After making sure Kushina and the twins were alright, Minato went to the village to take a look. Seeing that the Third Hokage was leading the resistance against the Nine Tails, he teleported back to the cave.
Outside the cave, it was silent. There weren't any corpses, but the signs of battle were still visible. He examined the area, trying to understand what had happened based on what he knew so far about the intruder. After analyzing the tracks, he roughly determined the flow of battle. Once he confirmed he hadn't missed anything, he teleported inside the cave.
Lady Biwako had moved herself beside her fallen apprentice, who was stained with blood. For a moment, Minato was horrified, and he immediately rushed over to check her condition. Thankfully, he realized she had only passed out from blood loss.
He scanned the cave again, searching for any clues he might've missed. After confirming there were none, he grabbed Lady Biwako's hand and teleported her to the special ward in Konoha Hospital designated for emergency teleportations. Handing her off to a nurse, he gave a quick explanation before teleporting to the location where the Nine Tails' seal had been broken.
This time, he found several clues. The first was the nature of the chakra used to break the seal—it had an extremely cold character and a high level of yin. It wasn't completely unfamiliar. He had sensed something similar only once—on the battlefield, from an Uchiha shinobi whose chakra had exploded violently before death.
Secondly, the way the seal was broken was unique. It was a combination of Uzumaki and Uchiha sealing techniques—something he had never seen before. Based on what he knew, it seemed that the seal first marked the Nine Tails and then infused him with yin chakra to suppress his will temporarily. But that alone wasn't enough. A second layer had been added: a summoning seal and a chakra transfer channel to maintain control. The presence of these additions meant the controller couldn't be far away.
That was critical. It meant the enemy was still in Konoha.
Taking all this into account, Minato started narrowing down potential suspects. If this level of yin chakra and technique belonged to an Uchiha, then two possibilities came to mind: either Uchiha Madara—highly unlikely, since he should be dead—or his successor. Whoever it was, they had inherited not just a powerful legacy, but an extremely dangerous ambition.
Thinking about what he might face, Minato felt a trace of unease. He was likely up against someone from the shadows of the past—a being from the "Land of Forgetfulness."
After one last look at the seal site, he teleported to the village, ready to face the enemy.
To better assess the battlefield, he teleported to the highest vantage point facing the village: his own rocky face on Hokage Rock.
Standing on top of it, he saw the Nine Tails bound and sealed with a variety of jutsus and tags—an impressive combination of brutality and military precision. But before he could fully analyze the scene, the Nine Tails raised its head—its mouth opening directly in Minato's direction.
It was forming a Tailed Beast Bomb.
"So, you found me this quickly... But if you think I'll let you destroy the village from here—dream on!"
Minato quickly formed hand seals, holding his Flying Raijin kunai. As the enormous black sphere of destruction flew toward him, there wasn't the slightest trace of panic in his eyes.
He slapped the air with his kunai, releasing a grid of seals into space itself—just before the bomb hit.
There was no explosion, no light, no shockwave.
The sphere folded space like a balloon being sucked into a vacuum and vanished. A moment later, a distant explosion echoed through the mountains beyond the village, followed by tremors and strong winds.
Minato remained calm, scanning the surroundings for the masked man.
Then—a silent movement behind him.
A figure appeared and extended his hand to strike Minato from behind. But what the masked man didn't realize was that Minato had been waiting for this.
Before he could touch him, Minato spun, slashing the figure with his kunai. His finger hooked into the ring at the handle's end. The kunai passed through like it had struck a curtain of air.
The figure reacted, trying to grab Minato's outstretched arm. But Minato was already prepared and wouldn't make such a basic mistake. Just as the kunai passed through, he twisted it, aiming for the figure's visible eye—and the hidden one under the mask.
The move was so quick that the masked man couldn't react.
Yet even as Minato's kunai pierced through his head, it had no effect. The phasing remained active.
