Outside the village.
Ten kilometers from the entrance.
Towering waves of rage shook the entire mountain range!
Minato gazed at the giant fox before him, his expression filled with concern.
Nine-Tails!
With nine tails trailing behind it, the Nine-Tails was the most powerful among the tailed beasts, born from the legacy of the Six Paths Sage. And yet such a mighty beast was now tightly controlled by a gloomy man wearing a mask!
Damn it! Who exactly is this guy?
Minato muttered in disbelief.
Once, he had been hailed as a genius, adored by everyone. But ever since he met Ye Liang, things had taken a turn for the bizarre. First, Ye Liang had completely defeated him with an unfamiliar ninjutsu, sending him flying.
Then he encountered this mysterious Masked Man!
Truthfully, he could forgive himself for losing to Ye Liang before — back then, he had still been weak. After training, Minato felt he had become incredibly strong, yet he was still defeated by this Masked Man.
That was seriously wrong!
So where exactly are these mysterious experts coming from? He frowned deeply. At this moment, Hiruzen Sarutobi had already arrived with reinforcements.
Minato, what's the situation now?
Hiruzen leapt swiftly through the forest, stepping lightly on tree branches as he approached.
We've driven the Masked Man back several times, but the Nine-Tails is just too troublesome. It can continuously share its chakra with the Masked Man. We must deal with it first!
Sharing chakra? Hiruzen looked at the Masked Man standing atop the Nine-Tails, suspicion in his eyes.
Indeed, as Minato said, the man was wrapped in thick layers of deep red liquid, like a chakra cloak!
It's definitely Nine-Tails chakra! But with such a massive body, it'll be difficult to finish this quickly.
Don't worry, Sensei. I already have a solution!
A solution?
Hiruzen's eyes narrowed slightly as he looked again at Minato.
He couldn't understand where Minato had gotten such confidence. In his opinion, even the mighty Ye Liang might have struggled against such a massive fox beast.
Sealing!
Sealing?
Exactly! Minato affirmed.
I plan to use my self-created Dead Demon Consuming Seal to imprison the Nine-Tails inside Naruto's body. Kushina is already on her way here. Once the Nine-Tails is sealed, the Masked Man should be much easier to deal with.
Have you lost your mind? The Dead Demon Consuming Seal requires a soul as its vessel!
It's okay, Sensei. I'm willing to do it!
Minato fixed his teacher with a determined gaze.
Back in the original timeline, the Fourth Hokage Minato Namikaze had always been noble and principled. Though his encounter with Ye Liang had shaken his path, his noble character hadn't changed.
Sensei, after my death, please take care of Kushina, he calmly said to the Third.
Hmm.
At that moment, the Masked Man attacked again.
Leaping from atop the Nine-Tails, he rapidly charged toward the ninja and unleashed a powerful fire technique.
[Great Fireball Technique!]
A massive wave of flames surged toward the Konoha ninja, engulfing heaven and earth. Even the Nine-Tails was engulfed by the inferno.
"Damn it! How can this flame wave be so strong? It could almost match an S-ranked ninjutsu!"
"That's right! The Great Fireball Technique should only be a B-ranked technique!" Several nearby Konoha ninja exclaimed in shock.
After unleashing more than twenty Water Release Ninjutsu, they finally managed to block the assault of flames.
"Damn! This guy really is strong!"
The Third sucked in a sharp breath. Now he understood why Minato Namikaze had been willing to sacrifice his life to seal the Nine-Tails.
It truly was the best move for such a powerful ninja to focus on defeating the Nine-Tails first.
"Everyone! We can't retreat anymore! Behind us is the Hidden Leaf Village; it's time we prove our strength!" Minato suddenly leapt forward, his gaze darkened with determination as if already resolved to die.
[Two Red Yang Formation!]
Instantly, a square-shaped red ring of energy appeared, covering both the Nine-Tails and the Masked Man. This was a reduced version of the Four Red Yang Formation, but there wasn't enough time to perform the full technique. Minato also clearly knew that such a simple sealing formation would have no effect on the Masked Man at all.
"Hiruzen! The rest is up to you!"
Minato suddenly shouted. His goal wasn't to fight the Masked Man, but to trap the Nine-Tails — as soon as the masked figure stepped off it, he would be able to use the Dead Demon Consuming Seal.
"Understood!"
The Third responded immediately, perfectly grasping Minato's intention. As a master tactician of the ninja world, the Third quickly figured out Minato's plan.
He immediately led several jonin into the Two Red Yang Formation.
"Hmph! You're nothing but dust beneath my feet!"
The Masked Man retaliated!
[Fire Release - Great Fireball Technique!]
Just as the Third had anticipated, the Masked Man's Fire Release far surpassed its expected intensity. Even a basic C-ranked technique could produce effects rivaling those of a supercharged S-ranked ninjutsu.
[Five Dragon Great Missile Technique!]
He instantly used the Shadow Clone Jutsu and launched five element-based dragon-shaped blasts — fire, wind, lightning, earth, and water — directly toward the Masked Man's great fireball.
The Dragon Missile Technique was an A-ranked ninjutsu. When the five elements combined, their power exceeded even ordinary S-ranked techniques. Despite the Masked Man's fireball having S-level force, it couldn't withstand the onslaught at all!
"Boom!"
The Masked Man was blasted out of the Nine-Tails' body by the five elemental dragon attacks. Immediately, the other elite jonin rushed forward.
[Fire Release - Fairy Sparks!]
[Fire Release - Flame Tornado!]
[Fire Release - Dragon Fire Technique!]
A series of miscellaneous fire jutsu barraged toward the Masked Man.
Their goal was clear — to completely drive the masked figure out of the Two Red Yang Formation during Minato's attempt to seal away the Nine-Tails, because the presence of the masked man could pose a serious threat to the sealing process.
"Hmph, do you think I can't see through this? Summoning Jutsu!" The Masked Man sneered, clapping his hand once in midair. Instantly, a giant war fan, about the same size as himself, appeared in his hand.
"Watch out, it's the Uchiha war fan! Stop your attacks—now!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi recognized it right away from afar. This was the legendary divine artifact of the Uchiha clan, once owned by the Sage of the Six Paths himself — capable of reflecting all ranged Ninjutsu attacks. In his youth, Hiruzen had seen the Uchiha clan use it.
But it was already too late to do anything.
A flurry of Ninjutsu attacks — big and small — had already been launched toward the Masked Man. But just as the attacks were about to hit, the Masked Man simply raised his hand!
All the incoming attacks instantly changed direction!
As if they'd suddenly veered off course at the last second, all the attacks turned right back on their original casters!
The ninja were stunned with horror. None knew the power of those attacks better than they did — this was an assault thrown by dozens of Jonin in unison! Not even a Kage could withstand such force head-on!
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