"Ah... ah...!"
"Almost there... I can see the hair already!" The medical-nin assisting with the delivery cheered in excitement.
Inside the cave, agonized screams echoed—not only from the pain of childbirth but also from the loosening of the seal. The Nine-Tails' chakra was continuously corroding Uzumaki Kushina's body.
She had to divide her focus, using chakra to shield the baby from the Nine-Tails' invasive energy. If not for the Uzumaki clan's resilience, an ordinary person would have succumbed long ago.
Not far away, Namikaze Minato struck the rock wall with his fist, an expression of rare anxiety and frustration on his face.
"What's the situation outside?"
A kunoichi from the Nakayama clan, seated in the corner, spoke up.
"Everything has been arranged. Lord Danzo said the Hokage need not worry..."
A surge of unprecedented anger rose in Minato's heart.
He hadn't expected that someone would actually launch an attack on Konoha at the very moment his wife was giving birth.
"Waaah—" A newborn's cry filled the cave.
"He's out! It's a boy!" The assisting medical-nin exclaimed excitedly to Minato.
Boom! A sudden burst of smoke appeared beside the delivery bed.
Clang!
A masked figure intercepted Minato's lethal strike, holding a kunai against the newborn's neck.
"Waaah! Waaah!"
The medical-nin assisting with the birth collapsed onto the ground, blood slowly seeping from her neck.
"Fast... but if you make another move, his life will be forfeit," the masked man's hoarse voice warned.
Sensing his surroundings, he realized the space had become viscous—even his intangibility wouldn't activate. Yet, Minato's space-time ninjutsu seemed unaffected.
"Reverse Summoning Technique… Who are you?" Minato's expression turned grave, his gaze sharp with killing intent, but he didn't dare to act recklessly.
That spatial disturbance… was it triggered at the exact moment Kushina's seal weakened, using the Nine-Tails as a coordinate?
"Take a guess." The masked man sneered, then abruptly tossed the baby into the air, sending a kunai flying straight toward him.
"Minato!" Kushina, weak and frantic, called out.
A flash of yellow streaked through the cave—
In the blink of an eye, the infant was safely in Minato's arms.
But Kushina and the masked man had vanished.
The news from the cave sent a chill through Danzo's heart.
The sealing barrier around the cave had essentially made it an independent space. Even with Kamui, Obito's current Sharingan stage shouldn't have allowed him to breach it from the outside.
Yet, he still managed to get in…
...
Elsewhere in the village,
Kakashi was leading a search for the enemy when he suddenly fell off a rooftop, crashing to the ground.
"Captain?!" Three teammates rushed to his side, scanning the surroundings warily.
"Ahhh!" Kakashi clutched his head, letting out a pained cry. Tearing off his mask, his left Sharingan spun wildly, veins bulging around his eye socket.
His chakra and mental energy were being rapidly drained.
The surrounding space twisted—
The masked man emerged, carrying Kushina, effortlessly eliminating Kakashi's three ANBU subordinates with Mokuton.
"Smart thinking, Obito," White Zetsu's teasing voice rang out. "Good thing we had this secondary escape point. Otherwise, getting stuck in that cave would've been a real headache."
"...You… you're Obito...?" Kushina's weak voice trembled in disbelief.
Her only response was a Genjutsu, sending her into unconsciousness.
"Obito, you're ruthless to your own sensei's wife. Why not finish off this Kakashi guy too and reclaim your eye?" White Zetsu's head sprouted from Obito's shoulder, eyeing the unconscious Kakashi with ill intent.
"Shut up, White Zetsu. Before Konoha reacts, we need to find a place to release the Nine-Tails."
With that, the space around them distorted once more, and Obito disappeared with Kushina.
...
Meanwhile, on the other side of the village—
Jiraiya, Uchiha Shisui, and Pakura had reached the area devastated by the Seven-Tails' rampage. Their expressions were grim as they surveyed the destruction.
"Shisui, are you sure you can stop it?" Jiraiya asked, eyes fixed on the unnatural movements of the Seven-Tails. It was clearly under someone's control.
"I can do it, Jiraiya-sama." Shisui's voice was resolute. His Sharingan spun rapidly before evolving into the Mangekyō.
"Alright, I'll create an opening for you."
The Seven-Tails drew closer—
"Summoning Jutsu!"
A massive toad descended from the sky, crashing onto the Seven-Tails and pinning it to the ground.
"Jiraiya, what the hell?!" Gamabunta flinched upon seeing the monstrous creature beneath him, grumbling in protest.
"Just hold it down!" Jiraiya had no time for explanations.
Shisui used the Body Flicker Technique, appearing before the restrained beast. His Mangekyō Sharingan glowed, casting its illusion into the Seven-Tails' eyes.
The rampaging beast suddenly stopped struggling. Its blood-red eyes gradually dimmed, and its eyelids began to droop.
"Did it work?" A flicker of relief passed through Jiraiya's eyes.
Inside Shisui's mindscape, the Seven-Tails' consciousness had fallen into slumber. Just as he was about to deactivate his Mangekyō—
"What...?" A chilling realization struck him.
He couldn't turn off his Mangekyō… or exit his own mental realm.
Crack… crack…
The sun in his mindscape began to collapse. Slowly, a foreign eye emerged, replacing the sun—a Rinnegan, its concentric rings marking its identity unmistakably.
In the real world, Shisui trembled violently, blood streaming from his eyes as his body crumpled.
The Seven-Tails' eyes snapped open—
The Sharingan patterns vanished, replaced by the distinct ripple patterns of the Rinnegan.
It raised its claw, poised to strike down the incapacitated Shisui.
Clang! A massive blade pinned the beast's claw to the ground.
Before its other claw could finish the job, Gamabunta inhaled deeply, puffing out his cheeks—then exhaled forcefully, sending the unconscious Shisui flying to safety.
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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