Konoha Year 51, October 10.
On this day, the sky above Konoha seemed especially vast. Autumn sunlight filtered through sparse clouds and fell over the village, gilding the gradually yellowing leaves.
For the vast majority of the villagers, it was just another ordinary day.
The streets were as lively as ever. A long line had formed outside Ichiraku Ramen, while children from the Ninja Academy chased one another around the playground, their laughter carried far by the autumn breeze.
Yet beneath this peaceful facade, an invisible undercurrent was surging wildly along the edge of the village barrier.
Outside Konoha, in an extremely secluded cavern protected by a barrier.
This was the secret location where Jinchūriki of the Nine-Tails had given birth for generations.
To prevent the seal from weakening during labor and allowing the Nine-Tails Chakra to leak out, Biwako Sarutobi, the Third Hokage's wife, had personally led an elite medical team and Anbu to surround the place completely.
"It hurts... Ngh! Minato, it feels like my stomach is about to burst!"
Inside the cavern, Kushina Uzumaki lay drenched in sweat on a specially made birthing bed. She gripped the sheets tightly, her knuckles white with strain.
On her swollen belly, the complex Eight Trigrams Sealing Style was twisting and warping violently, as though something terrifying were trying to break out of its cage.
"Hang in there, Kushina! It'll be over soon!"
Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage, had none of his usual calm composure.
He knelt beside the bed, continuously channeling chakra into the sealing jutsu with both hands. Beads of sweat covered his forehead.
His bright blue eyes held both the joy and nervousness of a soon-to-be father, and deep concern over the unstable seal.
"The Nine-Tails' Chakra is fighting back like crazy... I have to suppress it!"
Meanwhile, deep in the forest outside the cavern,
two figures stood silently atop a towering tree, looking down at the cavern wrapped in layers of barriers.
"Is that the place?"
Uchiha Hikari wore her signature red-and-white outfit. For the nighttime operation, she had thrown a black cloak over it, concealing the bright red.
Through the gaps in the leaves, her keen eyes watched the masked Anbu Ninja patrolling below, ever vigilant.
"The barrier is strong, with at least four layers. The outermost is a sensory barrier; inside that are physical defenses and sealing jutsu."
Hikari analyzed the situation calmly, with a hint of professional criticism in her tone. "Still, there's a tiny, barely noticeable hitch in the chakra flow over there... If it were me, I could break in, though it might take some effort."
"As expected of Hikari. You've got a good eye."
Yue Uchiha stood beside her with his arms folded. He had already put on the mask decorated with strange patterns, leaving only his deep-set eyes visible.
Yue looked up at the sky.
The sun had completely set, and a huge full moon was slowly rising above the treetops.
"Almost time."
"Obito should be here already."
Almost as soon as Yue finished speaking,
several Anbu Ninja at the cavern entrance suddenly collapsed without warning.
There were no screams, no spray of blood, not even a ripple of chakra.
They slumped limply to the ground like puppets whose souls had been pulled out.
"Who's there?!"
A perceptive Anbu Captain spun around, kunai in hand, ready to throw.
"Kamui."
A strange spiral ripple appeared in the air.
The man in the black robe and one-eyed spiral mask materialized behind the Anbu Captain, like a ghost emerging from the void.
Before the Anbu Captain could react, a black-gloved hand had already passed through his chest. Strangely, it left no wound—instead, it sucked his body straight into the swirling distortion of space.
It happened too quickly, too quietly.
The silence was horrifying.
Inside the cavern,
"Waaah—!!"
At last, a baby's loud cry broke the suffocating tension.
"He's here! A healthy boy!"
Biwako Sarutobi cradled the little one, still slick with amniotic fluid but full of life, and smiled with relief. "Minato, Kushina, congratulations!"
"Naruto..."
Kushina weakly lifted her head and looked at the wailing baby. Tears of happiness trickled from the corners of her eyes.
Minato was so overcome with emotion that his hands trembled. He was just reaching out to hold his son.
But at the very moment their joy reached its peak—
tragedy struck.
"Thud! Thud!"
Two soft, muffled impacts.
Biwako Sarutobi and another medical ninja collapsed without even having time to scream.
"Lady Biwako?!"
The smile froze on Minato's face, and his blue eyes contracted sharply.
A man in a black robe and tiger-patterned mask had appeared in the shadows of the birthing room without anyone noticing.
He held the crying baby Naruto in one hand. In the other, he gripped a kunai, its cold blade pressed against the neck of the newborn.
"Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze."
The Masked Man's voice was hoarse and cold, utterly indifferent to life.
"Stay away from the Jinchūriki, or this brat's life... is over."
Through a hole in the mask, his scarlet Sharingan stared fixedly at Minato, as though savoring the despair on the Yellow Flash's face as he fell from heaven straight into hell.
"It's started."
In the treetops, Yue watched the terrifying killing intent erupt inside the cavern and felt the chakra of the Nine-Tails' seal teetering on the brink.
He pulled out three specially made black scrolls and handed one to Hikari, keeping the other two.
"Hikari, in this battle, we're neither heroes nor villains."
Yue adjusted his mask and leaned forward, ready to dive.
"We're the oriole waiting to swoop in and snatch the meat."
"Once Minato is lured away and the Nine-Tails breaks free... that's our signal to move."
Hikari took the scroll and carefully tucked it behind her waist.
She looked down at the deathly cavern, then up at the cold full moon overhead.
Her red coat fluttered in the night wind.
"Understood."
"BOOM—!!!"
The next second, a deafening explosion erupted from the direction of the cavern!
To save Naruto, who had been tagged with an Explosive Tag, Minato was forced to use the Flying Thunder God to leave the cavern.
With no one left to suppress her, Kushina was completely exposed to the Masked Man.
The Nine-Tails' dark red Chakra, filled with hatred and destruction, surged forth like a broken dam, beginning to devour the space around it.
In the distorted air, the apparition of a gigantic fox with nine tails rapidly took shape.
Its roar instantly shattered the peace of Konoha's night.
"ROAR—!!!"
Kurama had officially appeared.
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