While Izayoi's real body and shadow clone-controlled puppet army reaped Root operatives and corpses of the three-way ninja clash on Central Street, the shadow clone disguised as Pain's Deva Path, acting alone, used Ranmaru's red-eye illusions to slip into the Hokage Tower.
As Konoha's nerve center, the tower was heavily guarded by Anbu, even amid war.
Surveillance and sensory barriers were omnipresent.
Such tight security meant a fly couldn't enter unnoticed—Anbu could squash it instantly if they chose.
Without Hiruzen Sarutobi's orders, Naruto Uzumaki would've been seized the moment he entered, never reaching the Hokage's office or escaping with the massive Scroll of Seals.
"Captain Tenzo, an unknown chakra signature infiltrated the tower, but surveillance can't pinpoint them. They might have a Transparency Escape-like secret technique or kekkei genkai."
Izayoi's entry alerted the sensory team.
After coordinating with surveillance, they reported to Captain Tenzo, acting commander in the absence of the Hokage and elders.
"Understood," Tenzo's voice crackled through the comms. "Maintain the barrier. We'll handle the intruder."
"Yes, sir."
Though silent to Izayoi, he saw their exchange.
Being detected didn't surprise him.
If Anbu couldn't counter mere invisibility, they wouldn't deserve their Hokage-direct, above-all privilege.
Izayoi's infiltration aimed to confront Anbu.
But he had a smaller task first.
He flickered out of sight.
Bang—
The sensory team's door shattered under a powerful force.
Izayoi strode in, giving them no time to react. Raising a hand, he declared, "Shinra Tensei!"
A balanced repulsive storm swept the room, smashing devices and objects.
Sensory ninja, wired to equipment, were flung into walls, debris piling secondary injuries.
Before they could rise through the pain, Izayoi flickered to them, striking chakra into their tenketsu, knocking them out.
The sensory barrier over the tower vanished.
Puppets waiting outside, cloaked by Ranmaru's red eyes, flooded in.
After incapacitating the sensory team, Izayoi feigned a killing blow, as if spotting something.
Two shouts rang out.
"Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld!"
"Wood Release: Great Tree Wall!"
Vines sprouted from walls, turning the room into a wooden enclosure.
The floor became a swamp, but no mud hands or earth dragons attacked Izayoi—it sank downward.
Losing footing, Izayoi and the unconscious ninja plummeted.
Vines extended, catching the sensory team, binding them like cocoons with heads exposed, hanging for rescue.
More vines, like octopus tentacles, lashed at Izayoi.
Others morphed into sharp wooden spears, shooting toward him.
"Shinra Tensei."
Izayoi broke all with force, scattering vines and spears, accelerating his descent.
Passing through the Wood Release tunnel, he landed in the tower's underground base.
A long black snake slithered swiftly, aiming to bite his foot and link with his shadow.
Following its path, a cat-masked Anbu held a seal.
Shadow Imitation Technique!
As a shadow clone, Izayoi didn't test the technique's effect. He soared upward, arms spread, charging. "Shinra Tensei!"
BOOM—
An invisible storm roared like a gale.
The base's floor and structures shattered.
Anbu closing in, ready with tactical coordination, hadn't expected such power—or an instant ultimate technique.
Those hit flew back.
Unlucky ones collided with debris mid-flight, gravely injured.
Fortunate ones, like enduring Wind Release, landed hard after a distance.
Only Tenzo, Anbu's top operative, defied both fates.
Mid-flight, he calmly formed seals, using Wood Release to sprout vines, swatting debris and catching allies.
But the storm tore the vines apart.
Tenzo conjured a woven vine net behind, cushioning himself and his team.
As the storm faded, he barked, "Leave—find reinforcements. Alert Lord Jiraiya and the elders. This intruder's beyond you."
"Yes, sir!"
Disciplined Anbu nodded, enduring pain to flicker away via other exits.
Izayoi didn't stop them—his target was Tenzo alone.
"Banshō Ten'in!"
Invisible gravity, like a giant hand, yanked Tenzo off the ground.
"That's… gravity!" Tenzo's masked face twitched. "So that unstoppable storm was repulsion."
His hands moved swiftly, forming seals. "Wood Release: Nativity of a Sea of Trees!"
Rumble—
The ravaged base quaked.
Green saplings burst from the ground.
Like time accelerated, they grew into towering trees, transforming the base into a small forest.
The forest blocked the gravity, letting Tenzo break free, landing on a treetop.
As he prepared seals for Wood Clones to probe the enemy, a shout from above froze him, realizing his folly.
"Shinra Tensei!"
A green dome hovered over the forest, air twisting around Izayoi.
Converting vast chakra into repulsion and compressing it, he unleashed it.
A translucent white barrier expanded from him.
Like an indestructible wall, it pulverized everything—dust stayed outside.
The forest shattered on contact, trees unable to bend.
Tenzo, cornered, dove into a tree hollow, forming seals. "Wood Release: Wooden Dome!"
Wooden pillars rose, curving into a cocoon around him.
Rumble—
A deafening crash exploded, the ground shaking.
Crack—
Wood splintered, and despair flooded Tenzo's face.
BOOM—
Something overwhelmed him, and he blacked out.
The quake reached the surface.
Figures sped toward the tower.
Leading was a rare 191cm white-haired ninja.
Feeling the tremors, Jiraiya asked urgently, "You're sure the intruder wears a black cloak with red clouds, orange hair, and purple rippled eyes?"
"Yes, Lord Jiraiya," an Anbu confirmed.
Jiraiya's heart leapt with hope and dread.
His long-thought-dead disciple was alive, nearby, making him wish for flight to reach Yahiko instantly.
But worry clouded him. Yahiko, what have you been through? Why Akatsuki's garb? Why Nagato's Rinnegan in you?
When Jiraiya and Anbu reached the base, 'Deva Path' and Tenzo were gone. A massive crater, like a meteor strike, lay surrounded by rubble and trees.
Jiraiya and Anbu's pupils shrank.
Anbu feared for Tenzo, stunned by the technique's scope.
Jiraiya's heart sank.
Undoubtedly, this was Rinnegan power!
His gut screamed his disciple had strayed.
What happened all these years?
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