Sasuke Arrives, Team Seven Reunites

The crimson glow of the Four Red Yang Formation lit up the entire night sky.

The Ten-Tails struggled within the barrier, its nine tails slamming into the walls again and again. Each impact made the crimson walls of light tremble violently. But the Chakra of the four Hokage had become one through the barrier—Hashirama repaired the northern wall, Tobirama reinforced the eastern wall, Hiruzen supported the western wall, and Minato maintained the southern wall. At that moment, the strength of the four fused into an inseparable whole, locking the Ten-Tails firmly inside that crimson cubic prison.

On the battlefield, the Shinobi Allied Forces' advance had temporarily halted. It was not because they did not want to charge, but because the walls of the Four Red Yang Formation allowed nothing to enter from the outside—including people. Everyone waited for the moment the barrier opened, for the moment the Ten-Tails weakened enough to be killed in a single strike, for that narrow, fleeting opportunity the four Hokage would create for them.

Naruto stood atop the nearest massive boulder on the southern side of the barrier, his golden Kurama Mode burning steadily around him. His gaze passed through the barrier wall, falling first on the struggling Ten-Tails within, then on the four pale figures maintaining the barrier—especially the golden figure on the southern side, faster than Naruto remembered him ever being.

Minato did not look at him. The Fourth Hokage's entire focus was on maintaining the barrier. Every time the Ten-Tails struck the southern wall, his body jolted slightly, but his hands never loosened from their seals.

"Naruto." Kurama's voice sounded in his mind. "Someone is approaching. Very quickly. Not an enemy—no, not necessarily a friend either."

Naruto's golden pupils narrowed slightly. Empowered by Kurama, his senses stretched in that direction—and he felt