The Fastest Legend!

The Nine-Tails stood in the center of the village, its nine giant tails swaying, its body as massive as a hill, roaring at the moon!

This sight...

Stirred the terrifying memories buried deep in the hearts of many villagers!

For many of Konoha's older residents, the Nine-Tails Attack had been a nightmare they could never escape for the rest of their lives.

Many had lost their parents, relatives, and friends on that horrifying night.

The village had paid an enormous price—the sacrifice of the Fourth Hokage—just to bring that calamity to a halt.

And now, the Nine-Tails' terrifying figure had appeared once more!

It was almost exactly like that night several years ago!

In the distance.

Shinji, his face full of shock, leaped onto a tree.

"Was that explosion earlier aimed at Naruto?"

He had been busy with his own affairs and hadn't paid much attention to the earlier explosion.

Only now, seeing the Nine-Tails rampaging through the village, did he realize that the earlier attack might have targeted Naruto, the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.

"Except..."

Soon, confusion filled his mind again.

In the original timeline, Naruto had rampaged before, but he had never revealed the Nine-Tails' true form like this.

Normally, a rampage began with Chakra tails leaking out.

The more Chakra tails that leaked out, the more severe the rampage. During Naruto's fight with Deva Path Pain, eight Chakra tails had emerged, and he had nearly fully unleashed the Nine-Tails.

A situation like this one probably meant that Naruto, the Jinchuriki, hadn't simply lost his reason—he had lost consciousness entirely.

"Who did this?!"

The more Shinji thought about it, the more alarmed he became.

For Naruto, who had the Uzumaki Clan's Sage Body and was also a Jinchuriki, to lose consciousness completely, he must have been gravely injured.

Was the attacker trying to destroy Konoha?

Boom! Boom! Boom!

After finishing its roar, the Nine-Tails began wreaking havoc!

It unleashed its fury upon Konoha. Destruction that would normally take countless Explosive Tags or powerful ninjutsu could be wrought with a casual swipe of its paw.

And so...

The sounds of explosions, shouts, screams, and sobs mingled together, echoing across Konoha.

Faced with such a scene, even Shinji—watching from far away on the outskirts, let alone the villagers near the Nine-Tails—felt his blood run cold!

His throat went dry. "So this is a Tailed Beast?"

Humans were far too insignificant before a monster like that.

As Shinji recalled, during the last Nine-Tails Attack, the Nine-Tails had clearly shown signs of being controlled by the Sharingan, so Danzo had forbidden the Uchiha Clan from joining the battle.

That had caused the village to suffer devastating losses.

Now, even if the village wanted the Uchiha to fight, there was no one left to do so. The Uchiha had been wiped out.

At that thought, he suddenly froze. "Uh, aren't I an Uchiha?"

The moment the thought arose, he shook his head.

Facing a monster like the Nine-Tails with his scrawny body would be suicide!

Besides...

He had already expended quite a bit of Dojutsu over the past few days. If Meiqiu hadn't succeeded this time, it was hard to say how many more invasions he could withstand. Wasting his Dojutsu recklessly now would be incredibly foolish.

"Konoha is full of hidden talent. They don't need a Uchiha remnant like me to deal with a Nine-Tails!"

Shinji looked away, jumped down from the tree, and headed toward his apartment.

But the whole way, he couldn't shake his unease.

He wondered if any of his classmates happened to be near the rampaging Nine-Tails, whether that kid Naruto would be all right, whether the silly Shion might run over to gawk, and whether the barbecue restaurant he'd eaten at earlier had been destroyed by the Nine-Tails.

Even he didn't know why all these random thoughts were crossing his mind.

The explosions and cries coming from the distance made him more and more restless, more and more irritated!

Suddenly, he stopped.

Without him realizing it, his dark eyes had already turned completely scarlet.

"Tch, am I going to become the 'fastest legend' among Mangekyo Uchiha?"

With the way he was acting on a whim, he figured he might become the Mangekyo Uchiha who went blind the fastest!

He pursed his lips and put on his mask.

Then he looked toward the distant Nine-Tails, wreathed in flames. "It's not like I'm trying to save anyone. I just can't stand you!"

Whoosh.

He shot toward the Nine-Tails!

Sasuke fled, utterly bewildered.

"I only threw a pebble to skip it across the water. How did things turn out like this?"

Even now, he had no idea what had happened.

He just kept running on instinct, not daring to stop for a moment.

But disaster seemed to follow him like a shadow. No matter where he ran, the sounds of explosions and screams surrounded him, impossible to escape.

On the street.

One ninja after another rushed past him, heading toward the Nine-Tails.

But like sandbags trying to hold back a flood, they were swept away in an instant, leaving not even a trace behind.

The street before Sasuke had already become a ruin.

He could only scramble forward through the rubble, stumbling along with his hands and feet. Smoke obscured his vision, and he had long since lost all sense of direction.

He had no idea where to run.

Even then, more and more Konoha Ninja continued arriving from all directions to reinforce the village.

But against the enraged Nine-Tails, they were like moths flying into a flame, soon killed or wounded under its attacks.

Amid the explosions and collapsing buildings, the cries grew sparse.

Sasuke, on all fours and practically crawling through the ruins, suddenly stopped.

He stared blankly at a shard of a broken mirror among the rubble.

In the reflection, his disheveled face was full of terror. He lay sprawled on the ground like a dog with a broken back.

"Damn it! I'm a proud Uchiha. How can I show such a disgraceful side of myself?"

He struggled to his feet and turned to face the Nine-Tails.

He didn't even notice that his eyes had turned completely scarlet, and a black Tomoe had gradually appeared in them.

At first...

The Nine-Tails paid no attention to Sasuke, the tiny figure standing atop the ruins.

But when Sasuke activated his Sharingan and the Yin Release Chakra unique to the Sharingan began to leak from his body, the Nine-Tails sensed it at once.

"Sharingan!"

Filled with boundless hatred, the Nine-Tails lowered its head and looked at Sasuke.

As the enormous Nine-Tails stared at him with malice, the courage Sasuke had just mustered vanished in an instant.

The Nine-Tails lowered its head and slowly brought it close to Sasuke. "Why? Why is it always those damn Uchiha?"

Sasuke trembled all over, so tense that he forgot to fight back.

Remembering how the Sharingan had enslaved and controlled it in the past, the Nine-Tails could no longer contain its rage. It suddenly raised a paw and swung it down at Sasuke with a tremendous whoosh.

"I-I'm going to die?"

Sasuke stood frozen, and this was the only thought that crossed his mind.

But just as he waited for death to come, the Nine-Tails' massive paw, which had been hurtling toward him, suddenly stopped right in front of him!

He looked up.

At some point, the Nine-Tails' vertical pupils had changed into the pattern of the Sharingan!