Bearing the Name of Hokage

The people watching in Konoha burst into cheers.

Ino and Sakura hugged each other and screamed, "The Fourth Hokage is so cool!"

Sasuke Uchiha stared just as intently at the screen, his Sharingan turning slightly without him realizing it.

The sight shook him to his core. So this is the power of a Hokage? So precise, and so strong...

Naruto watched the screen anxiously. It was strange. He had seen that face on Hokage Rock a thousand times and had even drawn graffiti on it.

But when that figure appeared on the screen, Naruto could not shake the feeling that he should be worried.

In the Hokage's Office, Hiruzen Sarutobi shot Shimura Danzō a sidelong glance. The meaning was clear: That assassin you hired isn't much good, is he?

Shimura Danzō flew into a rage at the sight and kept insisting he had nothing to do with any of it.

[On the screen, however, Minato Namikaze did not relax in the slightest. He sprang lightly backward, his brow furrowed. "Something's wrong!"]

[His battle instincts and senses were screaming a warning.]

[Sure enough, the scattered chunks of flesh and blood writhed as though alive and flowed together. Almost in the blink of an eye, they reassembled into Mahito's uninjured body. Even his clothes returned to normal.]

["Wow! That hurt!" Mahito cried theatrically, though his face wore a wildly excited, twisted grin.]

["You almost killed me! Your attacks really are powerful! But, you see..."]

[He spread his arms as if displaying a work of art. "The shape of the soul determines the shape of the body.]

["As long as my soul remains intact, I can restore my body in an instant, no matter how many times it's destroyed. So your attacks don't work on me~"]

[Minato Namikaze's pupils contracted. Instant regeneration? No. Mahito's words had revealed the key: his soul was the core, so physical attacks were useless.]

["Now it's my turn!" Mahito slammed both hands onto the ground. "Multiple Souls: Body Pull!"]

[Several deformed Cursed Spirits fashioned from human souls burst from the ground and lunged at Minato Namikaze from every direction, howling. Their forms were bizarre, and their attacks were hard to predict.]

[Minato Namikaze became a golden flash once more, weaving through gaps in their attacks. The Kunai in his hand sliced precisely through their limbs.]

[But he could not destroy them completely. They, too, were creations made from altered souls.]

["It's no use, no use at all!" Mahito laughed. He sank into the ground himself and moved through it like a liquid.]

[An instant later, he burst out of Minato Namikaze's shadow and thrust his palm straight toward Minato's back. "Idle Transfiguration!"]

[But just as his palm was about to touch the edge of Minato Namikaze's clothes...]

[Gold flashed again! Minato Namikaze appeared in the distance beside another Kunai.]

[He glanced at the spot where he had just stood, his eyes turning cold.]

[Mahito's ability was deeply unnatural. If Mahito touched him, the consequences could be unthinkable.]

[I have to attack the essence of his soul? Minato Namikaze thought rapidly. Among his techniques, there was one that could target a soul. That Sealing Technique...]

[His hands began forming signs at once.]

[Though he had missed again, Mahito only grew more excited. "It's no use! There's always an instant when your movement stops! I'll catch your soul and turn it into the most interesting shape!"]

[Minato Namikaze ignored him and completed the signs. "Contract Seal!" Rather than striking directly, he sent a sphere of light covered in Runes shooting toward Mahito.]

[The technique could sever the contract between an enemy and a summoned creature. At its core, it also involved interference with the soul.]

[Mahito felt a faint tremor in his soul, as though something had brushed against it. It did no damage, but his surprise grew. "Oh? You have a technique that can touch souls too? How fascinating!"]

[But Minato Namikaze had achieved his goal. He had confirmed that Mahito's soul was something a technique could affect.]

["Then the next move will decide it." Minato Namikaze's gaze sharpened, and his hands formed signs again. These were more complex and ancient, carrying a solemn, dangerous air that seemed to forbid any profanation. Even the air around him seemed to freeze.]

[For all his arrogance, Mahito felt that chilling energy gathering. "I won't let you finish!"]

[Mahito's grin split his face almost to his ears, and he pressed his palms together as if in prayer. "Domain Expansion—Self-Embodiment of Perfection!"]

[In an instant, a shriek like a thousand sheets of paper tearing at once rang through the space.]

[A tide of fluid black-and-white matter surged outward from Mahito, swallowing reality and building a twisted otherworld.]

[The ground became soft, pulsing matter like a brain. Countless human arms tangled together to form the dome overhead, their fingers curling and scratching in ways no joints should allow. The scraping sound set teeth on edge.]

[Viscous shadows like oil flowed along the domain's inner walls, with thousands of human faces drifting within them.]

[At times they were as clear as living faces; at others, they melted and twisted in silent screams. The whole space throbbed like a giant womb. With every contraction came whispers of despair:]

["Help me!"]

["It hurts!"]

["Why me?!"]

[Mahito stood at the center of the domain. His shadow stretched into an inhuman shape, and his grin tore up toward his cheekbones.]

["Welcome to my Soul Workshop. In here, a touch is all it takes to change your shape."]

[The domain's rules took hold. The souls of everyone inside were forced into tangible form, like clay ready to be molded.]

[Mahito stroked the inner wall. Struggling human shapes bulged from it wherever his fingertips passed.]

["Look! This is life in its truest form! Souls should be free to change shape, be remade, and bloom!"]

[He suddenly plunged a hand into his chest and pulled out a churning mass of rainbow-colored energy. Countless weeping faces surfaced within it.]

["Come, Yellow Flash, destined to fall in darkness! You have nowhere left to run!"]

[Thousands of arms within the domain pointed at the intruder as Cursed Energy gathered into a torrent of malice.]

[Countless twisted arms reached for Minato Namikaze like a forest closing in!]

[Yet Minato Namikaze flickered through the gaps between them, forming signs at blinding speed before finally pressing his palms together.]

[An instant before the countless arms in Mahito's domain swallowed the area where he stood, Minato Namikaze raised his head. Resolve flashed in his eyes.]

["Sorry, but I bear the name of Hokage. I cannot lose!"]

["Reaper Death Seal!"]