The northeastern woods surrounding Konoha Village.

Sasuke's figure weaved through the scorched tree canopy, the patterns of his Mangekyou Sharingan spinning wildly in his eyes, and a light blade formed from compressed Lightning Release chakra gathering in his hand.

Ten feet away from him, a black figure was constantly dodging and weaving, alternating between reality and illusion—it was Uchiha Obito. His Sharingan, hidden beneath his mask, observed Sasuke's every move through the distorted space, searching for an opportunity to counterattack.

"What, is this all the renowned Uchiha Sasuke is capable of?" Obito's voice carried a hint of mockery and probing. "With so many fires burning, aren't you afraid of setting the entire Hidden Leaf Village ablaze?"

"You'll soon regret saying that." Sasuke's lips curled into a cold smile. He slammed his hands on the ground, and his chakra erupted with astonishing force—black flames spread outwards like a tidal wave, turning the entire forest into a pitch-black sea of ​​fire. The flames ignited the trees, the ground, and the air, leaving not an inch of solid space to stand in.

Obito frowned and instinctively used Kamui to intangibly transfer his body into another dimension. However, when he tried to solidify his form again, the overwhelming black flames had already obliterated all footholds in the space. If he dispelled the intangibility, he would immediately find himself standing on the flames.

"You think this level of fire can trap me?" Obito said coldly, but before he could finish speaking, he suddenly realized a problem—he had been in a continuous Hollowfication state for a long time.

Sasuke stood outside the sea of ​​fire, quietly watching him, his crimson Sharingan eyes holding the composure of a hunter surveying its prey. He said, "Each time you enter the Hollowfication state, it lasts for about five minutes. That's the limit of the Kamui ability of your Sharingan. It's data recorded by the Fourth Hokage during their battles; I didn't expect you wouldn't know that."

Obito's pupils suddenly contracted.

"You used intangibility to dodge attacks, then launched a counterattack the instant you materialized," Sasuke said calmly, as if picking up a fragment from the dust. "But if you remain in tangible form beyond the time limit, you can't do anything. My Amaterasu burned away all the solid ground here; if you de-intangle, you'll be ignited by the black flames. Where can you go then?"

Obito's body remained motionless in the gap between reality and illusion. His gaze, hidden behind the mask, fixed intently on Sasuke, before he let out a low, cold laugh: "You planned this from the very beginning. You forced me to reveal myself, forced me to become intangible, then filled the space with flames, cutting off my footing. You were deliberately delaying my intangibility."

"That's right." Sasuke didn't deny it. "I know you better than you think. Although your Kamui has a near-invincible ability to become intangible, you rely on it for traveling, attacking, and dodging. Once I create an environment where you have nowhere to stand, your Kamui will become a cage you can't escape."

Obito was silent for a moment, then his voice turned cold and dangerous: "So you think you're guaranteed to win?"

"I never do anything I'm not sure I can do." The patterns of Sasuke's Mangekyou Sharingan swirled in his eyes once more, and rings of purple chakra gathered around him to form the skeleton of Susanoo.

"Now, you can choose to detach from the ethereal form and be consumed by my black flames. Or you can choose to remain ethereal and watch yourself be trapped in this alternate dimension forever."

Sasuke stood in the gap between the flames, his Mangekyou Sharingan locked onto the motionless figure suspended in mid-air.

The Susanoo skeleton has condensed into its second form, with the half-giant holding a giant bow. An arrow formed from the condensed black flames of Amaterasu is nocked on the bowstring, and the arrowhead is pointed directly at Obito.

"Still not coming out?" Sasuke's voice carried an almost pitying mockery. "Kamui's intangibility is almost over. If you de-intangle, you'll be burned to ashes by Amaterasu. If you maintain intangibility, you'll be trapped in this alternate dimension forever, unable to find your way back. Which one do you choose?"

Obito hovered between reality and illusion, the eye beneath his mask trembling slightly. He understood his predicament better than Sasuke—the limit of his intangibility was approaching, and there was no solid ground within dozens of feet around him. He tried to conjure a spatial vortex in the distance, but Sasuke's eyes seemed to have already seen through all his moves; the arrow slightly deflected, severing the spatial passage.

"You have nowhere to run." Sasuke slowly released the bowstring.

