Boom!
The entire Hall exploded, blasting Tsunade backward into the night.
The fight had just begun, and she was already on the losing end. She'd barely activated her Cursed Seal when the eight-tailed Nine-Tails caught her off guard, scratching her and swatting her away like a fly before lunging for another strike.
A scarlet claw shot out from the rubble and punched right through her body. A Tailed Beast—especially the Nine-Tails, the most ferocious of them all—was a monster that no human could hope to fight on even terms.
Even with her Senju blood, the cursed seal from Emiya Shirou, and years of stored chakra in her forehead seal, Tsunade was completely outmatched. And this wasn't even the Nine-Tails at its full power.
But Tsunade's expression didn't waver. She coughed up a mouthful of blood, grabbed the massive claw piercing her, and with a furious roar, she hauled the Nine-Tails out of the ruins and threw it.
"Tsunade!" Jiraiya yelled, appearing from the chaos with a terrified Mizuki slung over his shoulder. Horror washed over his face as he quickly formed a summoning seal.
"I'm not dead yet," Tsunade growled, wiping blood from her mouth. She glanced down at the wound on her torso, which was already healing at a rapid pace thanks to her ultimate regeneration technique.
But the Nine-Tails wasn't done. While still in mid-air, it twisted its body, opened its massive maw, and unleashed a storm of scarlet chakra bombs that rained down on her.
A shimmering green light from a chakra scalpel appeared in Tsunade's palm, the black marks of her cursed seal swirling within it. She swung the blade, deflecting bomb after bomb as explosions rocked the entire area, instantly shrouding the battlefield in smoke.
The scarlet bombs kept falling, but Tsunade's green scalpel held strong, like a small sapling weathering a furious red storm.
The sapling survived, but the Nine-Tails seemed to realize its attack wasn't working. It slammed back down to the ground and began to swell. Its hideous head bulged, its dark mouth gaped open, and it spat a blinding golden beam of energy straight at Tsunade.
"That bastard!" Tsunade's face paled.
"Earth Style: Swamp of the Underworld!" Jiraiya shouted.
The ground beneath the Nine-Tails instantly turned to thick mud. The beast sank into the swamp, causing its golden beam to veer off course and shoot harmlessly into the sky, a pillar of light in the darkness.
From a distance, Kabuto Yakushi watched the battle with a smile. "How magnificent," he murmured, admiring the raw power of the eight-tailed beast.
"But... she's not half bad either." He gave a nod of respect toward Tsunade and Jiraiya. "As expected of the Sannin, just as legendary as Lord Orochimaru."
"A pity," he continued, his tone dripping with false sympathy. "They're no match for the Nine-Tails. If it had a few less tails, maybe they could handle it. But with eight, they just don't have the juice."
Beside him, Iruka Umino was frozen with panic. He had lived through the Nine-Tails' last rampage; he knew its terror firsthand. He didn't know the difference between an eight-tailed and a nine-tailed beast, but either way, it was a catastrophe for Konoha.
"I just hope the Nine-Tails finishes them quickly," Kabuto said with a light chuckle. "Kill Lady Tsunade and Lord Jiraiya before the real help arrives. It will make Lord Orochimaru's attack on Konoha much easier."
"The ninja who can subdue it?" Iruka's heart sank even further.
Who in Konoha could possibly stop the Nine-Tails?
He'd seen Hiruzen poke the beast out of the village with a staff twelve years ago, but he couldn't believe the old man could just subdue it.
This was their plan, wasn't it?
This mysterious man had called it an "appetizer."
Unleash the Nine-Tails to weaken Konoha, then let Orochimaru move in for the kill. Orochimaru… the most dangerous rogue ninja in Konoha's history. If the village lost its strongest fighters now, how could they possibly survive him?
Iruka was just an academy teacher. His understanding of power was based on reputation, and as far as he knew, the Third Hokage and his two students were Konoha's best hope. If they died here, the village was doomed.
And then there was Naruto. That kid who was so desperate to be a great ninja, who had just graduated, who dreamed of becoming Hokage.
Iruka wasn't the only one thinking of Naruto. Tsunade and Jiraiya knew the boy's life was on the line. They quickly settled on a plan.
"We have to seal it!"
It was the only way. Konoha could not afford to lose its most powerful Tailed Beast. But sealing it now was going to be nearly impossible.
"Toad Mouth Bind!" Jiraiya yelled, slamming his hands together.
A giant toad stomach materialized around the Nine-Tails, pinning it down. The beast staggered, but then it simply pulled its scarlet chakra form free from the trap.
In this incomplete state, it was a mindless monster, running on pure instinct.
Tsunade charged in and smashed her fist into the Nine-Tails' head. "Jiraiya, now! Seal it!"
"Five Elements Seal!" Jiraiya shouted, thrusting his palm forward. But the Nine-Tails' raging chakra was too powerful. The seal shattered before it even made contact. It was useless. The eight-tailed beast was beyond his ability to seal.
Worse, the attempt had drawn its attention.
