Bang~
The Tailed Beast Bomb struck the Nine-Tails on the head, making it stagger. In the end, it couldn't keep its balance and toppled to the ground.
It crushed row after row of houses beneath it.
For a moment, the entire battlefield fell into an eerie silence.
The Nine-Tails had been knocked down by the Tailed Beast Bomb it had fired itself.
The ninja who had actually witnessed what happened checked to see if they had been caught in a genjutsu.
Shinichi Hyuga had actually managed to deflect a Tailed Beast Bomb using nothing but Taijutsu. The trajectory showed that Shinichi still had strength to spare; otherwise, it wouldn't have landed squarely on the Nine-Tails.
Shinichi Hyuga glanced around and saw that the two spoils he'd claimed had already been destroyed by the shock waves from the two fighters' battle.
"The Nine-Tails? I don't believe this was a coincidence!"
He stopped worrying about the Kumogakure ninja. After all, he still had Ireka's head, and he should be able to glean at least a little information from it.
Bang~
Shinichi Hyuga drove his foot into the ground. A huge crater formed beneath him, and he shot off like a cannonball.
He soared halfway across Konoha and arrived at the battlefield surrounding the Nine-Tails in an instant.
He landed on a rooftop.
"Shinichi, you're here!"
There was pleading, relief, and regret in Minato Namikaze's voice... His emotions were painfully tangled.
Shinichi nodded and looked at the people behind him.
The Third, along with the current clan heads of the Ino-Shika-Cho Clan.
Several of them, including the Third, avoided Shinichi's gaze.
Looking around, he saw that Konoha's elite jonin had all gathered on the surrounding rooftops.
"Where's Kushina? Is this what you chose?"
Shinichi's voice was calm, but it sounded especially grating to