Nine-Tails

Another quiet night had fallen.

Nine months had passed since Minato assumed the position of Hokage, and Konoha had entered its forty-eighth year.

Rumble!

A massive surge of energy swept outward from within Konoha in every direction.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

Konoha's highest alert sounded.

The instant they heard it, all the ninjas awoke from the darkness.

Their hearts shook.

This alarm would only sound when Konoha faced a crisis of life and death.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

All the ninjas leaped onto the rooftops, observing the situation as they awaited orders.

Ninjas closer to the source had already caught sight of that enormous figure.

Nine tails swayed above Konoha.

"What... is that monster?"

With every sweep of its tails, countless buildings in Konoha were destroyed, and many residents lost their lives.

"Son, what is that?"

Tobitake Tosei and Tobitake Tonbo stood on a rooftop, staring at the colossal beast towering into the heavens.

Tobitake Tonbo sighed inwardly. It had finally come.

"That should be the Nine-Tails. Dad, go evacuate the residents according to Konoha's emergency procedures. You know what to do, right?"

Tobitake Tonbo instructed him.

Tobitake Tosei nodded. He had been a Chunin before, after all.

Whenever Konoha issued its highest alert, all Chunin followed established procedures to evacuate residents to shelters.

"Make sure Ayame and Uncle Teuchi are protected!"

Tobitake Tonbo then hurried toward the Nine-Tails.

They were not the only ones moving. Every ninja above Chunin rank had begun to act.

The Genin, under the Chunin's direction, were responsible for evacuating the civilians.

"Activate emergency orders. Everyone, protect the noncombatants..."

At that moment, Shikaku Nara's voice entered every ninja's mind.

Order after order was issued.

A large group of ninjas had already gathered around the Nine-Tails, keeping it occupied.

The first to arrive were members of Ino-Shika-Cho and others, with orders transmitted through Yamanaka Inoichi's Mind Transmission Technique.

Shuriken, kunai, Explosive Tags—the attacks of countless ninjas were like scratches against the Nine-Tails.

Not only were they useless, they enraged the Nine-Tails.

Rumble!

"Bearing the name of Hokage, I will protect the village with my life."

Minato looked at the colossal beast that pierced the sky.

The Nine-Tails' gaze fell upon him as well. It opened its mouth, and an enormous black sphere appeared.

"I won't let you harm the village. That massive energy needs a proper landing point."

Facing the enormous Tailed Beast Ball, Minato formed hand seals and used a Space-Time Barrier to transfer it away.

Boom!

A massive explosion erupted outside the village.

The energy made Tobitake Tonbo's heart tremble when he sensed it.

"A terrifying Tailed Beast Ball. If it hit, I'd be blown to pieces.

Looks like the Fourth has gone up against Obito.

Good. It's time for me to show some of my Will of Fire too."

After more than a year of training, he was no longer a Genin who had just stepped onto the battlefield. If he could reduce the casualties even a little, he had to help.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

As he approached the Nine-Tails, he could see many ninjas holding it back.

The Nine-Tails was far more terrifying than it had looked in the anime.

Its sheer presence alone made him feel suffocated.

"Guy, Kakashi, how are things?"

He landed beside Guy and Kakashi and asked them.

"This thing seems to be under the Sharingan's control."

Kakashi looked into the Nine-Tails' eyes as he spoke.

"Yosh! Now is the time for me to burn the energy of youth!"

Guy first struck the pose of a great roc spreading its wings, wanting to settle things with the Nine-Tails.

"The Third and the two advisors are here too."

Tobitake Tonbo spread out his senses. The Nine-Tails' gigantic mass of chakra could no longer interfere with his perception.

He could sense three figures approaching. No, four.

The Nine-Tails was incredibly durable. Konoha's ninjas could not defeat it, but they could suppress it briefly.

One man expanded skyward and directly fought the Nine-Tails.

"Oh, it's Teacher Choza! So cool! So youthful!" Guy watched the man, flames blazing in his eyes.

Seeing his teacher fight someone so enormous made his blood boil.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Choza was naturally no match for the Nine-Tails. His huge body merely limited the range of its attacks, preventing more civilians from being harmed.

The other ninjas charged in as well.

Shadow Imitation, Mind Transfer, countless Explosive Tags...

"Alright, let's go too."

Kakashi said.

"Yosh, let my blazing energy burn!" Guy said.

Whoosh!

Just as they were about to act, a sword-bearing figure stopped them.

"Hayama, why?"

"It's the Third Hokage's order."

Hayama Shirakumo spoke.

"We can help too," Tobitake Tonbo said.

He really could help, just as Choza and the others were doing, by holding it back for a while.

With his new ninjutsu.

"This is an order."

Hayama Shirakumo's tone allowed no argument.

"Tch, let's go. It's an order, after all, and the Third and the others are already there."

Tobitake Tonbo considered that the Third and the others had arrived, and his abilities were still inferior to theirs.

He did not even know whether his Genjutsu Secret Technique would work on the Nine-Tails.

It was better not to cause trouble.

Though Guy and Kakashi were dissatisfied as well, they followed Tobitake Tonbo toward the assembly point.

"Damn it, that Hayama guy told us to leave, but he went to help himself."

Guy complained bitterly along the way.

Tobitake Tonbo said, "Stop complaining and get to the assembly point. There might be other orders.

Besides, Hayama is already a Jōnin, though I don't know why Kakashi has to leave too!"

Kakashi said nothing, only turning back to glance at the Nine-Tails.

They soon reached the assembly point.

But to their disappointment, their orders were to protect the residents. They were not permitted to participate in the Nine-Tails' subjugation.

Tobitake Tonbo sighed inwardly, but also felt relieved.

Protecting residents was important work too, though he had wanted to test his newly developed Secret Technique on the Nine-Tails.

The residents were in complete chaos.

Their faces were filled with terror.

Tobitake Tonbo separated from Guy and the others, evacuating civilians in different areas.

Yet he kept his senses focused on the battlefield.

At this point, the Third and his fellow disciples had entered the battle.

It was also Tobitake Tonbo's first time seeing those two advisors fight.

He had seen the Third's techniques in the anime: ninjutsu of all five elements, combined attacks, the Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique, and more.

But Mitokado Homura truly opened his eyes.

Countless enormous weapons descended from the sky, directly suppressing the Nine-Tails for a time. The scroll in his hand also unleashed attacks upon the Nine-Tails that filled the sky.

They were covered in Explosive Tags as well.

The Nine-Tails howled in pain.

Its nine tails thrashed even more wildly.

Even Shimura Danzō joined the battle. The cutting force of Wind Release made the Nine-Tails suffer, driving it increasingly berserk.

Utatane Koharu was responsible for support, medical treatment, and the like.

"Oh, this guy is a ninja tool master type of ninja, just like Tenten."

At the same time, he noticed that the Sharingan in the Nine-Tails' eyes had disappeared.

The Fourth must have taken action.

Even so, the attacks of so many ninjas only managed to keep the Nine-Tails occupied.

The Third finally used the Summoning Technique, revealing the famous scene.

The Adamantine Staff stabbed the Nine-Tails.

It knocked the Nine-Tails out of the village.