"Fourth Hokage Minato, get away from the Jinchūriki right now!"
"Otherwise, this child has only one minute left to live!"
Minato's pupils trembled violently as he thought:
What Xuandou said actually came true!
But why hadn't there been any sound from the barrier or the Anbu outside?
How... had he gotten through the barrier?
"Ugh-!"
Behind him, Kushina let out a muffled groan of pain.
Minato looked back, and his heart instantly sank.
The seal on her abdomen was breaking apart at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Pitch-black markings spread rapidly like living creatures, crawling all over her body.
The Nine-Tails was about to emerge.
"Kushina!"
Minato gritted his teeth.
"Get away from the Jinchūriki!"
Before he could think through a response, the Masked Man on the other side was already pressing him.
He raised his kunai and pointed it at Naruto's face.
"Don't you care whether this brat lives or dies?"
Before his words had faded, he abruptly tossed Naruto into the air.
"Naruto!"
Kushina cried out with all her strength, tears spilling from her eyes.
The Masked Man leaped up, thrusting the kunai in his hand straight at Naruto.
At that very instant.
A yellow flash streaked through the air.
Minato had already caught Naruto securely in his arms.
But the next second, his expression changed drastically.
The sound of burning explosive tags reached his ears.
Several explosive tags stuck to the swaddling were burning rapidly.
"Flying Thunder God!"
With almost no hesitation, Minato vanished on the spot with Naruto.
Only the Masked Man and Kushina, who lay on the ground, remained inside the barrier.
The Masked Man looked down at the weakened Kushina and said flatly:
"As expected of the Yellow Flash."
He reached out and grabbed Kushina, his body slowly turning intangible.
The next moment, the two appeared atop a dimly lit altar.
The Masked Man used chakra to suspend Kushina in midair with her arms and legs spread.
"Come out, Nine-Tails."
His voice was cold.
A mass of scarlet chakra was forcibly torn from the seal on Kushina's abdomen. It fell to the ground, rapidly expanding and taking shape.
In the blink of an eye, an enormous demon fox appeared atop the altar.
"ROAR!!!"
The Nine-Tails threw back his head and roared, his violent chakra filling the surroundings.
The Sharingan in the Masked Man's eye slowly spun.
The Nine-Tails' roar stopped abruptly. His pupils lost focus, and he fell completely under control.
The Masked Man turned, preparing to leave with the Nine-Tails.
Just then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kushina, who had been lying on the ground, actually struggling shakily to her feet.
He froze briefly, then spoke with a trace of admiration:
"The Uzumaki Clan really is remarkable. Even after the tailed beast inside you is extracted, you don't die immediately."
"In that case..."
A cold gleam flashed in his eye.
"I'll let the Nine-Tails finish you off!"
With that, he directly controlled the Nine-Tails.
The Nine-Tails raised a massive claw and slammed it down at Kushina.
Bang!
Dust billowed everywhere.
When the dust cleared, Kushina was nowhere to be seen.
The Masked Man raised his head and saw Minato standing a short distance away with Kushina in his arms.
A cold smile curled his lips.
"As expected of the Yellow Flash!"
"Unfortunately, even with her tenacious life force, she's destined to die after having her tailed beast extracted."
"Even with Flying Thunder God, you're always one step too late."
With that, he paid the two no further attention and vanished with the Nine-Tails.
The next second, in the sky above Konoha.
"Summoning Technique!"
Boom!
The gigantic Nine-Tails appeared out of thin air.
The Nine-Tails' enormous body crashed heavily to the ground, crushing a vast swath of houses.
The villagers looked up in terror. At the sight of that gigantic figure, they instantly panicked.
"What... what the hell is that thing?!"
"The Nine-Tails! It's the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox!"
"The Nine-Tails is back! Help!!!"
"Run! Run for your lives!"
Boom!
A claw came down.
A vast swath of houses was instantly pulverized.
Countless figures were swallowed by the flames.
Sobs, screams, and cries for help mingled together.
