"No, you're right on time! Minato-sensei!"
Kakashi slid the White Fang into its sheath, then slowly shook his head at Namikaze Minato.
"That blond hair... and that Body Flicker Technique! There's no doubt about it. He's the Yellow Flash of Konoha from the intel reports. If it's him, I think we should retreat for now!"
The Cloud Ninja beside A paused and took two nervous steps back.
A, however, stood calmly where he was, his eyes still alight with fighting spirit.
"So he's the ninja who stopped the plan to capture the Nine-Tails back then?"
Seeing that the enemy didn't seem ready to attack, Namikaze Minato sent Kakashi to retreat with Obito and Rin. He would lead the main force in clearing out the Cloud Ninja who had invaded Konoha.
After watching Kakashi and the others withdraw, Namikaze Minato turned his attention to the enemy he was about to face.
"You're A, son of the Third Raikage of Kumogakure, aren't you?"
Namikaze Minato narrowed his eyes, noting the lightning crackling around A.
"I hear you're incredibly fast!"
Killer B slowly stepped forward and addressed the blond who was about to fight his big brother. "With me and my big brother here, we're sure to win! Bakayarō! Konoyarō!"
"You've still got time to chat?"
Uchiha Shisui chuckled, drew his Ninja Blade, and closed in on Killer B and A in a few Body Flickers.
The blade nearly grazed the tip of A's mustache, passing less than half a finger's breadth from his neck.
A reacted instantly and vanished from the spot.
"Who is that masked Konoha Ninja?"
A stopped in a safe place and hurriedly asked the Cloud Ninja nearby who was in charge of gathering intelligence.
The Cloud Ninja quickly shook his head, indicating that he didn't know who this Konoha Ninja was.
"Anbu? Did Lord Hokage send him?"
Namikaze Minato had planned to fight alone, but seeing that someone could help share the pressure, he knew things would be much easier for him.
"Stay ready to deal with the other Cloud Ninja. I'll leave the A-Bee Duo to myself and that Anbu!"
After speaking to the dozen or so Chunin behind him, Namikaze Minato pulled out more than ten Flying Thunder God Kunai and scattered them across the battlefield.
"Big brother! Leave this troublesome guy to me! Bakayarō! Konoyarō!"
After saying that, Killer B instantly drew the two long swords on his back, their blades shaped like hornet stingers, and attacked Uchiha Shisui.
"The Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, huh!"
Uchiha Shisui leaped backward, dodging the enormous tentacle that had just slammed toward him.
The instant Uchiha Shisui dodged the tentacle, Killer B circled around from below and thrust his long sword at him before he could land.
Susanoo!
Clang! The long sword struck as if it had hit an iron plate, unable to pierce it any farther.
Before Killer B could react, Uchiha Shisui used the momentum to twist in midair, swinging his leg around to smash into Killer B's arm.
"Tch, he dodged it!"
Uchiha Shisui saw that only a tentacle remained beneath his foot and quickly put some distance between them.
"B! Are you all right?"
After dodging one of Namikaze Minato's attacks, A looked toward Killer B, who was already starting to pant.
"You can't let your guard down while fighting me!"
Just then, a Flying Thunder God Kunai suddenly appeared behind A. A moment later, Namikaze Minato appeared behind him, holding a sphere of chakra.
"Damn it! I can't dodge!"
A had no way to deal with Namikaze Minato, who was right in front of him.
"I call this move the Spiral Heavenly Light: Ultimate Piercing Sky Flash, First Form!"
Whoosh! Just as the sphere was about to strike A in the back, an enormous tentacle blocked it.
"You let your guard down! You dare save someone else while fighting me?" Uchiha Shisui shifted his mask aside, revealing his left Sharingan, and sneered. "Eight-Tails, how about you try my ocular technique? Eightfold Hell!"
The instant Uchiha Shisui activated his ocular technique, purple-black Karma Flame erupted across Killer B's tentacle. Its heat struck directly at their souls, like the waters of the deepest abyss and the fires of hell.
"Roasted tentacle? Bet it tastes good."
Uchiha Shisui nodded as he watched his ocular technique at work.
When the strange flames touched Killer B, his soul shuddered violently, and then a pain that seemed to pierce him to the core swept over him. The Eight-Tails, Gyuki, inside him suffered even more; the flames seemed to plunge its soul into hell.
"B!" Seeing Killer B's state, A hurriedly told the Cloud Ninja to hold off Namikaze Minato, then rushed over.
"Retreat!" A carried Killer B, whose body was still burning, and withdrew toward their camp under the Cloud Ninja's protection.
"They're retreating already?"
After putting his mask back on, Uchiha Shisui began cutting down the fleeing Cloud Ninja.
The Konoha Ninja were also caught up in the bloodshed. Ignoring the possibility of traps or ambushes ahead, they all drew their Kunai and began slaughtering the enemy.
At the Kumogakure camp on the border of the Land of Fields, Killer B lay quietly on a bed, surrounded by the Sealing Squad. Since the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki had gone on an expedition, the Sealing Squad would need to reseal the Tailed Beast if it ran wild.
"This kind of flame can't be extinguished with water, and it doesn't feel warm when we touch it. I've never heard of anything like it."
A ninja from the Sealing Squad studied the report.
"Let's try the sealing technique from the Land of Whirlpools!"
"Sealing Jutsu: Fire Sealing Method!"
As the Sealing Jutsu took effect, the symbols on the scroll seemed to come alive and spread over Killer B's body.
"It worked!"
The members of the Sealing Squad breathed a sigh of relief when they saw the flames had been sealed.
A few days later, Killer B slowly regained consciousness.
"B! How are you?"
A hurriedly helped Killer B sit up and asked anxiously.
"Yeah... Gyuki... saved my life..."
Killer B stared quietly at the empty space inside his abdomen.
"The Eight-Tails is dead? What the hell was that fire...?"
"No, big brother. The Eight-Tails isn't dead. Its chakra is still inside me, but it seems to be nothing more than an empty shell now. Its soul seems to have been burned away completely by those flames."
"Flames that affect the soul?"
Some researchers nearby stared, eyes shining. Their research into the soul was a blank slate, and they were intensely curious about anything unknown.
"Can you still use the Eight-Tails' power?"
The members of the Sealing Squad couldn't help worrying. If the Eight-Tails was gone, that meant their village had only the Two-Tails left.
"Yeah, I can still use all of the Eight-Tails' chakra. I'm basically a human Eight-Tails now. Before, I had to negotiate with it to borrow its power, but now I can use it whenever I want. Compared to when I was a Perfect Jinchuriki, I'm even more like a Perfect Jinchuriki now."
After speaking, Killer B turned his palm upward. The chakra around him began gathering in his hand, and before long, a miniature Tailed Beast Bomb appeared in his palm.
"Fantastic, B! Maybe this turned out to be a blessing in disguise after all."
A smiled at the Tailed Beast Bomb in Killer B's hand.
As far as he was concerned, the Eight-Tails couldn't be controlled, and Killer B was his brother. If the Eight-Tails went berserk, his brother would die along with it.
That was something he couldn't bear to see. Even though Killer B was a Perfect Jinchuriki, A still couldn't quite relax.
"No, big brother. I... lost an important friend."
Killer B turned his head away, tears welling in his eyes as his voice grew choked.