Minato and the Three-Tails

The blue light Pero had stripped away landed on the ground in the distance, and a massive figure gradually emerged within it.

"Hey... mister." Obito's voice began to tremble. Cold sweat began soaking his back, and his newly awakened Mangekyō Sharingan inadvertently revealed themselves.

"What... is that thing? What an overwhelming presence!"

Pero glanced sideways at Obito. The hand pressed against Rin's lower abdomen still glowed gold, continuously feeding chakra into her body and stabilizing the life force draining away as her tailed beast was extracted.

"A tailed beast. Haven't you seen one before?" Pero sounded casual, as though he were saying, "That's just a wild turtle."

Suddenly, Pero raised his head and looked at Kakashi. He saw through the ninja tool pouch to a kunai inscribed with markings inside, which were beginning to glow faintly.

In an instant, a blond man wearing a green jōnin vest appeared behind Kakashi.

"I'm not too late... Obito...?" There was a trace of uncertainty in the man's voice. The scene before him startled him the moment he appeared.

Hearing the familiar voice, Obito turned around, looked at the teacher who had instructed him, and cried out in delight.

"Minato-sensei!!"

"Obito? Weren't you already...?" Minato sensed the familiar yet unfamiliar student before him, whose name should have been on the missing persons list. An unfamiliar presence clung to his familiar chakra.

His hand instinctively reached toward the ninja tool pouch at his waist, and he grew more wary.

"Sensei, you've been late twice already!" Obito seemed not to notice Minato's wariness. He scratched the back of his head and spoke with his usual carefree manner.

"The first time, you didn't save me. I thought I was done for, but then Uncle Pero saved me, hahaha. The second time, Rin almost got killed by Kakashi, and Uncle Pero saved her too."

Finding Obito as talkative as ever, Minato breathed a sigh of relief.

"I see." He looked at Obito guiltily, but the situation might not allow them to catch up. "I'm sorry, Obito. Your teacher didn't make it in time."

"What's happening now? Can you explain the situation?" Minato surveyed their surroundings. All the Mist Ninja nearby had been frozen into ice statues, while the so-called Pero was replenishing Rin's chakra.

Somewhat bewildered, he asked Kakashi and Obito what had happened.

With Obito's animated explanation and Kakashi's concise additions, Minato finally gained a general understanding of the situation.

Kirigakure had kidnapped Rin and sealed the Three-Tails inside her, intending to make her go berserk in Konoha and cause a disaster.

And this man who called himself Pero had not only saved Obito, but was now extracting the tailed beast from Rin's body using a method Minato had never heard of.

"So that's what happened. I have a general idea now." Having understood the situation, Minato's gaze shifted between the enormous blue glow in the distance and Pero.

When a tailed beast was extracted from its Jinchūriki, the Jinchūriki would undoubtedly die. That was common knowledge in the Shinobi World. Yet the man before him was extracting the tailed beast while sustaining Rin's life with his own immense chakra.

This secret technique... could there be an Uzumaki Clan survivor in the Akatsuki?

"Lord Pero..." Minato had just begun to ask a question.

In the distance, the enormous mass of blue light finally dissipated completely. A gray turtle the size of a small mountain appeared before them, bearing a huge shell and three tails.

Minato's gaze sharpened. His hand swept over his ninja tool pouch, and he flung several kunai backhanded, scattering them across the battlefield.

"It's Three-Tails Isobu!"

Isobu opened his eyes.

Isobu slowly opened his three enormous compound eyes and surveyed the people below.

When his gaze fell on Obito's scarlet Mangekyō Sharingan, fear flashed through his eyes.

But that fear was immediately replaced by even more violent rage.

"The Uchiha again!! You filthy bastards are trying to use me again!"

Isobu roared, and enormous waves instantly surged through the lake behind him. He curled up his body, his gray-blue shell gleaming coldly in the sunlight. Like a rolling wheel, he hurtled toward Pero and the others amid an earthshaking rumble.

"Obito, Kakashi, take Rin and get somewhere safe." Minato swept out his arm, directing the three-person team to retreat.

He himself turned into a streak of blue light and raced toward Isobu as the beast crushed everything in his path.

As he passed Pero, Minato did not forget to add, "Mr. Pero, please take care of yourself!"

Minato lightly tapped the ground with his toes, and his figure vanished instantly.

The next moment, he appeared beside the rapidly spinning Isobu. Using the Flying Thunder God Technique, he left a barely perceptible Jutsu Formula on Isobu's shell.

At the same time, Minato threw several Flying Thunder God Kunai into the sky.

Then blue light flashed!

Each flash of blue light teleported Isobu a little higher.

Finally, with the last flash of blue light, Minato appeared beside Pero.

He had forcibly transported the still rapidly spinning Isobu more than a thousand meters into the air.

The two watched Isobu fall from the sky.

"Looking that cool-did you think about what would happen when that thing came crashing down?" Pero thought to himself as he watched Minato's series of flashy moves.

He really deserves to be called the Yellow Flash. Those moves certainly were impressive.

