__________ POV Narration __________

Onoki felt an odd premonition as he flew towards the Dark Bortherhood's compound.

He, the Kazekage and the One Tail Jinchuriki were all flying at a similar pace, heading for the same location.

Below them, the shinobi that had survived the encounter with the Red Dot were dashing through the forests, jumping from tree to tree while struggling to keep up with the Onoki and the rest.

Overall, they still had a sizable force with them, two powerful Kage and a Jinchuriki that was difficult to kill.

So why exactly did Onoki feel uneasy about the whole situation?

Well, it was all going smoothly in his eyes, they had successfully held up the Red Dot, making enough time for the sealing formation to be completed.

It was an arduous task, and it wouldn't even have been possible without the help of the traitor that the Grass Village had contacted.

But that man, the Second Blade, gave Onoki a bad vibe to begin with. Would Ken have been that easy to fool? Was it truly that easy to have one of his closest associates be turned against him?

It was just difficult to believe...

And even without that worry on his mind, there was also the fact that their entire operation was bound to be noticed by the other nations that hadn't taken part in the Alliance.

They were hopefully going to be done long before any nation had the time to respond, but there were too many factors that could go wrong.

There were way too many ifs and buts for his liking. He had already been screwed over once for not considering such things after all...

And eventually, his greatest fear materialized. Just as they were creeping a bit closer to the Land of Iron, he smelled something strange... Sulfur.

Not a small amount, it was extremely noticeable to his trained nose.

The Jinchuriki at his side seemed to have noticed something as well, as his gaze turned to panic whilst he gazed down.

Onoki reacted just as quickly, immediately looking down and shouting.

"Explosives ahead!"

Onoki immediately stopped flying forward as well, noticing strange objects peeking through the clouds.

Carried by a strong breeze were paper bombs attached to makeshift parachutes.

The Kazekage and the Jinchuriki both stopped as well, and a large cocoon of metallic sand immediately formed around them all, including the Tsuchikage.

In the very next second, explosions rang out through their surroundings.

Onoki scowled and covered his ears as he felt them ringing, the metallic sand held strong, they were safe, but the people below had likely been affected slightly.

More were bound to have noticed something strange though, so Onoki was not all that concerned. They were all trained shinobi at the end of the day.

'Still... Who the hell would prepare such a strange attack?!'

The cocoon of Iron Sand retracted into the Kazekage's clothes, the Jinchuriki seemed to have grown a single tail of sand, barely sustaining a half-transformed state while preparing for confrontation.

As they had expected, most of the Shinobi below were able to survive the attack. Now that didn't mean they were unscathed. Rather the opposite, many were now injured.

"Tsk, we're surrounded..." Onoki scowled as his greatest worries materialized.

All around the clearing created by the explosions were thousands of shinobi, all of varying ages and statures.

The still-recovering alliance army was caught in the middle of that gigantic clearing.

And as the Shinobi surrounding them closed in, Onoki's eyes widened.

"Shit..."

In an instant, a Gigantic snake barreled up towards the skies, its snout pushing directly into the unsuspecting Kazekage at breakneck speeds.

The Sand Village Leader barely had the time to react before he was sent flying further away from his associates, that gigantic snake disassembling into smaller ones as soon as the Jinchuriki tried to claw at it.

Onoki was about to shout some orders, but a gigantic staff parted the clouds and speared towards him, forcing him to fly to the side and sending the slower Jinchuriki flying.

The First Tail Jinchuriki recovered quickly, but was immediately kicked away by a gigantic frog, which jumped towards it like a bullet.

The staff seemed to then become smaller in size once more, returning to it's user's hands, a person that needed no introduction in the Dust Release user's eyes.

"Even he is here..." Onoki scowled as he then looked down onto... The army of the Leaf.

Countless shinobi rose from the ground and from tree trunks, all wearing the symbols of the leaf.

"Hoho~ As nimble as always, Onoki..." The Tsuchikage's mustache stood straight as he heard that voice.

He gulped as he looked to the side to see the current God of Shinobi.

A rather average height middle-aged man with a pointy brown beard. He wore a black jumpsuit, with a green gauntlet that covered much of his right arm.

