---
The Wood Release Giant raised its palms defensively, locked in battle with Toad. Meanwhile, Konoha's elite ninja, already prepared for the attack, hurried to evacuate civilians across the village.
Itachi stood on the roof of his house, cradling Sasuke in his arms. His eyes widened in shock as a small figure rapidly approached.
Hearing the movement, Itachi deactivated his Sharingan and turned towards the source.
"Itachi-kun, are you alright?"
Izumi's voice trembled with concern as she gracefully landed on the rooftop, quickly walking over to him.
"Yeah," Itachi responded quietly, keeping his eyes on the chaos below.
Swish!
A masked ANBU operative from Konoha appeared near Itachi's house, scanning the area before speaking.
"It's not safe here," the ANBU captain warned. "You need to get to the evacuation shelters immediately!"
"Understood!" Izumi replied, then turned to Itachi. "Shall we go?"
But Itachi remained silent, his gaze fixed on the towering Wood Release Giant rampaging through the village.
Boom!
The giant, having repelled the Toad, lumbered forward. Its path was headed directly toward the area where civilians were gathering.
Itachi's heart sank as he saw the giant's massive arm stretch out, its palm open, ready to crush the civilians below.
"Transformation Jutsu: Adamantine Staff!"
Suddenly, the Monkey King Enma, summoned by the Third Hokage, transformed into a black staff that stretched and intercepted the wooden palm just in time.
Crash!
The staff, empowered by Enma's strength, blocked the enormous hand.
"Earth Style: Earth-Style Rampart!"
Jiraiya appeared, slamming his hands into the ground. A thick earthen wall rose between the civilians and the giant, forming a solid defense.
---
Meanwhile, Minato Namikaze reappeared in Konoha after narrowly escaping the distorted space created by the masked man. He landed somewhat awkwardly in a grassy field.
In front of him lay a Flying Thunder God kunai embedded in the ground.
"My attack passed right through him, but he becomes solid again once it's over..." Minato murmured, analyzing the situation. "What kind of jutsu is this? Could Itachi know anything about it?"
Suddenly, the space in front of Minato distorted once again. The masked man, clad in a black robe with ominous scarlet eyes, emerged.
"I won't let you slip away this time," the masked man said mockingly, his eyes gleaming with amusement.
Minato reached for the kunai, slowly rising to his feet.
"Are you... Uchiha Madara?" Minato asked, his mind racing with questions. The man's control over Wood Release, a technique of the First Hokage, left him unsettled.
But something felt off.
Even if this masked figure could use Wood Release, Minato doubted he was the legendary Madara. The chakra didn't quite match the stories he'd heard.
Before he could think further, a powerful surge of chakra erupted from the village, drawing Minato's attention.
"Could it be...?"
Chains suddenly shot out from the masked man's sleeves, binding themselves to his wrists.
Obito charged forward with his chains at the ready. Minato gripped his kunai tightly, his mind sharp and focused.
Their eyes met as they closed the distance between them.
Minato struck first, his kunai aimed directly at the masked man. But as expected, the blade passed right through Obito's body. With a swift motion, the masked man twisted his chains, attempting to bind Minato's arms.
Swish!
But just as the chains neared him, Minato vanished in a blur, reappearing near another Flying Thunder God kunai a short distance away.
"This speed... I need to be faster," Obito thought, frustrated by his failure to trap Minato in the Kamui dimension. He had underestimated the Flying Thunder God technique.
Minato quickly assessed the situation. "He phases through attacks, but he needs to materialize to strike. If I time it right... I can win."
A strategy began to form. Minato realized that the masked man couldn't maintain control over the Wood Release Giant for long; his focus was split between that and their battle.
"Now's my chance," Minato thought, eyes narrowing. "He's overconfident. The longer this fight drags on, the more control he loses over the Wood Release."
Minato flung his special kunai, letting it fly past the masked man seemingly harmlessly.
Obito smirked under his mask, dismissing the kunai. "That won't touch me. This battle is mine."
As Minato dashed forward, his right hand glowed with swirling blue chakra—his Rasengan forming.
Obito reached out, his palm mere inches from Minato's shoulder, ready to drag him into the Kamui dimension.
But just when Obito thought victory was his, Minato vanished in a flash, reappearing behind him, where the kunai had landed.
"Rasengan!"
The spiraling ball of chakra slammed into Obito's back, driving him into the ground with immense force. The earth cracked beneath them from the impact.
"That kunai..." Obito realized too late. "He used Flying Thunder God... again."
Minato's calm, sharp blue eyes locked with Obito's startled Sharingan.
"This is the second stage of the Flying Thunder God technique," Minato said coldly, his voice resolute.
Boom!
The ground cracked, and gravel scattered into the air.
