Chapter 85: Damn It, My Home! The Biggest Winner

Chapter 85: Damn It, My Home! The Biggest Winner

No one knew that both Root and the Hokage’s Office had been invaded by formidable enemies.

Even fewer noticed a mysterious fourth faction silently cleaning the battlefield and retrieving their comrades’ bodies.

At this moment, Hidden Leaf Village ninja were working together with unspoken coordination.

Some escorted civilians to shelters, while others—more about stalling than fighting—desperately tried to survive long enough for their comrades to complete the evacuation before launching a counterattack.

Meanwhile, the battle at Hidden Leaf Village’s plaza remained fierce.

The First Hokage had been resurrected through Edo Tensei, unleashing his Wood Release to create a forest battlefield. Only those skilled in sensing or possessing x-ray vision could track the intense clash between Hiruzen Sarutobi and Orochimaru.

They could all sense, however, that the Third Hokage was in dire straits.

At the exam arena, elite Jōnin Hatake Kakashi and Might Guy protected the spectators by confronting Kabuto Yakushi’s Sound ninja and supporting Sand ninja.

Elsewhere, Gaara and his siblings had already been captured by Izayoi and his team.

As Hidden Leaf’s destruction plan began, Hinata Hyuga and Shino Aburame—immune to genjutsu—joined forces with Sasuke Uchiha, Nara Shikamaru, and Neji Hyuga to attack Temari and Kankuro.

Gaara’s Feigned Inaction Technique had left Temari and Kankuro too terrified to Body Flicker and rescue him. Facing the group’s combined assault, they fell quickly.

Only Kurenai Yūhi’s timely intervention prevented the hotheaded youths from killing the siblings outright. After all, the young ninja cared little for their value alive compared to the thrill of battle.

Gaara, channeling the One-Tail Shukaku through his technique, let the beast’s chakra surge forth. Endless sand waves coalesced into Shukaku’s towering form, shielding Gaara from the Trinity Barrage—a fusion of three nature transformations.

But before Shukaku could roar his defiance, his form dissolved, and his consciousness was pulled back into Gaara’s body. Though his upper body still protruded from Shukaku’s head, Gaara’s exposed position made him an easy target—except for Izayoi’s Shadow Clone.

Exploiting Shukaku’s dazed state, Izayoi darted onto the beast’s head and slammed a punch into Gaara’s unprotected face, snapping him awake.

Shukaku’s massive body collapsed into a sandstorm, leaving a colossal dune across the arena.

By the time Gaara regained consciousness, Izayoi had already dragged him to the competitor’s stand.

“Move, and I’ll kill you,” Izayoi hissed in his ear.

“Don’t kill Gaara! He’s my brother—he has value alive! Please, spare him!”

The desperate plea from Temari, who usually feared him, finally jolted Gaara fully awake.

He stared at her, bound and pleading, his emotions a tangled mess.

But no one cared for his feelings. Kurenai Yūhi ordered, “Hinata Hyuga, seal his chakra. If he resists, sever his limbs. He must not die.”

“Yes.”

Hinata activated her Byakugan, its veins pulsing as she struck Gaara’s tenketsu points, paralyzing his chakra flow. Her piercing gaze never left him—ready to warn the group at the first sign of danger.

Izayoi’s voice murmured into Hinata’s ear, feigning ignorance: “How’s Hanabi Hyuga?”

“Don’t worry. Father’s already taken her to safety.”

“Good.”

Izayoi nodded, then prepared to retreat from the action.

The main event—the clash between Hiruzen Sarutobi and Orochimaru—was the true spectacle.

He was just a mysterious fourth faction, here to exploit the chaos.

Kurenai had no intention of dragging them into the war. “Take these prisoners and follow me,” she commanded.

With that, Kurenai led Izayoi’s group away from the plaza, heading toward Hidden Leaf’s interrogation headquarters. These three—children of the Kazekage—knew valuable secrets.

Along the way, they faced ambushes from Sand and Sound ninja.

But Hidden Leaf reinforcements quickly arrived.

No longer holding back, Izayoi soared into the air, unleashing his Ultimate Technique: Judgment.

To the stunned onlookers—both enemy and ally alike—his attack was terrifying. Compressed like a weakened Trinity Barrage or expanded into a wide-area laser, it left even Sasuke Uchiha awestruck, practically drooling with envy.

His newly learned Chidori, crackling with lightning, suddenly felt obsolete.

Sasuke made a decision then and there:

After the war, he’d master Water Release and politely—but persistently—hound Izayoi until he caved and taught him the technique. If that failed, he’d resort to shameless tactics: following him everywhere, mooching meals, and hovering like an annoying lightbulb until Izayoi relented.

“Damn it, my home!”

Sasuke’s scheming was interrupted by a furious roar.

Izayoi, usually calm and courteous, now raged like a fallen god. His Kamui spiraled in the sky as he glared at a distant direction, his composure shattered.

Without a word, he abandoned Kurenai’s group and rocketed toward the source.

Hinata followed instantly, her Byakugan blazing, leaving no explanation behind.

Kurenai and the others exchanged exasperated glances.

Through the smoke, they spotted a monstrous Three-Headed Viper rampaging through the village. Explosive Tags and five nature transformations had failed to kill it—only enraging it further.

Its three heads lashed at attackers while its tail smashed a two-story house to rubble.

That house was Izayoi’s home.

Now they understood his fury.

“Storm Release!”

A white laser beam erupted from the sky, obliterating the viper’s central head.

