciously swung his chubby fist in the cradle.
A blinding, strange light flashed in those still-developing, deep blue Tenseigan.
The natural pressure of the Higher-Dimensional Bloodline rippled outwards through the spatial rift, forming an extremely short chakra resonance. This power had no destructive force, yet it was like an invisible blade, precisely severing the spiritual chain connecting the bone-severing hand to Kabuto Yakushi.
The skeletal hand paused for a fraction of a second in mid-air.
For Naruto, that 0.1 second was enough for him to kill the enemy three times over.
"Kabuto Yakushi, you think you can rip my heart out with a broken bone?" Naruto grinned, his laughter arrogant and brutal. Instead of retreating, he advanced, his left hand's five fingers like red-hot steel, grabbing the pale wrist bone.
The intense and powerful chakra of the Uzumaki Senjutsu Chakra transformed into a tangible golden flame, surging wildly into Naruto's bone hand along his arm.
"Click click click!"
With a teeth-grinding cracking sound, the eerie bone hand that could even freeze the Nine-Tails Chakra crumbled inch by inch in Naruto's palm, turning into a pool of smoldering ashes.
Before the remaining death energy within the sealing array could recede, Naruto swiftly brought his right hand together into a palm blade, carrying a violent golden light, and thrust it fiercely into the sealing array eye in Minato's abdomen. The chains of the Adamantine Sealing Chains surged back into his palm, transforming into countless ferocious golden dragons, forcefully shredding the dark runes hidden within into dust!
Hundreds of miles away in a dark cave, Kabuto Yakushi struck as if by lightning. He flew straight backward and crashed heavily against the stone wall, vomiting a mouthful of black blood.
"Impossible!" Kabuto clutched his throbbing head, his face filled with disbelief. "That was Necrotic Bone Spikes I cultivated using White Zetsu Cells mixed with remnants of the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path. It could even temporarily imprison space. How could he possibly crush it with his bare hands?!"
A fierce wind howled above the Hidden Leaf.
As the control talisman was completely erased, the gloom in Minato Namikaze's eyes quickly faded, replaced by clarity and astonishment. He looked at his cracked hands, then at Naruto, Naruto as domineering as a humanoid Tailed Beast, and gave a bitter smile.
"Naruto... I'm sorry, I was supposed to protect you, but I became the enemy's blade instead." Minato's voice was filled with deep self-reproach.
"Stop with the formalities." Naruto released his grip and patted Minato's shoulder forcefully, making the Fourth Hokage stumble. "The dead have their rules, but since you're under my command now, you'll have to follow the rules of the living. Can you move? If you can, come with me to the front lines and start killing."
Minato paused for a moment, then chuckled. This simple and brutal protectiveness was exactly like Kushina's, even a bit more domineering.
"Yes, I will follow the orders of the Allied Shinobi Forces Commander." Minato put away his melancholy mood, and his eyes became sharp again.
Naruto glanced down at the Uzumaki base below. In the courtyard, Hinata, holding a long sword, her eyes pure white, her body surging with fierce chakra, was looking up at him. Their eyes met, and Naruto made a "protect the base" gesture, Hinata nodded vigorously.
"Let's go." Naruto said no more, placing one hand on Minato's shoulder. With a flash of golden light, the two disappeared into the night sky.
As dawn breaks, the Fourth Shinobi World War erupts in full force.
Inside the Allied Shinobi Forces' Supreme Command, the atmosphere was so oppressive it felt like water was about to freeze. In front of a huge sand table, Shikamaru, sporting two enormous dark circles under his eyes, clutched a thick stack of intelligence scrolls in his hand, his eyes bloodshot. Dozens of brains in the staff were working at high speed, the static of communication equipment rising and falling incessantly.
"Report! The First Unit has encountered a large number of Impure World Reincarnation Tensei melee ninjas on the western border. Their defensive line has been broken. Requesting mobile support!"
"Report! The northern medical supply line has been suddenly attacked by an unknown high-frequency ninjutsu attack. Three transport teams have lost contact, and the wounded are stranded!"
On the screen, Tsunade on the table and roared, "What are the mobile units doing? I need reinforcements within ten minutes, or I'll personally go to the front lines and smash those dead men's heads in!"
