A muffled thud echoed through the air.
It sounded like a firecracker stuffed into cow dung, or a silent fart in an elevator, or perhaps a tire exploding under a blanket. The Tailed Beast Ball had detonated inside the Nine-Tails' belly...
In an instant, the poor Nine-Tails resembled a balloon being inflated at lightning speed. Its body swelled violently, eyeballs bulging from their sockets.
However, canine mouths don't seal as well as human ones. Under Rinjin's massive weight pressing down, the fox deflated like a punctured leather raft, its lips flapping wildly in the wind with wet slapping sounds as air rushed out.
Around Konoha's evacuation shelter, Fugaku watched the entire spectacle unfold. He covered his mouth, shoulders shaking uncontrollably.
Meanwhile, Rinjin pulled his right hand from the Nine-Tails' mouth. With a disgusted expression, he grabbed one of the fluffy tails to wipe the saliva off his hand, then looked down.
The beast lay there with rolled-back eyes, black smoke continuously billowing from its slightly open mouth.
Seeing this, Rinjin grinned and cheekily raised his eyebrows at Hiruzen Sarutobi on the high wall.
"Uncle Hiruzen, how's that for precision control?"
His booming voice rang out. Hiruzen covered his face in embarrassment, words of praise stuck in his throat.
For some inexplicable reason, a wave of shame had suddenly overwhelmed him without warning.
Faced with Rinjin's face—bigger than the village gates—Hiruzen kept his face covered and waved his hand frantically.
"Alright, Rinjin! Come back quickly! You did... you did great!"
Hearing this, Rinjin nodded with a smile, instantly released his Super Expansion Technique, and leaped onto the high wall.
Just as Rinjin returned to the wall, familiar spatial fluctuations appeared.
Minato, wearing his Hokage robes, materialized beside the Nine-Tails and placed his hand on its front leg.
"Third Hokage, I'm taking the Nine-Tails away to seal it!"
Before Hiruzen could respond, Minato had already vanished with the Nine-Tails' massive form.
On the high wall, Rinjin sighed deeply.
"Minato probably has a death wish. Using the Flying Thunder God Technique at such frequency without regard for consequences—it's practically suicide."
Hiruzen froze, then asked with alarm, "Rinjin, what do you mean? Explain yourself clearly."
Obviously, the Third Hokage was starting to lose his composure.
Facing the Third's question, Rinjin gazed into the distance where the Nine-Tails had reappeared, answering slowly:
"When a tailed beast is extracted, it takes the jinchūriki's life with it. Kushina Uzumaki is dying.
And your Fourth Hokage has been continuously using Flying Thunder God to redirect Tailed Beast Balls and transport the Nine-Tails—spatial transfers of such massive scale... Even I could only manage two or three attempts, even with my cat's power.
If I'm not mistaken, the Fourth's stamina has been completely drained by this ordeal.
Uncle Hiruzen, don't take offense, but even if Minato Namikaze is rescued, he'll be half-crippled."
At this point, Rinjin seemed to lose interest.
In later years, Kakashi's chakra exhaustion wasn't actually that severe. Kamui was indeed chakra-intensive, but it couldn't compare to Flying Thunder God techniques of this scale. Moreover, severely overexerting one's stamina causes irreversible cellular damage.
After hearing Rinjin's explanation, Hiruzen's furrowed brow showed no signs of relaxing. The next second, the somewhat hunched Third Hokage waved his hand and rushed toward the village outskirts with several ANBU.
Seeing this, Rinjin shouldered his Glass Pure Bottle, formed a single hand seal, and vanished silently.
Outside the village, at the delivery room, the exhausted Minato carefully lifted his wife and placed her beside little Naruto.
Thanks to Rinjin knocking the Nine-Tails senseless, the family of three had gained a precious few moments together.
However, these fleeting moments felt impossibly brief to parents so devoted to their child.
The Nine-Tails was beginning to recover from its daze... Time was running out...
Watching the beast's eyelids flutter, Kushina reluctantly tore her loving, longing gaze away from her child and struggled to stand on her exhausted body.
"Minato, seal the Nine-Tails back into my body. Let me die with it!"
Minato gently caressed his wife's face and shook his head.
He understood her meaning—let the Nine-Tails die temporarily to delay the masked man's plan to capture it, buying the village time.
However, after three brief encounters with the mysterious masked man, Minato had keenly sensed that the individual wasn't particularly focused on the Nine-Tails.
As he hesitated briefly, Kushina's slightly urgent voice rang out.
"Minato, don't hesitate! The Nine-Tails is waking up!"
She was about to use Adamantine Sealing Chains to restrain the Nine-Tails.
But the next second, spatial fluctuations that Minato knew all too well appeared.
On the other side of the low table where little Naruto lay, Rinjin's large face appeared before the couple.
"Wait! Jinchūriki, what are you trying to do?"
"Restrain the Nine-Tails!"
With a sharp shout, Kushina was about to use Adamantine Sealing Chains.
Seeing this, Rinjin immediately slapped the back of her head, disrupting her concentration.
"Stupid! If you extract more chakra, what little life force you have left will be completely depleted! Even if we stuff the tailed beast back into your body then, you'll be beyond saving!"
Rinjin actually had another point he didn't voice—if they put the Nine-Tails back, Kushina would be 100% doomed.
This wasn't half yin, half yang Nine-Tails—this was the complete beast. Even if they sealed the Nine-Tails back into Kushina's body, an uncooperative Nine-Tails would continue causing havoc.
The only solution was to find someone obedient and well-behaved to seal it into. Only then might this girl have a chance.
Of course, it was only a possibility.
Kushina wasn't Naruto, after all. Though both were Uzumaki, their physical constitutions differed. Moreover, the Nine-Tails had been separated from her for quite some time.
Meanwhile, Minato could no longer focus on the Nine-Tails slowly opening its eyes.
He looked at his unofficial teacher with urgency, speaking rapidly:
"Teacher Rinjin, Kushina... Kushina can still be saved?!"
"Not certain, but we can try." Rinjin shrugged.
"I have a good little one who could temporarily fill the role!"
With that, Rinjin casually set down his Glass Pure Bottle and popped off the lid with a snap.
Instantly, a tornado swept yellow sand out from the vessel.
The next second, a piercing shriek echoed across the sky.
"Damn it all, I'm free again! This time I'll—"
One-Tail Shukaku's arrogant words were cut short by a familiar cough. Looking down, he saw that troublesome nemesis smiling at him, eyes full of threat.
Instinctively, Shukaku stopped mid-sentence, his ears immediately drooping.
"Ahem... Boss Rinjin, you're still awake?"
"Never went to sleep. Look who that is over there."
Following Rinjin's pointing finger, Shukaku looked over. The next second, another shriek pierced the night sky.
"Stinking fox?!! Damn you! Air Bullet!"
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