The Nine-Tails' enormous claw slammed down, pinning Saqi at the bottom of the crater.
Blue Chakra flames shuddered across his body as his limbs thrashed wildly.
He struggled to break free of the huge red claw pressing him down.
Mito Uzumaki stood on a low hill.
The rush of Nine-Tails Chakra stirred the hem of her white kimono, and her red hair billowed in the wind.
She looked down at the struggling Two-Tails Jinchuriki, her expression as calm as if she were watching an overturned beetle.
She barely moved, merely lifting one hand.
The red claw bore down harder, driving Saqi deeper into the ground. His bones creaked under the strain.
Thousands of eyes across the battlefield locked onto the scene.
The Nine-Tails' red Chakra roiled in the sunlight like burning blood.
A presence far older and heavier than either the Eight-Tails or the Two-Tails settled over the entire battlefield, almost tangible.
In the Cloud ranks, a young Chunin's legs gave way, and he dropped to his knees.
The Kunai slipped from his fingers and struck the ground with a sharp clink.
He made no move to pick it up. He only stared wide-eyed at the red-haired figure on the hill.
His lips trembled, and after a long moment he managed to stammer:
"The N-Nine-Tails Jinchuriki..."
The Jonin beside him did not rebuke him. His own hands were shaking too.
The Nine-Tails.
This was no ordinary Jinchūriki.
She was the strongest weapon Konoha had possessed since its founding.
She was the First's wife, a master of the Uzumaki's Sealing Jutsu.
The Cloud Ninja instinctively backed away, and gaps began to open in their formation.
Two days earlier, Tsunade alone had shattered the morale of five thousand of them, planting the seeds of fear.
Now those seeds had sprouted again.
In