The scarlet chakra flared. The beast leaped toward Jiraiya, swatting Tsunade away with a claw as she tried to intercept it.
"Jiraiya!" Tsunade screamed, a flicker of real fear in her eyes. She had so few friends left; she couldn't bear to lose him. She grabbed the Nine-Tails' claw, ignoring the searing pain of its corrosive chakra, and tried to drag it back.
But the beast's body suddenly elongated, stretching like a grotesque snake as its two front claws shot straight for Jiraiya.
"Earth Style: Earth Flow Fortress!" Jiraiya yelled, calmly forming the seals. A massive wall of rock erupted from the ground, but the Nine-Tails smashed through it instantly. That split second was all he needed. His summoned toad grabbed him by the collar and leaped to safety.
The Nine-Tails paused, its head tilting in confusion for just a second. Then the rage returned.
A terrifying beam of energy shot from its mouth, then another, and another, firing wildly in all directions. Tsunade and Jiraiya scrambled to dodge the onslaught as the entire battlefield was torn apart. Every blast that hit the ground carved a deep trench in the earth.
From all over Konoha, people saw the flashes of light and felt the ground shake.
"The Nine-Tails..."
"It's the Nine-Tails!"
The village descended into chaos. Ninja tried to maintain order, but people were screaming, cursing, and scrambling for the shelters.
"What the hell is going on?" Shikaku Nara, the Jonin Class Leader, demanded, staring grimly into the distance. "How did the village's Nine-Tails go on a rampage?"
"We need to get over there," said Akimichi Choza, strapping on his armor as he watched his son, Choji, join the fleeing crowd.
Cold sweat dripped down Yamanaka Inoichi's forehead. They had to stop the Nine-Tails, and he knew it would come at a heavy price. Just like twelve years ago, someone would have to pay with their life.
"Lord Third Hokage is on his way!" an ANBU reported. "Lady Tsunade and Lord Jiraiya are fighting it now!"
But the news did little to calm anyone. Ninja, both old and young, began to rush toward the battle, many without orders. Hiruzen had been in such a hurry that he hadn't issued any commands.
A smile touched Shikaku's lips, making the scars on his face seem to grin. He was ready. "Let's go."
"Yeah," Choza nodded without hesitation.
Inoichi gave a slow, solemn nod.
They were all a step too late. By the time they arrived, Hiruzen was already there. Seeing his two students desperately dodging the Nine-Tails' attacks, the old man didn't waste a second.
He swung his staff, which shot out and slammed down on the Nine-Tails' head with enough force to make the beast crumple.
But it wasn't over. The creature snarled, its body beginning to morph as its ninth and final tail started to emerge.
Hiruzen landed beside Tsunade and Jiraiya. "What happened? How did Naruto's seal break?"
"I don't know," Tsunade said, quickly treating a wound on Jiraiya's shoulder. She glanced over at Mizuki, who was paralyzed with fear in a nearby crater. "It must be connected to him. He was the only one with Naruto when we got here."
Tears and snot ran down Mizuki's face. He wanted to run, but the Nine-Tails' attacks were too chaotic.
He'd been blown into the crater by the shockwave of a nearby blast and hadn't dared to move since.
What the hell was I thinking? he thought.
He was so screwed. The village would investigate, and when they found out he caused this... they'd cut him into a thousand pieces.
Hiruzen's brow furrowed when he saw Mizuki. That name was connected to a suspicious case the village was already planning to investigate. And now, it seemed the chunin teacher had brought an even bigger disaster to Konoha.
"We have to deal with the Nine-Tails first!" Tsunade said, her voice heavy. "I don't know if we..."
"Lord Emiya is here," Jiraiya said suddenly, looking up at a figure descending from the sky.
A wave of relief washed over Hiruzen. If Emiya Shirou was here, then maybe, just maybe, this crisis could be contained.
More Konoha ninja arrived, their eyes fixed on the mutating Nine-Tails. Everyone had the same two questions: Why did the Nine-Tails go on a rampage?
And more importantly, how the hell were they going to stop it?
Just as everyone tensed, waiting for Hiruzen's command, the ground began to churn. Mud and rock surged upward, clinging to the Nine-Tails and rapidly encasing it in a makeshift mountain.
"Roar!"
The beast struggled, its head snapping like a wild dog, trying to bite the one who had trapped it. Its ninth tail was almost fully formed. This was no longer Naruto; it was pure, malevolent chakra, an ancient evil that burned everything it touched.
"Be careful!" Tsunade shouted.
But Emiya Shirou simply floated down, ignoring the raging chakra completely. He calmly watched as the Nine-Tails lunged, its jaws wide open, ready to bite him in half.
And then... a bizarre thing happened.
Just as the Nine-Tails' mouth was about to clamp down on Emiya, and its final tail was about to appear, its chakra began to recede. In a single instant, the dense scarlet cloak of energy vanished.
As the Konoha ninja stared in stunned silence, the rampaging chakra was reined in. The monstrous form shrank, twisted, and finally collapsed, leaving nothing behind but a small, yellow-haired boy lying unconscious on the ground.