At that moment, Uchiha Obito had just teleported with Uzumaki Kushina to a hidden spot in the village's center, preparing to extract the Nine-Tails from her. But before he could act, Namikaze Minato followed.
Without a moment's hesitation, Obito grabbed Kushina and stepped back, putting distance between himself and Minato.
Concerned for Kushina's safety, Minato held back from making any rash moves.
Suppressing the rage burning inside him, he glared at Obito and demanded, "Who are you? Why do you keep invading our village and trying to steal our Tailed Beast?"
"Ha ha ha!" Obito let out a cold, mocking laugh.
Then, mimicking Uchiha Madara's hoarse, aged voice, he sneered, "Your village? Your Tailed Beast? Who told you they belong to you?"
Minato's eyes lit up slightly at Obito's scornful words.
He wasn't afraid of insults to himself or even the village. What he feared was Obito staying silent, as he had in their previous encounters, giving away nothing.
But now that Obito was talking, no matter what he said or what his intentions were, he was bound to let some information slip.
Like now—his dismissive tone was a thread Minato could follow, and it was sure to lead somewhere useful.
But that was for later.
Right now, saving his wife was the priority.
With that thought, Minato's gaze shifted to Kushina.
He could see she was under some kind of jutsu in Obito's grasp. Her eyes were open, but she was completely immobile, unable to communicate with him.
The sight filled Minato with worry.
While Minato assessed Kushina's condition, Obito was secretly channeling his chakra.
He wasn't wasting time bantering with Minato for no reason—he was buying time to prepare.
And now, he was ready.
In the next instant, Obito pressed his right hand against Kushina's abdomen and yanked, forcibly pulling the Nine-Tails from the partially weakened seal within her.
Across from him, Minato reacted the moment Obito moved, using the Flying Thunder God Technique to teleport to Kushina's side.
In his right hand, he formed a Rasengan and struck at Obito, who was mere inches away.
But, as expected, the attack passed right through Obito's body, as if hitting nothing but air, dealing no damage.
Minato's brow furrowed as he thought, It's the same as before. Is this some kind of space transfer, or another ability entirely?
With his mastery of the Flying Thunder God Technique, he could sense the subtle spatial fluctuations when Obito used Kamui's intangibility.
So, his suspicion wasn't unfounded.
The problem was, he hadn't yet figured out how to counter it.
But that didn't matter for now.
His attack wasn't meant to harm Obito—it was to create an opening to rescue Kushina.
And in that, he both succeeded and failed.
He did manage to seize the moment while Obito dodged, teleporting Kushina to where he'd been standing moments ago, where a kunai marked with the Flying Thunder God seal lay waiting.
But he failed because, in the brief window of his attack and rescue, Obito used a summoning technique to extract the Nine-Tails from Kushina.
Thankfully, Kushina's Uzumaki lineage gave her an extraordinary constitution, allowing her to cling to life despite the loss of her Tailed Beast.
But it was clear that if this dragged on, she'd meet the same fate as other Jinchuriki who lost their Tailed Beasts.
"No, this can't happen," Minato murmured, looking at Kushina's weakened state. He snapped his head up, locking eyes with Obito.
There was only one way to save his wife now: reclaim the Nine-Tails and reseal it within her.
With her Uzumaki vitality, she might survive.
As if sensing Minato's plan, Obito didn't hesitate. He immediately prepared to use Kamui to escape with the Nine-Tails.
But the Nine-Tails was Kushina's lifeline, and Minato wasn't about to let Obito take it.
The moment Obito activated Kamui, Minato unleashed the Flying Thunder God: Guiding Thunder.
Ever since confirming the enemy had some kind of spatial transfer ability, Minato had been pondering how to counter it.
He'd tried several methods in past encounters, but none had worked effectively.
Recently, though, he'd come up with a new idea—a desperate one: sacrifice a piece of his own strength to take down the enemy.
As a master of the Flying Thunder God Technique, he knew exactly what was needed to perform a space-time ninjutsu.
The most critical condition? A stable space.
If the surrounding space was unstable, using a space-time jutsu could fail at best, wasting chakra, or at worst, backfire and prove fatal.
So, his plan was simple: disrupt the nearby space, making any space-time jutsu too dangerous to attempt.
This would stop Obito from escaping.
Of course, it would also strip Minato of his core ability—the Flying Thunder God Technique—weakening him significantly.
But for his wife and the village, Minato was willing to take the risk.
With these thoughts racing through his mind, Minato activated Flying Thunder God: Guiding Thunder.
In an instant, a dense array of sealing formulas materialized, spreading across hundreds, even thousands of meters.
That wasn't all.
With a low shout from Minato, countless black rifts of varying sizes appeared within the sealing array.
These were no ordinary rifts—they were spatial tears he'd forcibly ripped open.
The surrounding space immediately became unstable.
If Obito insisted on using Kamui now, he might escape, but the far likelier outcome was severe injury.
After a brief moment of consideration, Obito halted.
He glanced at the sealing formulas around him and the Nine-Tails in his grasp, which he could barely control. With a cold expression beneath his mask, he made a bold move: he released the Nine-Tails.
Instantly, the Nine-Tails' chakra erupted with overwhelming force, sending a chill through all of Konoha.
It felt as if a massive weight pressed down on everyone's hearts, making it hard to breathe.
"ROAR!"
A triumphant bellow roared from the Nine-Tails' maw as it unleashed its chakra, its body rapidly expanding. In the blink of an eye, it towered over a hundred meters tall.
At that moment, every person in Konoha could see its massive form.
"ROAR!"
Another deafening roar.
The Nine-Tails looked down at the humans below, like ants in its eyes. Memories of its imprisonment fueled its rage, and it lashed out with its nine tails.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
CRACK! CRACK!
Buildings caught in the sweep of its tails crumbled instantly, and the people inside suffered heavy casualties.
The cries, screams, and fear from below only fueled the Nine-Tails' satisfaction.
Then, its gaze fell on Uchiha Obito, the one who had freed it from its sealed prison.
"Hmm?" The Nine-Tails let out a curious sound, as if noticing something.
But before it could speak, Obito seized the moment of eye contact and cast Genjutsu: Sharingan.
In an instant, the once-mighty Nine-Tails lost control of itself.
Its pupils reflected the Sharingan's pattern, and it began a mindless rampage.
Seeing this, Minato moved to intervene.
But Obito wasn't about to give him the chance. He engaged Minato in combat immediately.
And at that very moment, Seimei finally arrived.
Well, "finally" might not be entirely accurate.
After all, even factoring in the time spent talking, Obito and Minato hadn't been there long.
Seimei had no markers on either of them or Kushina, so reaching them this quickly was already impressive.
He owed it to his ability to sense the Nine-Tails' chakra, which kept him from getting lost.
Plus, his Ama no Miya technique ensured others couldn't detect him, sparing him from getting caught up like Sarutobi Hiruzen.
Otherwise, he'd have arrived even later.
And what was Hiruzen's situation?
Simple: he was currently locked in battle with Zetsu.