In the shinobi world, those who dared raise a blade against their teacher usually had a few special tricks up their sleeves and thought their cheats had kicked in... Yet once the real fight began, if they did not use those cheats, their teacher would give them a thorough lesson, and they might even get overturned.
Tonight's man had clearly disgraced all those teacher-slaying types... He was the kind who needed to be reeducated even with cheats enabled.
Besides, there was a pitch-black crow nearby, black all the way to its heart.
That was the situation... No one wanted this to happen... No matter what was said, one fact could not be avoided: without using Kamui, the masked man would not last even a second against Namikaze Minato.
In one second, Minato's kunai passed through the masked man's forehead as though through air...
In one second, faced with a shinobi skilled in close combat, he truly could only hide in the Kamui dimension.
Within the Kamui dimension, the expression beneath the mask gradually froze...
A grand gift containing the true meaning of life awaited his unwrapping...
Kitahara's shadow clone held a black-purple Tailed Beast Bomb in its beak and watched the figure that had suddenly appeared in the dimension with detached eyes. It knew its fate...
The masked man returned the same look, staring at the crow in the dimension... and the small Tailed Beast Bomb in its beak! So it was the culprit behind detonating the Nine-Tails' Tailed Beast Bomb...
The culprit was inside his Kamui dimension, carrying a Tailed Beast Bomb in its mouth... This move was truly filthy beyond belief...
The masked man fell silent. Judging by how concentrated the Chakra in that Tailed Beast Bomb was, he probably would not have time to say goodbye to this crow.
Boom!
The Kamui dimension exploded in an instant!
"Cough... ah..."
Even Namikaze Minato, standing nearby, could feel the pain in that howl... He guessed that something had gone wrong with the other man's dojutsu.
The mysterious man's mask had long since vanished, and his face was twisted in unbearable pain. Blood continuously spilled from the corner of his mouth... Even though the White Zetsu on his body had shielded him from the direct damage, the shockwave from the Tailed Beast Bomb's explosion had still dealt him a devastating blow...
His clothes had become scraps of tattered cloth, the White Zetsu around him had shattered into pieces, and even his own body was covered in wounds. Perhaps someone should check how many of his bones remained unbroken...
If not for the immense vitality granted by the First Hokage's cells in his body, the grave in Konoha's Memorial Stone, the one meant for a man whose widow was still alive, could be put to use now.
The face revealed beneath that shattered mask made Namikaze Minato stop his kunai...
"...You are... Obito?"
Namikaze Minato stared at the person lying on the ground in disbelief. He recognized his student at a glance. Blood streamed down Obito's face from his forehead, running straight along the center of it.
His face seemed split in two. One half was relatively intact, and the outline of the boy he had once been could still vaguely be seen. The other half was wrinkled and ruined...
Those were scars left by that war...
The Third Shinobi World War... the Battle of Kannabi Bridge... the Yellow Flash, who had risen to fame in that battle, had lost his student, Uchiha Obito...
But now he stood before him... albeit as an enemy sworn to the death...
Namikaze Minato understood that boy's temperament well enough. Half questioning, half certain, he said, "Because of... Rin? Is that right?"
Obito's resentful gaze fell upon Namikaze Minato. If he had held the upper hand, he surely would have spat out a few vicious remarks... The problem was that his body was already practically on the brink of death...
"Ka... mui!"
Uchiha Obito gritted his teeth and activated his dojutsu...
He did not dare say another word and could only use the Kamui dimension to flee the scene. After only a few exchanges with Namikaze Minato, he had been viciously ambushed by a watching crow...
Besides, it was not as if he were returning home in glory. What was there to reminisce about?
"...Roar!"
After Obito left, the Nine-Tails was freed from control, and its fury only grew more violent. The screams coming from the village instantly wiped the shock from Namikaze Minato's face...
As Hokage, he had more important things to do.
Kitahara watched Uchiha Obito vanish. The result of that Tailed Beast Bomb looked pretty good. Against Obito, it had chosen to borrow Kakashi and Naruto's tactics... sending a shadow clone carrying a Tailed Beast Bomb to infiltrate the Kamui dimension.