Some desperately ran toward the outskirts of the village, some huddled in corners holding their children and trembling, and some knelt on the ground, weeping in despair.
"Help!"
"Someone, please save us!"
Amid the chaos, someone shouted:
"Lord Danzo! Where is Lord Danzo?"
"Lord Danzo said he would protect us!"
An Anbu member knelt on one knee before Hiruzen Sarutobi, his voice audibly trembling.
"Lord Third! The Nine-Tails... the Nine-Tails has appeared in the village!"
Hiruzen did not turn around.
He had already noticed the tremendous commotion coming from the village.
The deafening crashes, the flames soaring into the sky, and the relentless screams could be heard clearly from several streets away.
As he hurriedly put on his protective gear, he gave orders in a grave voice:
"I know. Leave the Nine-Tails to me."
After a pause, he added:
"You Anbu, protect the noncombatants. The elderly, the children, the wounded-save as many as you can."
"Understood!"
The Anbu member accepted his orders and vanished into the night in a flash.
Standing alone in the room, Hiruzen finally stopped moving.
He gazed at the enormous red figure outside the window, cold sweat beading on his forehead.
Had Kushina's seal... been undone?
They had set up a barrier. They had stationed so many Anbu guards...
Yet in the end, they had still failed.
He suddenly recalled what Xuandou had said in the Hokage's Office a few days earlier.
"Someone will strike while Kushina is giving birth."
"Their targets are the Jinchūriki and the Nine-Tails."
At the time, he had dismissed it as Uchiha alarmism, thinking Xuandou wanted to use the opportunity to stir up trouble.
But now...
Hiruzen felt some regret that he had not listened to Xuandou's proposed response.
He gritted his teeth, pushed open the door, and stepped outside.
The Konoha Military Police Force.
Fugaku stood by the window, staring fixedly at the colossal beast rampaging through the village.
Its nine tails thrashed wildly, and every sweep brought down swaths of houses.
Flames towered into the sky, screams rang out incessantly, and all of Konoha trembled.
He abruptly turned and said to Shisui behind him:
"Go outside the village and notify Clan Head Xuandou at once! Tell him the Nine-Tails has appeared!"
"Yes!"
Without another word, Shisui vanished on the spot.
Fugaku then turned to the group of Konoha Military Police Force members in the room and said gravely:
"Everyone, move out! Do everything you can to rescue the noncombatants!"
But the room remained silent.
No one moved.
Fugaku frowned and swept his gaze over them.
Inabi stood at the front, making no attempt to hide the resistance on his face. Through gritted teeth, he said:
"I'm not going!"
His voice grew louder and louder.
"When we evacuated them yesterday, how did they curse us? They said we had nothing better to do, that we were showing off!"
"Now that the Nine-Tails is here, they remember us?"
Tekka stepped forward too, his face livid.
"I'm not going either!"
He pointed outside the window.
"Listen! They're shouting, 'Lord Danzo, save us!' It's Danzo they trust, not us Uchiha!"
"Now that something's happened, why should we Uchiha go throw our lives away?"
"Exactly!"
"Let them go find Danzo!"
"Didn't they say they didn't need us? Then let them die at the Nine-Tails' hands!"
Hearing this, the other police force members grew indignant as well.
After all, it was not as though they were unaware of the Uchiha's current situation.
The Uchiha did everything they could to maintain public order, yet all they received in return was the hatred of Konoha's people.
They were no longer willing to step forward to protect such ignorant people.
Fugaku looked at them, at the anger and grievances suppressed for years on their faces, and his throat worked.
"Enough!"
Fugaku slammed his hand on the desk and rose abruptly.
His sharp gaze swept over them.
"Now is not the time for this nonsense!"
"The police force's duty is to protect the people. No matter how they curse us or hate us, as long as we wear this uniform, that is our duty!"
"Do as I say. Move out!"
A short while later, figures streaked out of the police force headquarters, rushing toward the village where flames towered into the sky.