The air was tense.
Sasuke stood victorious in the arena, though hunched, panting, and marked with the cursed seal's dark corruption. The medic-nin had only just reached Gaara when it happened.
A flicker.
A signal — subtle to the unaware, but unmistakable to those in on it.
The man seated beside the Hokage — the Kazekage — shifted slightly in his seat.
That was all it took.
Boom.
Explosions erupted along the outer edges of the stadium. Fire and smoke billowed up as dozens of disguised Oto-nin and Suna-nin activated concealed jutsu seals and launched coordinated assaults. Shuriken rained from concealed wires. Walls shattered. Poison gas hissed from scrolls.
The crowd screamed.
Panic exploded across the arena.
In a heartbeat, the Jōnin moved.
"Everyone, protect the civilians!" Asuma shouted, chakra blades already drawn.
Kurenai and Guy blurred into motion, intercepting kunai and redirecting enemy jutsu mid-air.
Tsunade, still seated near the Hokage, stood with a snarl.
"Shizune, with me! We hold the east side and guide evac! Genma, secure the Genin!"
The crowd fled in chaos. Sakura and the rest of the Genin in the visitor box were swiftly ushered away under ANBU escort — except Sasuke.
He was already gone.
The Hokage's Final Battle
A dome of violet flame roared upward around the Kage box.
Inside, Hiruzen Sarutobi had already thrown off his robes.
Across from him, the Kazekage stood — and then peeled his face off, revealing a younger man with snake-like eyes and a cruel smile.
"Long time no see, Sensei."
Orochimaru.
Sarutobi's eyes were hard, full of regret — but unshaken.
"You've come to destroy the village again, haven't you?"
"No, Sensei," Orochimaru replied, unsheathing the Kusanagi blade from his throat."I've come to destroy you."
[Konoha's Shield: Tsunade and the Jōnin Stand]
The arena had become a warzone.
Civilians screamed and scattered as the Suna and Oto forces descended. Paper bombs erupted across the stone stands, kunai rained like hail, and illusionary smoke shrouded the exits. Panic echoed from every corner.
But in the chaos, a wall of shinobi stood firm.
Tsunade landed on the debris-strewn platform of the western edge, cloak billowing, fists clenched. Shizune stood beside her, Senbon launcher primed, sweat streaking her brow but resolve in her stance.
Guy and Kurenai flanked them, protecting the northern stairwells. Asuma had vanished in a blur, his chakra blades drawn and already clearing civilians through a protected route.
"Kurenai, handle illusions. Guy, hold the line with the southern guard unit. Shizune—medic evacuation and poison check at the south gate. I'll take command at the hospital once this area is clear!" Tsunade barked.
"Hai!" they echoed, dispersing in trained formation.
Tsunade cracked her knuckles as another wave of Oto-nin approached, charging with reckless abandon.
"You think I sat in casino sipping sake for decades doing nothing?"
The first Oto-nin barely got within ten meters.
She blurred forward—one punch—and the air cracked like a thunderclap.
The ninja flew backward, crashing through a stone pillar.
Tsunade didn't stop.
A kunai grazed her cheek. She ducked, spun, and drove a heel into another attacker's ribs with surgical precision.
More came. Genin and chūnin-level shinobi with Suna flak jackets tried to overwhelm her with numbers, but Tsunade's strength and fearsome medical combat style turned them aside like children.
Every strike broke bones.
Every dodge set up a devastating counter.
From the rooftops, Guy and Kurenai moved with deadly efficiency. Kurenai weaved genjutsu illusions into the mist—confusing enemy perception and causing friendly fire among the invaders.
Guy, shirt torn and already breathing heavy from opening the First Gate, slammed a kick into an Oto-nin mid-jump shouting:
"KONOHA'S FLAMES OF YOUTH STILL BURN, EVEN IN CRISIS!"
Tsunade gritted her teeth, chakra flaring from her fists, voice sharp with command.
"No mercy! They're here to slaughter civilians — show them what Konoha's defenders are made of!"
From every rooftop, more Jōnin emerged — ANBU in black masks, Inuzuka with blood-hungry ninken, Aburame insects flooding narrow corridors, Hyūga releasing precise strikes to disable chakra.
Then — a surge of twisted chakra, dark and unstable, flared at the forest's edge.
Tsunade's eyes narrowed. "That's not ours…"
A Chūnin messenger sprinted to her side, panting. "Gaara—of the Sand. He's transformed… he's lost control. It's the One-Tail!"
Tsunade didn't hesitate. She turned to the blonde figure at her side.
"Naruto—go. You're the only one who can stop him. Keep him away from the village at all costs. Do whatever it takes."
Naruto, already bruised from his fight, nodded grimly. "Understood."
"And Naruto," Tsunade added, voice low but iron-clad, "trust in what I've taught you."
And with a flicker of wind-chakra under his sandals, Naruto vanished, racing toward the monstrous presence growing beyond the treeline.
Even as they held the lines… there was fear.
Not from the shinobi.
From what they couldn't see.
From the colossal chakra signatures rising beyond the trees—where two jinchūriki would soon clash.
[In the Command Center]
Inside a quickly restructured central command post — a tent set up in the hospital courtyard — Tsunade reviewed a hand-drawn battle map hastily sketched by messengers.
Shikaku Nara, bleeding from the forehead, leaned over the table beside her. "Enemy forces divided along three axes. Their goal isn't occupation. They want chaos."
"Diversion," Tsunade said grimly. "The real target was always the Hokage."
She turned to the ANBU at the door.
"Send two squads to the barrier. Get eyes on the Hokage's situation. And get me a live update from the forest line — Uzumaki Naruto is engaging another jinchūriki."
The ANBU blinked. "A jinchūriki?"
"Gaara of the Desert," she muttered. "Shukaku no Ichibi."
There was a pause in the room.
Even battle-hardened veterans stiffened at the implication.
A beast had been unleashed.