[At this point, I hope readers will remember our domain name: 202ᴋᴋs.ᴄᴏᴍ]

The black flame arrow whistled through the night sky like a black meteor. Obito's pupils contracted sharply, and at the last moment, he swerved to one side. The arrow grazed his shoulder, igniting the edge of his robe. The black flames spread rapidly along the fabric, like a greedy monster, leaving charred marks on Obito's skin.

"Ah—!" Obito let out a low growl of pain. He violently tore open the burning black robe, ripping off the entire garment and throwing it far away. However, the black flames had already left a deep, bone-revealing burn on his left arm. He fell panting to the ground, staggering as he stepped onto the scorched earth, forced to completely disengage from his Hollowfication state.

"Izanagi." Sasuke stared at his Sharingan, uttering those three words calmly, "Your only means of survival now. To rewrite the reality of your death with that eye you transplanted. You're just like that coward Danzo, clinging to life with forbidden techniques."

Obito's body stiffened for a moment. He raised his head, the eye beneath his mask staring intently at Sasuke through the crack: "You even foresaw Izanagi."

"I saw through Danzo's tricks long ago." Sasuke's Mangekyou Sharingan spun slightly, a hint of mockery appearing deep within his pupils. "Use it all you want; you'll go blind after using this eye. Without a Sharingan, how much fighting power will you have left?"

Obito lowered his head in silence, his eye, hidden behind the mask, making a decision in that brief moment. He abruptly formed a hand seal, activating the Izanagi technique. In that instant, the horrifying burn on his left arm vanished as if reflected in a mirror, the skin scalded by the black flames completely healed, as if it had never been injured. As the price, his Sharingan in his right eye socket rapidly lost its luster, turning from crimson to a deathly gray, as if its last vestige of soul had been ripped away.

He gritted his teeth, raised his hand, and gouged out the blind eyeball, tossing it to the ground. The soft thud echoed crisply on the silent, scorched earth. Blood welled in his eye, trickling down the inside of the mask, but he cared nothing for that. He unleashed one last spatial vortex, his figure twisting violently between reality and illusion, before vanishing like a wisp of smoke, leaving only a voice carried on the night wind: "Sasuke, you are strong… but this war is far from over."

Sasuke stared silently in the direction Obito had disappeared, then lowered his head after a long while, his gaze falling on the eyeball Obito had abandoned on the ground. He walked over, bent down, and picked up the Sharingan that had lost its light. The eyeball was as cold as stone, lifeless, yet it carried a belief so intense it could drive one mad. He put it into a scroll and looked towards the direction of Konoha Village.

"It's not over yet... me too."

The long street in front of the Hokage Building in Konoha Village.

The flames of war had spread from the village entrance to its heart. Konohamaru walked through a burning alley, covered in dust and blood, breathing heavily, yet his face bore an almost manic stubbornness. In his right hand, he clutched a syringe, the pale green liquid extracted from the glass tube gleaming eerily in the firelight. It was a trophy he had retrieved from a cellar while fleeing the Anbu—an extract of the First Hokage's cells. Konohamaru hadn't originally intended to use it. He only wanted to inflict pain on that village, to make those people taste the bitterness of betrayal. But as the battle unfolded, his situation grew increasingly perilous. Akatsuki was retreating, and Konoha's ninjas were tightening their encirclement. He found himself suddenly trapped on this once familiar land of Konoha.

"I can't die... I can't let those people die in vain..." Konohamaru murmured, gritted his teeth, and forcefully injected the liquid into his neck.

A violent spasm erupted from deep within his spine. Konohamaru collapsed to the ground, his hands clutching his throat. He felt the liquid transforming his body in an almost violent way—his meridians were forcibly widened, his chakra surged, and uncontrolled, vine-like energy coursed beneath his skin. He curled up in agony until the power gradually stabilized. He gasped as he rose, feeling the immense energy surging within him, a twisted smile spreading across his lips: "This power… is enough to kill Naruto, kill Tsunade… kill everyone…"

He looked up and saw a sword.

It was a pure silver blade, gleaming with sharp chakra light, hurtling towards him from the end of the long street. Before Konohamaru's pupils could even catch the sword's trajectory, it had already pierced his chest. The blade emerged from his back, leaving a trail of splattered blood, pinning his body firmly to the ground, immobile like a specimen.

