"Is that… ice?"
The retreating Kirigakure shinobi suddenly stopped, turning their heads in shock.
In their line of sight, all of Higashimatsuyama was rapidly turning a stark, glacial white. Thick layers of frost blanketed the landscape, and the surrounding temperature was plummeting at an alarming rate.
"This is… this is the power they say Lord Yoru used to freeze all of Jinnan Town?"
One of the Kiri-nin rubbed his eyes in disbelief. "Can a human… really do something like that?"
"…Yoru…"
Yuki Kiyomi clenched her fist, her eyes locked on the frozen battlefield of Higashimatsuyama.
To her, this wasn't just the destruction of a Konoha stronghold. It was the dawning of a new age—the rise of the Yuki clan.
In his Bankai state, Yuki Yoru resembled a god of winter—unstoppable and absolute.
Under his blade, Konoha's remaining forces at Higashimatsuyama were being annihilated with terrifying speed. The attrition was so severe that Sarutobi Shinnosuke could no longer bear it. Roaring in defiance, he raised his Adamantine Staff and charged at Yoru.
The so-called indestructible staff clashed violently with Hyōrinmaru, Yoru's blade of frost. The moment their weapons collided, veins bulged across Shinnosuke's hands as cold sweat ran down his forehead. He could barely withstand the force.
"When," Yoru said coldly, "did you start thinking you could stand against me?"
"Ryūsenka."
The moment the technique name left his lips, jagged frost exploded from Hyōrinmaru's blade, engulfing the staff—and Shinnosuke himself—in a cascade of glittering ice.
A cross-shaped pillar of frost erupted and then shattered with a sharp crack, scattering into powdery snowflakes.
But there was no sign of Shinnosuke within.
"…A fast substitution jutsu. Impressive."
Yoru turned his gaze calmly to one side—then swung.
A massive ice dragon tore through the air, crashing down with terrifying speed.
"Earth Style: Earth-Flow Rampart!"
Shinnosuke emerged, weaving hand signs. A thick stone wall erupted from the ground, intercepting the beast. The dragon smashed through it, but it bought him just enough time to weave another set of seals.
More layers of earth-style defenses rose up to blunt the attack.
"…So this is the strength of the man who killed Jiraiya."
Shinnosuke's face was grim, his chest heaving.
He'd known Yoru was strong—but he never imagined the gap between them was so insurmountable.
He needed a plan. Fast.
His gaze flicked toward Minato, still locked in combat with the mysterious masked enemy. With Wood Release and the Sharingan, plus that intangible phasing technique, the masked man had completely stalled the Yellow Flash.
Shinnosuke's stomach sank.
But before he could strategize further—
Splurt.
The chilling sound of steel piercing flesh.
Shinnosuke looked down in disbelief.
Hyōrinmaru's icy blade had skewered him clean through the back, piercing his heart.
"W-When—?"
"You really thought you could take me on... and still afford to be distracted?"
Yoru's voice was calm, even mocking. Frost exploded from the wound, encasing the Sarutobi heir in a massive crystalline cross.
[Ding! Target eliminated — Kage-level opponent. Reward: 10,000 points.]
"Tch. Doesn't even count as a quest kill. And you call yourself the son of the Hokage."
Yoru sheathed Hyōrinmaru without emotion. For all Shinnosuke's skill, the man had never appeared in the original timeline—not even in flashbacks. No quest trigger, no bonus.
"Shinnosuke!!"
Minato's furious voice rang out, eyes burning red. But as he tried to move, thorned vines lashed toward him—Obito's Wood Release.
The Yellow Flash teleported instantly, abandoning the duel to reach his fallen comrade.
He appeared just in time to see Yoru swing his blade down.
Spikes of ice surged from the ground, forming a trap meant to seal Minato in solid frost. The Hokage flared his chakra, vanishing again in a burst of Flying Thunder God.
"…As expected of the Yellow Flash."
"But if I simply eliminate your allies one by one—what exactly will you do?"
Yoru's eyes glinted cruelly as he turned toward the Konoha forces who'd been too slow, too frozen in fear to flee.
CRACK.
A shard of one of the three floating ice flowers behind him splintered and broke.
Yoru paused, but only for a second.
Massive walls of ice erupted, boxing in the Konoha survivors. Then came the ice dragons, roaring with elemental rage, tearing through the trapped shinobi in a blizzard of death.
The screams didn't last long.
But each cry felt like a knife in Minato's heart.
He tried to save them. But he was too slow.
The snowflakes falling from the sky weren't normal—they spread frost on impact. Just a few seconds of exposure was enough to start freezing flesh, armor, chakra itself.
Not even the Yellow Flash could dodge snowfall.
Before long, even Minato's movements grew sluggish. His breath misted sharply, limbs heavy, joints locking up.
The fastest shinobi in the world… brought low by winter's grasp.
Far away, Obito stood silently in the storm. The swirl-patterned mask stared at the frozen slaughter, unmoving.
"…What a terrifying power," murmured Zetsu behind him. "He's frozen all of Higashimatsuyama. Should we intervene, Obito? Or retreat?"
Obito said nothing. The red glow of his Mangekyō Sharingan spun beneath the mask.
"…I want to watch."
His voice was hoarse, shredded by grief and rage.
"For the village you cherished… you killed Rin."
"Now, in this hellish blizzard… I want to see how far you're willing to go for that same village."
"I want you to feel helpless. Just like I did. I want you to see this world—the real one. The one that's nothing but hell."
Zetsu wisely fell silent.
Together, the two figures stood in the snow, watching.
Above them all, Yuki Yoru stood like a frozen god atop the storm, draped in the full glory of Hyōrinmaru's Bankai. Wings of ice spread behind him. Glacial blossoms spun in the air.
From the heavens, snow fell endlessly.
Below, Higashimatsuyama disappeared beneath a world of white.
Konoha's once-formidable forward base faded into frost…
…until nothing remained but ice.
PS: Read Advance Chapters at https://www.patreon.com/c/ReadJin