Still not giving up, Minato twisted the blade again within the man's intangible body, searching for a weakness. Realizing Minato's intention, the figure tried to retreat. But Minato clung to him like a shadow, giving no room to escape.
The clash turned into a wild chase—one man with a glowing kunai inside his opponent, moving at blinding speed, and the other phasing and leaping, desperate to shake him off. The pressure increased steadily.
The masked man knew his invulnerability had limits. He couldn't maintain it indefinitely. Minato realized the same—he estimated it lasted around three to four minutes. Anything longer would require immense chakra or be completely unsustainable.
Grinding his teeth, the masked man decided to take a risk. He would allow an injury to his arm in exchange for escape.
Minato, who had just cut into his opponent's arm, wasn't satisfied. He'd tried to strike every vital spot he could think of, but nothing worked. Still, the effort wasn't wasted. He'd figured out the time limit of the phasing jutsu—an amazing ability, but not something that could be used recklessly.
At the same time, the masked man was shaken by Minato's precision, his reflexes, and his ability to read him—it was as if Minato had a Mangekyou Sharingan. He needed to end this fight fast before Minato deduced even more.
Pulling out a chain, he tied both ends to his wrists, stepping back a few paces along the narrow space of the Hokage Rock.
Minato stood ready, holding his kunai while forming a Rasengan in his other hand.
Suddenly, a distant explosion from the Nine Tails' location echoed across the landscape.
As if on cue, both men launched forward.
Minato threw his kunai past the masked man's head and appeared to strike with the Rasengan. The masked man reached forward, trying to grab Minato's arm and teleport him into his dimension.
"This time, I won."
But just as his hand brushed against Minato's arm—Minato vanished.
And a glowing Rasengan slammed into the masked man's back, pinning him to the stone face.
Before the man could escape, Minato marked him with a Flying Raijin seal.
The masked man leapt to a cliff wall, gasping for breath.
But in an instant—Minato appeared beside him and drove a kunai into his chest.
A series of seals exploded across the masked man's body, sealing his chakra.
A wave of numbness, pain, and exhaustion overwhelmed him. For a moment, he blacked out, tumbling off the cliff.
Minato appeared beside him again, grabbing him mid-fall. Together, they disappeared.
They reappeared in a secret underground prison beneath Konoha, hidden deep in the Anbu headquarters.
Minato tossed him into a reinforced cell.
"Wait here. Once I deal with the Nine Tails, I'll find out exactly who you are and what your goal is."
He called for a guard to watch over the prisoner and left immediately—without even seeing the masked man's face.
The Anbu guard used a clone jutsu to report to Danzo, then approached the unconscious man to remove his mask.
But before he could, a creature emerged from the ground behind him.
Silently, it thrust a kunai through his back, piercing his heart.
"Hi Obito. You look like you need to take a dump. You want to go here, or should I take you somewhere more private? Maybe we can discuss your feelings on the way."
"…Cough… Shut up. Get me out of here. Don't leave anything behind. Let's go."
"Alright, alright. If you say so."
The white figure grabbed Obito's arm, and together, they slowly sank into the earth. Obito, consumed by pain and failure, thought of Rin… of his old teacher… and the silhouette of the woman who had loved him—Kushina.
And then, he whispered quietly:
"…Good luck living…"
---
Minato reappeared on the Hokage Rock, looking for the Nine Tails.
He found it—outside the village, enraged and about to fire another Tailed Beast Bomb.
This time, the target was Konoha itself.
Minato paled.
Without a moment to waste, he flashed repeatedly until he appeared above the Nine Tails.
"Gamabunta!"
The giant toad appeared in a puff of smoke, slamming the Nine Tails down and pinning it for just long enough.
Minato jumped down from the toad's head, forming hand seals and gathering every last drop of chakra.
To the stunned eyes of the surrounding shinobi, Minato teleported the Nine Tails—away from the village and close to Kushina and the twins.
Moments later, an explosion rocked the forest near the edge of the village—but the village remained untouched.
Minato had saved them one more time.
But the battle wasn't over yet.
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