Speedrunning Naruto to the Top

At that moment, Yang Kurama (the Nine-Tails) felt nothing but seething rage.

As a manifestation of chakra given form, it could practically sense its other half, Yin Kurama, the instant it returned to the physical world.

Logically, being a "more advanced" clone of the original, it ought to be able to focus on two tasks at once and share its other half's field of vision. Yet right now, Yang Kurama could detect Yin Kurama's presence but not share its sight or even connect their consciousness.

This meant its other half's chakra was currently not carrying its own will—instead, its will was being controlled by someone else.

Yang Kurama subconsciously recalled the masked man from ten-plus years ago, the one who made it smash through Konoha's walls. That man possessed the power to summon it. In the entire shinobi world—aside from the Six Paths Sage, who was deceased—only one person could do that.

"Madara, is it?"

Yang Kurama lay back down, letting out a cold snort. "So he really didn't die in that battle all those years ago. But since he didn't allow my consciousness to return, it must mean his body's failing. Too bad I couldn't finish him for good."

Yang Kurama felt both a bit smug and a bit disappointed.

Shortly thereafter, its gaze grew solemn as it recalled all the intel it had gleaned through its young Jinchūriki host's experiences.

"Old Man's eyes have reappeared. Sooner or later, that man who controls the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path will come for me. Should I warn those guys?" Yang Kurama hesitated for a few seconds, then said indignantly, "Hmph. The whole ninja world's known about this for a while, yet none of them have come seeking out yours truly. Why should I be the one to contact them? If I did, that annoying Shukaku would definitely taunt me."

Recalling Shukaku's smug face, Yang Kurama became even more determined not to get in touch with the other Tailed Beasts.

"By the way, what's this 'Tenseigan' business? The Old Man had a brother? I have no memory of that at all." Yang Kurama grunted in confusion and then rolled onto its back, closing its eyes for another nap.

…

Meanwhile, back in the Land of Water, Izayoi prepared a Summoning Contract and forced Yin Kurama to sign it under his control.

Together with the Tenseigan's Mind Sphere and the Yin–Yang Release black rods, even if Obito discovered the Nine-Tails and had the ability to summon it, he wouldn't be able to wrest control of it from Izayoi.

After finishing, Izayoi had Orochimaru release Edo Tensei on Namikaze Minato. Then, using the Flying Thunder God Technique, he teleported back to his base with Minato.

At once, Izayoi returned to the Land of Water and teleported away with Yin Kurama to a cave lined with wooden structures.

This cave, in fact, lay beneath a remote island far from the ninja continent. Observing closely, you'd see the walls were actually made of wood. It was more like a Mokuton-made prison than a natural cave.

On a kind of wooden platform sat a Wood Clone in Sage Mode, dispersing Mokuton chakra to sense the surroundings. Izayoi handed Yin Kurama over to this Wood Clone for safekeeping before undoing his own Wood Transformation and teleporting back home.

"Sage Mode, that unexpectedly obtained Sage Physique, the divine gift for my left eye, and, crucially, Yin Kurama are all in my hands now. Time to go full throttle and see who's better prepared!" Izayoi gave a wide grin.

He had to admit that Nagato, now restored to his prime, was putting real pressure on him. This butterfly effect had triggered a chain of events: Nagato got the Tobi battle armor, sharpened his wits, learned Obito's true identity from Izayoi, seized the initiative, then regained his vitality via Haidou's Gelel Stone – plus he'd mastered Sage Mode.

Aside from not having a Perfect Susanoo or the gravity to pull down a Chibaku Tensei at will, Nagato was now no weaker than Edo Madara, especially with Sage Mode at his disposal.

Once he donned Tobi's armor, using the Wood Golem, his power might even surpass Edo Madara's.

Add to that improved intellect, Obito's Kamui, and Black Zetsu's infiltration jutsu—the combination was enough that Izayoi had no doubt Nagato would be fully prepared for their inevitable second showdown.