He also wore an armored hood with a bandanna-like forehead protector over it, tied with two long straps. that were currently billowing in the wind.

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On his back was the title that he held with pride... 'Third Hokage'.

Hiruzen Sarutobi was currently leisurely floating on a yellow cloud in front of Onoki.

It was a strange technique that seemed to allow him to fly at great speeds, as he had closed the distance between him and Onoki in mere seconds.

Few had survived after seeing it, but the Tsuchikage still knew the name of that technique.

'The Nimbus Cloud...' It was a special release wielded by the Hokage's summon, the Monkey King Enma.

The skies around them seemed to be twisting unnaturally as well, as the Nimbus Cloud was also known as the King of Clouds. It gave it's user absolute control over all clouds in their surroundings.

"What is the meaning of this, Hiruzen?!" Onoki asked as his gaze was now fixated on the God of Shinobi.

He couldn't afford to look away for even a second and give orders to his people below, who had surely entered a struggle already judging from the trembling earth and explosions that were ringing out.

"Well, you lot weren't exactly as careful as you should've been... The forests have ears, and your attack is a prime moment to help shift the balance of this war further..." Hiruzen didn't bother hiding his intentions at all, smiling as he watched his students taking on the Kazekage and the Jinchuriki in the distance.

"Tsk, you opportunistic old fuck! Don't think this is going to end well for you...

Your Leaf Village had no ties to this war, you've done a great job of putting a target on your back! Should've stayed quiet like you did when the Uzumaki were attacked."

Onoki still tried to dissuade the God of Shinobi, wanting ot avoid another dangerous fight if possible.

But the Hokage wasn't budging, instead he seemed to become even more motivated.

"Now now... This battle may not be directly related to our Village... But Danzo decided to overstep his boundaries, and therefor turned this into an internal affair of the Leaf village.

We can't. in good consciousness, not get involved." The Hokage shook his head while sat on his yellow cloud, his scroll-like stff resting on his shoulder.

Onoki could only scowl and internally curse at the situation.

He had somewhat hoped that Danzo was there secretly on the Hokage's orders at first, but it was clear now that it had been wishful thinking on his side.

"Let us stop wasting anymore time... I have some paperwork to handle after this." The Hokage then stood up, prompting the Tuschikage to fly backwards and immediately bring is hands together.

"Dust Release: Detachment of the Primitive World Technique!" An orb of light formed in the middle of the Tsuchikage's palms.

That orb then turned into a pillar, and it immediately shot towards the Hokage, who still smiled leisurely.

Without any effort, the nimbus cloud at his feet pulled him to the side, dodging the pillar of death milliseconds before it ereased all of the clouds in his previous location.

"Expand, Enma!" Hiruzen's expression turned serious as he thrust his staff forward, in an instant, the summoned beast turned weapon expanded exponentially.

It expanded at wild speeds, cutting through the air and breaking through the sound barrier as it seemed to want to crush all of Onoki's bones in a single move.

The Tsuchikage barely managed to pull himself back in time to allow it to pass right over his face.

He didn't have time to move to the side this time, as the staff grew exponentially thicker as well, hitting him directly and sending him flying towards the ground.

The Tsuchikage immediately twisted and turned in mid air, stopping himself from coming in contact into the ground, only to look up and see nothing but the gigantic tip of Hiruzen's staff.

Onoki braced himself and roared, as the staff crashed into him and subsequently crushed him into the ground, breaking everything underneath and quaking the earth below.

Hiruzen stood on his staff with a serious look, his eyes narrowed as he then immediately jumped to the side, a gigantic white pillar engulfing the entire staff and shooting towards the skies, desintegrating everything in sight.

On the ground, Onoki's battered figure panted as he looked up at the remains of the staff, only to watch them turn to smoke.

'Just a clone, huh?' The Rock Village leader already knew that it wouldn't ever have been that easy.

Hiruzen was an excruciatingly difficult opponent, hell he wasn't known as the God of Shinobi without good reason.

After all, not even his teacher, the Second Hokage, had been able to claim that title after the First had passed away.

"Earth Release: Titanic Golem Technique!" Onoki shouted as earth unfrulled from all around him, all twirling unnaturally and coming together.