Kurenai snapped her team back to focus. “Ignore them. Follow me.”

A colossal beam of laser light suddenly contracted before everyone’s eyes, shifting from a simple electro-thermal attack into a razor-sharp cutting tool. With a flick of the caster’s arm, it sliced through the entire body of the Three-Headed Viper. The serpent’s corpse dissolved into a cloud of white smoke, returning to Myoboku Mountain.

“S-such a powerful Lightning Release attack!”

“No—it’s not Lightning Release. That’s Storm Release! The technique everyone’s been talking about from that young Ninjutsu prodigy.”

“What an amazing kid! He even mastered flight Ninjutsu!”

“Great! Finally got rid of this nuisance. Let’s go help the others.”

……

As Izayoi descended from the sky, the Hidden Leaf shinobi expressed brief astonishment before dashing off to assist their comrades.

Landing amidst the ruins, Izayoi stared at the wreckage with a twitching smile: “My main body and those Shadow Clones are such useless idiots.”

He’d always been ruthless—even toward himself.

In truth, not only the Shadow Clones but even Izayoi’s main body and the clone controlling the Human Puppet hadn’t anticipated this outcome.

The main body had been focused on looting Root’s treasures and Danzō Shimura’s collection.

The Shadow Clone by the Naka River had been preoccupied with finishing off enemies, retrieving corpses, and hiding them—Rinnegan simply couldn’t handle everything.

The clone protecting Ranmaru had been busy recharging him.

The clone infiltrating the Hokage Office was currently erasing evidence and evacuating Tenzō from the village.

None of them had noticed the Three-Headed Viper, which had slithered in from the village entrance. In the original timeline, it was supposed to be crushed by Jiraiya’s Toad Boss.

But this time, Jiraiya had abandoned everything upon learning of Pain (Deva Path) and rushed to the underground base beneath the Hokage Office.

Seems his luck had all gone to drop rates—unfortunately, the Three-Headed Viper had chosen the exact street where Izayoi lived.

Out of all the houses in the village, it had targeted his home.

Hinata Hyuga Body Flickered to Izayoi’s side, gently comforting him: “It’s okay, Izayoi-kun. Homes can be rebuilt as long as you’re safe.”

“I guess so. Let’s retrieve the scrolls first—they contain my savings and our photos.” Izayoi nodded, scanning the ruins with his Rinnegan’s X-ray vision.

Soon, he located them.

“Hinata, deal with those guys.”

He glanced at several Sound Ninja emerging from the shadows and gestured to Hinata.

“Understood.”

Hinata’s eyes sharpened as she channeled massive chakra into her hands, shaping it into two purple lion heads. Then, using Lightning Release chakra to stimulate her cells, she vanished in a flash, reappearing before a Sound Ninja. With a single palm strike, she drained his chakra network and sent foreign chakra tearing through his organs.

The Sound Ninja spat blood and collapsed, incapacitated.

With one strike, Hinata moved on to the next opponent.

Thanks to the Hyuga Clan’s advanced secret technique—Gentle Step Twin Lion Fists—she effortlessly eliminated these low-tier foes.

After finishing the battle, Izayoi retrieved several scrolls and a few photo frames from the rubble.

Seeing the photos intact, he sighed in relief: “Maybe it’s better this way. Time to upgrade to a bigger house.”

Suddenly, both turned toward the Hokage Monument.

They sensed a massive surge of chakra approaching from that direction.

Having read the village’s emergency protocols, they knew the Hidden Leaf was launching a counterattack.

Once the civilians were safely evacuated, the shinobi could fight without restraint.

The once-mighty Hidden Leaf would now unleash its full cohesion.

Unless the enemy was a massive village mobilizing all forces or a superhuman with Dimensional Reduction abilities, no one could withstand the Hidden Leaf’s fury.

Indeed…

As the evacuation teams returned, the Hidden Leaf forces—who had been struggling against the Sand-Sound alliance—suddenly overwhelmed their enemies with unstoppable force.

Meanwhile, the Sand Ninja at the village square reported shocking news: their Fourth Kazekage was actually Orochimaru in disguise. The real Kazekage had vanished.

Led by Baki, the Sand Ninja abandoned their search for Gaara and retreated in disarray, desperate to inform their elders. Those unable to flee surrendered immediately—alive, the village might ransom them.

At the same time, the master-student duel between Hiruzen Sarutobi and Orochimaru reached its conclusion.

Just as in the original timeline, the aged Hiruzen could no longer match Orochimaru.

Especially with Edo Tensei summoning the First and Second Hokage—though at a fraction of their former power, they still overwhelmed Hiruzen.

In this life-or-death moment, the man who’d always preached the Will of Fire to the younger generation made a decisive choice. He sacrificed his soul to the Death God, sealing the First and Second Hokage’s souls. When he realized Orochimaru’s soul couldn’t be sealed, he tore away his former student’s hands, crippling his ability to perform Ninjutsu.

As Orochimaru screamed in agony, Hiruzen closed his eyes with a faint smile.

Two childhood friends—protectors and rivals—had steered the Hidden Leaf from its golden age to this weakened state. Now, they achieved their final “same day, same death” milestone.

Pity one soul would ascend to the Pure Land, while the other rotted inside the Death God.

Orochimaru’s plan to destroy the Hidden Leaf had failed. The Sound, Hidden Leaf, and Sand all lost.

The sole and greatest winner?

Izayoi.

In this ruined village, he alone reaped the ultimate reward.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end