"Huh? What do you mean, Mr. Pero?" Hearing Pero's remark, Minato scratched his head in confusion.

"We're just past the border of your Land of Fire. In other words, this is Konoha's territory. The terrain here was flat, ideal for border defense and surveillance."

"What do you think will happen if that thing crashes down from that high up?"

"Huh?" A cold sweat broke out on Minato as he heard this, and he slowly turned to watch Isobu plummet into the ground.

"If the terrain here changes, this place will become a weak point in Konoha's border defenses."

Boom-!

The tremendous crash of Isobu's landing shook heaven and earth. The Three-Tails' body slammed into the open ground beside the lake, and the earth instantly collapsed, splitting into a crater hundreds of meters across.

Shattered rocks and dirt shot outward like sharp swords, smashing all the surrounding human ice statues. The shock wave from the impact whipped up enormous waves across the lake.

Within the spreading smoke, a faint purple light radiating an ominous presence flickered, expanding rapidly.

The next moment.

A huge purple sphere burst through the smoke and flew toward Minato and Pero.

As Minato watched the purple Tailed Beast Bomb, the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. Cold sweat from his back instantly soaked the fitted shirt beneath his vest.

He instinctively tried to activate Flying Thunder God and take Pero away.

Only to see Pero stretch out a hand to stop him.

Pero turned back and said with a narrowed-eye smile.

"Watch closely. Next, I'm going to look even cooler."

Pero paused, then instantly vanished from the spot.

"So fast." Minato was shocked. "I can't follow him... he's faster than my Flying Thunder God."

The Tailed Beast Bomb hurtled toward them. The rapidly spinning sphere of compressed energy stirred up waves of heat, distorting the surrounding air with its scorching temperature.

Pero appeared in front of the Tailed Beast Bomb and casually extended his right hand against the huge sphere. The raging Tailed Beast Bomb seemed to strike an invisible barrier, stopping dead in midair.

Seeing someone stop his Tailed Beast Bomb barehanded, Isobu's three compound eyes filled with disbelief.

The next moment, Pero lightly flicked his wrist upward.

With a sharp ripping sound.

The Tailed Beast Bomb was neatly sliced in half like a piece of fruit.

Carried by momentum, the severed Tailed Beast Bomb flew onward behind him.

Minato instinctively turned to look and was stunned by the sight.

Boom... boom!

Two tremendous explosions rang out as all the Tailed Beast Bomb's chakra poured onto two symmetrically positioned mountains. Dazzling white light flashed as it struck them, and then the rock layers melted at a speed visible to the naked eye, like ice cubes in a furnace, turning into red lava that flowed down what remained of the mountains.

Pero's voice came from behind Minato.

"Well, Minato? Wasn't that a cool slash?"

Minato slowly turned back to see Pero flashing a mouthful of white teeth and pointing his thumb at himself.

"Next, this punch will be even cooler."

Pero vanished again and appeared above Isobu.

Sensing the presence that had suddenly appeared above him, Isobu could not help crying out, intending to beg for mercy.

"Don't..."

Pero punched down, forcing the words Isobu had been about to utter back into his stomach. Under the immense impact, countless cracks split Isobu's shell, and bright red blood burst out mixed with fragments of shell.

The ground beneath Isobu also collapsed again from the remaining force, deepening the crater further.

[The host has defeated Three-Tails Isobu. Extract tailed beast chakra?]

Extract it. Don't drain him to death. The tailed beast still needs to be left for Nagato and the others.

Pero raised a hand toward Isobu before him, and the enormous body turned into countless streams of light that flew into his palm.

The scattered light faded. At the center of where the enormous body had been lay a turtle the size of a puppy, his three compound eyes spinning in spirals.

[Three-Tails Isobu's chakra extracted. Evolution energy +0.5%]

Not bad.

Pero went over and picked the turtle up by his three tails. At the same time, a kunai embedded itself in the ground beside him.

Blue light flashed, and Minato appeared again.

After landing, Minato kept his eyes fixed on the Three-Tails in Pero's hand.

"Sir, could you entrust the tailed beast to Konoha? I'll seal it and return it to Kirigakure." Minato's expression was solemn.

Pero waved a hand dismissively.

"Oh, come on. You still want to follow the First Hokage's approach? Look at all the fighting everywhere, after so many years of war." Pero lifted the Three-Tails in his hand and shook him. "Has that approach worked? There's been no shortage of wars."

He continued, "We, the Akatsuki, will be taking this tailed beast. We'll be collecting the other tailed beasts too. I hope you're ready."

"And you, Minato Namikaze." Pero's gaze suddenly grew meaningful. "You don't need to be so devoted to Konoha either. Do you know what kind of treatment your unborn child will receive in Konoha?"

"Oh, right. Speaking of your son, didn't you seal away a memory of meeting him in Rōran?"

Pero flickered, instantly appearing before Minato, and touched a finger to his forehead.

"Anyway, history is going to be rewritten from the moment I appeared."

"Let's take a look at the Konoha you love."