"Ah..." Konohamaru let out a muffled, dying sound, his mouth agape. He looked down at the sword protruding from his chest, then struggled to lift his head again, gazing at the figure slowly approaching at the end of the long street. Sasuke's black hair fluttered in the firelight, his Mangekyou Sharingan as calm as a stagnant pool. The Kusanagi sword hummed in his hand, radiating a cold, sharp edge.

"Sarutobi Konohamaru." Sasuke approached, looking down at him, his voice devoid of any emotion. "You traded Iruka's life for Naruto's whereabouts. You killed Tezuka and Ayame. You let Akatsuki into Konoha. You no longer deserve to be a Konoha ninja."

Konohamaru's lips trembled violently. His Wood Release cells, pierced by the sword, had completely lost control, running rampant like startled venomous snakes. Countless green vines sprouted from beneath his skin, swelled, and spread, coiling around his limbs, climbing his face, and gradually obscuring his features. He finally cried out in terror, "Naruto! Naruto, save me! Save me—!"

Before he could finish speaking, the vines had already violently tightened around his head, like countless clenched fists squeezing inward. A teeth-grinding cracking sound rang out, and Konohamaru's head exploded like an overripe fruit under the strangulation of the vines. Splattered blood and flesh littered the ground, and his body was twisted into a monstrous silhouette by the vines, no longer resembling a human.

At the end of the long street, Naruto stood there.

He saw the unrecognizable corpse, the Kusanagi sword nailed to it, and Sasuke standing silently beside it. But all of that seemed blurred in his eyes. Only one face kept replaying in his mind—Iruka lying in his arms, using his last bit of strength to utter the words, "Hide quickly." That teacher, who always had a gentle smile, like a father, his blood forever staining the ramen shop floor red.

Naruto slowly took a step forward.

That wasn't his usual way of running. His steps were heavy and slow, each one as if carrying the entire sky on his back. His gaze fell on Konohamaru's remains, and an unprecedented emotion surged from the depths of his chest—not sadness, not anger, but an impulse to kill that corpse with his own hands once more.

"I want to kill him with my own hands," Naruto whispered. His voice was hoarse and deep, like a wild beast driven to the brink of despair.

Sasuke looked at him without speaking. In Naruto's eyes, he saw a primal killing intent, completely different from the image of a savior he "followed." That killing intent was not impulsive or violent, but as deep as an abyss—like a boy who had just lost his last lighthouse seeing something sharper than sorrow in the darkness.

"He's dead," Sasuke finally said, his voice calm.

Naruto's fists clenched so tightly they cracked, but he didn't say a word.

Counterattacks are underway on various battlefields throughout Konoha Village.

Jiraiya's figure moved between rooftops like a white-haired toad sage. In Sage Mode, he was enveloped in a dense layer of Sage Chakra, his senses covering the entire battlefield. The movements of the Six Paths of Pain were completely transparent to him. He first used his frog hands to shatter the Asura Path's body, then used a series of Fire Release techniques to suppress the Animal Path's summoned beasts. The Human Path and Naraka Path fell one after another under the bombardment of the Sage Rasengan, and the Preta Path attempted to absorb Sage Chakra, but Jiraiya detonated the inner chakra within him, shattering his entire body into pieces. After Pain's waves of attacks were defeated one by one, only the Deva Path remained, suspended in mid-air.

"You're the only one left." Jiraiya looked at the figure above him, his gaze complex yet resolute.

On the other side of the riverbank, Might Guy's chakra burned like wildfire within him. The Seventh Gate, the Gate of Shock, opened. Azure steam billowed from his body, evaporating the river water beneath his feet into a swirling mist. He stopped before Kisame Hoshigaki, his hands forming hand seals, and unleashed a punch: "Daytime Tiger!"

The enormous white tiger-shaped shockwave, carrying a shockwave powerful enough to distort space, swept outwards. Kisame's Samehada was torn apart like paper by the impact, and his body was engulfed by the shockwave. When the impact subsided, Kisame Hoshigaki collapsed to the ground, covered in wounds, and was sealed into a sealing scroll by the sealing team that arrived shortly afterward.

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