The Nine-Tails' Attack That Still Happened

One day, three years later, Uchiha Ensei was, as usual, considering the next stage of his chakra experiments.

Suddenly, a surge of malicious chakra completely engulfed him.

In that instant, Uchiha Ensei felt his entire body stiffen, as though even his thoughts had come to a halt.

It was an instinctive revulsion and fear.

After a moment, Uchiha Ensei came back to his senses and immediately realized what had happened.

"The Nine-Tails' Attack! How is that possible?"

"What the hell is Minato Namikaze doing? I already told him everything—how had he still failed to prevent it?"

"Could it have been White Zetsu's surveillance? But even then..."

Before he could think any further, Uchiha Ensei's door was violently pushed open. The newcomer was Uchiha Inabi, who had always been responsible for looking after him.

"Ensei, go with everyone and take shelter immediately. Don't ask why, and don't wander off!"

After pushing open the door, Uchiha Inabi gave only that warning before vanishing without a trace.

Watching Uchiha Inabi leave with the Body Flicker Technique, Uchiha Ensei knew that whatever he went to do would be futile.

He looked up at the overwhelmingly dense chakra on the horizon and suddenly realized that the intense malice he had sensed before was gone.

"The lie-flat plan has failed... Looks like I'll have to fight for it."

"My luck... really is terrible."

Muttering to himself, Uchiha Ensei did not follow Uchiha Inabi's instructions and head for shelter. Instead, he returned home and pulled several dozen scrolls from a hidden compartment.

In his memories, other forces in the Land of Fire had noticed the Nine-Tails going berserk at this time and collected a tiny portion of its chakra.

Though it was only equivalent to three tails, it was already a disaster on the scale of a natural calamity for ordinary ninja.

As it happened, Uchiha Ensei's recent chakra research had produced some results, and he needed other types of chakra for comparison.

Although he had already made a plan, his fear of the unknown still made Uchiha Ensei frown.

But there was no time left to hesitate. Uchiha Ensei quickly prepared everything.

There was not much to prepare, really. He only needed to tuck a few scrolls into his clothes.

Over the past three years, Uchiha Ensei had learned some of the most basic sealing techniques. While he could not seal chakra itself, he could still control and use items that held chakra, such as the ones he intended to steal.

After leaving his house, Uchiha Ensei used the Transformation Technique to alter his build and appearance, then vanished from the spot with the Body Flicker Technique.

The next moment, Uchiha Ensei began darting through the village.

With Konoha suffering a major natural disaster, the village was naturally in complete chaos. Under such circumstances, the ANBU normally responsible for guarding the village had no time to pay attention to what was happening inside it.

At the same time, some spies already lurking in Konoha, as well as retainers of major merchants and nobles, began taking action one after another.

Among them, Uchiha Ensei stood out especially clearly.

It could not be helped. He was simply too young. Although his chakra control was exceptional, he still lacked experience in assassination and concealment.

After eliminating two or three ninja suspected of being spies from other countries for Konoha, Uchiha Ensei successfully found his target.

At that moment, the Nine-Tails' aura in the distance suddenly began to spread.

This greatly excited the sealing ninja below, but Uchiha Ensei, hiding nearby, could only sigh inwardly.

Damn Hiruzen Sarutobi. He must have been too afraid of death to use the Reaper Death Seal.

As the Nine-Tails' chakra aura weakened, some chakra originating from the Nine-Tails began floating over Konoha, then was slowly absorbed by a group of people below using some kind of device.

This was the Nine-Tails' chakra, but it could also be considered the Nine-Tails' spilled blood.

After all, it had already been divided into the Yin Nine-Tails and Yang Nine-Tails. A little bleeding was perfectly normal.

The people below moved quickly, as though they were highly practiced at stealing chakra.

But just as they completed the final step of sealing the chakra, a figure appeared out of thin air beside the sealing device.

The next moment, an incomparable force erupted from around that person's body.

"Who is it..."

A man who appeared to be their leader shouted, but the only answer he received was a ninja blade flashing red.

An overwhelming burst of power surged from the blade.

The next moment, the ninja blade shattered, and a fiery blade arc flashed forth in an instant.

Everyone present had only realized that they were under attack when, with a streak of fire, half their forces had already been wiped out.

This move was Uchiha Ensei's harvest from more than three years of training. Limited by his age, the chakra in his body was only enough to use it once.

But... once was enough!

Before the remaining people could react, Uchiha Ensei had already vanished from everyone's sight with the sealing device.

"Chachamaru, good job!"

"Your timing was perfect."

Having traveled to the Ninja Cat Village through the Reverse Summoning Technique, Uchiha Ensei spoke with great satisfaction to the orange ninja cat beside him.

This cat had been a newborn ninja cat when Uchiha Ensei signed the contract three years ago. Even its name had been given by Uchiha Ensei.

Yet in only three years, it had grown into an exceptionally powerful member of the Ninja Cat Clan.

Naturally, all of that was thanks to Uchiha Ensei's chakra research.

"Meow the hell, what kind of thing did you bring back?"

Chachamaru had just been about to say something when it suddenly noticed the sealed jar in Uchiha Ensei's hand. Its fur immediately stood on end in fright.

At that moment, Cat Granny also sensed the Nine-Tails' aura and hurried over.

"Boy Ensei, what exactly did you do? Did the Uchiha Clan rebel against Konoha today? How could even something like the Nine-Tails..."

Upon sensing the Nine-Tails' chakra, Cat Granny was naturally startled as well. Still, she was far calmer than Chachamaru.

Although the Ninja Cat Clan was not an especially powerful ninja beast group, the fact that it had survived throughout the Ninja World and maintained weapons trade with every village meant it was not weak either.

"Don't worry, Cat Granny. Although Konoha's situation isn't good right now, it probably isn't as bad as you think."

"Or rather, if that coward Fugaku Uchiha actually found the nerve to rebel, that would truly be unbelievable."

"As for this... some underhanded little rats merely collected some of the chakra scattered by the Nine-Tails."

Uchiha Ensei briefly explained where the sealed jar in his hand had come from, but Cat Granny did not care about any of that. No matter what he said, she refused to allow something so dangerous to be stored here.

In truth, Uchiha Ensei had never intended to leave it with the ninja cats anyway.