ALL NOVEL Chapter 117: 116. Twilight of the Shinobi
Darkness pressed in on all sides, the sky streaked with crimson lightning, the air alive with the electric sense of something vast and hungry waiting just beyond mortal sight. The roars of monstrous entities reverberated through the Hidden Leaf Village, while shinobi of every rank and specialty rushed to the barricades, their eyes gleaming with determination and flickers of fear. The convergence had descended in full force this time—no testing of defenses or cautious probing. Now it was a wholesale onslaught, a final push seeking to engulf the village in endless night.
Naruto crouched atop a damaged section of the perimeter wall, the swirling energies of Time and Nine-Tails chakra dancing around him like translucent flames. His eyes scanned the chaos below, where squads battled clawed shadows that slithered across rooftops and battered at hastily erected barricades. Every inch of the village seemed under siege. He knew from Kurama's urgent growls that this wave was far more intense than any before it. His heart pounded, adrenaline thrumming through every vein, yet behind that rush was a cold certainty that they had to stand firm. Retreat wasn't an option.
Sasuke hurled himself into the thick of the fray, Rinnegan and Sharingan blazing in his eyes as he bent the Void around him. With a single hand sign, he compressed the space between himself and a hulking, three-headed abomination. That monstrous shape warped, crushed inward by invisible gravitational fields until its shrieks devolved into gurgled silence. Nearby, Sasuke's supporting squad hammered at lesser fiends with coordinated blasts of ninjutsu enhanced by Graviton energy, each blow warping reality to strike at the creatures' vitals. Sasuke spared no breath for encouragement; his presence alone was galvanizing. The shinobi at his side fought like whirlwinds, knowing that even with all their new powers, letting up for a second could prove fatal.
Sakura moved in perfect tandem with the Light Squad, her fists crackling with a radiant energy that bent time around each strike. She lunged into a knot of beastlike foes who lashed out with serrated claws, darkness coiling at their fingertips. With precise footwork, Sakura dodged sideways, then twisted her torso to deliver a punishing blow that unleashed a blinding flash. The target froze mid-swing, its body locked in a momentary time distortion, giving Sakura the opening to shatter its torso with her next hit. Shards of inky flesh rained to the ground, dissolving into foul-smelling vapor. All around her, brilliant bursts of luminance cut the gloom, illusions woven by her teammates to mislead the rampaging creatures. Even so, the enemy's numbers pressed in ceaselessly, climbing over their own dead, relentless in their single-minded pursuit of annihilation.
Anon led the Shadow Squad through one of the narrower streets, illusions and living darkness swirling at his command. He blurred through the gloom like an avenging phantom, each slash of his blade dissipating entire clusters of nightmares. Around him, allied shinobi stepped in and out of shadow portals, performing lethal hit-and-run attacks that left the invaders reeling. Yet for every wave they crushed, more fiends poured out from fresh rifts. Anon's brow furrowed; the convergence seemed fueled by a perverse intelligence. No matter how efficiently they slaughtered the creatures, the storm overhead raged on, birthing new horrors faster than they could kill them.
Ryusei stood atop a half-collapsed watchtower near the north gate, an aura of swirling Time and Void twisting around him. His keen senses picked up the shifting patterns of the battlefield—dimensional cracks opening and closing, pockets of unsteady reality that threatened to devour entire squads if they misstepped. With calm authority, he manipulated the local timeline around an allied platoon cornered by colossal, insect-like brutes. For them, time moved faster, their movements accelerated to a blur. The creatures swung at empty air, dumbfounded by the speed of the shinobi who cut them down methodically. Then Ryusei flicked his hand, bending the Void to isolate a cluster of enemy reinforcements in a pocket dimension. Their roars echoed as they vanished, neutralized without a blow. Yet despite these victories, the strain showed in the tightness around Ryusei's eyes. Even someone of his immense skill felt the lethal weight of the convergence pushing back.
Atop the ruined Hokage Monument, Minato oversaw the defense, hawk-eyed. Space Squad members coordinated with him, conjuring short-lived portals that allowed squads to teleport around the village, reinforcing weak points at an instant's notice. In the flicker of an eye, four squads might appear behind a wave of shadows, flanking them with pincer attacks that dissolved the fiends in arcs of lightning, illusions of shadow, or gravitational implosions. This synergy was breathtaking, a testament to how far the Leaf had come. But the cost was immense. Chakra reserves across the board began to run thin; med-nin did what they could for the wounded, and still the monstrous waves kept rising, as if drawn by an unending hunger.
