Did I Beat Myself Up?

Faster than the Flying Thunder God was the mutual repulsion sensed between Tailed Beasts.

The Nine-Tails in the village whipped its head around, its blood-red beastly pupils locking onto Lin Zi and the Kurama beneath him.

Without a word, it began condensing a Tailed Beast Bomb in its maw; the purple-black sphere of energy grew larger and larger before being fired toward Lin Zi.

"Yo, how enthusiastic," Lin Zi gripped the chakra-infused fur on Kurama's back and grinned. "Kurama, we can't back down either!"

Kurama opened its mouth while running, and an identical Tailed Beast Bomb began to form frantically within.

BOOM!

The two Tailed Beast Bombs collided in mid-air, the shockwave sending the surrounding ruins of houses flying into the sky.

Kurama's four claws scrambled as it dodged and weaved through the explosive blast, not letting a single piece of debris touch its body.

"Interesting!" Lin Zi leaned back against the wind, his voice brimming with irrepressible excitement.

"Kurama, faster! I can't wait to land a few punches on that silly fox's face!"

A low growl rumbled in Kurama's throat as its four paws kicked off the ground with such force that everything behind them blurred into streaks.

Houses, trees, and ruins were all left far behind in an instant.

In less than two minutes, the two giant beasts stood face to face.

Deafening roars erupted simultaneously, the sound waves clashing and causing the very air to tremble.

Before the roars had even faded, Kurama struck first, slamming a heavy fist into the face of the opposing Nine-Tails.

The opposing Nine-Tails had its head knocked to the side, but it immediately flew into a berserk rage, lunging forward to bite down on Kurama's tail and swinging it wildly.

Lin Zi sneered, a brilliant blue Rasengan already lighting up his palm.

Using the momentum of being swung, he launched himself into the air and slammed the sphere of energy directly onto the forehead of the opposing Nine-Tails.

Senjutsu chakra exploded, and the opposing Nine-Tails let out a miserable howl, its massive body slammed into the ground and creating a deep, gaping crater.

Kurama turned its head, baring its teeth at Lin Zi on its back.

"Hey! Kid! This is my fight, don't you interfere!"

Lin Zi raised his hands in surrender, stepping back with a cheeky grin. "Fine, fine, you take it, you take it. I won't steal your kill."

Half of the Hokage Rock had already collapsed.

Hiruzen Sarutobi stood at the highest point of the ruins, the firelight casting flickering shadows across his face as he looked up and saw the second Nine-Tails.

It wasn't even a hallucination.

Two identical crimson giants were wreaking havoc on the village, and they were currently locked in a frenzied brawl.

Hiruzen Sarutobi's pupils shrank to pinpricks, his mind blank for a fleeting moment.

In his many years as a ninja, he had survived the Great Ninja Wars and witnessed Tailed Beast rampages, but the scene before him exceeded anything recorded in any ancient text.

"What... is this?"

The shuriken he had just been holding clattered against the rubble, making a crisp sound.

The Anbu ninja beside him was trembling uncontrollably; no matter how strong one's mental fortitude, they were still human, and before them stood two natural disasters capable of destroying a nation.

A young ninja dropped his kunai with a clang, his teeth chattering so hard he lacked the strength to pick it up.

"Lord Third..." the Chunin nearby said, his voice strained. "If these two... are on the same side, our Konoha..."

"Will be finished." Hiruzen Sarutobi finished the sentence for him, his voice hoarse but steady.

He narrowed his eyes, staring fixedly at the two giant beasts tearing into each other in the distance.

Amidst the flying sand and stone, the second Nine-Tails landed a heavy punch on the first one's face, and both demon foxes let out deafening roars—it was clearly a hostile relationship.

"No, they aren't on the same side." Hiruzen Sarutobi suddenly spoke, a sharp glint flashing in his eyes. "They are attacking each other."

The Anbu beside him looked up abruptly, like a drowning man grabbing a piece of driftwood.

"Where is the Fourth?" Hiruzen Sarutobi turned his head, his voice suddenly turning stern. "Has he returned from pursuing the masked man?"

A dark shadow flickered into existence, kneeling on one knee. "Reporting to Lord Third, Lord Fourth has not yet returned. However, the monitoring team confirms that intense space-time fluctuations occurred in the forest east of the village, suspected to be the Flying Thunder God Technique."

Hiruzen Sarutobi was silent for a moment.

Minato was still fighting.

But the village could not afford to let two Nine-Tails continue to tear it apart.

He took a deep breath, bit his right thumb, and slammed his hand onto the ground.

"Summoning Jutsu!"

POOF—!

A massive cloud of smoke exploded, and the burly figure of Enma stepped out, his fur shimmering with a metallic luster in the firelight.

He was just about to offer a greeting, but as his gaze swept to the two Nine-Tails brawling in the distance, his entire monkey face contorted.

"Hiruzen!" Enma's voice went up an octave. "Have you gone senile?! Those are two Nine-Tails! You summoned me out here to die with you?!"

"It is not a suicide mission."

Hiruzen Sarutobi grabbed the hand Enma extended toward him. With a surge of chakra, Enma's body suddenly elongated and hardened, transforming into a pitch-black Adamantine Staff.

The Third Hokage gripped the middle of the staff with one hand and leveled it, his combat uniform snapping violently in the hot wind.

He stared at the strange Nine-Tails in the distance, currently locked in a brutal struggle with the rampaging Nine-Tails, and the tiny golden figure standing atop the beast's head. His gaze was as sharp as a blade.

"They are fighting each other; this is our chance."

"We will first form an alliance with that strange Nine-Tails, join forces to defeat the rampaging one, and wait for Minato to return."

He kicked off the ground, leaping from the top of the ruins, the Adamantine Staff spinning in his hand to create a fierce arc.

"Then, we seal it together!"

"Let's go, Enma!"

"...Damn it, I've lived this long, only to end up indulging your madness." Enma's voice came muffled from within the staff, yet there was no hint of hesitation. "Let's go, Hiruzen!"

At the same time, Minato appeared at the sealing site.

Kushina Uzumaki lay sprawled on the ground, her red hair spread out in disarray among the rubble beneath her like a pool of dried blood.

A jinchuriki forcibly stripped of their Tailed Beast should have died on the spot; she was clinging to her final breath solely through the monstrous vitality of the Uzumaki clan, each rise and fall of her chest accompanied by a raspy, bellows-like sound.

"Kushina!"

Minato flashed to her side and knelt on one knee. The moment his fingers touched her shoulder, a bone-chilling cold seeped through.

Kushina struggled to turn her head. Her face was as pale as paper and her lips were cracked, yet she managed to squeeze out a voice immediately: "Minato... our child... how is he?"

A flash of the blonde youth in the forest crossed Minato's mind—the eyeshadow of Sage Mode, the way he had grinned and called him "Father."

That monster who called himself "Naruto," who had walked out of the forest.

He opened his mouth, but ultimately swallowed that absurd image back down.

"He's fine." Minato cradled her back with one arm and slid the other under her knees, carefully lifting her to lean against a broken wall nearby. "Hold on, I'm going to reseal the Nine-Tails immediately."

He paused, casting his gaze toward the direction where the beast's roars echoed, his voice dropping lower, yet carrying an inexplicable sense of certainty.

"This time... I am not carrying this burden alone."

Kushina leaned against the cold wall, weakly lifting her eyes to look at her husband's face, stained with blood and ash.

She did not ask what he meant; she simply used her remaining strength to pull a smile from the corners of her lips.

"Go, Minato."

She gently pushed his arm.

"Sealing the Nine-Tails requires me and our child; we will seal it together."