Though Izayoi didn't know the specifics of Nagato's plan, as long as Kamui existed, Izayoi could seize the initiative. Before the final battle began, he needed just one thing: more points!

Between the Konoha Destruction operation, the Amegakure incident, and the Akatsuki's clashes with the Kumogakure troops, Izayoi had reaped a decent haul. But it wasn't enough to push his points past the 410,000 mark. He'd been busy all along, having his Wood Clones use puppet proxies to hunt lone strong ninjas.

Just as he'd told Orochimaru: in the ninja world, anyone powerful automatically became a target for Izayoi's Wood Clones. The moment they let their guard down, the Wood Clones would deploy a puppet army to overwhelm or kill them.

He'd already worked out the cooldown times for "entries." For entries under purple rank, the cooldown was less than a year, varying in speed. Purple rank entries had exactly a one-year cooldown. Gold rank entries he hadn't managed to "pop" yet, so he wasn't sure. Red rank entries, however, always required two years.

Both Sasuke and Hinata had red entries that took exactly two years to cool down—no more, no less.

Without Yin Kurama, Izayoi didn't dare burn too much of his real body's chakra for fear of tipping someone off. Thus, he had kept a low profile, hunting only isolated ninjas or small squads from the Five Great Nations. After all, two experiments had confirmed that even the puppet army was no match for an entire major village.

Now that his Wood Clone had Yin Kurama—the equivalent of a nuclear reactor—charging the black rods, the puppet army effectively had infinite chakra. No matter what happened, it wouldn't affect Izayoi's real body.

"Now I can do whatever I want!"

Izayoi's eyes gleamed with a conqueror's expression. "Let the hunt begin!"

Before long, the ninja world—peaceful for barely half a year—was once again thrown into turmoil.

…

"Orochimaru-sama, are you alright? Orochimaru-sama…?"

Kabuto's urgent voice roused Orochimaru from his stupor. Still dazed, Orochimaru blinked at Kabuto and mumbled, "Kabuto, did you die too?"

"Orochimaru-sama, what are you talking about?" Kabuto asked, baffled. "I just finished burying Guren and came back to find you standing here in a daze. What happened?"

Orochimaru snapped awake, glancing around at their familiar headquarters. A surge of relief crossed his face. "I'm…not dead?"

Kabuto's expression grew serious. "Did the Akatsuki come after us again?"

"No, it wasn't the Akatsuki—it was someone even more dangerous," Orochimaru replied, regaining his composure. He recalled how "Ōtsutsuki Toneri" had so easily sapped him of strength, and his gaze filled with shock. "He drained my chakra in an instant—my very mental and physical energy. But only a short time has passed, and somehow I'm already recovered. Could it have been an illusion? That sensation felt so real, though—it definitely wasn't a genjutsu. And what was that green orb? Why did I lose consciousness?"

Unable to solve the mystery, Orochimaru turned to Kabuto. "Kabuto, give me a full medical exam."

"Yes, Orochimaru-sama." Kabuto bowed respectfully.

The pair headed toward the lab, but both suddenly sensed something outside. Sharing a tense look, they dashed out of the base.

No sooner did they exit than they saw four crimson walls of transparent chakra rising high into the sky, then a fifth sealing the top.

"Four Red Yang Formation!" Orochimaru said, face dark.

Kabuto's eyes widened. "That's the rumored barrier that requires four Kage-level shinobi to cast at once, right?"

They'd heard Nagato used something like it to trap the base before, but that time Orochimaru and Kabuto had only learned about it afterward due to Izayoi's interference. Seeing it firsthand now, Kabuto realized how different it was from the Four Violet Flames Formation.

"What threat do we pose that they'd need four Kage-tier ninjas to trap us?" Kabuto muttered with a wry smile.

Right then, two figures appeared in midair and dropped onto the ground about ten meters ahead. Having fought through two previous shinobi wars, Orochimaru recognized the technique immediately. "That's Heavenly Transfer Jutsu!"

