LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 118: 117. Rise of Shadows Pt 4
A fresh surge of monstrous silhouettes erupted from the swirling gloom, their distorted shapes seething with malice. The village's once-familiar skyline wavered in the half-light, each building cast in the crimson glow of an unrelenting storm that sizzled across the night sky. All around, the rhythmic thunder of battle shook the walls and rattled the lungs of those who fought beneath them. Yet the Leaf shinobi stood unyielding, forging a living barricade between the invading nightmares and the heart of their home.
Sasuke led a detachment of Void-skilled shinobi along the western perimeter, each of them controlling local pockets of gravitational force. One massive creature, shaped like a scorpion twisted inside out, lunged at Sasuke with spiny limbs dripping black ichor. He flicked his wrist, and the air around the beast compressed violently, halting its momentum. With a pivot, he slashed a spiraling Chidori across its midsection, the space-warping effect cleaving the abomination in two before flinging both halves against a splintered barricade. The splatter of dark fluid hissed where it touched the ground, dissolving cracks into the earth. Sasuke pressed his advantage, stepping through a blackish fog of Void energy to intercept a second wave of fiends crashing over the rooftops. His squads followed suit, each shinobi bending the battlefield's physics to isolate or crush these horrors with chilling efficiency.
Further down the street, Sakura delivered a concussive blow that scattered half a dozen screeching creatures in a single burst of radiance. Wielding Light and Chrono Essence, she blurred from one target to the next in near-instantaneous leaps, arcs of brilliance marking her path through the gloom. A towering giant, its limbs reminiscent of petrified roots, swung a gargantuan club of swirling shadows at her squad. Sakura advanced fearlessly, fists blazing. She leapt, channeling a fraction of her new time-bending might to slow the giant's arm mid-swing. In a fluid motion, she pivoted around its stilled limb and punched through the chest cavity, unleashing a flare of luminous chakra that ruptured the beast from within. Its roar died in a gurgle as it toppled, black mass disintegrating before it could crush the street.
Near the main gate, Naruto's presence galvanized an entire company of shinobi who fought in synchronized bursts. His whisker-marked face glowed with a conflux of Nine-Tails chakra and faint strands of time-warping energy, granting him uncanny speed and power. A half dozen monstrous figures charged the gate, each a snarling fusion of reptile and insect, drooling acidic shadow. Naruto lunged to meet them head-on, forging a colossal Rasengan that pulsed with layers of temporal disruption. The swirling orb tore into the central foe with savage force, freezing its legs in time so the remainder of its body shredded itself on the Rasengan's rotating mass. Then the jutsu detonated outward, fracturing the street and sending the other creatures tumbling. The squads behind him capitalized on the opening, launching hailstorms of kunai or amplifying jutsu with newly learned energies. One squad conjured a confluence of Light illusions that baited the monsters into pre-arranged traps, while another used condensed Void wells to paralyze anything that broke formation. Despite their advantage, Naruto felt the fatigue in his bones. No matter how many waves they blasted, fresh horrors kept emerging from cracks in reality.
Anon oversaw the eastern sector, stepping through ephemeral shadow gates with silent footfalls. Waves of lesser nightmares lunged from alleys, shrieking nonsense as their malformed limbs thrashed. With barely a flicker, Anon vanished into a patch of darkness, reemerging behind the largest beast to sever its spine using a blade of living shadow. The creature crumpled, convulsing as it dissolved. Anon's squad, trained to harness illusions that layered over real stealth tactics, ensnared entire packs of fiends in illusions that mirrored the environment, leading them into dead ends where cunning finishes awaited. Yet even as they excelled in infiltration and ambush, Anon recognized the pace of this conflict threatened to overwhelm them. Each victory felt precariously won, each wave slightly more adapted to their powers.
Ryusei coordinated from elevated positions, fracturing time itself to slow strategic portions of the invasion. Whenever a monstrous wave threatened to overrun an exhausted squad, he flicked his wrist to dilate local time, giving defenders precious seconds to recover or reposition. In one motion, he might freeze half a street's worth of enemies, while in another, he'd conjure a planar fold to redirect destructive energies away from vulnerable areas. But the effort taxed him dearly. Maintaining such manipulations in multiple spots across the village risked fracturing timelines if he lost focus. Every swirl of his aura betrayed how close to the edge he walked. Still, he pressed on, unwavering, determined that these abominations would gain no further ground.