With a swift motion, Minato Namikaze caught the handle of the Flying Thunder God Kunai he'd just thrown. His Rasengan struck the masked man in the back, sending violent chakra spiraling and tearing through the black robe.
Beneath the ripped fabric, the masked man's body was covered in a strange, white shell-like material. The Rasengan shattered part of the shell, sending pieces flying.
"Ugh!"
The masked man grunted as a trickle of blood seeped from beneath his mask.
As Minato's Rasengan dissipated, it left behind the distinctive black mark of the Flying Thunder God on the man's shell—a gateway for Minato's future attacks. But just as he was about to take advantage of the mark, the sensation beneath his palm disappeared, and his hand phased through the masked man's body.
Swish!
The masked man leapt back, landing on a large piece of debris, one of the few solid structures left.
His Sharingan glowed with malice as he sneered at Minato. "Even though I avoided the full force of your Rasengan, I still took internal damage."
The white shell began peeling away, starting from his face, liquefying as it touched the ground and disappearing.
"Zetsu's protection?" the masked man muttered, his voice low.
Minato's sharp eyes watched the strange substance sink into the earth. He realized the mark he had left on the masked man had vanished—absorbed, along with the chakra trail.
"Gone?" Minato whispered in disbelief. Even his razor-sharp senses couldn't track the man's signature anymore.
"What... exactly is he?" Minato thought as he analyzed the situation. Though the man's chakra was disrupted by the attack, it remained potent.
"Rasengan and my Flying Thunder God mark were absorbed by something on his body," Minato mused, his expression hardening. The battle had taken a more dangerous turn.
"As expected of the Fourth Hokage," the masked man said with a mocking sigh. His Sharingan eyes, however, gleamed with dark determination. "But no matter how strong you are, you won't save Konoha today!"
Minato's frown deepened. He understood now—the masked man was stalling him. In a direct fight, the man couldn't keep up, but as long as Minato was distracted, the wooden colossus terrorizing Konoha would continue its rampage.
"I need to end this quickly," Minato thought, his normally calm demeanor replaced by a sense of urgency as the destructive chakra from the village intensified.
---
Boom! Boom!
Konoha trembled as violent ninjutsu clashed with the giant wooden construct ravaging the village. Buildings crumbled under its onslaught, and the air was thick with smoke and chakra.
Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage, wielded the Adamantine Staff as he deflected the construct's attacks. His clones assisted by launching counterattacks, while Jiraiya, alongside his summoned toad, Gamabunta, fought fiercely to hold the giant back.
But Hiruzen was tiring. No longer in his prime, sustaining high-level ninjutsu and maintaining the summoning of Enma was rapidly depleting his chakra.
As another massive wooden hand descended toward him, Hiruzen's eyes widened. He couldn't evade this time.
The shadow of the wooden hand loomed over him when suddenly—
Bang!
The wooden fist was sent flying, the ground shaking from the impact.
"Tsunade..." Hiruzen whispered, relief flooding him as he saw her standing before him, her fist still trembling from the punch.
"Sensei, don't you dare collapse on me," Tsunade said sternly. Medical chakra glowed faintly in her hands as she began healing Hiruzen's injuries. Despite her outward confidence, there was a visible strain on her face, as she fought through her hemophobia—the curse that had haunted her since Dan's death.
"I'm fine, Tsunade," Hiruzen reassured her, though the exhaustion in his voice betrayed him.
"If you fall, Jiraiya won't be able to handle this on his own," Tsunade muttered, continuing her treatment while glancing toward the chaos. "Where's Minato?"
Jiraiya, struggling to fend off another assault from the wooden giant with Gamabunta's help, gritted his teeth. The intensity of the attacks had increased after Hiruzen's momentary lapse.
"Minato's probably fighting that masked guy," Jiraiya muttered under his breath, cursing the situation.
Chichi!
The five faces embedded in the wooden colossus' head began to glow, channeling chakra into a powerful attack. It was gathering elemental energy—preparing to unleash a devastating blast toward the evacuation zones where civilians were still being shepherded to safety.
"No!" Hiruzen's remaining clones sprang into action, their hands flying through signs as they released counter-attacks of their own.
Boom!
The resulting clash was enormous, but Hiruzen's ninjutsu was quickly losing ground, his chakra nearly depleted.
---
Meanwhile, Itachi Uchiha carried Sasuke toward the shelters. He glanced back at the battlefield with narrowed eyes.
"The Third Hokage can't keep this up much longer," Itachi thought grimly. His suspicions were confirmed when one of Hiruzen's water clones dispersed with a soft pop, unable to maintain the chakra needed for a water-style technique.
Whoooosh!
A massive torrent of water surged toward the village.
---