"Jiraiya-sensei, I'll leave things here to you." Minato turned to Jiraiya with a gentle smile. Then space rippled violently, and Minato, Kushina, and the Nine-Tails vanished from the spot.
"Minato, Kushina..."
For some reason, Jiraiya felt a sudden unease, as if something unexpected was about to happen.
"Jiraiya!"
Just as he was lost in thought, an urgent cry for help reached his ears. He looked toward the voice and saw the Third Hokage.
The Third Hokage was already exhausted. Sweat had soaked through his battle uniform, and the hand gripping the Adamantine Staff was trembling. He had almost no chakra left.
"Sensei, you've gotten weaker," Jiraiya murmured. He had no choice but to give up on helping Minato and join the Third Hokage in suppressing the Three-Tails.
Dozens of figures had gathered behind the Third Hokage. Nara Shikaku, Akimichi Choza, and the elite members of other clans had all arrived, but none of them dared to join the battle.
The Tailed Beast's power was beyond anything they could withstand.
Inside Konoha, not far from the Senju Clan's compound.
"Bastards, who are you?" Tsunade shouted with her eyes shut. Her body was trembling uncontrollably.
A dozen figures stood in front of her, all cloaked in black robes that concealed their appearances.
If that were all, they would never have stood a chance against Tsunade, one of the Sannin. But Tsunade had a fatal weakness: Hemophobia.
Naraku had miscalculated one thing. Tsunade hadn't been suffering from Hemophobia for more than a decade like she had in the original story.
In the end, Tsunade had developed Hemophobia because she couldn't accept the deaths of Dan and Nawaki.
But even the deepest wounds slowly healed with time. After more than a decade, she had nearly recovered in the original story. Naruto's persuasive words had helped, too, so it was only natural that she had gotten better.
But things were different now. At this point in time, her fear of blood was still intense.
The black-robed men had taken advantage of this to keep Tsunade pinned down. In the moonlight, blood could be seen spread all around her.
Even one of the Sannin, as powerful as she was, had been held up here.
Drip! Drip!
A gloomy room was filled with potions of various colors and all kinds of experimental equipment.
This was Orochimaru's laboratory, and today he had a special visitor.
Bandages covered the visitor's right eye and right arm. He was one of Konoha's three advisors and the leader who had founded Root: Shimura Danzō.
Orochimaru sat opposite him.
"Heh."
The fierce fighting outside Konoha hadn't escaped their notice. Orochimaru gave a cold laugh. "With such an interesting thing happening in the village, Elder Danzō, aren't you going to have a look?"
"Hmph!"
"Orochimaru, you'd better stay out of certain matters. Wouldn't it be better to stay here and focus on your experiments?"
Danzō spoke in an indifferent tone. His expressionless face gave no hint of what he was thinking.
At the threatening words, Orochimaru narrowed his eyes. A cold glint flashed in them.
"Were those specimens I gave you last time useful?" Danzō asked again, his tone as casual as before.
Orochimaru's expression changed, but he quickly recovered. He ran his tongue over his lips. "Yes. I'd better stay here and focus on my experiments, especially since I haven't completed the task you assigned me, Elder Danzō."
"Hmph." Danzō scoffed inwardly. "Hiruzen, everything I do is for Konoha. The Hokage's seat will be mine sooner or later."
At Minato's house,
"Waaah!" "Waaah!"
Listening to Naruto's cries, Naraku wore a bitter expression. In his two lives, he had never looked after a child before. On top of that, he was worried about Kushina and the others, leaving him too restless to soothe Naruto.
His face was slightly pale, and fatigue showed between his brows.
That was the aftereffect of helping someone recover from their injuries. But Naraku didn't regret it. It was the only way he could help right now.
Suddenly, he whipped his head toward the window. His small body tensed as he shielded Naruto behind him. But when he saw the familiar flash of silver, he relaxed.
"Kai's here." A moment later, surprise flickered through his eyes.
Kakashi, wearing a cat-faced mask, entered the room. Someone else followed behind him: a man with thick eyebrows, wearing a green flak jacket over a green jumpsuit.
"Guy, you came too." Naraku was still a little surprised. He hadn't expected Kakashi to bring Guy along as well.
He guessed that this must have been Minato's arrangement. Even though the information he had revealed had changed many things, it seemed Minato had still prepared for the worst.
Kakashi and Guy had probably been sent to take Naruto to Minato.
"Naraku, Sensei told me to take you and Naruto to him," Kakashi said.
His tone was full of confusion. He knew that Kushina was giving birth, but he didn't know that the Nine-Tails had broken free of its seal.
He had originally been on his way to support the Third Hokage outside the village, but Minato had stopped him along the way and given him this task.
Since he had to bring two people, Kakashi had picked up Guy on the way.
Does the worst-case scenario mean he wants both of us to become Jinchuriki? Naraku wondered silently.
But I won't let my big sister die.
In a forest outside Konoha,
The space, previously calm, suddenly rippled violently. Then a massive figure appeared and crashed heavily to the ground.
The enormous figure seemed to be bound by several chains. It struggled constantly but still couldn't break free.
It was the Nine-Tails. Kushina and Minato appeared there a moment later.
"Ugh!"
Kushina stumbled as soon as she landed and nearly fell. Minato quickly reached out and caught her.
"Kushina..." A flicker of pain crossed Minato's eyes.
"I'm fine." Kushina shook her head, telling Minato not to worry.
"Let's deal with the Nine-Tails first."
Kushina forced herself to stay alert, struggling to keep the Adamantine Sealing Chains wrapped tightly around the Nine-Tails.
Thanks to Naraku's help, her body had recovered a little, but it was only a temporary measure. At most, it could delay her death and restore some of her chakra. Without the Tailed Beast inside her, she was destined to die.
Unless she sealed the Nine-Tails back inside her, she wouldn't be able to recover.