The Three-Tails

He was afraid that if he waited any longer, Naruto would really lose control.

But he didn't know what he could do even if he rushed over.

After smashing all the surrounding ice mirrors, Naruto seemed to be calming down.

But just as his eyes were about to return to normal, the Nine-Tails' chakra surged out even more violently.

Soon, a second fox tail took shape.

In his Two-Tails form, Naruto was already beyond what someone his age could control.

"Roar!"

He threw his head back and let out a terrifying beastly roar.

The sound shattered the bridge deck around them once more.

Ripples spread across the sea as well.

His roar alone possessed such terrifying power.

Kakashi reached Naruto, his expression grave.

"Naruto, wake up!"

The rampaging Naruto turned and saw Kakashi, but didn't recognize him.

Or rather, the beast's instincts had already taken over Naruto's consciousness.

Naruto's own consciousness was being suppressed.

The seal on Naruto's abdomen was growing looser and looser.

More and more chakra poured out.

"Rooar!"

Seeing Kakashi, Naruto let out a roar and charged at him.

Kakashi saw what was happening and quickly raised a kunai to block him.

"Bang!"

The terrifying force slammed into Kakashi.

The instant they collided, Kakashi was blasted hundreds of meters away. He landed beneath the bridge and skidded hundreds of meters across the sea, kicking up a spray of water dozens of meters high.

When he finally came to a stop, the clothes on his chest had been completely burned away.

His chest was burned as well.

Black smoke rose from it.

The intense pain nearly left Kakashi unable to breathe.

"S-so strong. Even his physical strength is terrifying. Is this the Nine-Tails' power?"

"And that was only in his Two-Tails state. I can't imagine what the Fourth Hokage faced back then, fighting the Nine-Tails at full strength."

After only one exchange, Kakashi felt the vast difference between them.

Naruto's physical strength alone had left Kakashi utterly helpless.

"Even if I wanted to use a Sealing Jutsu on Naruto, I can't even get close to him."

"Besides, using my Sealing Jutsu to seal a Tailed Beast would be ridiculous."

Kakashi spat out a mouthful of blood.

His hands trembled uncontrollably from the pain.

He had used up a lot of chakra fighting Zabuza.

"Damn it. I can use Lightning Blade only one more time at most. But can it stop Naruto?"

There was another way to stop a Tailed Beast rampage: defeat the beast by beating it senseless, forcing it back inside its Jinchuriki.

The Third Raikage had done exactly that.

He had drained the rampaging Eight-Tails' strength, then sealed it back inside its Jinchuriki.

Or, as Sunagakure had done to seal the One-Tail Shukaku, they could use overwhelming force to beat Shukaku until it retreated inside its Jinchuriki.

But could Kakashi really do any of that?

Seeing the third tail about to take shape behind Naruto, Kakashi gritted his teeth. "No. I absolutely can't let him grow another tail. The Two-Tails form is already this powerful. If he reaches the Three-Tails form, Naruto will never be able to control the Nine-Tails again."

Even in his Two-Tails state, Naruto's consciousness was already fading.

If he entered the Three-Tails state, Kakashi didn't dare imagine whether Naruto would still be conscious.

The only sliver of a chance left was for Naruto to activate the seal with his own will and seal the Nine-Tails back inside himself.

Kakashi began forming Hand Seals. "I have to stop him."

"Lightning Blade!"

Kakashi used Lightning Blade.

"If I can just break that third tail with this strike, there's still a chance."

Chakra surged through Kakashi's feet.

He vanished from the surface of the sea, leaving only a blur.

A moment later, he appeared behind Naruto.

Naruto's eyes shifted to the side.

The instant Kakashi appeared behind him, his expression brightened. "It worked!"

"Boom!"

Just as Kakashi thought he was about to succeed, one of the tails beside Naruto suddenly swelled, growing more than ten meters long and two or three meters thick.

It swept Kakashi away in a single blow.

This time, the force was even greater than before.

Kakashi flew hundreds of meters and crashed into the sea, sending water spraying more than a hundred meters into the air.

Lightning Blade vanished from his hand, though residual arcs of lightning still crackled across it.

Kakashi nearly passed out.

Several of his bones were broken.

He vomited blood and tried to struggle to his feet, but the pain all over his body left him unable to move.

"S-so alert..."

The Nine-Tails' chakra was filled with unbridled malice, but it was also extremely sensitive to hostile chakra.

Kakashi's speed couldn't keep up with the Nine-Tails' perception.

A single tail had been enough to leave Kakashi unable to fight.

Kakashi had failed to stop Naruto, and the third tail behind him took shape without a hitch.

"Roar!"

He let out another roar.

This time, the bridge deck within a hundred meters of Naruto shattered completely, while waves several meters high surged across the sea.

The waves rolled and spread for more than a thousand meters.

Terrifying chakra spilled into the air.

Even shinobi without sensory abilities could feel the chakra's overwhelming malice—terror, slaughter, and every kind of extreme evil all pressed upon them at once.

After rescuing Haku, Zabuza had hidden nearby, planning to wait until the Nine-Tails injured Kakashi before moving in to finish him off. Now he, too, was caught in the fallout.

Naruto hadn't attacked him, but he was only a little over two hundred meters away—far too close.

The Nine-Tails' chakra, overflowing with extreme malice, crashed into his mind.

He even thought he'd fallen under a genjutsu. Memories of the time he had slaughtered his comrades in Kirigakure kept surfacing in his mind, and he couldn't force himself to stop thinking about them.

The feeling made Zabuza deeply uncomfortable.

Supporting the unconscious Haku with one arm and gripping Kubikiribōchō with the other, he felt the hairs on his body standing on end.

He had never fought the Nine-Tails, but the chakra it gave off alone filled Zabuza with overwhelming fear.

"The Nine-Tails' chakra is so much stronger than the Three-Tails'."

"Even at full strength, the Three-Tails couldn't give off chakra this terrifying, could it?"

He had once tried to assassinate the Xidai Mizukage. Although he had failed, he had witnessed the power of the Xidai Mizukage's Three-Tails chakra.

But it had never been this terrifying.

This chakra nearly made him choke. He could barely breathe.

"I don't want to get involved in this."

"After all, once the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki loses control, this bridge will be destroyed, and Kakashi might even die here."

"That should count as completing the mission."

Zabuza took one look and was about to leave with Haku.

Just then, Naruto, standing on a bridge pier, turned to look in his direction.

The bridge deck had already been shattered by his roar.

After Sakura rescued Sasuke, she had planned to go rescue Kakashi as well.

Kakashi wasn't unconscious, but he was lying on the sea, unable to move.

Sakura hadn't learned Water Walking yet.

So she could only swim out to rescue Kakashi.

Sakura had been protecting Tazuna the whole time, but in this situation, she was the only one on Team 7 who was still conscious and uninjured. She couldn't just leave Kakashi there.

Who knew whether the rampaging Naruto might charge over and kill Kakashi?