It started with a sound.
Not a bang. Not a scream. Just a low hum—a frequency too deep for human ears, yet every sensor in Konoha shuddered as the air pressure dropped sharply.
3:16 AM.
The stars flickered.
Then, reality tore open above the Hokage Monument like someone slicing through a canvas.
A rift—jagged, oozing dark-purple energy, crackling with broken timelines—gaped open. Debris fell upward instead of down, and shadows spilled from the wound like liquid smoke.
From it emerged a single figure, draped in a cloak stitched from dying constellations.
Obsidian Ardyn had arrived.
[ALERT: RIFT EVENT DETECTED – EMERGENCY OVERRIDE ENGAGED]
[LOCATION BREACH: KONOHA AIRSPACE]
[ENTITY CLASS: GOD-TIER | IDENTIFICATION: OBSIDIAN ARDYN | ALIGNMENT: ANTI-VERSION]
Konoha's alarm bells erupted as Jonin-level ninja scrambled into action. ANBU units deployed, cloaked and silent—but they moved with a hesitation they'd never felt before.
Because the being floating above the mountain…
Wasn't a man.
It was a god in the skin of a prince.
Inside the Hokage Tower
Tsunade slammed her hand into her desk, cracking the wood. "What the hell is that thing?!"
Shikamaru, just arriving from the Nara sector, stared at the energy readings on the crystal monitor.
"…It looks like Ardyn," he said slowly. "But… it's wrong. Off."
"Evacuate the perimeter," Tsunade ordered. "NOW."
At Ardyn's Hideout
Lyra's eyes snapped open.
She clutched her wrist—the Omnitrix had rebooted, glowing faint orange now, warning symbols dancing across its surface.
"He's here," she whispered.
Ardyn was already pulling on his cloak, his face calm… but something beneath the surface had shifted.
"I've never fought a version of myself," he murmured. "Should be educational."
Minutes Later – Hokage Monument
Obsidian Ardyn stood silently, surveying the village with black hole eyes. His voice echoed in the minds of every ninja simultaneously.
"This world was not yours to rewrite. The Void belongs to the original."
Then—he moved.
No hand seals. No motion.
Just intent.
And a chunk of the mountain behind him imploded—pulled inward like space had been sucked dry.
Dozens of ninja leapt to intercept.
They never made it.
Time slowed, then reversed—their bodies frozen mid-jump, then hurled backward as if undoing the attempt.
And from below—
Ardyn arrived.
His Void aura flared, clashing against the oppressive pull of his darker self.
"…You're me," Ardyn said.
Obsidian Ardyn tilted his head. "No. I'm what you become when you stop pretending to care."
He held up his hand—and in it formed a blade made of fractured dimensions.
"I've already killed six other versions of you. You're number seven."
The sky split as their energies collided.
Black lightning arced across the horizon.
The clash shook the village, cracking buildings, snapping trees, distorting chakra flows for miles.
System Alerts screamed:
[MULTIVERSE COMBAT LEVEL: OMEGA-THREAT DETECTED]
[VOID INSTABILITY: 42% AND RISING]
[RECOMMENDED ACTION: FLEE OR FUSE]
But Ardyn didn't run.
He smirked—and snapped his fingers.
Space folded behind him, and he vanished—reappearing behind Obsidian Ardyn mid-swing.
Their blades met—one born of condensed Void, the other forged from annihilated realities.
Meanwhile – Hospital Quarantine Wing
Lyra, watching from the reinforced windows, clutched her Omnitrix and whispered, "He's strong… but not strong enough."
She activated a failsafe: a hidden form coded deep within the Omnitrix matrix.
Her body flickered—and morphed into a new shape.
Six arms. Glowing white skin. Eyes burning across her forehead.
"Multiform Lyra – Chronoform 7."
She turned to the approaching ANBU guards.
"I'm joining the fight."
They hesitated—but let her pass.
Back Above the Village
The duel had escalated beyond visual speed. Each clash warped the battlefield—tearing at the seams of reality.
Obsidian Ardyn's attacks carried the weight of annihilation—blades that deleted chakra itself.
Ardyn bled.
But he learned.
And adapted.
He feinted, drew his enemy into a warp-pocket he conjured mid-swing—and stabbed him in the side.
But Obsidian Ardyn only smiled.
"Good," he said, dark ichor leaking down his ribs.
"You're learning. But not fast enough."
He raised his free hand.
"Let's see how you survive… this."
Reality shattered.
A blast of compressed possibility energy erupted from his palm—an attack made not of chakra or void, but of rewritten futures. It struck Ardyn full-on—
And he vanished.
No explosion.
No impact.
Just… gone.
Lyra arrived seconds later—too late.
She scanned the skies.
"Where is he?!"
Obsidian Ardyn floated alone now, the rift behind him pulsing violently.
"I've taken him to a pocket realm," he said. "Let's see how he survives in a world where he never existed."
Then—
He vanished too.
And the rift closed behind him.
Back in Konoha
The village was in chaos. Ninja scrambled to recover the injured. Systems rebooted. The Hyuga Compound activated full lockdown.
Tsunade stared at the empty sky.
And whispered, "Where… did he go?"
Meanwhile – Unknown Realm
Ardyn gasped as he slammed into the ground—cracked stone beneath his body, endless dusk above.
The world was unfamiliar.
Quiet.
Empty.
And then… he looked up.
At a mountain carved with five Hokage faces.
But not the ones he knew.
This was a version of Konoha where he never arrived. Where his existence was erased from time.
And from the shadows emerged three figures—
Naruto. Sasuke. Sakura.
But something was off.
Their eyes glowed red.
And around their necks… burned the insignia of Akatsuki.
[CHAPTER END | NEXT: The Konoha Without Ardyn – The Genjutsu of Destiny]