Kaede Kitahara thought back to that night long ago. It was the first time in his life he had clearly felt chakra saturating the air itself. Evil, violent, chaotic chakra.
For ordinary people, even releasing chakra outside the body was difficult. Any jutsu capable of external release was already impressive. Techniques like the Rasengan or Chidori, where chakra visibly churned and boiled, were astonishing enough.
But the night of the Nine-Tails was different.
Even from far away, you could still feel the air itself filled with chakra leaking from the Nine-Tails, drifting everywhere.
The impression was unforgettable.
Uzumaki Naruto already possessed chakra reserves hundreds of times greater than an elite Jonin, which was absurd enough. But compared to the Nine-Tails' chakra, that difference was laughable.
Half of the Nine-Tails alone held more chakra than the One-Tail through the Eight-Tails combined.
And this was a complete Nine-Tails.
Its power was suffocating.
No wonder even the First Hokage said it was too dangerous and had to be sealed away.
"How could a Nine-Tails Demon Fox turn into a human?"
Kaede sighed softly.
"This is considered a secret even among the village's upper ranks. Don't spread it around. Uzumaki Naruto is the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki."
"Jinchuriki…?"
Hyuga Keiko sucked in a sharp breath. She understood exactly what that meant.
That was the village's ultimate strategic weapon.
"Jinchuriki? What's that?" Amakusa Ryuji asked quickly.
Moments like this always reminded him how much this so-called civilian ninja lagged behind the others in knowledge. They knew things he had never even heard of.
But then again, Kaede was not from a ninja clan either. He was a civilian ninja too.
"So you use a human-shaped mobile weapon to seal a tailed beast. A gundam."
Kaede paused.
"Sorry, wrong analogy. It's a container for sealing a tailed beast. A ninja who wields the combat power of a tailed beast. Back then, the Fourth Hokage sealed the Nine-Tails inside Naruto's body. That's why all those ridiculous rumors about him being the Nine-Tails itself exist."
"Are tailed beasts really that strong?" Ryuji pressed on.
For him, tailed beasts were a completely new concept. He was a perfectly ordinary, pure-blood civilian ninja. No clan background, no cheats. Not knowing was normal.
The academy did not teach anything about tailed beasts. That kind of knowledge was reserved for Jonin-level ninja.
That was during peacetime, when most people would never encounter a Jinchuriki or a tailed beast.
During wartime, if Jinchuriki were deployed, then even mid-ranking ninja would quickly learn what tailed beasts and Jinchuriki were.
"Very strong. Even the weakest one requires someone at the level of the Five Great Nations' Kage to handle it."
Kaede continued calmly.
"The Fourth Hokage died sealing the Nine-Tails."
Ryuji sucked in a breath of cold air.
This was not what he had been told growing up. He knew the Fourth Hokage died fighting the Nine-Tails to protect the village, but he had never heard anything about sealing it.
The village leadership had selectively concealed many critical details about the Fourth Hokage and the Nine-Tails.
Ordinary villagers did not even know what tailed beasts or Jinchuriki were.
As a civilian ninja, Ryuji knew nothing about Jinchuriki at all. To him, the Nine-Tails had always been little more than a mythical monster.
That understanding was no different from believing in legends.
But now it clicked.
He finally understood the scale of it.
What level was a Kage? A village's ultimate deterrent.
In his mind, tailed beasts and Kage Level now overlapped almost perfectly.
"If he's that important, is it really okay to let him leave the village like this?" Ryuji asked.
"That's why an elite Jonin was assigned as his babysitter, and why we're following along to protect him too."
Kaede shrugged.
"Not many people in the village even know he's a Jinchuriki, let alone outsiders. As long as we're careful, there shouldn't be any major issues."
Kaede thought about it.
Unless they suddenly ran into members of Akatsuki, he was not worried.
Or maybe that Otsutsuki Fisherman would randomly show up.
Among the Otsutsuki, that guy's strength was honestly painful to look at. But considering that was during the Boruto era, when power scaling had already gone completely off the rails, it made some sense.
After all, Uchiha Sasuke could even pull off something as ridiculous as the Uchiha Pile Driver to try to take him down together.
So theoretically, Naruto should be fine at this point.
