Chapter 30: Nine-Tails Attack
"Don't mind me... Minato!"
Kushina's voice was weak as she forced herself to sit up.
"I'm a Jinchuriki, I know exactly what state that guy is in right now... If we don't stop him immediately, the Village will be finished!"
Minato looked at his wife's deathly pale face, and his heart throbbed with pain. His gaze swept over the sleeping Naruto beside them before finally settling on the wall rack.
Hanging there was a brand-new white Sacred Robe.
It was a battle cloak custom-made for when he became the Fourth Hokage. Because it was so precious, he couldn't even bring himself to wear it on ordinary days, keeping it carefully hung there.
Minato took a deep breath. The gentleness and worry in his eyes vanished instantly, replaced by a sharp edge like a blade being unsheathed.
He turned abruptly and took down the white Sacred Robe.
Whoosh—!
Minato's arms slid into the sleeves of the white Sacred Robe. The crimson flame patterns seemed to burn at the hem, and the five characters for "Fourth Hokage" on the back appeared exceptionally heavy and dazzling under the light.
"I'll be right back, Kushina."
Minato didn't look back, his voice low and firm. "I will protect all of this."
In the next second, the Yellow Flash who struck fear into the Ninja World vanished into thin air... appearing atop the Hokage Rock.
The wind howled, and the night was stained blood-red by the soaring flames in the distance.
Minato's figure flickered like a ghost, his toes lightly touching the top of his own statue's head. The gale didn't just blow his golden hair; the Sacred Robe on his body flapped loudly, like a flag rising in a desperate situation.
Is this Hell?
As far as the eye could see, the once prosperous Konoha Village was now a sea of fire. The massive Nine-Tailed Demon Fox was rampaging through the streets, every sweep of its tails accompanied by the collapse of buildings and the screams of Ninjas.
"Roar—!!"
The Nine-Tailed keenly sensed that loathsome Aura. It snapped its massive head around, its beastly pupils locking onto the tiny figure on the Hokage Rock.
Hatred.
It was pure hatred for the Konoha that had sealed it for decades, and for the man standing before it.
Without any nonsense, the Nine-Tailed opened its bloody maw.
Yin and Yang Chakra particles converged and compressed frantically. In just a single breath, a pitch-black, ultra-high-density Tailed Beast Ball containing destructive energy was formed.
Boom!
The Tailed Beast Ball shot out, hurtling toward the Hokage Rock with an all-destroying momentum.
The air along its path was compressed until it detonated, and the terrifying wind pressure even caused the street below to crack inch by inch. This strike wouldn't just level the Hokage Rock; even the shelter behind it would be razed to the ground!
"Don't even think about it."
Minato's expression was cold as his hands instantly completed the Seals and he held them out forward.
In front of him, the void seemed to be torn apart by an invisible hand, revealing a massive black barrier of jutsu formulas. Complex runes emitted a faint glow in the night.
"Flying Thunder God: Guiding Thunder!"
The massive Tailed Beast Ball crashed headlong into that seemingly thin space-time barrier. There was no explosion, no fire; the energy orb capable of destroying half the Village was like a stone dropped into the ocean, instantly swallowed whole by the black void.
One second later.
Deep in the mountains of the outskirts ten kilometers away.
Rumble—!!!
A massive mushroom cloud soared into the sky, its intense flash instantly illuminating half the night sky, followed by a deafening explosion that echoed throughout Konoha.
The wind swept back, blowing Minato's long hair into a frenzy.
At this moment, the Ino–Shika–Chō trio, who were organizing the civilian evacuation in the Village, also noticed this.
"That technique..."
Nara Shikaku looked up at the white figure fluttering in the moonlight atop the Hokage Rock, and a smile finally appeared on his tense face.
"That's the Flying Thunder God: Space-Time Barrier! The Fourth Hokage has arrived!"
Beside him, Akimichi Choza and Inoichi Yamanaka were also greatly invigorated.
"Nice!" Akimichi Choza swung his giant, enlarged fist, blasting away a falling rock headed for the crowd. "As long as Hokage-sama is here, we still have hope!"
Meanwhile, on the front lines of the battlefield.
The Sandaime Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, who had already donned his battle armor, was swinging his Adamantine Staff, forcefully pushing back one of the Nine-Tailed's claws.
"Is this Minato's power..."
The aging but still vigorous Sandaime panted heavily, looking at the aftermath of the distant explosion, a startling Battle Intent erupting in his cloudy eyes.
"Everyone, listen to my orders! Don't let the Nine-Tailed take another step forward! Drive it out of the Village!"
"Oh—!!"
