You Shouldn't Have Appeared in the Village So Early

After taking off his mask, he saw that Minato Namikaze had no reaction at all. He then flung down the chains wrapped around his hands.

"The Nine-Tails has already been released. You have no hope left."

Without hesitation, Minato first threw out a kunai bearing a Flying Thunder God Mark. It seemed he could only deal with this Masked Man first. Someone capable of summoning and controlling the Nine-Tails should only be one person—Uchiha Madara. But he should have died long ago. This Masked Man cannot be Uchiha Madara.

"Whether there's hope isn't for you to decide. Your greatest mistake was exposing yourself in the village so early for the sake of an Uchiha clansman. Every one of your schemes will fail."

With a kunai in hand, he charged straight at Obito. As expected, Minato passed through the Masked Man's body once again.

His entire body can become intangible?

Obito flicked the chain in his hand, wrapping it around Minato's waist. He turned and reached directly for Minato's head, but Minato escaped again with the Flying Thunder God Technique.

"Space-time ninjutsu really is troublesome. But you won't be so lucky next time."

Physical attacks don't work, but he has to become tangible when he attacks. In other words, I can only seize the instant we make contact—and I can't let him touch me.

Whoever wins will be decided by who can be faster than the other by a single instant.

I have to end this quickly. The Third Hokage can't hold on much longer.

They attacked each other once more. Just as they were about to meet, Minato flung the marked Flying Thunder God kunai from his left hand and formed a Rasengan in his right.

The kunai slowly passed through the Masked Man's head until the handle of the Sword of Ninja Love emerged from the other side.

The Masked Man's hand was about to touch Minato's body.

"Great Ball Rasengan!"

The Masked Man's hand brushed Minato's clothes. "I win."

In an instant, Minato vanished along with the Great Ball Rasengan that had been about to strike the Masked Man's head, reappearing above the Masked Man.

His left hand grasped the kunai bearing the Sword of Ninja Love that he had thrown moments ago.

"Flying Thunder God Second Stage!"

Then the massive Rasengan slammed the Masked Man straight into the ground, instantly leaving a Flying Thunder God Mark on his back.

A huge crater was blasted into the ground. Sand and stones flew everywhere, and smoke filled the air. The Masked Man emerged first, leaping onto an upright boulder nearby.

His body slowly dripped away, and even his entire left arm fell off. This was the half of his body patched together by White Zetsu, and it could not withstand much damage at all.

Minato slowly rose from the smoke.

"I lost. So this is what they call flawless? Looks like I can't let my guard down or reveal any openings..."

But Minato had long regarded him as an extremely dangerous opponent and needed to eliminate him as quickly as possible. He had no intention of listening to his nonsense. The mark he had placed on him earlier was for this very moment.

Without giving the Masked Man any chance to react, a kunai mercilessly stabbed into his body.

"Flying Thunder God Technique!"

"So that's it. You left a mark somewhere on my body..."

Minato's right hand instantly pressed against the Masked Man's chest.

"Contract Seal!"

"You want to sever my control over the Nine-Tails?"

"Then the Nine-Tails won't belong to you anymore."

The eyes of the Nine-Tails, which was still rampaging through Leaf Village, returned to their normal shape.

"Damned Uchiha! I'll definitely kill you!"

The Nine-Tails' fury grew even greater. It had been controlled by Konoha for so many years—from Uchiha Madara and Hashirama Senju, to Mito Uzumaki, then Kushina, and now another Uchiha. Do you really take me for a toy of your Konoha?

"Now that I've gotten out, I'll make sure Leaf Village is completely destroyed today!"

Seeing the little insects beneath its feet still trying to seal it, did they really think they were Mito Uzumaki?

It swiped its claws down without mercy. The members of Konoha's Sealing Team scattered in every direction, suffering many casualties.

Uzumaki Sanryo, who had already been brought over, was also sent flying by the shockwave from the suddenly enraged Nine-Tails and smashed heavily into the ground.

Qingfeng, who had been watching the battle, saw this clearly. Although standing by and watching someone die was not good, going over now meant passing right in front of the Nine-Tails. That was no different from seeking death, so he could only wait for a while.

"Look at its eyes. They've returned to normal. The Fourth Hokage should have dealt with the enemy."

"Hold on a little longer. The Fourth Hokage will be back soon."

Hiruzen Sarutobi fought with difficulty. Even the Adamantine Staff was covered in scars. As for Akimichi Torifu, he had already taken his clan's secret medicine, Butterfly Transformation, and had lost his ability to fight. He had been carried away.

Only Hiruzen Sarutobi remained, struggling to hold on.

"What a pity the Fourth Hokage didn't die..."

Danzō's thoughts were plain to see. But how were they planning to deal with the Nine-Tails next?

Qingfeng also noticed that the Nine-Tails had regained consciousness. Now was the best time. He turned to look at Clan Head Fugaku beside him.

This time, Fugaku did not hold back. He secretly activated his Mangekyo Sharingan.

The instant his immense ocular power came into contact with the Nine-Tails, it was swallowed by the Nine-Tails' violent, hate-filled consciousness, and he was immediately defeated.

Blood even flowed from both of his eyes.

"The Nine-Tails is completely free now. If we want to control it with the Sharingan, I'm afraid only Uchiha Madara could do it."

Qingfeng sighed. He had thought Fugaku was something impressive, but this was all he had? His ocular power was weaker than Obito's, and he could not even control a Tailed Beast.

It looked like he had only awakened his Mangekyo during the Third Shinobi War. He had kept it hidden so carefully, yet it was useless when it mattered.

There was no choice but to let the Nine-Tails continue its destruction. Fortunately, Hiruzen Sarutobi was deliberately luring it toward the outskirts, so it would not threaten Commercial Street for the time being. His only asset, his little medicine shop, was still standing strong.

Thinking about the First Hokage and Second Hokage, there had been no Hokage Assistant or senior advisers. The Hokage alone decided everything.

After Hiruzen Sarutobi took office, the Hokage's authority was greatly weakened. By the time of the Fourth Hokage, every decision had to be discussed with the assistant. There was no authority left at all.

Then came the Nine-Tails incident. Everyone knew that the Sharingan was the Uchiha's Kekkei Genkai. The Nine-Tails had been controlled and used to attack Konoha, and only the Uchiha could take the blame for this enormous disaster.

On top of that, Konoha's current higher-ups had always been prejudiced against the Uchiha. The Uchiha were in danger...

The Nine-Tails destroyed another area single-handedly and continued moving.

Only after Qingfeng saw that it had left the previous area did he dare to sneak over. He found the unconscious Uzumaki Sanryo and carried her away.

Konoha's Sealing Team really was too weak. The vessel had arrived, and just as they were preparing to seal it, the Nine-Tails broke free of control and scattered them with a single slap. The Sealing Team might as well disband on the spot.

They seemed completely useless, nothing more than background characters. Hiruzen Sarutobi had placed such high hopes on them; he had truly overestimated them.

Seeing the Nine-Tails getting farther and farther from Commercial Street, Qingfeng carried Uzumaki Sanryo back to the medicine shop. It was too dangerous outside.

She did not seem seriously injured, but he still endured the heartache and fed her a tiny amount of Physical Enhancement Secret Medicine. After doing all that, Qingfeng ran back out to meet up with Fugaku.