Old Rules, Transmigration, Eating, and Beating Dodou.

"Wait, look at the window outside, what is 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 fire.

A demon fox with nine tails descended from the sky, crashing into the residential district. The shockwave from the massive creature's landing alone sent surrounding houses flying like cardboard boxes.

With a sweep of its sharp claws, reinforced concrete walls split apart like tofu. With a flick of its tails, three deep trenches were plowed straight through the street, sending dust and debris surging into the sky, enough to blot out the sun.

Right above this ruin, a flash of golden light exploded.

Minato Namikaze stood atop a high-rise, his Fourth Hokage haori snapping violently in the gale.

He gripped a Flying Thunder God kunai, his gaze piercing through the swirling dust to lock onto those scarlet beastly eyes.

A low growl rumbled in the throat of the Nine-Tails. It stared at the golden figure on the rooftop, and the Tailed Beast Bomb in its maw began to charge.

Dark energy poured into its mouth like a whirlpool. The purple-black sphere grew larger and larger, distorting the very air around it.

It suddenly threw its head back; the Tailed Beast Bomb had expanded to the size of a house, and then—

The Nine-Tails suddenly crouched low, and the sphere of concentrated destruction blasted out, skimming the ground!

Everything in its path was scraped away—the wreckage of apartment buildings, snapped utility poles, and rubble were all swept into that purple-black torrent. Like a roaring mudslide, it surged straight toward Minato Namikaze.

He tightened his grip on the kunai with his right hand and formed a seal with his left. The moment the Flying Thunder God mark merged with the sealing jutsu mark on his chest!

The Tailed Beast Bomb was already upon him!

A flash of golden light.

The Tailed Beast Bomb, capable of leveling half of Konoha, vanished into thin air the instant before it struck Minato.

A second later, in the sky above a barren mountain dozens of kilometers away, a rift in space suddenly tore open, and the Tailed Beast Bomb tumbled out of the void.

It first expanded violently, its purple-black radiance piercing the clouds, and then—

BOOM!!!!

White light swallowed the entire mountain range, and a circular shockwave exploded outward, snapping trees for miles in every direction.

A dazzling sphere of light rose in the distance like a sun suddenly descended upon the world, illuminating even Konoha as bright as day.

Atop the high-rise, Minato straightened up, his haori fluttering in the lingering heat wave.

Just as Minato prepared to seal the Nine-Tails, a slender, youthful arm reached out silently from the darkness and clamped onto his shoulder.

"Caught you, Fourth."

The voice was hoarse and strange, as if the speaker were deliberately suppressing his tone.

Minato's pupils contracted. In his peripheral vision, a man in a black robe stood behind him, wearing a tiger-striped mask. The eye holes of the mask were pitch black, like bottomless pits.

Before he could even feel shock, Minato's hand moved faster than his brain.

He gripped his Flying Thunder God kunai and twisted his upper body violently, thrusting the blade straight toward the man's temple!

There was no blood, nor the dull thud of flesh being pierced.

The Masked Man didn't budge.

He stared at Minato, and the space around the eye holes of his mask began to rotate and collapse.

The surrounding space itself twisted into a vortex, and a terrifying suction force erupted from nothingness. Minato's body, like a scrap of paper caught in a flush, slid uncontrollably toward that black hole.

With half his body already trapped in the distorted space, an expression of astonishment appeared on Minato's face.

Just a second before he was about to be swallowed whole.

Minato abruptly activated his Flying Thunder God mark.

Golden light exploded.

His figure instantly dissipated, and a second later, he stumbled to the ground deep in a forest several kilometers away.

His body made intimate contact with the earth, slamming into fallen leaves and rotting soil, the impact shaking his internal organs as if they had shifted out of place.

The Masked Man's speed was immense, so fast it bordered on the uncanny.

Almost as soon as Minato landed, distorted ripples spread through the forest behind him.

First, that tiger-striped mask emerged from the void, followed by the black robe, the shoulders, and the rest of the figure, as if surfacing from water. Before the space-time ripples had even faded, he was already standing opposite Minato.

He was clearly wearing a robe that didn't fit his frame, standing in the wind like a restless spirit.

Before Minato could push himself up from the ground, and before the thought "Who is this?" could fully form in his mind, the eyes behind the mask on the other side declared their origin.

In the scarlet irises, three tomoe slowly rotated—the Uchiha Sharingan.

The opponent's eyes narrowed, seemingly savoring the "you've got to be kidding me" expression on Minato's face.

The shock on Minato's face quickly subsided, replaced by an irrepressible fury.

He flipped his right hand, holding the Flying Thunder God kunai across his chest, the blade glinting coldly in the night.

The Masked Man opposite showed no signs of haste, slowly looping chains around his wrists.

The iron chains rattled with a clatter that sounded particularly chilling in the night air.

The next second, both men moved simultaneously.

Minato gripped his Flying Thunder God kunai, kicked off the ground, and charged straight ahead.

The Masked Man lunged forward to meet him, his black robe whipping and snapping in the wind.

It was the same old routine.

The kunai pierced through the opponent's body; there was no resistance, no blood, just a clean pass through empty space.

Minato's own momentum carried half his body straight through the Masked Man's phantom image.

At the very instant their figures crossed.

Clatter!

The chains on the Masked Man's wrists snapped taut, like two vipers suddenly rearing their heads, coiling tightly around Minato's waist and arms.

Minato's eyelids twitched, and he immediately activated the Flying Thunder God Technique to escape.

Golden light erupted, his figure vanished, and the chains lashed at nothing.

When he reappeared, Minato was already standing a dozen meters in front of the Masked Man, exactly where he had previously tossed a Flying Thunder God kunai.

He turned around, staring at the black-robed back, his grip tightening on his kunai.

This space-time ninjutsu was truly disgusting.

Stabbing with the Flying Thunder God kunai was no different than stabbing at the air; he couldn't touch a solid entity at all.

Minato narrowed his eyes.

Only in the split second when they were truly locked in a life-or-death struggle, the moment the opponent was forced to materialize to strike, would there be an opening.

Minato pushed off the ground, transforming into a golden blur as he charged forward.

The Masked Man did not dodge or weave, rushing forward with his black robe billowing; the hand wrapped in chains rose high, fingers splayed, aiming directly for Minato's face.

Minato flicked his wrist, and the Flying Thunder God kunai shot from his hand!

The kunai pierced through the Masked Man's head, leaving only the shrill whistle of air being sliced, while the Masked Man's hand was already inches from gripping Minato's throat.

Now!

A brilliant blue sphere of chakra suddenly ignited in Minato's palm; the Rasengan spun at high speed, emitting a piercing hum.

But the Masked Man's hand grasped only empty air, and the Minato before him dissipated like a bubble.

The real Minato had followed the kunai that passed through the phantom, instantly appearing behind the Masked Man!

He turned, twisted his waist, and slammed the Rasengan hard into the Masked Man's back.

BOOM!!!

The floor shattered instantly, debris flying into the sky as the high-speed rotating chakra poured into the black-robed body without reservation, the energy tearing and venting inside him like a burst dam.

The Masked Man's entire body arched from the impact, and a muffled grunt escaped from beneath his tiger-striped mask.

"Yo—"

"Senior Obito, being thoroughly humiliated again?"

"Just accept your fate; no matter how many times you try, you'll never beat my father."

In the silent forest, a youth's clear voice drifted over from somewhere, full of vigor yet carrying a lazy, punchable tone.

Minato turned his head abruptly.

Even the Masked Man's figure paused slightly; the name "Obito" was like a needle, causing his gaze beneath the mask to snap toward the source of the sound.

"...Who?"