The Six-Tailed White Fox

"Ding-dong! Congratulations, Host. The Three-Tailed Fox has successfully evolved into a Six-Tailed Fox."

Early that morning, Xian Yu was jolted awake by the system's voice.

"Xiao Qi has finished evolving? What a day for double celebrations." Xian Yu sat bolt upright, beaming as he pressed the summon button.

A circle of black runes quickly appeared across the floor.

"Why do these runes seem to cover a bigger area this time...?"

Staring blankly at the black runes covering the entire room, Xian Yu suddenly realized something. His face turned deathly pale! He didn't even have time to change. Still in his pajamas, he leaped up and rushed downstairs as fast as he could.

Shinozaki Ayumi was making breakfast in the kitchen.

"Ah!" Shinozaki Ayumi cried out in surprise as Xian Yu scooped her up in his arms. He paid no attention to her reaction, kicked through the window, and raced outside with her.

"??? Young master??" Shinozaki Ayumi stared in confusion at her young master, who was carrying her in his arms as he ran. She had no idea what was happening.

"Boom!" The house behind them collapsed in an instant. A gigantic fox lay there, its body twenty-five meters long, its six tails each over thirty meters long, and its fur as white as snow. The house had been reduced to rubble.

He'd almost been crushed to death by his own summoned beast... Xian Yu's mouth twitched. "Ayumi, I think I did something stupid..."

It really was stupid. He should have known Xiao Qi had grown even bigger. But even at her previous size, he shouldn't have summoned her inside the house.

"Y-Young master, is that Xiao Qi? Our house..." Ayumi turned around and froze, too.

Meanwhile, Anbu from across Konoha rushed toward the scene. The sudden appearance of an immense, violent chakra signature in the village had alerted its defenses almost immediately.

The Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi suddenly appeared on a nearby rooftop, gazing solemnly at the monstrous white fox before him.

Danzo arrived shortly afterward, looking uncertain. "Th-This is..."

In the brief moment Xian Yu stood stunned, three squads of Anbu had already surrounded Xiao Qi.

Fortunately, they were still watching her rather than attacking. The giant beast before them didn't seem to intend to strike.

"..." Bai Xiaoqi's head was still spinning. She had burst through the roof with her head, and when she finally came to her senses and saw what was happening, her heart sank. Oh no! This was her master's home!

I'm dead... I'm so dead...

The deafening crash had startled many people. They stared in horror at the enormous fox that had appeared among the buildings in the distance.

"Uh... Lord Third... This was an accident." Xian Yu couldn't have felt more awkward.

Seeing what had happened, Hiruzen actually felt relieved. He then shouted, "Anbu, return to your posts! Police Force, calm the people down. There's nothing for you to do here."

The Six-Tailed White Fox shrank in an instant, returning to the size of a palm-sized little beast. This time, all six of her tails were pure white.

She came before Xian Yu and lowered her head like a child who had done something wrong.

"Uh... Danzo, let's... hmm?"

Only then did Xian Yu notice a woman standing behind Hiruzen and Danzo. Her grayish-brown hair was tied back, and she was looking at him with concern.

"You little brat! You're always getting into trouble. This time you've brought down your own house. What's next, demolishing all of Konoha?" Danzo scolded him with a dark expression.

Who would summon a beast of this caliber inside the village?

After Hiruzen and Danzo questioned him at length, Xian Yu decided to take Shinozaki Ayumi and Bai Xiaoqi to stay at the Xingxin Internet Cafe for the time being. There were several empty rooms upstairs.

Meanwhile, members of the Shimura Clan had already begun clearing and rebuilding his old home.

"That brat really did summon an even more powerful fox from Qingqiu Mountain." Back at the Hokage Building, Danzo's expression was grave.

The Three-Tailed Fox had been powerful, but they hadn't taken it too seriously. After all, they could still keep it under control.

This time was different.

"That white-furred fox just now... It already felt close to a Tailed Beast..." Hiruzen Sarutobi felt the pressure, too.

If it had been anyone else, the moment Danzo saw them with a summoned beast like that, the darkness of the Shinobi World would have made him shout at the Third Hokage: "Hiruzen! Stop hesitating! Kill him! He's too dangerous! If we can't control that power, he'll be a ticking time bomb for the village! It's all for the village!"

But the boy in question was his old friend's child.

"Hiruzen, this is a good thing, but we'll have to keep that boy in check from now on. He can't summon a beast like that in that form whenever he likes. Order everyone to keep today's incident strictly confidential. Once that boy grows up, we won't have to worry about the village lacking capable successors... It's all for the village!" Danzo spoke with such impassioned conviction that he sounded like a loyal patriot.

To be honest, Xian Yu came from an exceptionally good family. It wasn't just that Danzo wanted to protect him.

If someone else had caused what happened today—even a child from the Ino-Shika-Cho clans, who were staunch supporters of the Hokage—Danzo might not have made things difficult for them, but the Third Hokage could still have imposed restrictions for the village's safety.

But Xian Yu was his close friend's boy. He had to give him that much consideration.

"Hiruzen, I think Xian Yu is a sensible child. He shouldn't cause trouble," the woman beside him said.

Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at her in surprise, then nodded. "All right, then. Pass down the order: today's Six-Tailed White Fox incident is classified as an S-rank secret. No one is to discuss it any further."

"Yes, Lord Hokage." An Anbu Ninja suddenly appeared in the open space nearby. After accepting the order, he vanished again.

He was one of the Third Hokage's personal Anbu.

The First, Senju Hashirama, had been invincible in the Shinobi World, so he hadn't needed a personal guard.

The Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, had trained six personal guards for the Hokage: Hiruzen Sarutobi, Shimura Danzō, Mitokado Homura, Utatane Koharu, Torifu Akimichi, and Kagami Uchiha.

As for the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, he had been appointed in an emergency and hadn't had time to train personal guards. Later, he became powerful enough not to need them. He had always relied on Anbu to protect him.

Xian Yu and Shinozaki Ayumi had reached the third floor of Xingxin, the top floor. It had been left empty after the renovation, so it didn't have any furniture or supplies. Ayumi went out to buy some.

"Master... I didn't mean to," Bai Xiaoqi said, looking at him with a troubled expression.

Xian Yu waved a hand. "This time it was my fault. I'd just woken up and was still groggy. I summoned you without thinking."

He'd had to use up a mountain of words explaining himself to Hiruzen and Danzo. Why could someone as weak as him summon a beast of that caliber? Why could both this Six-Tailed White Fox and the Three-Tailed Fox from before change their forms at will? Xian Yu could only blame it all on the mysterious sacred land of Qingqiu Mountain, claiming he knew nothing about any of it.

"Xiao Qi, what changed after you evolved into a Six-Tailed Fox? Did you gain any new abilities? Your chakra feels terrifying now, too. You're even bigger than Gamabunta, who's seventeen meters tall. Though you're still no match for the Nine-Tails, a true Tailed Beast that's 191 meters tall." Xian Yu looked at Bai Xiaoqi expectantly.

"New abilities? I think so... Wind Release, Water Release, and Fire Release... My genjutsu has improved, too. Also... the other members of my Qingqiu Fox clan who are at the Three-Tails stage have all been brought into the Summoning Space... The system evolved this Summoning Scroll..." As Bai Xiaoqi spoke, she spat out a white scroll. She was emotional, too. At last, she wasn't alone anymore.

"Ding-dong! As Bai Xiaoqi has evolved into a Six-Tailed Fox, the Summoning Space has been upgraded to Lv. 2."