บท 115: 114. The Rise of Shadows
A grim hush fell over the Hidden Leaf Village as the skies continued to darken. The swirling, storm-like clouds unleashed occasional bursts of jagged lightning, illuminating clusters of shinobi gathered at their strategic positions around the perimeter. Though the courtyard demonstration had concluded, the sense of urgency only grew stronger. Everyone knew what this stillness implied: a storm of epic proportions—an onslaught from the convergence—was about to descend.
The First Signs of Conflict
A sudden clap of thunder rang out, sending waves of anticipation rippling through the assembled shinobi. In the very heart of the swirling clouds, a rift began to tear open—a ragged hole in the sky through which a crimson glow pulsed. The air around the rift warped, distorting light and making the entire village appear as if it were submerged in an eerie, rippling ocean. Shadows elongated unnaturally, creeping across rooftops and courtyard walls.
"Incoming!" Minato's voice boomed, laced with quiet authority as it reached every corner of the square. The shinobi lifted their heads, eyes flaring with adrenaline. A new wave of the convergence had arrived, bigger and darker than anything they had faced before.
From the rift, a horde of shadow creatures poured forth—grotesque amalgamations of darkness, each with glowing eyes that radiated malevolence. Some flew on twisting wings of black energy, while others slithered across the ground, leaving trails of inky residue that hissed upon contact with matter. The swirling clouds seemed to stoke their fury, feeding them dark energy that made their forms shimmer and solidify.
Team 7 Takes Position
Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura, accompanied by Ryusei and Anon, spread out in front of the main gate. Behind them, squads specialized in each of the new energies lined up in perfect order: Time Squad, Void Squad, Light Squad, Shadow Squad, and Space Squad. All had just witnessed the incredible synergy of their advanced training—and now, it was time to put everything into practice.
Naruto stepped forward, chakra swirling around him in a vortex of power. His aura was laced with Time energy, gleaned from his Eclipse Rasengan training, his eyes burning with the will to protect. He formed a Rasenshuriken crackling with an additional coil of temporal distortion. The weapon spun with a shrill whine, needles of swirling chakra bending light in strange arcs. He hurled it toward the nearest cluster of shadow creatures. Instantly, the projectile sliced through the air, and upon impact, an explosion of warping time erupted, momentarily freezing the creatures in place before they shattered into shards of darkness.
"Push forward!" Naruto roared, a fierce grin on his face, even as sweat beaded at his brow from the exertion. He could sense the colossal scale of this confrontation, but his confidence never wavered. Six times stronger than his old self, he refused to be daunted.
On the opposite flank, Sasuke was a blur of movement. His Rinnegan glowed, lines of Void energy flickering around him. With a series of hand signs, he conjured a gravitational well at the feet of an advancing wave of shadow creatures. They stumbled as the air around them bent, space warping until they were crushed together, unable to move. Sasuke's sword shimmered with electric Chidori, amplified by Void manipulation; he slashed once, tearing the entire mass apart in a brilliant burst of lightning. Shards of inky matter scattered, and a residual crackle testified to the destructive synergy of advanced Void Graviton techniques.
Light Meets Shadow: Sakura's Brilliance
A swarm of winged silhouettes dove from above, screeching as they unleashed black tendrils that snaked toward the ground forces. Sakura sprinted ahead, every muscle tensed with chakra infusion and Light energy. Once timid in earlier times, she now radiated unwavering self-assurance. She channeled her mastery of Chrono Essence and light refraction, weaving illusions that disoriented her aerial attackers. Flashes of brilliance formed ephemeral decoys in the sky, luring the winged creatures into striking empty air.
Sakura leapt, her fists glowing with a fierce luminescence. Bringing them down on the nearest monstrosity, she unleashed a pulse of Light energy that fractured time around the impact point. The creature shrieked as it was slowed in a stuttered timeline, giving Sakura's finishing blow unstoppable force. Her fist connected with a thunderous crack, sending shockwaves that dissolved the attacker into shimmering motes of dark energy.
"That's three down," she muttered, exhaling a shaky breath. Another pair of creatures swooped in, but she pivoted fluidly, stepping into a time-slowed bubble that let her deliver a lethal strike before they could even register her position.
Anon and the Shadow Squad
Anon stood at the center of an advancing platoon of Shadow Squad members, each one cloaked in living darkness that repelled direct physical contact. With a silent command, Anon sank into the shadows beneath his feet, reemerging behind a lumbering brute of a creature. Quick as a whisper, he channeled the Void Phase to coalesce shadows into a weapon, driving a spear of darkness into the beast's back. An unearthly howl echoed across the battlefield, the creature collapsing into dust.
His squad followed suit, slipping in and out of connected shadows. They ambushed entire clusters of monsters, illusions layered on illusions, each luring the enemy into blind corners where they were quickly dispatched by concentrated strikes. One squad member created a swirling vortex of shade that trapped a half-dozen creatures in an inescapable pocket of gloom, while another used reflective illusions to multiply illusions of themselves tenfold.