The memories transmitted when the shadow clone dispersed showed shattered White Zetsu and Uchiha Obito's despairing face. Though it was not certain how powerful a Tailed Beast Bomb condensed from its own Chakra would be... it looked quite good.
Kitahara flapped its wings in satisfaction... After tonight, it would no longer be an ordinary crow. Flying Thunder God plus Tailed Beast Bombs... From now on, it would never again endure Sasuke spitting on it!
Inside Konoha.
With Obito gone, the Nine-Tails was almost fighting purely on instinct, driven by rage... After so many years, it had once again been controlled by a Mangekyo!
...This was... truly humiliating...
Its anger had clearly reduced its combat intelligence by more than one level... Even running away... How could the Nine-Tails run away? It was the strongest being in the world!
The strongest Tailed Beast possessed such immense Chakra that even the Uzumaki clan, which had the most Chakra in the shinobi world... That clan had not gone extinct yet!
A head of vivid red hair gleamed under the moonlight... This woman was actually still alive!
Uchiha Obito had taken advantage of Uzumaki Kushina's weakness during childbirth to undo the seal and release the Nine-Tails... Once a Nine-Tails Jinchuriki lost the Tailed Beast within her, she would certainly die. The Uzumaki clan's vitality had allowed Kushina to barely hold on for a while longer.
But no matter how formidable the Uzumaki clan's vitality was, she could not possibly endure for this long, especially after she had just given birth to a son...
"Sealing Technique: Adamantine Sealing Chains!"
Uzumaki Kushina tightly covered her wound and knelt half-prone on the ground. Eight enormous Chakra chains extended from her back, binding the Nine-Tails in place.
The Nine-Tails hated this woman beyond measure... It hated everything about her!
As a Nine-Tails Jinchuriki... she got married... had children... never skipped a thing! Had she ever considered how the Tailed Beast felt when doing all that?!
The Nine-Tails clenched its teeth and struggled against the chains. "...Uzumaki Kushina... you bastard... Die!"
"Kushina!" Namikaze Minato arrived through the Flying Thunder God Technique and hurriedly supported his weakened wife. "You should have waited for me..."
"Minato... shh..." Kushina was supporting herself almost entirely through sheer willpower, and even her voice had become faint. "I am the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki... and I am your wife... Konoha is where I grew up..."
Even if she had only one breath left, she felt she should be here... Yet after using the Adamantine Sealing Chains, Kushina was nearly at death's door...
Flying Thunder God Technique!
He still had a considerable amount of Chakra left. Namikaze Minato held his wife tightly and vanished from the spot. The Nine-Tails vanished with them as well... Konoha was safe.
Kitahara continued to follow Namikaze Minato's trail.
It alone knew... the Fourth Hokage's story... was not over yet...
Atop a mountain, the crow's crimson eyes watched the scene below. Everything before it left it powerless; it could only see them off... The rest was family business.
The newborn baby lay on the bed. The Nine-Tails was trapped by Kushina's remaining Chakra... She could only helplessly watch her husband calmly form hand seals...
The ultimate forbidden technique of the Uzumaki clan—Reaper Death Seal!
Exchanging one's own soul for sealing power from the Reaper... The Nine-Tails' Chakra was too immense for their child to bear. Half of it had to be sealed separately.
"I do not love the village as much as I imagined, nor do I love the Hokage's honor as much as I imagined... It seems I have already done enough for the village. Actually, I love you more than I thought I did..."
After one final look at the baby on the bed, Namikaze Minato added, "I love you both more..."
Reaper Death Seal!
The towering phantom of the Reaper appeared within the barrier behind the mountain!
"Caw... ah!"
It was all over...
The crow watched from afar as the baby cried without stopping on the bed. A trace of red Nine-Tails Chakra remained around his navel... Beside him lay his parents, their bodies gradually growing cold...
Perhaps... this child would never need to celebrate another birthday for the rest of his life.
What a coincidence, today was October 10th... the day Naruto was born... More later...
Before you continue