Chapter 157: Subduing the Nine-Tails, Gathering of the Strong
On one side, Uchiha Dali was using Earth Release techniques along with the Four-Tails and Five-Tails Jinchūriki to create vast swathes of land, aiming to connect the Land of Fire and the Land of Water.
Meanwhile, Konoha had fallen into chaos after being ambushed by Uchiha Obito.
Despite personally leading the battle against the Nine-Tails, Hiruzen Sarutobi struggled.
The Nine-Tails was simply too powerful. Even a casual swipe of its claw was enough to inflict devastating damage across the village.
Countless villagers and shinobi fell in its wake.
Hiruzen gave it his all, yet could only manage to force the Nine-Tails out of Konoha's core residential area.
To completely subdue the Nine-Tails, a power even stronger was needed.
Elsewhere, Uchiha Shisui had returned from pursuing Uchiha Obito—empty-handed.
Obito had long since used Kamui to evade all tracking efforts.
Against this kind of space-time ninjutsu that disregarded distance, even someone like Shisui was helpless.
With no other choice, he returned to the village to help the others deal with the Nine-Tails.
"Leave it to me!"
As he saw massive sections of the village engulfed in flames and the Nine-Tails still locked in fierce battle with Hiruzen and the others outside the village, Uchiha Shisui quickly arrived on the scene.
With the activation of his Mangekyō Sharingan, in the blink of an eye, the rampaging Nine-Tails suddenly calmed down.
In its massive eyes appeared the pattern of Shisui's Mangekyō Sharingan.
But immediately after, the pattern in those eyes began to spin in reverse.
In an instant, the Nine-Tails snapped out of the Sharingan illusion cast by Uchiha Obito.
"You damn Uchiha brat! How dare you treat me like that!"
The Nine-Tails roared with fury.
Just moments ago, it had been completely under the spell of a Sharingan illusion, acting against its will.
Now that it was free again, it was both furious and slightly wary.
These humans were not to be underestimated.
Especially this Uchiha brat.
"Shisui, what about Kushina's child?" Hiruzen Sarutobi asked, eyes locked on the Nine-Tails as he addressed Shisui behind him.
"Apologies, Lord Third. That man used some kind of space-time ninjutsu—I couldn't keep up with him."
"Space-time ninjutsu…"
Hiruzen immediately thought of Minato Namikaze's Flying Thunder God Technique.
That, too, was a space-time technique that ignored distance.
"In any case, let's reseal the Nine-Tails first!"
Hiruzen quickly refocused.
What was done could no longer be undone, so the top priority was to deal with the immediate threat.
Hearing this, Shisui didn't hesitate and activated his Susanoo.
"Leave the rest to me."
As he spoke, the massive green chakra giant began striding toward the Nine-Tails from a hundred meters away.
This green chakra giant stood even taller than the Nine-Tails.
In its presence, the Nine-Tails looked like a human would in front of it.
Shisui didn't hold back—he raised his fist and slammed it down on the Nine-Tails.
Boom—
The Nine-Tails staggered from the blow.
But its strength was nothing to scoff at—it endured the heavy punch.
"D-Damn it!"
The Nine-Tails bellowed in rage.
It suddenly lashed out, pushing back the chakra giant's fists with both arms. Then it raised its head and rapidly spat out several chakra orbs from its mouth.
Though not fully compressed Tailed Beast Bombs, these chakra spheres were still brimming with violent destructive power.
If they exploded nearby, most of Konoha would be affected.
Without a word, Shisui swung his chakra blade and batted the spheres away like tennis balls.
Then the chakra giant charged forward and seized the Nine-Tails by the throat.
"Brat! You dare look down on me?! I'll show you my true power!"
The Nine-Tails began forming a Tailed Beast Bomb in its mouth, aiming for mutual destruction.
Sensing the terrifying energy gathering in the compressed chakra sphere, Shisui's face tightened.
He immediately slammed the Nine-Tails into the ground, then pressed one hand on its head and dragged it forward at high speed.
RUMBLE—
The forest outside Konoha was devastated under the massive force, trees toppled and the terrain shattered.
The Nine-Tails' charge was interrupted, and it couldn't fire the Tailed Beast Bomb. Enraged, it released a surge of chakra, unleashing terrifying brute strength.
Shisui's Susanoo began struggling to contain it.
"Looks like I'll have to use that move again."
With no other option, he once more activated his Mangekyō Sharingan illusion.
Just like before, the Nine-Tails immediately calmed down.
"Huff…"
The toll of maintaining Susanoo was immense.
Even in such a short time, Shisui was already starting to feel the strain.
After subduing the Nine-Tails, he quickly dispelled the Susanoo.
"Now we'll have to wait until the Fourth Hokage returns to decide what to do."
Looking at the Nine-Tails, which resembled a small mountain, Shisui wasn't sure what to do next.
Even if they wanted to reseal it, they'd need to find a suitable Jinchūriki.
After such a massive incident in the village, things were a mess.
"We really owe you tonight, Shisui."
"Without you, who knows what the village would look like by now…"
Hiruzen arrived with reinforcements and couldn't help but praise him when he saw the subdued Nine-Tails.
"We'd better send word to Minato-senpai and the Fourth Hokage right away," Shisui reminded.
…
The next day, Minato Namikaze, Uchiha Fugaku, and others rushed back from various locations after receiving the news.
When Minato learned that his wife had died in Obito's attack, he was devastated.
"Let me go after him, Lord Minato."
Kakashi volunteered.
He, too, had returned after receiving word.
If only he'd been there last night, perhaps none of this would have happened.
Hearing this, the grieving Minato suddenly snapped back to his senses.
His child was still in the enemy's hands.
Minato looked at Kakashi. "Your eye is the same as Obito's. If he can use that power… can you as well?"
As expected of a genius—Kakashi nodded. "I've been sensing something lately. I can now use that power with some degree of familiarity."
As he spoke, he removed his eye patch and aimed his Mangekyō Sharingan at a teacup on the table.
In an instant, the teacup was sucked into a swirling distortion in space and disappeared.
"That's the technique!"
Shisui immediately recognized it.
That was the exact ability Obito had used when Shisui tried to track him—vanishing in an instant, completely untraceable.
The only difference was that Obito had used it on himself, while Kakashi was using it on external targets.
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