The roars of the Anbu and Jonin resounded through the sky. Inspired by the Fourth Hokage's arrival, their nearly collapsing morale was instantly reignited.
Atop the Hokage Rock.
Minato did not let his guard down just because he had averted one crisis.
"I must inform Hiruzen of the situation..."
Just as he was about to use the Body Flicker Technique to head to the front lines, an extremely ominous premonition suddenly rose from his back.
It was a sixth sense honed by years of walking the line between life and death.
Almost instinctively, without even turning around, Minato thrust his specially made kunai backward with a backhand strike!
Thwip!
This strike was as fast as lightning, accurately stabbing toward the head of the black shadow that had suddenly appeared behind him.
However, there was no spray of blood, nor the sensation of a blade sinking into flesh.
Minato's pupils shrank.
His Kunai, along with his arm, actually passed right through the Masked Man's head as if moving through air!
His physical form vanished?
No, more than that.
The man wearing the orange swirl mask seemed to have anticipated Minato's reaction long ago. The moment Minato passed through his head, a hand wearing a black glove had already silently rested on Minato's shoulder.
"I've got you."
Obito's single eye shimmered with an eerie red light beneath the mask.
Space began to warp.
Centered on Obito's eye, a powerful swirling air current appeared out of nowhere, and a massive suction force instantly enveloped Minato's entire body. Minato's body began to distort, as if he were being forcibly sucked into another unknown dimension.
"Is this a space-time ninjutsu?!"
Minato was horrified.
This mysterious person could not only phase his body to avoid physical attacks but also trigger a forced teleportation upon contact?
If he were sucked in, he might never be able to get out!
At the very moment his body was about to be completely swallowed, Minato's figure turned into a flash of gold, forcibly breaking free from that terrifying suction.
Thump.
In the next second, Minato slammed heavily onto the floor of an abandoned wooden hut.
This was the marked spot he had left when he moved Naruto earlier, some distance from the center of the Village.
Huff... huff...
Minato knelt on one knee, panting heavily.
Even for someone renowned for his speed, he had broken into a cold sweat just now. If he had been even 0.1 seconds slower, the battle would have already been over.
He quickly stood up, his mind racing as he analyzed those brief seconds of confrontation.
"That Masked Man... physical attacks are neutralized. Is it not simple evasion, but rather transferring his body to a different dimension?"
"To hit him, I must strike at the exact moment he materializes to attack me."
Minato's brow furrowed as he reflexively reached for his tool pouch.
His fingertips brushed against something cold and hard—that strange red pellet drum.
His movement paused for a moment.
This object that had mysteriously appeared at Naruto's bedside was like a thorn stuck in his heart.
Since the Masked Man possessed such strange space-time ninjutsu and could easily infiltrate the barrier, why would he leave a toy in the bedroom?
Could it be... that the "Pellet Drum Man" who broke into his home and the "Masked Man" currently controlling the Nine-Tailed are two different people entirely?
If they are two different people, is the guy who left the pellet drum a friend or a foe?
"Damn it, there's too little information."
Minato grit his teeth and forced down his distracting thoughts. Now was not the time to fret over that mysterious toy; the Nine-Tailed was still rampaging, and the Masked Man would definitely not give up.
"Since you escaped, don't just stand there dazed, Fourth Hokage."
A ghostly cold voice rang out abruptly within the room.
The air ahead rippled, like the surface of water being disturbed.
Amidst the swirling distortion, the man wearing a black robe and an orange mask slowly emerged.
Obito stood in the shadows, his single eye staring intently at Minato.
Minato slowly straightened up, his right hand gripping his specially made kunai while his left hand hung at his side, a posture ready to launch a Rasengan at any moment.
This guy managed to get here in such a short time?
"Who exactly are you?"
Minato's voice was ice-cold. "Controlling the Nine-Tailed to attack Konoha... what exactly is your goal?"
"Goal?"
Obito gave a light chuckle and slowly raised his hand, a heavy iron chain wrapped around his fingers. "If it were that man, he would probably say it's for 'peace'."
"But for me, this is simply a matter of revenge."
Before his voice had even faded, Obito swung the chain violently and lunged forward, charging straight at Minato!
Minato's body didn't move, but his eyes became exceptionally clear at this moment.
Although this person's abilities were strange, to control the Nine-Tailed, he must maintain some kind of contract connection.
In other words... "As long as I sever your connection with the Nine-Tailed, the Nine-Tailed will stop its rampage."
A golden light flashed in Minato's eyes, and his figure instantly vanished from the spot, charging toward the whistling iron chain.
"Victory or defeat will be decided in an instant!"
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