The entirety of Konohagakure had become like a fragile boat adrift on storm-tossed seas, rocking violently with each tremor.
The ground shook with maddened violence, as though some imprisoned colossus beneath the earth was struggling to claw its way to the surface.
A howling gale swept across the village. Amidst the chaos, Amamiya Rei stood unmoving, as if his feet had been nailed into the very earth itself.
Within the convulsing tremors and howling winds, he steadied himself, his gaze fixed firmly upon the massive form of the Tailed Beast in the distance.
The Nine-Tails lashed its nine titanic tails through the air, each strike reducing everything it touched to ruin and rubble.
Its thunderous roar pierced the heavens, deafening and absolute.
In but an instant—
Amamiya Rei's ears were assailed by a cacophony of sounds: the thunderous collapse of buildings, the frantic shouts of shinobi, the terrified wailing of villagers, and the heart-piercing cries of children.
With the appearance of the Nine-Tails, the whole of Konoha was instantly plunged into chaos.
Rei's sensory field encompassed the entire village.
Within that field, he perceived how, in less than a single minute, every corner of Konoha had been set into motion.
The shinobi of the village had poured out in force, swiftly dividing themselves into units and assignments.
Yet what could human hands do against such an overwhelming force? Buildings that seemed unshakable crumbled like paper before the Kyūbi's immense body. Fire techniques flared brilliantly in the night sky, but against the fox, they were as harmless as children's fireworks.
All other ninjutsu met the same fate.
Any who dared approach were annihilated instantly, swept away by the monster's mighty tails.
At the heart of Konoha stood the Kyūbi, its colossal figure blotting out the sky. Its nine tails, vast as mountains, lashed and twisted, raising storm winds as violent as tornados.
"Uwaaaahhhhhh!"
A small boy with two upright pigtails stared up at the colossal monster before him, and suddenly broke into shrill, terrified sobbing.
Even when craning his neck back, he could not take in the whole of the beast.
All he could see was the crimson shadow that dominated his entire field of vision, looming terrifyingly close.
"Mama!"
The crowd was far behind him, yet he himself stood far too close to the Kyūbi. Even the bravest shinobi dared not approach that distance, for within that range, there could be only one outcome—death beneath its claws.
It was not cowardice that kept them from moving; it was the harsh instinct for survival, the knowledge that such a reckless act would be nothing but meaningless sacrifice.
Upon the rooftops, ANBU operatives in their masks stood frozen, bodies cold with dread. The Kyūbi's roars shook them to the marrow, leaving their limbs stiff, their hearts gripped by paralyzing fear.
The child's cries grew weaker, but their bodies only tensed further, despair strangling their every motion.
"Don't!""Please—no!""Save my son!""Save my child!""I beg you!"
An ANBU raised his arm, blocking a desperate woman who had tried to hurl herself forward.
No ordinary woman's strength could hope to break through a shinobi's restraint.
"Let me go!" she screamed, her voice raw with terror. "That's my son! Let me go to him!"
The woman pounded her fists frantically against the ANBU's shoulder.
Her face twisted with agony as she watched the claws of the Nine-Tails descend upon her child.
Bloodshot veins spiderwebbed through her eyes; her pupils dilated with horror, as if she might faint where she stood.
"Mama! Mama!"
The boy turned and caught sight of his mother a hundred meters away.
Unaware of the monstrous shadow looming above, he stumbled forward, sobbing, running toward her with trembling legs.
"No! Don't—please!"
The mother's cries were no longer words but sheer anguish given voice, shrill and cutting enough to chill every heart.
BOOM!
A thunderous crash split the air.
Everyone felt their eardrums rupture with pain.
Dust and smoke billowed in thick clouds before their eyes.
When the tremors beneath their feet finally stilled—
The dust began to clear—
The boy stood there, miraculously unharmed.
His wide eyes blinked at the enormous claw mere meters away, confusion frozen on his face.
The shinobi, who had been watching with desperate attention, widened their eyes in astonishment.
The Kyūbi's strike… had missed?
How could that be possible?
And then they saw it. Around the beast's talon coiled a massive vine, thick as a tree trunk, straining with supernatural strength. It was this living cord that had wrenched the Kyūbi's deadly blow astray.
Before they could comprehend, another vine erupted from beneath the boy's feet, whipping upward like a serpent. In a blur, it wrapped his waist and hurled him across the air toward safety.
Arms already outstretched, Rei caught the child firmly. Without pause, he leapt to the mother's side, landing lightly despite the chaos.
"Here," he said simply, pressing the boy into her trembling embrace.
The woman collapsed to her knees, clutching her son as tears poured unchecked, her voice broken with gratitude.
"Thank you… thank you…!"
But Rei had no time to listen to words of gratitude.
He was already gone, his figure springing to the rooftops once more. Hands pressed together in seals, his eyes never left the raging Kyūbi.
Then—
With a rumble like the splitting of mountains, titanic vines burst through the earth, surging from the streets of Konoha. They grew higher, thicker, taller than even the Kyūbi itself, lashing around its limbs and tails in an iron grip.
The ground trembled with the clash of forces as Rei's Wood Release ensnared the beast.
Gasps erupted from shinobi and villagers alike. Mokuton. The legendary power thought lost to history—revived before their eyes.
The Kyūbi bellowed in fury, straining with monstrous force. Its tails thrashed, but every time a vine snapped, another surged forth to bind it again.
For a moment, the beast was restrained.
Rei's face was deathly pale, sweat beading his brow. His body trembled from the strain—containing the Kyūbi was draining nearly all of his chakra. Yet still he held firm.
"Seal it!" His voice rang out, sharp, at the still-dazed shinobi below.
The spell of shock shattered. Realization dawned—this was their chance.
For a heartbeat, awe had rendered them statues, but now urgency drove them into action. This was no time to dwell on the sudden emergence of a Mokuton wielder.
The only matter now was suppressing the Nine-Tails.
Still, it was not so simple. The Kyūbi's power could not be shackled by vines alone.
Its maw opened wide, a terrible chakra building between its jaws, compressing into a sphere of annihilation. The air distorted violently around it—the Bijūdama.
Its oppressive energy distorted the very air around it, space itself bending beneath the crushing force.
The vines tore apart once more, unable to regrow this time. Rei's vision swam, the world spinning with stars as his chakra guttered out. He collapsed to one knee, powerless to continue.
He had no chakra left to summon further vines.
Helplessly, he watched as the Tailed Beast Bomb hurtled toward the Hokage Rock.
Panic seized every shinobi. They could only stare helplessly as the Bijūdama streaked toward the monument. And behind the Rock—
The village's underground shelters.
Already, many shinobi had led the villagers into them. The civilians. The children.
If that blast struck… the devastation would be beyond imagining.
But then—
The sphere vanished.
A flash of golden light danced across Rei's vision.
"It disappeared?"
"It was teleported—!"
"It's the Hokage!"
"Hokage-sama has arrived!"
"Thank goodness! The Hokage-sama has come!"
"..."
Atop the Hokage Rock—
A solitary figure now stood, his back straight, his presence radiant as the sun.
Facing the Kyūbi, Namikaze Minato's eyes hardened, his expression calm yet grave. He cast a fleeting glance toward Rei, at the vines littering the battlefield, at the young girl's exhausted figure.
A solemn glint crossed the Fourth Hokage's eyes.
"Rei—you did well! From here, leave the rest to me, the Hokage!"
***