The Anbu ninja who, only a few moments ago, had been struck by one of the Nine-Tails' tails and sent flying backward like a ragdoll came running back despite his injuries. His movements were clearly not as steady as they had been before, and every step seemed to send another wave of pain through his battered body. Yet he continued forward without hesitation. He knew that, right now, his injuries were secondary; what mattered was completing their plan. The sealing of this hind-leg portion of the Nine-Tails had to succeed. If they failed at this point, after everything they had already done to separate and contain the beast, the consequences would be extremely bad.
Ryuma looked toward the approaching Anbu ninja. With his Observation Haki, he could immediately tell just how serious the man's condition was. The damage seemed to be concentrated around his ribs and lungs, and from the way he was breathing, Ryuma could tell that simply moving was probably causing him considerable pain. Even so, the Anbu ninja had returned, and that alone told Ryuma everything he needed to know. Ryuma simply nodded toward him, as there was no need for words between them at this moment. The plan came first, and every second mattered. With that, Ryuma moved away, leaving the sealing position open for the injured Anbu ninja.
Now that the obstruction caused by the writhing tails of the Nine-Tails was gone, all four Anbu ninjas quickly took their respective positions around the beast. They stood in a perfect square formation, surrounding the massive hind-leg portion of the Nine-Tails. Almost simultaneously, their hands began moving. Hand seal after hand seal was formed with practiced precision, and within seconds, they were finished. The moment the final seals were completed, something began to change around them. Lines of chakra rose from the ground and extended between the four Anbu ninjas, connecting their positions together like the outline of a massive cuboid. The formation continued to take shape. More lines appeared, connecting the corners and closing the space between them. Then, almost as if an invisible wall had been given physical form, a barrier began to rise from those lines.
Ryuma watched the sealing formation carefully. The sight immediately brought a familiar name to his mind.
It is the Four Violet Flames Formation, if I remember the name correctly.
As the barrier continued forming, the lower-half body of the Nine-Tails underwent another drastic change. Its massive physical form was no longer remaining intact. Instead, it had now turned into a writhing mass of chakra, bubbles constantly popping across its surface as the unstable energy churned and twisted inside the forming barrier. Clearly, it was trying to return to the rest of the Nine-Tails. Or, more precisely, it was trying to reconnect with the severed front half of the beast, which was currently being sealed by Hiruzen.
The chakra mass continued to writhe violently, pushing itself toward the barrier, desperate to escape before the formation could be completed. But it was already too late, as the barrier had almost completely formed. The mass of chakra suddenly collided against it. A violent ripple spread across the barrier, but it held firm. The Nine-Tails' chakra crashed against it again and again, but there was no way through. Inside the Four Violet Flames Formation, the writhing mass continued struggling, twisting and surging as it desperately attempted to move back toward the other half of the beast. But it could not. It had already been sealed.
Ryuma watched the scene for several moments before finally letting out a heavy breath. His breathing was already extremely labored after the amount of exertion he had gone through today. His body felt drained, and every breath carried the weight of exhaustion. Yet seeing at least this half of the Nine-Tails successfully contained finally allowed him to release some of that tension. He had managed to hold on long enough, and at least one part of the plan had succeeded.
…
Around a minute earlier, on the other side of the battlefield, the situation had already begun moving toward the same conclusion. As soon as the Adamantine Staff had pushed the Nine-Tails' front half far enough away, Hiruzen immediately gave his command.
"Shrink!"
The instant his voice fell, the Adamantine Staff began shrinking. As the staff reduced in size, the two ape hands that had grown from it held firmly onto the Nine-Tails' fur on upper half of the Nine-Tails. With the distance between them rapidly decreasing, Hiruzen was pulled toward the Nine-Tails as well. It was a smart move on Hiruzen's part. Rather than waste time trying to close the distance himself, by running, he had simply used his own staff to bring himself directly toward his target. As soon as Hiruzen was close enough to the Nine-Tails, he released the Adamantine Staff in mid-air without hesitation.
His hands instantly moved, and a hand seal was formed.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
In an instant, his three shadow clones appeared around him. Hiruzen did not even need to give them any command. The three clones immediately understood what needed to be done, simply exchanging nods with Hiruzen, who nodded back in response. A moment later, the four of them (Hiruzen and his three shadow clones) had positioned themselves at four corners, forming a perfect square around the Nine-Tails. There was no doubt about what they were preparing to do. Just like the four Anbu ninjas on the other side, Hiruzen was also going to use the Four Violet Flames Formation. With his mastery of the sealing technique, he was easily able to create the barrier with the help of his clones, fully completing the formation in less than a minute.
As for the front half of the Nine-Tails, it was not even able to struggle much. Without the support of its hind legs, it could only rely on its front two feet to support its enormous body, severely limiting its movement. It could only roar, and even those roars were weak compared to before. After all, it was unable to properly use the Tailed Beast Bomb, and its attempt to form one had already been interrupted by Ryuma's slash. Because of all these factors, the front half of the Nine-Tails was unable to put up much resistance, allowing Hiruzen to seal it relatively easily.
It was not that Hiruzen had been unaware that the front half of the Nine-Tails would be easier to handle than the hind-leg portion the Anbu ninjas were sealing. In fact, he had already understood this clearly: sealing the front half would be the easier part, but keeping it contained would be the difficult part. On the other hand, the hind-leg portion would be much more difficult to seal, but once sealed, keeping it contained would be considerably easier. Thankfully, with Ryuma's assistance, the Anbu ninjas had successfully sealed the hind-leg portion as well.
After a few more moments, the sealed hind-leg portion completely transformed into a mass of chakra. It no longer possessed any means of directly retaliating. Instead, it was simply a writhing mass desperately attempting to escape the sealing barrier and reconnect itself with the Nine-Tails. But it was trapped, with no way to break through the Four Violet Flames Formation.
Meanwhile, the front half of the Nine-Tails, which had now been fully sealed, finally seemed to understand what had happened. It realized that it would no longer be able to regain the portion of its body that had been cut off. As that realization settled in, its massive form began to transform, and before long, it once again took the shape of a complete Nine-Tails. However, there was a very noticeable difference. Its height had been reduced by around half, and its overall strength had weakened considerably. The difference was immediately apparent. Even though the Nine-Tails had regained its complete form, it was now only a weakened version of what it had been moments ago.
The Nine-Tails, clearly unwilling to accept being trapped, attempted to attack the Four Violet Flames Formation surrounding it. With Hiruzen personally acting as the sealer and maintaining the formation, however, the barrier proved to be incredibly sturdy. The weakened Nine-Tails slammed against it, but the barrier barely showed any signs of damage. It was simply not strong enough anymore to break through Hiruzen's technique.
Just at this moment, Minato arrived at this section of Konoha. The instant he arrived, his eyes widened slightly at the scene before him. One Nine-Tails was completely contained inside a Four Violet Flames Formation, yet the beast itself was far weaker than he had expected to see, its enormous height reduced by around half. A short distance away, there was another Four Violet Flames Formation. Inside it, Minato could clearly see a mass of chakra. There was no mistaking it: it was also part of the Nine-Tails. Minato stared at the two formations for a moment as confusion quickly spread across his face.
He muttered aloud, "What exactly has happened here?"
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