Four-Tails Naruto Injures Jiraiya

At a secluded training ground somewhere along the eastern coast of the Land of Fire, the air was filled with the salty tang of sea breeze and a deeper, terrifyingly violent presence.

Naruto knelt on the ground, both hands clutching his hair tightly, his nails digging into his scalp. The chakra around him had taken on an ominous dark-red hue, like boiling blood. Two tails condensed from pure Tailed Beast Chakra lashed wildly behind him, striking the ground and leaving scorched marks.

"Calm down, Naruto!" Jiraiya stood ten meters away, his hands forming seals to maintain a suppressive barrier. Cold sweat beaded on his forehead. "Take a deep breath and pull your consciousness back! The Nine-Tails Chakra is eroding your reason!"

"I... I know..." Naruto forced the words through clenched teeth. Blood vessels had spread across the whites of his eyes, while his azure pupils flickered between clarity and crimson. "But, Jiraiya-sensei... you said Sasuke... Orochimaru will... in three years..."

"That was to motivate you! Not to make you lose control now!" Jiraiya increased the barrier's power, golden runes lighting up across the ground. "Listen, you can barely control the Three-Tails State right now. Even if you rushed to Sound Village this instant, you'd only be throwing your life away! Orochimaru isn't someone you can deal with yet!"

But those words had the opposite effect.

"Throwing my life away..." Naruto repeated softly, then abruptly raised his head. The crimson in his eyes completely swallowed the blue. "So what?! Sasuke is waiting for me! I promised I'd bring him back! How could I... how could I wait another three years?!"

A third tail burst from his body without warning.

The air in the training ground instantly grew dense, and the concentration of Nine-Tails Chakra tripled. Naruto's skin began to peel away, exposing the scarlet muscle beneath. His teeth sharpened, and his face twisted toward that of a fox.

"Naruto! Stop!" Jiraiya's expression changed drastically as his hands rapidly formed seals, the barrier flaring brilliantly. But it was already too late.

The fourth tail, like a venomous snake breaking free of its chains, tore through the air and lashed at Jiraiya.

It was too fast. That was not human speed, but the attack of a Tailed Beast, driven by pure destructive instinct. Jiraiya only had time to twist aside. The tail grazed his ribs—merely grazed them—and his protective chakra cloak tore apart like paper. He clearly heard his ribs crack.

"Cough!" Jiraiya was sent flying, smashing through three large trees before stopping. Blood mixed with fragments of internal organs spilled from his mouth.

And Naruto had completely lost consciousness.

The Four-Tails State had fully manifested. Dark-red chakra condensed into a translucent demonic fox cloak, its four tails thrashing wildly as the ground of the training field began to melt—not burn, but have its stone directly vaporized by the intense heat of chakra. There was no reason in those scarlet pupils, only the purest desire to destroy.

It—no longer "he"—turned toward Jiraiya, opened its mouth, and began gathering and compressing dark-red chakra...

The beginnings of a Tailed Beast Bomb!

At that critical moment, four figures burst from the woods.

"Wood Release: Wood Wall!"

Thick wooden walls erupted from the ground, blocking the space between Jiraiya and the Tailed Beast Bomb. Immediately afterward, a masked ANBU squad spread into formation. One of them—Yamato—pressed both hands to the ground, causing more wooden structures to grow wildly and form a hemispherical cage that trapped Four-Tails Naruto within.

"Captain! Suppress him!" another ANBU shouted.

Yamato bit his finger and smeared blood across the wooden cage. "Wood Release: Four Pillar Prison Technique!"

Inside the cage, countless wooden pillars thrust out from every direction, attempting to bind Four-Tails Naruto. But the Four-Tails' power far exceeded expectations. The instant those pillars touched the dark-red chakra, they began to burn and crumble apart.

"No... I can't suppress him..." Yamato gritted his teeth, his face turning pale. His Wood Release could restrain Tailed Beast Chakra, but the gap in power against the Nine-Tails in its Four-Tails State was simply too great.

Fortunately, the cage bought them three critical seconds.

Jiraiya struggled to his feet, formed hand seals, and used the last of his chakra to perform the Summoning Technique. White smoke exploded outward, and two smaller toads appeared. They swiftly spat out viscous sealing oil, working with Yamato's Wood Release to temporarily restrain Four-Tails Naruto.

"Quick... knock him out..." After saying that, Jiraiya's vision went dark, and he collapsed unconscious.

The subsequent suppression lasted half an hour. Under the combined effects of Yamato's Wood Release, the ANBU's sealing techniques, and the natural fading of the Four-Tails State, Naruto finally collapsed from exhaustion and returned to human form. But large areas of his skin had been burned, and he continued to twitch unconsciously in his coma.