Just as the command center was in complete chaos, with a soft "whoosh," Naruto appeared out of Minato at the end of the long table, accompanied by Minato.
The command center fell silent for two seconds. Everyone stared at the blond man with the Hokage Haori and cracked face, and gasped.
"The Fourth... the Fourth Hokage?!" A veteran Jonin nearly drew his Kunai.
"Put your swords away, we're on the same side." Naruto casually pulled over a chair and sat down, tapping the table. "I destroyed Kabuto's talisman, he's ours now. Shikamaru, how bad is the situation?"
Shikamaru had no time to marvel at the Fourth Hokage's resurrection. He strode to the sand table, grabbed two red flags, and planted them on the western and northern defense lines respectively.
"It's terrible, but also extremely bizarre." Shikamaru chewed on his pen, his brows furrowed in a deep knot. "Logically speaking, the biggest advantage of the Impure World Reincarnation army is their immortality. If Kabuto really wanted to break through these two lines, he could have easily launched a suicidal charge and pushed straight ahead."
His long, slender fingers traced several enemy movement paths on the sand table, his voice deep and resonant. "But look at these routes. They fire a shot and then move on to a different spot. Once we form ranks and counterattack, they immediately retreat and create distance. This isn't a direct assault; it's a delaying tactic, deliberately pinning our sights and mobile forces to these two quagmires."
"Like Tian Ji's horse racing strategy," Minato said in a deep voice, seeing through the situation at a glance. "Use a high-profile feint to create panic, while the real killing move will be hidden in the quietest place."
Shikamaru nodded, and the last red flag in his hand, suspended in mid-air, was finally planted heavily in a narrow canyon on the east side of the sand table.
"The valley to the east." Shikamaru stared intently at that location. "That's the Allied Shinobi Forces' largest heavy ninja tool supply depot, and a strategic choke point leading to the Five Kage's headquarters. A full hour has passed since the start of the battle, and not a single enemy attack alarm has been sounded there. That doesn't make sense."
Naruto's eyes sharpened. Without a word, he turned to the red-haired girl sitting in the corner, sensing with her eyes closed. "Karin, investigate the east side! Don't miss an inch of land."
Karin suddenly opened her eyes, her hands quickly Hand Seals. She bit her fingertip, slapping the blood onto the specially made sensory water sphere in front of her. Chakra spread wildly like ripples, crossing hundreds of miles to reach the eastern defense line.
The next second, Karin's face visibly lost all color, and her lips trembled uncontrollably.
"What's wrong?" Shikamaru asked urgently.
"Dying aura... it's all the chakra of the undead..." Karin gripped the table tightly, veins bulging on the back of her hands, her voice filled with undisguised fear. "There are at least a thousand of them. And that's not all... the chakra reactions of those at the very front are not those of ordinary ninjas, they're monsters in human skin!"
At this moment, in the eastern valley, a hundred miles away.
Thick morning fog, like a white shroud, tightly enveloped the canyon. The captain of the Hyuga Clan reconnaissance squad stationed there stood on the cliff, his usually calm Byakugan suddenly contracting violently, and cold sweat poured down his forehead like a waterfall.
Piercing through the thick fog, the once empty valley floor below was now densely packed with the Edo Tensei Army earth warriors clad in dark red armor. They made no sound; the silence was chilling.
Directly in front of this torrent of steel undead, four figures clad in tattered Hokage Haori slowly raised their heads.
The Second Tsuchikage Mu, floated in mid-air, his body wrapped in bandages.
The Second Mizukage Gengetsu Hozuki, has no eyebrows and a sinister, cold smile on his lips.
The Third Raikage A, had a massive lightning bolt piercing his chest, and his muscles bulged like rocks.
And Fourth Kazekage Rasa, standing on the Gold Dust, his face cold and stern.
Kabuto Yakushi had no intention of engaging in small-scale skirmishes; he directly airdropped the strongest warriors from the previous generations of the four villages onto the vital passage of the Allied Shinobi Forces.
"So this is the Fourth Shinobi World War..." The Third Raikage twisted his stiff neck, producing a cracking sound like thunder. His gray-black eyes coldly locked onto the trembling Allied Shinobi Forces guards on the cliff. "The age of the living is getting weaker and weaker."