"Steady," Anon said quietly, not one to waste words. "Pick them off. Don't let them regroup."
Ryusei's Balance of Time and Void
At the heart of the formation, Ryusei moved with an effortless grace that belied the raw power at his fingertips. Master of both Time and Void, he orchestrated the ebb and flow of the battlefield like a conductor leading an orchestra. Where the lines threatened to break, he intervened, slowing or accelerating time around friend or foe as needed. A wave of horrors advanced on a group of rookie shinobi; Ryusei flicked his wrist, forming a Temporal Field that halted the creatures mid-lunge. Instantly, a squad of allied shinobi counterattacked, dispatching the immobile fiends with precise strikes.
In the next moment, a flurry of black projectiles rained down from overhead. Ryusei formed a swirling Void Barrier, bending space so the missiles arced harmlessly away from the village. With another gesture, he reversed the effect, sending them hurtling back toward the attackers, scattering them in all directions. Wherever the lines faltered, he appeared in a flicker of dislocated time, offering vital aid before phasing out again.
The Village Rallies
The synergy among Time, Void, Light, Shadow, and Space squads was unprecedented. Time Squad created pockets that slowed entire platoons of monstrous reinforcements, giving allied squads the chance to strike lethal blows. Space Squad erected dimensional gates, ferrying injured shinobi to safety while repositioning heavy-hitting squads behind unsuspecting enemies. Light Squad turned night into day, blinding the convergence creatures and illuminating the gloom with pulses of brilliance that burned away lesser shadow fiends. Shadow Squad worked seamlessly with Anon's guidance, orchestrating ambushes that tore through entire waves without revealing a single allied position.
In the midst of the chaos, Naruto's boisterous laughter echoed, fueling morale as he spearheaded a counter-charge. Sasuke's calm directions cut through the din, ensuring no movement was wasted, no technique overlapped in vain. Sakura's presence shone brightest wherever the fighting was thickest, her unstoppable fists forging new paths for cornered allies. Anon's silent leadership carried the Shadow Squad through cunning strikes that carved wide gaps in the enemy lines. And Ryusei's commanding presence kept everything in motion, bridging the squads' efforts with temporal and spatial manipulations that allowed them to act as one cohesive force.
Together, they forged a bulwark of cooperation and skill. Each fallen foe inspired the shinobi to push harder, to surpass their own limits. Though the convergence's assault was fierce, for every monstrous wave that poured from the swirling clouds, a strategy emerged to counter it—Time Squad halting them in stasis, Void Squad crushing them with gravitational fields, Light Squad scorching them with radiant illusions, Shadow Squad dissolving them from behind, and Space Squad warping them into sealed pockets where they couldn't escape.
Shadows Ebb, Fate Draws Near
After what felt like an eternity of conflict, the surge of enemies began to wane. The monstrous roars softened, and the oppressive darkness that had enveloped the village receded, leaving an uneasy calm in its wake. Shinobi collapsed to their knees, panting and nursing wounds, but still alive. The defenders had won this skirmish, yet none of them were naive enough to believe the war was over. This lull was only a reprieve.
Minato, blinking sweat from his eyes, exhaled a breath he didn't realize he was holding. Around him, the battered squads regrouped, each face a portrait of exhaustion and relief. Yet, behind every sigh of relief lay an undercurrent of dread—because the longer these battles went on, the more certain it became that they had yet to face the convergence's true power.
Naruto dispelled his Shadow Clones, each vanishing with a puff of smoke as he surveyed the courtyard. "Is that... is that all of them?" His voice trembled with leftover adrenaline.
Sasuke shook his head, scanning the horizon with both Sharingan and Rinnegan. "No. This was just another wave. The real threat is still out there."
Sakura, her chakra fists dimming, looked around at the collapsed rifts overhead. "We held them off. But how many times can we do this before they wear us down?"
Anon spoke quietly, exhaustion lacing his words. "As many times as we have to."
Ryusei glanced upward, where the swirling clouds still churned, a silent promise of battles to come. "We've proven we can stand against the darkness, but the convergence isn't finished. We need to prepare for what's next."
In the hush that followed, the shinobi met each other's eyes, a bond of unspoken camaraderie and bravery shining among them. For now, the village stood unbroken, the synergy of their new powers granting them another sunrise. But the final confrontation with the convergence loomed, an inevitable storm that demanded every ounce of will they possessed.
They would rest briefly, tend to the wounded, and reinforce the gates. And when the shadows rose again, the Leaf Village—bolstered by the Eternal Hokage and their squads—would stand ready for the next wave, determined to protect every timeline, every dimension connected to their own. Because as Ryusei had said, this was more than a mere defense. It was a war for the soul of all worlds.
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