NOVEL NEXT Chapter 120: 119. The Last Light
The night refused to end. Crimson clouds churned across the sky, crackling with a dark radiance that cast every rooftop in a sinister glow. Within the Hidden Leaf Village, battered shinobi rallied around temporary barricades and improvised defenses, the oppressive atmosphere pushing many to their physical and mental limits. Yet despite this crushing strain, an unbreakable glimmer of resolve pulsed through the streets.
Naruto stood near the collapsed remnant of a once-proud watchtower, breathing hard, sweat coursing down the side of his face. Kurama's chakra still wreathed his form in an orange aura laced with subtle threads of time-warping energy, but even that might was slowly being drained by the unending conflict. Around him, squads regrouped, some kneeling to catch their breath, others tending to injured comrades while keeping a wary eye on the swirling tempest above.
He glanced across the square to see Sasuke perched on a section of rubble, watching the horizon with unwavering vigilance. Both of Sasuke's eyes—Sharingan and Rinnegan—flickered, scanning for the next wave. Each time thunder rolled, the flash of red in the sky seemed to intensify, hinting that the respite would be short.
Sakura hurried to Naruto's side, her fists giving off a faint luminescence. She placed a hand on his shoulder and released a gentle wave of healing chakra. Though she was exhausted, there was an unshakeable determination in her eyes. "You okay?" she asked, her tone equal parts concern and unwavering faith.
Naruto inhaled, nodding. "I'm holding up. Thanks." He returned her gaze, the brief flicker of a grin on his lips. "We're not done, are we?"
Sakura shook her head. "No. But if we stand together, we'll handle whatever they throw at us."
A thunderous impact rattled the plaza, and both turned to see a monstrous shape crash into the protective barrier maintained by the Space Squad. The barrier shimmered, nearly collapsing under the brute's onslaught before a surge of sealing arrays lit up its surface, holding firm. Another hush descended as allied shinobi prepared to counterattack.
From an adjacent rooftop, Anon melded from a swirl of shadows, dark illusions rippling off his form. Wordlessly, he flicked his wrist toward the monstrous shape, and an entire squad of Shadow ninja poured out of the gloom, illusions layered upon illusions to isolate their enemy. Their combined efforts disoriented the creature, presenting it as multiple images of the Leaf defenders scattered around. Confused, it lashed out blindly, only to find Anon's blade of living darkness carving a fatal wound across its rib-like torso. With a final screech, the beast slumped, dissolving into a mass of thick, black vapor.
Across the courtyard, Ryusei arrived in a flicker of time-displaced motion, guiding a squad that bore the battered and wounded from a just-finished skirmish. He set them down safely beside Sakura, who immediately moved to tend to their injuries. Though his breath came in ragged gasps, Ryusei's aura flared with combined Time and Void energies. "They're not giving up," he said quietly. "And they're getting more organized."
Before anyone could respond, a screech like nails on stone tore through the air. An entire line of newly spawned abominations materialized at the far end of the square, each shaped like a tall, hunched figure with jointed limbs that bent at unnatural angles. Their eyes burned a toxic green, and arcs of black lightning crackled around their elongated arms. The swirling red sky overhead pulsed, as though feeding them with malevolent power.
Minato's voice echoed from his vantage point: "Form up! Defense squads on the perimeter! Attack squads, focus your jutsu on their flanks!"
The shinobi sprang into action once more. Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Anon, and Ryusei converged on the horde, synergy forging an unstoppable wedge. Each advanced on pure adrenaline, refusing to yield an inch of ground. Naruto drew on every ounce of strength, forging a Rasenshuriken that twisted time around its edges. He flung it with a primal roar, the swirling orb expanding as it hit the cluster of fiends, exploding in a fractal burst that locked them in slowed motion before obliterating them in a cascade of savage energy.
Sasuke flashed behind the next rank, his blade slicing through a seam in reality to create a gravitational shockwave. The creatures howled as space folded, trapping them in a vice-like force that crushed limbs and torsos as easily as dry twigs. Sakura waded in, her fists a symphony of destructive brilliance. One punch hammered a monster's skull with enough force to create a crater, while a second blow unleashed a wash of Light illusions that blinded others, leaving them open for her final strike. Anon glided overhead, ephemeral and ghostlike, using illusions of entire squads to bait the fiends into choke points. Tendrils of living shadow erupted from the ground at his command, impaling some and ensnaring others until Leaf kunai finished the job. Meanwhile, Ryusei bent time around them, halting the largest creatures mid-lunge so the shinobi could dispatch them, or reversing a catastrophic blast that threatened to tear through a squad of defenders.
