The Nine-Tails' Roar

The ground was shaking.

It was as if some giant beast deep in the earth's crust was turning over.

The commercial street at the center of the Hidden Leaf Village had once been the busiest part of the village. Now, it had become a field of ruins.

Boom!

A huge orange-red claw came crashing down from the sky and smashed a two-story izakaya to pieces as if swatting a fly. Wood splinters, rubble, and the people who had not had time to escape were instantly mixed into a bloody, mangled pulp.

"Roar—!!!"

The Nine-Tails Fox threw back its head and howled.

That howl was filled with resentment from years of imprisonment, and with the fury of being forcibly controlled by the Sharingan.

The sound wave swept through the street like a blade. Roadside lamp posts were ripped up by the roots, display windows exploded into powder, and glass rained down on the fleeing crowd like a storm.

"Help!"

"Mom! Mom, where are you?"

Cries, screams, and the rumble of collapsing houses wove together into a symphony of death.

Iruka Umino was knocked to the ground by the crowd.

He was only twelve years old, his face covered in tears as he stared in terror at the monster blotting out the moonlight.

A huge stone slab was swept into the air by one of the Nine-Tails' tails and came whistling down toward the crowd.

Its shadow swallowed Iruka.

He closed his eyes and waited for death to arrive.

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"

A unified roar rang out above him.

It was not one person, but a group.

Four enormous fireballs blasted out from the rooftops on both sides of the street, striking the stone slab with perfect accuracy.

Boom!

The searing flames instantly blew the stone slab into fragments. Burning stones fell like rain, but they no longer had lethal force.

Iruka opened his eyes.

He saw several figures with the red-and-white fan clan crest on their backs land in front of the crowd like black lightning.

That was... Uchiha?

"Everyone, listen up!"

Uchiha Tekka stood on a streetlamp pole, holding a loudspeaker. His voice was hoarse and rough.

"Follow evacuation plan number three and retreat toward the Naka River! Don't run toward the Hokage Building! That way's a dead end!"

"Anyone who shoves others gets knocked out and dragged away!"

His words were harsh, even heartless.

But in this moment of utter chaos, that absolute toughness instead became a lifeline.

The crowd that had been running around like headless flies instinctively paused when they heard the order.

"What are you standing there for? Run!"

Tekka kicked a flying plank away and roared at the dazed crowd.

The crowd began to move.

This time, they had a direction.

"First squad, build Earth Style: Earth Wall and block the debris!"

"Second squad, use Fire Release to clear the roadblocks!"

"Third squad, with me! Draw the Nine-Tails' attention!"

The members of the Uchiha Police Force shuttled through the ruins. They were no longer the annoying figures who usually did nothing but issue tickets with cold faces.

Right now, they were the only madmen who dared go against the human tide and charge toward that monster.

Obito stood on the Nine-Tails' head, looking down at the scene from above.

A trace of doubt flashed through his single eye.

This reaction speed... was wrong.

Too fast.

Too orderly.

The Nine-Tails had appeared less than two minutes ago, yet the Uchiha Clan had already completed battlefield division, evacuation guidance, and fire suppression.

It was as if... they had known long ago that something would happen tonight, and had even drilled for it countless times.

"So this is your trump card? Uchiha Xuanshi."

Obito gave a cold laugh.

"Since you want to play heroes so badly, I'll let you have your fill."

The chakra beneath his feet erupted and burrowed into the Nine-Tails' brain through the top of its head.

The Nine-Tails let out a pained roar, and its claws, which had been swinging wildly, suddenly stopped.

Its massive head slowly turned, and its two scarlet vertical pupils locked onto a direction in the distance.

There stood Hokage Rock.

It was the spiritual symbol of the Hidden Leaf, and the place where the faces of generations of Hokage were carved.

The Nine-Tails opened its mouth.

The air around it began to warp.

Countless black and white specks of chakra gathered toward its mouth, swiftly compressing into a high-density black sphere.

A Tailed Beast Bomb.

"Not good!"

Tekka, who was directing the evacuation, went pale.

That direction... if that Tailed Beast Bomb was allowed to fire, not only would Hokage Rock be leveled, even the shelters below would be caught in the blast.

"Stop it!"

More than a dozen Uchiha jonin formed hand seals at the same time, releasing all kinds of ninjutsu in an attempt to interfere.

Shuriken, Fire Release, Lightning Release—attacks pelted the Nine-Tails like rain.

But to a monster of that size, those attacks were nothing more than a scratch.

The Nine-Tails ignored them completely.

The Tailed Beast Bomb grew larger and larger, and the destructive fluctuations it emitted made cracks appear in the surrounding space.

Obito looked at the Uchiha clansmen below as they struggled in vain, and the corner of his mouth curved into a cruel arc.

"Despair."

"This is the gap between us."

In the very last second before the Tailed Beast Bomb was about to fire.

A green afterimage tore through the night sky.

It was unbelievably fast, even surpassing an ordinary Body Flicker Technique.

Shisui Uchiha appeared in front of the Nine-Tails' enormous eyeball.

Before the Nine-Tails, he was as tiny as a mosquito.

But the light in his eyes was more dazzling than even the Nine-Tails.

Mangekyo Sharingan, open!

A unique four-cornered shuriken pattern spun wildly in Shisui's eyes. A vast surge of ocular power stabbed into the Nine-Tails' mental world in an instant.

"Kotoamatsukami: Radiance!" (Note: this was not the strongest Kotoamatsukami that alters the will, but an instantaneous, powerful genjutsu disruption.)

The Nine-Tails' movements froze for an instant.

Its head, which had already locked onto Hokage Rock, uncontrollably shifted five degrees to the right in that instant.

Boom—!!!

The Tailed Beast Bomb blasted out.

That black sphere of destruction grazed past the stone statue of the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze.

Half of the statue's ear was shaved flat by the shockwave.

The Tailed Beast Bomb shot into the high sky and exploded amid the clouds.

A massive sphere of explosive light instantly lit up the entire night sky, turning night into day. The shockwave spread through the upper air, scattering the clouds for miles around.

Everyone involuntarily raised their heads and stared at that scene, as if witnessing a miracle.

Shisui landed on top of Hokage Rock, kneeling on one knee and panting slightly.

That instantaneous burst of ocular power had placed no small burden on him as well.

He stood up, drew the short blade from his back, and pointed it from afar at Obito on top of the Nine-Tails' head.

The night wind stirred his green flak jacket.

"Your opponent is us, Masked Man."

Shisui's voice was clear and firm.

Obito looked at the young man standing on Hokage Rock, and a trace of greed flashed through his single eye.

"Body Flicker Shisui, huh..."

Obito licked his lips.

"Those eyes... that ocular power..."

"Very good."

Obito raised his hand, and the Nine-Tails let out another roar. Its nine tails spread open like a peacock's fan.

"I'll be taking your eyes."