"Those black rods… Are these Pain's Six Paths from the Akatsuki?" Kabuto wondered aloud. At first glance, the two puppet-like beings with black rods all over them resembled the Rinnegan corpses, but then he saw their eyes and realized something. His mind flared with understanding. "No, they're human puppets!"

Taking a deep breath, Orochimaru examined the pair of puppet corpses—which once had been Kumogakure ninja. "To our visitors: if you just want my life, you can take it at any time. There's no need for such a grand spectacle."

"Our strength is equal to yours," one of the puppets said, drawing a short blade charged with Lightning Release. "If you beat us, you live. If you lose, accept your fate."

With that, both puppets rushed forward. A fierce clash among Kage-tier fighters broke out immediately.

…

In the Land of Water's Mist Village, Mei Terumī was temporarily handling affairs for the retired Yagura. She, along with the Anbu and Mist shinobi in the Mizukage building, abruptly sensed something was off. Mei hurried to the window and, sure enough, witnessed a red translucent barrier wall rising in all four directions around the Mizukage building.

She flickered outside just in time to see it sealed overhead.

"That's the Four Red Yang Formation!" Mei said grimly, eyes betraying fear.

Though Four Red Yang Formation was theoretically just an A-rank barrier technique, not an S-rank ninjutsu, the Hidden Mist—after cooperating with Konoha half a year ago—knew the jutsu's conditions: four Kage-level casters working together to forge a barrier of that scale. So four Kage-level ninja had invaded Kirigakure just to lock down the Mizukage's building. Whoever was attacking must be beyond that level.

"Mei-sama, the people casting the technique are four human puppets," Ao said, appearing beside her. "They're covered with black rods that transmit chakra, similar to the Rinnegan puppet used by the Akatsuki leader, but they themselves don't have the Rinnegan."

"How many unfamiliar enemies are inside the barrier?" Mei asked quickly.

"None—everyone inside is one of ours," Ao replied.

Which meant the enemy would likely appear through some space–time ninjutsu. Mei's eyes grew cold as she spoke a name: "Ōtsutsuki Toneri…!"

As if responding to her, over a hundred figures materialized in midair, then dropped to the ground.

They all wore the same white robes of the "Ōtsutsuki clan," their skin and clothing laced with black rods and black pins. They looked like an army of human puppets. Mei and her fellow Mist shinobi immediately noticed the variety of shinobi forehead protectors—Konoha, Sand, Cloud, Sound, Grass, etc.—but every single one was now a puppet.

Ao's uncovered eye flickered in confusion. But before he could speak, the puppet army charged. He realized at that moment that although the barrier-casters had Kage-level chakra, these hundreds of puppets also had similarly formidable chakra levels. Something was off—had the rods hidden their full power? But Ao lacked the time to voice his doubts.

A fierce battle erupted in front of the Mizukage building. Inevitably, that structure would be reduced to rubble.

The same nightmare played out at Suna's Kazekage building, Iwa's Tsuchikage building, the new Kumogakure's Raikage building (still less than three months old), and Konoha's Hokage building.

"Damn that bastard—so he really did steal the Scroll of Seals!"

Observing the arrival of the puppet army with Heavenly Transfer Jutsu, the Fourth Raikage swore at the top of his lungs. The next second, his eyes went wide. Among the puppets made from Kumogakure corpses, one had unusually pale skin but was enveloped by blue-white electricity—manifesting the Lightning Release Chakra Mode!

Moments later, a massive clash erupted around the Raikage building.

At the same time, the Valley of Clouds and Lightning near the newly rebuilt Kumogakure was sealed by yet another Four Red Yang Formation. There, Aburame Torune appeared from thin air, performed Shadow Clone Jutsu to produce four duplicates, and they all fused different-color chakra flares into a single prismatic orb. It glowed violently, unleashing a deafening explosion.

Five Release Great Combo Technique!

Towering mountains turned to dust in an instant, sending thick clouds of debris soaring skyward.

"Rrraaaagh…!"

The roar of a beast blew away the dust. Fully transformed into the Eight-Tails, Gyūki had emerged in all its fury.

~~~

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