Yet for all their valor, the unstoppable waves kept coming. With every assault repulsed, the sky howled in protest, rifts expanding in that damned glow of electric red. The greater shape of the dark herald hovered in the swirling vortex above, biding its time. Every time it raised its hand, a new legion manifested, each wave more cunning or savage than the last. If the Leaf defenders were tired, the convergence pressed them all the harder, as though aiming to break them with sheer attrition.
From a high vantage, Minato closed his eyes briefly, composing a new plan. Then he vanished in a blink of spatial teleportation, reappearing beside Naruto. "We need to cut off the herald's control," he said grimly, voice raised over the roar of the ongoing fight. "I can sense its link with the rifts fueling these fiends. If we don't sever that link, we'll be overwhelmed."
Naruto, panting, nodded. "So we go after that big guy up there?" He pointed at the swirling darkness above, where the herald watched with cruel amusement.
"Exactly," Minato confirmed. "But we have to buy enough time for the squads below to handle the legion. Otherwise, they'll be slaughtered."
Sasuke's eyes flared with determination as he joined them. "I'll open a path. Anon can cloak us in illusions long enough to reach the herald. Once we do, we attack all at once before it can retaliate."
Sakura arrived, standing guard while scanning for threats. "Count me in. We land one decisive strike, break its hold on the rifts, and the rest can mop up these monsters."
Ryusei stepped closer, each breath measured but resolute. "Then it's settled. We take the fight to the sky. But be warned—the convergence is strongest around the herald. One misstep, and we could be lost in its dimensional swirl."
A tremor coursed through the earth, accompanied by the thunder of countless footfalls—a fresh wave was charging from the outskirts. Shinobi all around braced, forming last-minute defenses. There would be no perfect chance to strike; they had to create their own.
Anon's dark gaze fell upon the flaming horizon. "I'll rally the squads, keep the main legion occupied. You five press on the herald," he said quietly, illusions already weaving into the gloom around them. "If the herald sees it coming, it might vanish. Hit fast, hit hard."
Naruto's grin barely masked his exhaustion. "Fast and hard? That's what I do best."
Sasuke smirked faintly. "Try not to blow us up this time."
Minato rested a hand on Naruto's shoulder. "We'll do this as a team. No grandstanding. Understood?"
Naruto chuckled, closing his eyes for the span of a single breath. "Got it, Dad. Let's go end this."
At Minato's signal, squads peeled off, launching into fresh engagements against the newly spawned wave. Under a cloak of illusion conjured by Shadow Squad, Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Minato, and Ryusei leapt onto rooftops, each step bringing them closer to that roiling red cloud where the herald awaited. Anon vanished into the shadows behind them, orchestrating diversions below, illusions of entire squads feinting in various directions, drawing the legion's attention away from the ascending force.
Thunder pealed, and the swirling rifts overhead pulsed, bright enough to sting the eyes. High above, the herald spread its arms, arcs of black lightning coalescing to form a swirling mass of corrupted chakra in its grip. The roars on the battlefield escalated—dozens of fiends bounding over rubble and battered walls in a desperate attempt to intercept the ascending shinobi. But illusions and dimensional folds parted their way, courtesy of Anon's carefully timed tactics and Space Squad's fleeting gates.
Sasuke compressed the air around the group, creating a short-lived gravitational bubble that propelled them upward in a single leap. Naruto, time-lacing his momentum, soared even higher, forming a swirling Rasengan that crackled with Kurama's fury. Minato hovered near him, forging a space-warp seal beneath their feet to keep them airborne. Sakura braced her fists for an explosive strike, while Ryusei extended a temporal distortion that slowed any interfering monstrosity to a crawl.
Lightning flashed, illuminating the herald's wicked grin. "So you do intend to challenge me directly? How amusing. Come then, mortals, let me show you the might of the true convergence!"
In a simultaneous motion, the five shinobi surged forward—no words, only the shared unity of a single lethal objective. The final confrontation at last hovered on the brink of realization, the fates of countless worlds hanging in the balance. And in that ephemeral hush, as lightning seared across the heavens, they all understood: if they could strike down the herald, perhaps they could stop the endless waves and break the convergence from within.