Chapter 235: Konoha Under Attack

Explosions sounded across Konoha.

Foreign shinobi broke through the outer defenses while three enormous snakes advanced into the village. Konoha's shuriken bounced uselessly from scales larger than shields.

"We cannot stop creatures this size with ordinary weapons!"

One snake crushed a watchtower with the side of its body. Another swept its tail through an empty market after the evacuation signal cleared it. Konoha squads struck eyes and joints to redirect the summons, but none could halt the mass driving toward the shelter roads.

Chains descended from the barrier towers and wrapped around one snake. Phantom Sealing Chains locked its body against the ground.

"The Barrier Team can seal only one living target at a time," a Konoha shinobi shouted. "We handle the other two!"

Ibiki Morino arrived with his squad.

"Mibu, take the center snake."

Mibu Shinobu formed his seals. "Eye-Opening Hand: Pangolin!"

The street erupted beneath the summon. A colossal pangolin seized the snake and wrestled it away from the shelter route.

Mibu controlled the construct directly. He had learned only the first half of Tonbo's technique and could not use the reverse mind-reading process that granted independent action.

"I can hold this one, Captain, but I cannot defend myself!"

"Bee, guard him," Ibiki ordered. "I will take the last snake."

Bee placed himself between Mibu and the approaching Sound-nin. The pangolin's claws dug furrows into the street while the serpent twisted around its armored back. Mibu could feel every movement through the technique. If his concentration broke, the construct would collapse and release the snake directly into the evacuation route.

In Snow Country, Tonbo walked through Kazahana Dotō's residence as if it were empty.

The guards failed to perceive him until his hand closed over one man's head. A space-time passage opened between their minds, and fragments of memory surged through it. Tonbo searched them without asking, found the routes and armor details he needed, and left the guard standing in a daze.

The chakra armor did not possess a permanent defense against genjutsu. At its core it was an amplifier. The wearer had to activate it and draw out chakra before the field formed. Tonbo's invisible approach gave the equipment nothing to answer.

He continued through the mansion like a ghost, repeating the process whenever a guard carried useful knowledge.

The stolen fragments revealed patrol changes, the location of the main armor stores, and how messages traveled between the mansion and Dotō's airships. Tonbo assembled the memories faster than any guard could notice the gaps. Doors opened before their keepers reached them; watchers turned toward sounds he placed in other corridors; sensor posts accepted the chakra pattern taken from the last man he touched.

His teammates remained with Snow's resistance. Koyuki, reshaped by Tonbo's technique into a woman determined to save her country, stayed under their protection. Tenma and the Imperial Guard waited for Tonbo's intelligence before beginning the attack.

For once, Tonbo had allowed himself to be willful. This mission did not protect Naruto's or Sasuke's necessary development, and he had altered the employer rather than persuading her. The result was convenient. That did not make the method clean.

Nor did he intend to undo it before the throne was secured. Koyuki's new determination kept the resistance united and placed the mission on the path Fire Country wanted. Tonbo treated that practical advantage as sufficient and continued searching for the information that would let the Imperial Guard move.

Back in Konoha, Iruka led the Academy students into a shelter while shinobi guarded every entrance.

"We are supposed to be ninja," Tenyu complained. "Why will Iruka-sensei not let us fight? We are already strong."

Jun glanced at the ceiling as another impact shook dust loose. "We are still too young. The village can handle this."

Maki hugged her knees. "Do you think Mom and the others are safe?"

"Of course. Grandpa is strong too," Tenyu said.

The confidence helped his sister even though he could not prove it.

Around them, younger students cried whenever the battle shook the walls. Tenyu wanted to leave partly because standing still felt worse than danger. Iruka kept him busy carrying messages between shelter aisles and checking that no child had wandered from an assigned group.

Several streets away, Tōsei protected a group of civilians moving toward another shelter.

"Do not underestimate me because I have one hand," he told the Sand shinobi blocking the road. "I can still defeat all of you."

He pulled a wire with his right hand. The ground opened, and concealed shuriken launched upward. Steel tore through the attackers before they reached the civilians.

More enemies appeared. Tōsei met them with kunai, wire, and practiced taijutsu. He conserved his small chakra reserve for the strongest opponents. Assisted Reconstruction fed a continuous stream of combat inspiration through his mental space, letting his remaining hand execute combinations the retired shinobi had not used in years.

He turned a missed kunai into a wire trap, pulled one Sand shinobi across another's line of attack, and drove a heel into the exposed throat of a third. Years away from active duty had slowed his body, but the certificate supplied tactical patterns as quickly as the enemy created openings.

"This assistance certificate is useful," he said after another enemy fell. "As expected of my son. He inherited my talent."

In a forest beyond the village, Shikamaru held eight Sound shinobi inside his Shadow Imitation trap.

"You cannot control all of us for long," their leader said. "Alone, you are still weak."

Shikamaru smiled. "Are you waiting for the teammates hiding behind me?"

The Sound shinobi stiffened.

A figure dropped from the canopy and landed on a trunk above them.

"I am here too," Ino said.

Her shuriken flashed before the prisoners could react. Blades pierced their heads one after another. When the last body fell, Shikamaru released his technique.

The hidden pair tried to move at the sound, exactly as Shikamaru predicted. Ino's first weapons struck them before the visible prisoners understood that their rescue had failed. The remaining shuriken followed the lines of shadow holding the group, turning immobility into a death sentence.

"Your stealth has improved," he said. "Tonbo's special training worked."

"Of course. I worked hard for a full month."

"Should we pursue the others?" Ino asked.

"No. We hold this route and block any reinforcements. Naruto and the others can handle the pursuit."

Ino trusted his judgment. Together they began resetting the traps for stronger enemies.

Above the arena, the battle between Hiruzen and Orochimaru moved from words to lethal techniques in less than a minute.

"Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

"Impure World Reincarnation!"

Coffins opened. The First and Second Hokage stepped out to face their former student.

The exchange had moved so quickly that most spectators trapped outside the barrier had not understood the techniques. Hiruzen had gone from speaking with his student to confronting the desecrated bodies of both his teachers before reinforcements could test the walls around them.

Hiruzen did not flinch from the dead men attacking him. A different realization troubled him more.

"Tonbo's mission appeared at exactly the right moment. You had someone lure him away."

If so, Konoha contained another traitor—or the betrayal reached into Fire Country's senior government.

Orochimaru smiled. "Yes. He would have been troublesome. Now, Sarutobi-sensei, fight me properly. Let me show you the result of all these years."

Danzō had proved useful after all.

At an Akatsuki base inside Fire Country, Itachi read the first report of the invasion. Kisame looked over his shoulder.

"Orochimaru is capable. No wonder the leader still hunts him. He may ruin the entire plan. Do you think Konoha will disappear under two villages at once?"

"No," Itachi said. "Tonbo may be away, but Konoha's foundation is not so shallow. Prepare to move."

Kisame grinned. "Are we taking the Nine-Tails? It is fortunate Tonbo is across the sea. I would rather face the Third Hokage than him."

Tonbo's departure appeared in the same intelligence stream as the invasion. To Kisame, it removed the most unpredictable defender in the village. To Itachi, the convenient timing suggested planning that reached beyond Orochimaru's visible forces.

"Yes."

Itachi folded the report. The two Akatsuki shinobi turned toward Konoha while battle spread through the village.