"I almost missed the Nine-Tails with one hand."
"The First Hokage-sama?!"
Sarutobi Hiruzen lay half-prone on the rubble-strewn battlefield, his breath short and eyes wide with disbelief.
Long black hair flowed in the wind. Crimson armor clinked over a commanding physique. For a moment, the figure standing before him was indistinguishable from Senju Hashirama—the legendary First Hokage, the man who built Konohagakure with his Wood Style and boundless strength.
But then the image shimmered.
Sarutobi blinked.
Gone was the founder of the village.
In his place stood someone he recognized even more vividly in the present day—Xu Fan.
---
"Who is that?"
Yamanaka Inoichi, Nara Shikaku, and Akimichi Choza froze, their trained eyes locked on the figure standing between them and the rampaging Nine-Tails. If they hadn't seen it with their own eyes, they would never have believed it.
"He blocked the Tailed Beast Ball... with his bare hands?" Shikaku muttered, stunned.
"It's Xu Fan!" shouted Hyuga Hiashi. His Byakugan had already confirmed it.
That same young man who shook the entire Hyuga compound not long ago...
If anyone could stand before the Nine-Tails and live—it was him.
But Hiashi's brother, Hyuga Hizashi, shook his head, skeptical. Even if this Xu Fan possessed tremendous chakra—far beyond that of most elite jōnin—the beast before them was Kurama, the strongest of the Tailed Beasts.
Even the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, had to sacrifice his life to seal it.
---
"We need to—"
Hiashi began to rally his clan. But suddenly, the veins bulged around his eyes.
"What... is that chakra?"
Xu Fan's chakra exploded outward in a sudden, violent surge. Even the seasoned sensory-type ninjas staggered back.
"No way..." Inoichi whispered. "It's not human. That chakra... it's monstrous."
Sarutobi Hiruzen swallowed hard, his heart pounding. He remembered the first time he met Xu Fan—when his chakra had surged unpredictably. Back then, Xu Fan had claimed:
"This is my limit."
But now...
Was that statement a lie? Or had it been misinterpreted?
Maybe it wasn't about chakra capacity at all.
Maybe Xu Fan meant his limit was the extent to which he was willing to show his true power.
---
A purple aura flared around Xu Fan, taking the form of a dense chakra cloak.
Hiruzen had only seen something like this once—when the Jinchūriki of the Nine-Tails entered a tailed state.
But Xu Fan wasn't a Jinchūriki.
He was something else entirely.
---
"KURAMA!" Xu Fan called out, voice low and resolute, forming a rapid string of hand seals. His tone didn't carry fear—it carried command.
"Wood Style: Wooden Golem Jutsu!"
The earth beneath his feet cracked open. With a thunderous roar, roots and branches surged upward, forming a titanic wooden figure that towered above even the Nine-Tails.
The golem's body cracked and groaned as it grew, fists clenched in preparation.
For a moment, the battlefield fell silent.
Even the rampaging Nine-Tails—blinded by rage—froze.
Those eyes. That technique.
That memory.
The monstrous fox remembered the only being it had ever truly feared:
Senju Hashirama.
---
Xu Fan stood atop the wooden giant's head, overlooking all of Konoha. In scale, the Nine-Tails looked no larger than the fist of the wooden construct beneath him.
And with a single command, the golem lunged forward—massive arms reaching toward the beast.
Kurama stood frozen. Paralyzed not by power, but by the memory of defeat.
---
"OOOOHHHHH!!"
Kurama roared as the giant hand closed around him.
From the ground, Hiruzen and the other jōnin watched, dumbfounded. To them, it no longer looked like a battle.
It looked like someone was catching a stray animal.
---
"Suppress it."
Xu Fan's voice echoed down. A glowing seal lit up in the palm of the golem—Kōan Nyūshō—a technique derived from the sealing style once used by the First Hokage himself.
Kurama's chakra flared in resistance, but the seal glowed brighter, tighter, draining his power. His massive form began to shrink rapidly, until what remained collapsed in a flash of chakra.
Naruto's unconscious body hit the ground softly—Kurama sealed once more.
---
Xu Fan leapt down and landed beside Sarutobi Hiruzen with grace, brushing dust from his cloak.
"He really is the strongest Tailed Beast," he said, exhaling.
"Y-yeah..." Hiruzen managed, still stunned.
Xu Fan paused, then added with a casual shrug:
"I almost didn't hold him with one hand."
---
Sarutobi Hiruzen: "???"
Yamanaka Inoichi: "???"
Akimichi Choza: "???"
Nara Shikaku: "???"
Hyuga Hiashi & Hizashi: "???"
All the other shinobi and villagers: "???"
---
Road to the Heavens.
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