All of the shinobi nearby were swept off their feet, many were forced to flee as a gigantic figure rose out of the earth, a gigantic earthen golem with arms as big at it's torso, and legs as large as Shukaku.

"Hoho~? And what do you plan to do with such a slow construct?" Hiruzen sneered when seeing the gigantic golem soar to the skies.

It was certainly large, and surely powerful. But its speed was a weak spot, to the point where even the people below were able to dodge its footsteps.

Onoki seemed to ignore Hiruzen's words, as the gigantic constructs arm moved to the side and swiped towards the floating Hokage.

Hiruzen looked at it with a disappointed gaze, the cloud underneath him shining slightly as he prepared to dodge.

"Earth Release: Ultralight-Weight Rock Technique!"

The entire golem seemed to shift unnaturally once more, and Hiruzen's eyes widened as he realized that the gigantic hand was already almost making contact with him.

Immediately, the Nimbus Cloud Soared, but it was already too late the Hokage was struck directly, barely managing to raise Enma in time to cover his face with it.

He flipped in the air many times, and the Tsuchikage followed through, his fist already covered in a thick layer of sharp rock.

"Earth Release: Pointed Fist Rock Technique!" Onoki's now enlargened punch was heading directly for Hiruzen's head, but in an instant, the Tsuchikage felt something touch his torso.

He looked down to see the tip of the Hokage's staff, Hiruzen's body was bent unnaturally as he thrust his staff into the smaller man's torso.

Onoki didn't even have time to blink, he was immediately hurtled away as the staff expanded in the Hokage's hand.

He crashlanded into his golem, he spat out blood as he felt the rocks break on his back, more and more pressure was being applied on him, all until he eventually passed right through the golem.

"Expand, Enma!" Hirzuen's voice shouted once more, this time the staff started growing wider.

In an instant, right before Onoki's eyes, the entire upper body of the golem was broken and scattered, as Enma grew to an unprecedented size.

Rocks shot everywhere, countless pieces of rubble falling on the shinobi that had been fighting below.

Onoki crashlanded into the ground once more, this time he panted and slowly closed his eyes, feeling many bones in his body cracked and broken, especially his ribs.

"Lord Tsuchikage!" A voice that sounded almost too friendly and concerned was heard from the side

The Tsuchikage's gaze immediately turned to the side, his eyes widening as he stared directly into those of the one that had called out to him...

Onoki immediately recognized him as Fugaku Uchiha, the young head of the Uchiha Clan... He immediately wanted to avert his gaze, but it was already too late.

The Tsuchikage's frustration grew, he internally screamed as he felt his conciousness shifting completely, being taken to a completely different place.

The speciality of the Sharingan, one of the many things that made it's users so dangerous. Ocular Genjutsu.

"Hmm... Mission accomplished." Fugaku coldly stared at the Tsuchikage.

The Hokage quickly landed right by them, smiling as he did so, only wiping a bit of blood away from the corner of his mouth.

"Good job Fugaku!" Hiruzen smiled as he immediately called on his anbu, who almost seemed to blur into existence whilst surrounding the Tsuchikage.

"Take him away, break his arms, he'll make a fine prisoner to keep the Rock at bay." The Hokage waved his hand, and the Anbu grabbed Onoki and dragged him off, making sure to break his arms and fingers and gag him as they did so.

"Are you sure it is wise to not kill him directly?" Fugaku asked as he gazed at the backs of the anbu retreating in the distance.

"The Rock is sure to blow a gasket if we do kill him, I'd rather use him to negotiate a period of peace instead... This will do more good for the village overall." The Hokage didn't bother hiding his plans from the Uchiha Leader, who seemed to nod at his words.

"I see... It seems I still have a lot to learn..." Fugaku sighed as he nodded, somewhat admiring the Hokage's foresight.

"You are barely 20 years old Fugaku, you have a lot of time left to learn." HIruzen merely smiled and tapped him on the shoulder as he passed by him, before stepping back on his Nimbus Cloud and going to assist his students.

'We've successfully stopped them here, as instructed... I've done my part, I just hope Ken's plan can succeed from this point onwards...'