Chapter 49: The Altered Fates of Four

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Land of Lightning – Cloud Village Outskirts

Summoning Jutsu!

Tsunade, Yūhi Kurenai, and Uchiha Itachi simultaneously bit their thumbs.

A thick cloud of smoke erupted as three colossal beings descended—two from Ryūchi Cave and one from Shikkotsu Forest.

The sheer weight of their forms cracked the earth beneath them.

While Katsuyu was merely a fragment of the Slug Sage, the two serpents were no ordinary summons.

Contracting with Ryūchi Cave granted access to all its denizens—but some, like Manda, demanded live sacrifices.

Neither Itachi nor Kurenai had chosen the temperamental purple serpent.

One had summoned a pristine white snake, the other a violet-scaled monstrosity.

Regardless of combat prowess, their sheer size—easily fifty meters—made them impossible to miss.

The commotion jolted the Cloud ninja awake, many rubbing their eyes as if trapped in some surreal nightmare.

"Slugs and snakes?!"

Elder Dodai's face paled. "Are Orochimaru and Tsunade attacking together?!"

"That's the lightning amplifier's location!"

The Fourth Raikage's body erupted in crackling blue lightning, illuminating the night. "Dodai, mobilize the troops! I'll advance first—follow immediately!"

BOOM!

A thunderous impact marked the Raikage's landing before Tsunade's group, cratering the earth in a spectacle of raw power.

His eyes swept the battlefield—Good. Only Tsunade. No Orochimaru.

The real problem? Those three damn summons.

A flicker of regret passed through him. Should've brought Killer B or Yugito.

But deploying Jinchūriki would've forced Konoha to field the Nine-Tails—escalating this into total war.

And the other villages were watching.

No words wasted, the Raikage moved.

His fist lanced toward Tsunade—while Shisui, Itachi, and Kurenai were dismissed as mere children.

Tsunade didn't flinch.

The Raikage's punch phased through her like mist.

No blood. No scream.

"An illusion?!" His head snapped left and right. "When? How did I not notice?!"

Only a true genjutsu master could deceive him so completely.

"Kai!"

Lightning surged around him, shattering the false reality—

—revealing Uchiha Shisui standing alone before him.

"An Uchiha brat."

The Raikage's eyes narrowed at the three tomoe spinning in the teen's eyes. Ah. The "Shunshin no Shisui."

Konoha's rising star these past two years.

As they squared off, Dodai arrived with hundreds of Cloud ninja—only to find their path blocked by Itachi and Kurenai's serpentine barricade.

The two massive snakes had coiled into a living fortress around the lightning amplifier.

To reach it, the Cloud forces would need to either replicate the Raikage's blitz... or slay the summons.

And how many in Kumo could match their Kage's speed?

The choice was obvious.

Battle erupted—both outside and within the serpentine ring.

The Raikage quickly realized he'd underestimated Shisui.

What he'd assumed was mere talent turned out to be a nightmare of layered genjutsu, each more insidious than the last.

Even his legendary speed meant little against the Sharingan's predictive sight.

Every movement felt shackled, every strike anticipated.

Meanwhile – Riverbank (1km from Camp)

Sasame's battle was... considerably simpler.

Perhaps the Cloud never expected an attack here. Or maybe they'd assumed reinforcements would arrive instantly.

Either way, only a single squad guarded the dam.

"Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique!"

Sasame's hands flashed through seals.

A torrent erupted from his mouth—joined by the river itself, swelling into a colossal sphere.

Terrain advantage. This single jutsu packed 10% more power thanks to the abundant water source.

The sphere detonated, unleashing a crushing deluge.

"Scatter!"

Only the squad's lone Jonin escaped the drowning wave.

"You little—!"

Lightning sheathed his blade as he blitzed Sasame—

—only to watch his target melt into writhing vines.

"Water Release: Water Fang Blade!"

A liquified dagger materialized in Sasame's grip, piercing the Jonin's heart from behind.

One down.

Now for the real work.

"Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!"

Chakra flooded the ground as a twenty-meter earthen barrier erupted.

Sasame's face whitened from the strain—

—but the First Hokage's necklace pulsed, replenishing his reserves.

Six more repetitions carved an artificial channel, redirecting the river's flow away from the Cloud camp's left flank.

A final slash severed the dam's control cables—preventing the lightning amplifier from dispersing its charge.

Now?

He waited.

Thirty seconds later—

There.

His shadow clone near Tsunade had delivered the signal.

"Water Release: Severing Wave!"

A high-pressure jet sliced the dam open.

The unleashed torrent roared through Sasame's engineered channel—

—straight toward the Cloud camp.

Main Battlefield

"What the—?!"

The onrushing tsunami froze Cloud ninja mid-combat.

"ABANDON POSITIONS! DO NOT TOUCH THE WATER!"

The Raikage's bellow came too late.

From Tsunade's position, lightning erupted—

—and with the control cables severed, it raged uncontrolled.

Water met electricity.

Over a hundred Cloud ninja seized, muscles locking as the current ravaged them.

Only the Jonin and elite Chunin escaped.

"YOU BASTARDS!"

The Raikage's fury reached apocalyptic levels.

"DON'T LET THEM ESCAPE!"

The surviving Cloud ninja surged forward in a bloodlusted frenzy.

Even for Tsunade and the Uchiha prodigies, the numbers were overwhelming.

Then—

"Agh!"

Kurenai suddenly convulsed, the curse mark on her neck spreading like ink in water.

"Do not resist."

Orochimaru's voice slithered through her mind.

Before she could react—

—her hands lunged for Shisui's eyes.

Faster than any Chunin had a right to be.

Shisui, embroiled in combat, never saw the betrayal coming.

"NO!"

Itachi's eyes blazed, tomoe spinning wildly as they evolved to three.

"Water Release: Water Bind!"

A whip of liquid snared Kurenai's wrist—

—just as Sasame arrived, having followed his own technique upstream.

Just in time.

He'd refused to let Orochimaru claim a Mangekyō.

Saving Shisui now bought priceless goodwill—and future opportunities.

Perhaps even... "Kotoamatsukami."

"Kurenai! What are you—?!"

Itachi's blade halted mid-swing as Sasame shouted:

"She's not in control! Kill her, and we lose the culprit!"

The genjutsu mistress collapsed—Orochimaru's consciousness already withdrawn.

"RETREAT!" Tsunade bellowed.

"Fire Release: Dragon Flame Bomb!"

Shisui reacted fastest.

None noticed his pupils morphing into four-bladed pinwheels as flames erupted—

—creating a smokescreen when they met the flooded terrain.

The pursuing Cloud ninja staggered, an unnatural chill sapping their will.

By the time it lifted—

Konoha's team was gone.

[Due to your actions, Uchiha Itachi's fate has been altered. You have gained 49 Fate Points.]

[Due to your actions, Uchiha Shisui's fate has been altered. You have gained 68 Fate Points.]

[Due to your actions, Uchiha Sasuke's fate has been altered. You have gained 49 Fate Points.]

[Due to your actions, Orochimaru's fate has been altered. You have gained 89 Fate Points.]

[Due to your actions, the Fourth Raikage's fate has been altered. You have gained 19 Fate Points.]

[Due to your actions, Dodai's fate has been altered. You have gained 8 Fate Points.]

[Due to your actions, Yūhi Kurenai's fate has been altered. You have gained 7 Fate Points.]

Sasame blinked at the sudden influx.

This many?

Even excluding the minor players, four individuals had shifted significantly—how?

The original timeline was clearly unraveling.

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