Atop the Hokage Monument, Minato directed reinforcements to critical junctures. Space Squad ninja, standing at his flanks, opened short-lived dimensional corridors for medical teams to zip behind front lines, rescue the wounded, then vanish before enemies could react. Whenever a rift spontaneously flared to life beyond the walls, Minato dispatched squads with pinpoint accuracy, each given precise instructions on how best to contain that sudden eruption of monstrous nightmares. And so the dance of battle continued, forging a tapestry of unity in the face of unspeakable darkness.
An hour of furious combat passed, each minute stretching into what felt like eternity. The village streets, battered and scorched, testified to the ferocity of the onslaught. Yet the shinobi never lost hope. Their synergy was as refined as it was formidable, blending all the new energies—Time, Void, Light, Shadow, and Space—into a layered fortress of tactics the fiends couldn't easily breach. Occasionally, some monstrous alpha ripped through the lines, howling in triumph, only to be brought down by a combined barrage of unstoppable jutsu.
But then came a brief hush. The shrieks diminished, the roars tapered to uneasy snarls. The hideous silhouettes retreated into corners of the gloom, as though commanded to wait. Silence pressed upon the village, broken only by the ragged breathing of battle-weary shinobi and the crackle of distant flames. The mass of swirling clouds overhead churned ominously. It was an interlude that felt like a held breath before a cataclysmic plunge.
A shape formed above the highest rift, massive and regal in its dark majesty. Lightning crackled around it, unveiling a creature no longer mere silhouette but carved from living shadow. There was something regal about its stance, as if this was an advanced herald of the convergence, far more intelligent and powerful than any previous abomination. Its eyes pulsed a deep crimson. In a voice that resonated through every corner of the battlefield, it spoke:
"So you still defy the inevitable. Your powers amuse me, but they will not save you. The convergence grows with each passing breath. I offer you one final chance—submit, become part of our reality, or be destroyed."
Naruto spat blood from a split lip, refusing to let terror or exhaustion dull his spirit. He stared up at the monstrous figure. "We bow to no one. Especially not a walking shadow with too big an ego."
Sasuke stood beside him, lightning crackling along his blade as he raised it in silent challenge. Sakura readied her glowing fists, and the squads behind them all braced for the next assault. Anon and Ryusei took positions on opposite flanks, prepared to manipulate time, space, and illusions at a moment's notice.
The regal shadow's laugh boomed, an echo of cosmic malevolence. "Very well. Then perish."
With that, the sky convulsed. Rifts tore open in droves, spitting out an army of creatures so numerous they blotted out the flickers of moonlight that had managed to pierce the storm. The monstrous host howled as one, an unearthly chant of annihilation, and then rushed forward like a living avalanche of claws, fangs, and pure darkness.
Shinobi from every squad felt their hearts lurch. This wave dwarfed all previous ones combined, each creature glistening with newly adapted energies—some burned with swirling Void, others bristled with temporal distortions, still others flickered in and out of existence using illusions akin to Shadow or Light manipulations. The convergence had learned from every battle, every technique it had witnessed.
Minato's voice rang out once more: "Stand fast! Remember your training—Time Squad, slow their vanguard! Void Squad, compress the center! Light, Shadow, Space—cover the flanks! Eternal Hokage, lead the charge!" His calm command cut through the dread, giving the battered defenders a rallying point. They roared their acknowledgment, re-forming into cohesive strike teams.
Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Anon, and Ryusei all locked eyes, a silent vow passing between them. Exhausted, wounded, but indomitable, they sprang into motion, unleashing every ounce of synergy they had honed in this new era. The monstrous host slammed against their defenses, darkness colliding with swirling Rasengans, crackling Chidoris, blazing illusions, gravitational implosions, and temporal distortions.
And so began the final stand of the Leaf Village against the infinite shadows of the convergence, each side unwilling to yield, each blow rewriting the fabric of night. This was the heart of the storm—where the fate of countless worlds might be decided in a single, desperate struggle under the blood-red sky.