A scream cut through the din of battle—a squad pinned against a burning shop, threatened by a giant serpentine monstrosity. Sakura vaulted across rooftops, golden arcs of Light trailing behind her. She landed in front of the serpent, halting it with an explosive punch that cracked its skull like fragile pottery. Yet even as it fell, two more creatures lunged from behind. Sakura whipped around, arms raised to defend, but time froze. Sasuke flashed into existence, his eyes fierce, shearing those ambushers apart with an impossibly swift double slash. The two locked gazes briefly, each giving a curt nod. Their synergy had never been more fluid.
Not far away, Naruto unleashed a thunderous roar of defiance, his Nine-Tails cloak blazing with unusual intensity, swirling with the faint corona of Time energy. He formed a colossal Rasengan, layering it with Eclipsed chakra. A group of towering, ogre-like creatures stomped toward him, their combined roars shaking the very earth. Naruto hurled the Rasengan into their midst. It expanded in a brilliant conflagration, warping time around the impact. For a brief instant, those ogres seemed to move in slow motion, panic dawning on their twisted faces before they were consumed in a cosmic swirl of compressed chakra and raw temporal distortion. The explosion's shockwave flattened lesser creatures and tore open cracks in the ground. Naruto grinned breathlessly—this level of power would have been unimaginable in his younger days, yet even now he sensed the monstrous cost it exacted on his stamina.
Anon's dark form emerged from the swirling dust, shadow illusions flickering around him as he surveyed the aftermath. The wave in this sector had been pushed back, at least momentarily, giving the battered squads a chance to catch their breath. In that brief respite, the battered defenders locked eyes, acknowledging each other's heroic feats in silence. The battle was far from won, but they'd seized a sliver of hope.
Yet, from above, the clouds boiled, and the monstrous silhouette of the dark herald reemerged, floating on a vortex of black lightning. Its voice cracked like thunder. "So, you refuse to fall. Impressive. But no matter how fiercely you fight, the convergence grows stronger. Your defiance only amplifies its hunger."
Ryusei met the herald's glare from the top of a broken archway. "We've beaten you before. We'll do it again." His voice carried across the battlefield, buoying the morale of shinobi who paused to hear him.
Sasuke stood alongside Naruto, both battered yet unbroken. "Your illusions, your legions—they're nothing compared to the will of this village."
Naruto smirked, chakra swirling around him in defiance. "We're not going down quietly, you shadow freak. You'll see what real strength looks like when we fight for each other!"
The herald laughed, a terrible, echoing sound. "Then die together, brimming with naive faith." It gestured toward the stormy heavens, and fresh rifts tore open, disgorging new monstrosities even as the battered defenders readied themselves once more.
Minato's voice rang out, calm amidst chaos: "Form up! This is only the beginning. Show them why the Leaf stands eternal."
In unison, squads advanced, forging a brilliant line of unified chakra energies: swirling Rasengans laced with time; Chidoris that bent space; illusions layered with radiant light; stealth kills delivered by living shadows. The tide of horrors crashed upon them, and the night sky flared with jutsu after jutsu. The village itself trembled under the strain. But still, they held firm, hearts pounding with the conviction that they guarded something precious—every life in the Leaf, every timeline that might otherwise be devoured by the shadows.
Lightning lanced across the sky, revealing the harried expressions of defenders from all sides. Though they were exhausted, drained by unending waves, none gave ground. Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Anon, and Ryusei each found themselves battered, yet far from broken, sparks of incredible synergy flaring whenever they fought together. And above it all, the ominous herald hovered, seemingly unassailable, controlling the legions of darkness like a puppeteer with infinite strings.
Hope and dread mingled in the air, fueling a desperate struggle that had no clear end in sight. Shadows consumed the battlefield, but the warriors of the Leaf stood as luminous beacons of defiance. The Rise of Shadows was upon them, and the final act of the convergence loomed closer with each swirling gust of malevolent wind.
They would not falter. They would not submit. But they all wondered, in the quiet corners of their minds, how long they could endure against an enemy that thrived on their very resistance—how many more nights like this they'd survive before the dawn of victory or the descent into oblivion.