As they were chatting, the Demon Brothers had already finished their preparations, transforming into two puddles of water.
None of this escaped Hyuga Keiko's Byakugan.
"This is way too sloppy."
Kaede thought back to the original scene he remembered.
In the middle of a scorching day, two puddles sitting by the roadside. Anyone with half a brain should find that suspicious.
An ordinary person might overlook it, but for an experienced ninja, the flaw was massive.
Back in the early days, Naruto was not about giant avatars punching each other. Most ninja relied on assassination, deception, and traps.
Or rather, ordinary ninja simply did not have the ability to summon giant avatars.
As Kaede and the others spoke, Team Kakashi continued forward.
Hatake Kakashi was the first to notice something off. One glance was enough for him to make a decision.
He had been on high alert the entire time, knowing Momochi Zabuza would attack later. But these two puddles were clearly not Zabuza.
If it was not Zabuza, there was nothing to worry about.
Not long after Kakashi noticed, Uchiha Sasuke also realized something was wrong. Seeing that Kakashi did not react, Sasuke stayed silent as well.
Suddenly, just after the group passed by, the Demon Brothers burst out from their watery disguises and launched their attack.
Their long chains snapped forward, instantly wrapping around Hatake Kakashi and shredding him into pieces.
Everyone was stunned by the sudden turn of events.
"Kakashi-sensei!"
Uzumaki Naruto shouted in panic.
"Second target."
One of the Demon Brothers, Meizu, appeared behind Naruto in an instant.
Just as they were about to strike Naruto with their chains, Uchiha Sasuke calmly fired shuriken and darts, pinning the chains in place. Forced to disengage, the Demon Brothers split up and moved to attack the mission target, Tazuna.
"Now's not the time to space out."
Sasuke spoke coldly as he pulled a shuriken from his ninja pouch and hurled it at Meizu, forcing him back.
"I know that!"
Naruto shouted back.
Unlike the original timeline, where he froze in terror when real combat erupted, this Naruto reacted much faster.
He had undergone extensive special training under Kaede.
That training was not limited to tree climbing and water walking. Kaede had taught him several Wind Release techniques.
More importantly, there was combat-oriented training.
To rapidly raise the strength of this future savior, Kaede had Naruto constantly maintain hundreds of shadow clones, while Kaede himself did the same and engaged him in real combat.
It was like training with a hundredfold acceleration.
Something only Naruto could pull off, thanks to his absurdly vast chakra reserves.
With the Nine-Tails' chakra boosting his recovery, he could train nonstop without fear of being worked to death.
Even though he had only recently graduated, Naruto's strength had increased dramatically, especially his practical combat experience.
"Clang!"
Naruto instantly drew a kunai and collided with Gozu head-on.
The Demon Brother's attack was knocked back. Naruto and Sasuke moved in tandem, each forcing one of them to retreat.
"Fire Release, Phoenix Flower Jutsu!"
Sasuke seized the moment and unleashed a Fire Release attack, engulfing Meizu as he retreated.
With his one-tomoe Sharingan active, Sasuke saw every possible escape route. There was nowhere to dodge.
Meizu took the attack head-on.
It proved a simple truth.
Fire Release could absolutely kill.
On the other side, Naruto followed up with his own jutsu.
"Ninja Art, Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
"Wind Release, Gale Palm!"
"Wind Release, Great Breakthrough!"
"Wind Release, Practiced Air Bullet!"
Naruto split into multiple shadow clones and charged at Gozu.
Gozu was only an ordinary Chunin. He had no way to deal with A-rank techniques like these.
Soon, every shadow clone was forming seals and releasing jutsu.
For most people, splitting into so many shadow clones would have drained their chakra dry.
Naruto was different.
Even with multiple clones active, his chakra was still overflowing and rapidly recovering.
This was the true value of the Uzumaki Clan.
As close relatives of the Senju Clan, who had once stood toe-to-toe with the Uchiha Clan and maintained the upper hand, Naruto's Sage Body had only just begun to show its potential.
In an instant, Gozu was swallowed by a torrent of ninjutsu.
That overwhelming barrage froze everyone in shock.
Especially Sakura.
These were all techniques she had never even encountered before.