The ANBU squad swiftly took both of them to the nearest Konoha outpost for treatment.

The news reached the Hokage Office three days later.

Tsunade stared at the medical report, her fingers clenched so tightly they had turned white. The report stated clearly: Jiraiya had suffered seven broken ribs, multiple internal contusions, and damaged chakra pathways, and was expected to require two months of bed rest. Uzumaki Naruto had suffered a backlash from Tailed Beast Chakra, with burns over thirty percent of his body and psychological trauma. Recovery time unknown.

And in the section marked cause of incident, there were only a few brief words: "Training accident, Four-Tails rampage."

"Lost control..." Tsunade slammed the report onto the desk, her voice cold as ice. "That bastard Jiraiya knew Naruto's personality and still used Sasuke to provoke him! Did he think that was helping Naruto grow?!"

Shizune stood to one side with Tonton in her arms and said softly, "Lord Jiraiya meant well too... He just didn't expect Naruto's reaction to be so intense."

"Didn't expect it?" Tsunade sneered. "He's taught Naruto for so long. Did he not know that boy values Sasuke more than his own life? Provoking him with something like that is no different from lighting a powder keg!"

She walked to the window and looked down at Konoha's streets. The sunlight was bright, the villagers lived peacefully, and no one knew that only days earlier, their Nine-Tails Jinchuriki had nearly gone completely berserk, while Jiraiya, the one capable of suppressing the Nine-Tails, now lay in a hospital bed.

"What comes next is even more troublesome." Tsunade turned around, her expression carrying the calm required of a Hokage. "Naruto's loss of control exposed two problems. First, he is still far from mastering the Nine-Tails' power. Second, the current training methods have a fatal flaw—emotional instability can directly trigger a rampage."

"Then... should we stop the training?" Shizune asked cautiously.

"And then what?" Tsunade pointed at the report. "The Akatsuki is collecting Tailed Beasts. Naruto is the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, making him their top target. In his current state, forget protecting himself—keeping him in the village is like keeping a ticking bomb. If he loses emotional control and goes berserk in the village one day..."

She did not continue, but Shizune understood. The Four-Tails State alone had severely injured Jiraiya. If it rampaged in the center of Konoha, the casualties would be incalculable.

"We need a new training method." Tsunade returned to her chair, tapping her fingers against the desk. "Yugito Nii and Killer B of the Cloud Village are both perfect Jinchuriki. The way they have mastered their Tailed Beast powers may be useful to Naruto."

Shizune's eyes widened. "You mean... ask the Cloud Village for help? But, Lady Hokage, our relationship with the Cloud Village..."

"I know." Tsunade cut her off, deep exhaustion showing in her voice. "The matter of Hizashi Hyuga only happened a few years ago. The Hyuga Clan still hates the Cloud Village to the bone. But now... we have no choice."

She pulled out a map of the Shinobi World and placed a finger on the Land of Lightning. "The Cloud Village has mature Tailed Beast control techniques. That is a fact. And Naruto needs those techniques. That is also a fact. As for the diplomatic obstacles..."

Tsunade closed her eyes. A few seconds later, she opened them again, her gaze sharp and resolute. "Then I will negotiate. We'll exchange Konoha's techniques, resources, or intelligence. No matter what, Naruto must gain the power to protect himself before the Akatsuki comes for him."

"What about Neji..." Shizune asked hesitantly.

"Neji Hyuga is now a rogue ninja of Sound Village." Tsunade's tone turned cold. "His matter can wait until Naruto and the Akatsuki problem are resolved. If he is still standing with Orochimaru by then..."

She did not finish, but the meaning was obvious.

The Hokage Office fell silent. Outside the window came the sounds of ninjas training in the field, peaceful and orderly. But Tsunade knew that beneath this peace, hidden currents had already begun to stir.

The Nine-Tails Jinchuriki's loss of control, the threat of the Akatsuki, and Neji Hyuga, whose schemes remained unknown...

"Shizune." She finally spoke. "Make preparations. I'm convening a high-level meeting. We need the advisers' approval before making contact with the Cloud Village."

"Yes."

After the door closed, Tsunade sat alone at her desk, looking at the bloodstained medical report before her.

Beside the report lay an encrypted letter—from an ANBU outpost near the border of the Land of Grass. It contained only one sentence:

"Confirmed: recent high-intensity energy fluctuations at the Sound Village Base. Suspected Hashirama Cells experiment. Neji Hyuga is alive; condition unknown."

She picked up the letter. Chakra surged from her hand, and the paper turned to ash.

"Neji Hyuga..." Tsunade murmured. "What exactly... are you becoming?"