"Wait, look out the window. What's that?"
"The Nine-Tails! It's the Nine-Tails! Run!"
Boom!
Half the sky over Konoha was torn apart in an instant by a sea of orange-red flames.
A fox demon with nine tails fell from the sky and crashed into a residential area. The shock wave alone from its enormous body hitting the ground sent the surrounding houses flying like cardboard boxes.
Its claws swept across the area, splitting reinforced concrete walls like tofu. One flick of its tail carved three deep trenches straight down an entire street. Dust and broken stones surged into the air, enough to blot out the sky.
Right above the ruins, a golden flash burst open.
Minato Namikaze stood atop a high-rise, the Fourth Hokage's Cloak snapping in the howling wind.
He gripped a Flying Thunder God Kunai, his gaze cutting through the dust to meet those crimson beast eyes from afar.
A low growl rumbled from the Nine-Tails' throat. It fixed its gaze on the golden figure atop the building as a Tailed Beast Bomb began gathering in its mouth.
Dark energy swirled into its maw like a vortex. A purplish-black orb grew larger and larger, twisting the air around it out of shape.
It suddenly lifted its head. The Tailed Beast Bomb had swollen to the size of a house, and then—
The Nine-Tails abruptly lowered its body and fired the chakra sphere of destruction along the ground!
The earth was scraped away wherever it passed. The ruins of apartment buildings, snapped utility poles, and chunks of rubble were all swept into the purplish-black torrent. Like a roaring mudslide, it charged straight at Minato Namikaze.
His right hand tightened around the Kunai as his left formed a seal. The instant the Flying Thunder God Mark and the Sealing Jutsu mark appeared on his chest—
The Tailed Beast Bomb was already right in front of him!
A flash of gold.
The Tailed Beast Bomb, powerful enough to level half of Konoha, vanished into thin air just before it struck Minato.
The next second, a rift suddenly opened in the sky above a barren mountain dozens of kilometers away, and the Tailed Beast Bomb fell out of the void.
It swelled wildly, purplish-black light piercing the clouds, and then—
BOOM!!!!
White light swallowed the entire mountain range. The shock wave burst outward in a ring, snapping every tree within several miles in half.
A dazzling ball of light rose in the distance like a sun that had suddenly descended upon the world, brightening Konoha until it was as clear as day.
Atop the high-rise, Minato straightened up, his Hokage Cloak fluttering gently in the hot afterwind.
Just as Minato was preparing to seal the Nine-Tails, a small arm silently reached out from the darkness and clamped onto his shoulder.
"Got you, Fourth Hokage."
The hoarse voice held a strange note, as though its owner were deliberately lowering it.
Minato's pupils contracted. From the corner of his eye, he saw a man in a black robe standing behind him, a Tiger-skin Mask fastened over his face. The eyehole was pitch-black, like a bottomless pit.
There was no time for shock. Minato's hand moved before he could think.
Clutching his Flying Thunder God Kunai, he twisted sharply at the waist and drove the blade straight toward the man's temple!
There was no blood, no muffled sound of flesh being pierced.
The Masked Man didn't budge.
He stared at Minato as the space around the mask's eyehole began to twist and collapse.
The space itself warped into a vortex, and a terrifying suction force erupted from nowhere. Minato's body slid uncontrollably toward that black hole like a scrap of paper being sucked into a drain.
Half his body had already sunk into the distorted space. Shock flashed across Minato's face.
A split second before he was swallowed whole—
Minato abruptly activated the Flying Thunder God Mark.
A burst of golden light.
His figure vanished, and the next moment he staggered into view deep in a forest several kilometers away.
His body made intimate contact with the ground. He slammed into the fallen leaves and decaying soil, his innards jolting as if they'd shifted out of place.
The Masked Man was fast—so fast that it seemed almost strange.
Almost as soon as Minato hit the ground, ripples of distortion spread through the forest behind him.
First the Tiger-skin Mask emerged from the void, then the black robe, the shoulders, and the rest of him. Like someone surfacing from underwater, he stood across from Minato before the Space-Time Ninjutsu ripples had even faded.
His robe clearly didn't fit his body. He stood in the wind like a restless spirit.
Minato's palm, braced against the ground, had yet to push him upright. He hadn't even finished wondering who the man was before the eyes beneath the mask revealed his identity.
Three Tomoe slowly revolved in the crimson eyes—an Uchiha Sharingan.
The man's eyes narrowed, as if he were enjoying the look of disbelief on Minato's face.
The shock on Minato's face quickly gave way to barely restrained anger.
He flipped the Flying Thunder God Kunai in his right hand, holding it across his chest. Its edge glinted coldly in the night.
The Masked Man opposite him wasn't in any hurry. He slowly slipped chains around both wrists.
The chains rattled, their sound especially chilling in the night.
The next moment, both men moved at once.
Gripping the Flying Thunder God Kunai, Minato pushed off the ground and charged straight at him.
The Masked Man rushed to meet him, his black robe whipping in the wind.
Same old trick.
The Kunai stabbed into the man's body without resistance or blood, passing straight through.
Half of Minato's body carried through the Masked Man's phantom with the momentum of his charge.
The instant their bodies crossed—
Clatter!
The chains around the Masked Man's wrists snapped tight like two snakes suddenly rearing up, wrapping firmly around Minato's waist and arms.
Minato's eyelid twitched. He immediately used the Flying Thunder God Technique to escape.
A burst of golden light. His figure vanished, and the chains snapped shut on empty air.
When he reappeared, Minato stood more than ten meters in front of the Masked Man, right where he had tossed a Flying Thunder God Kunai earlier.
He turned around, watching the black-robed figure, and tightened his grip on the Kunai.
This Space-Time Ninjutsu was seriously annoying.
Stabbing with the Flying Thunder God Kunai was no different from stabbing air. He couldn't touch the man at all.
Minato narrowed his eyes.
His only chance was the instant they truly went all in against each other—the moment his opponent also had to become tangible to strike.
Minato pushed off the ground and shot forward like a golden streak.
The Masked Man didn't dodge either. His black robe flared as he charged forward, raising the chain-wrapped hand high, fingers spread as he reached for Minato's face.
Minato flicked his wrist, sending the Flying Thunder God Kunai flying!
The Kunai pierced the Masked Man's head with a shrill whistle through the air, while the Masked Man's hand was already about to seize Minato by the throat.
Now!
A bright blue orb of chakra suddenly lit up in Minato's palm. The Rasengan spun at high speed, emitting a piercing buzz.
But the Masked Man's hand grasped at empty air. Minato vanished before his eyes like a bubble.
The real Minato had already appeared behind the Masked Man, following the Kunai that had passed through his phantom with the Body Flicker Technique!
He turned, twisted at the waist, and slammed the Rasengan into the Masked Man's back.
BOOM!!!
The ground shattered in an instant, sending chunks of stone flying skyward. The rapidly spinning chakra poured without restraint into the black-robed body, its energy tearing and surging through him like floodwaters bursting through a dam.
The Masked Man's body arched from the force of the blow. A muffled grunt came from beneath the Tiger-skin Mask.
"Yo—"
"Obito, senpai, getting thoroughly humiliated again?"
"Just give up. No matter how many times we do this, you'll never beat my father."
In the silent forest, a clear, youthful voice suddenly rang out. It was full of energy, yet carried a lazy, irritating edge.
Minato whipped around.
Even the Masked Man paused slightly. The name Obito was like a needle, making his gaze snap toward the source of the voice.
"...Who?"
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