Night fell, the moon bright and the stars sparse.
In the Akatsuki's secret base, perhaps because his long-held wish was finally about to come true, the Masked Man's breathing had grown uneven.
"Rin! I'll drag this world into the dream of Infinite Tsukuyomi, and bring everlasting peace!"
The Masked Man spoke with feverish excitement.
To stay safe, he planned to quietly transform the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path into the Ten Tails! After that, he'd control the Ten Tails and kill everyone who had ever stood in his way!!
"What do you need us to do?" Orochimaru asked as he stood nearby.
The Masked Man nodded.
"Protect me. Once I successfully summon the Ten Tails, the very first thing I'll do is help you capture Shinju! (o´Д`o)ノ"
With that said, the Masked Man's expression turned solemn. He lifted both hands—
Forming hand seals!
"Rooooar—!!"
Behind him, the massive, dead-wood-like Demonic Statue opened its mouth and let out a monstrous bellow!
The deafening sound shook the entire base!
At the same time, all nine of the statue's eyes snapped open—bloodshot, bulging, hideous—like something inside was about to burst out!!
...
Meanwhile, at the Allied Shinobi Forces Headquarters.
All of the alliance's top-tier combatants were gathered here.
The report that the Three Tails had lost a tail had already spread.
Tsunade was furious when she heard it.
"Damn Orochimaru—always switching sides. Grandfather should've just killed him back then! (ꐦ ಠ 皿 ಠ)"
Raikage said, "For the Masked Man to perform that jutsu, doesn't he need all of the tailed beasts? One tail's worth of chakra isn't much!"
Inside the quiet meeting room, a sudden shout cut through the air. "That's not how it works!"
Everyone turned, stunned—because the speaker was the always-refined Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze.
Right now, Minato was covered in Nine Tails chakra, his eyes transformed into the beast's feral irises!
Clearly, the half of the Nine Tails sealed within him had taken control!
Using Minato's voice, the Nine Tails continued, "You don't need every tailed beast to awaken the Ten Tails. Even fragments of their chakra are enough!"
"So that Masked Man is doing this to meet the minimum requirement for awakening the Ten Tails!"
At that moment, Shikaku—who had been sitting nearby with his hand under his chin—suddenly realized something.
"We did receive a report from Iwagakure that the former Four Tails jinchūriki, Rōshi, had been captured."
"Which means the Akatsuki only wanted the small amount of Four Tails chakra still inside him! (๑ʘ̅ д ʘ̅๑)!!!"
The Raikage instantly started counting on his fingers.
"One Tail, Two Tails… Eight Tails, Nine Tails… If that's the case, the Akatsuki is only missing the Six Tails chakra inside Shinju! (´°Δ°`)"
"We must protect the Six Tails inside Shinju! That might be our last hope!"
Just as the Raikage was about to rush to Island Turtle himself—
The Mizukage, pale, stood up, her eyelids lowered, her voice trembling.
"What Shikaku said reminded me of something… My predecessor—the Sixth Mizukage's jinchūriki—was ambushed and killed. I investigated, but never found the culprit. Could it be… (≖╻≖;)"
The moment she said that, chills ran down everyone's backs!!! ∑(°Д°ノ)ノ
The Raikage's expression hardened.
"So that means the Masked Man has already gathered the chakra of all nine tailed beasts, and has reached—"
Before he could finish, Ao, the sensory ninja beside him, suddenly shouted,
"The sensory sphere—look at the sensory sphere!! ∑(✘Д✘๑)"
Everyone turned their heads. The huge sensory water sphere floating before the sensory division… had seemingly split!
On one side of the sphere, a massive bulge emerged—and it kept expanding, until it reached nearly one-third the size of the entire sensory sphere!
"Each ripple on the sensory sphere represents a chakra signal. With the sphere reacting like this… what kind of terrifying chakra is this supposed to be!!! ◝₍ᴑ̑ДO͝₎◞" Ao said.
The half-Nine Tails inside Minato immediately reacted.
"The Ten Tails! It's the Ten Tails! It has already been awakened! (ಠ .̫.̫ ಠ)"
Raikage: "Ao! Determine the exact location of that chakra surge!"
Ao: "Wait—there's another change… A chakra signature is rapidly approaching the headquarters!! Σ(っ °Д °;)っ"
The moment he finished reporting, a guard inside headquarters pointed toward the sky and yelled,
"Raikage-sama! An unidentified flying object!!"
Everyone in the meeting room turned—and sure enough, a tiny black speck appeared at the edge of the sky!
A blink later, the 'tiny speck' had already reached them—house-sized!!
"Th-this… (꒪⌓꒪)"
"What the— damn!"
The violent chakra compressed inside that black sphere made everyone present freeze—unable to breathe!!
The Second Hokage and Fourth Hokage reacted instantly.
"A Tailed Beast Bomb!"
The moment they spoke, their bodies vanished from the meeting room!
"Gulp~"
A chorus of swallowed saliva echoed through the room. When everyone snapped out of their shock, the pitch-black Tailed Beast Bomb that had been about to hit Kumogakure… was gone!!
The Tsuchikage looked around. Seeing the Second and Fourth Hokage missing from their seats confirmed that none of this had been a dream!
Wiping cold sweat from his forehead, he muttered, "As expected of Konoha's Second and Fourth Hokage—their reaction speed is unreal…"
Half a second after he spoke, the Fourth and Second Hokage reappeared!
Second Hokage: "The attack just now—surely that was the Ten Tails' Tailed Beast Bomb. Hurry and evacuate everyone in Kumogakure. There's no guarantee there won't be another!"
Raikage: "Send the order—do as the Second Hokage says!"
"And Ao—where is the Ten Tails right now?"
Ao: "In the Land of Grass…"
Raikage: "Good! Assemble the Five Main Divisions and head to the Land of Grass!! Move!! (●･̆⍛･̆●)"
Ao: "Yes!!"
The moment they finished speaking—
The entire building began to shake!
"RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE—"
Tsuchikage: "What now?!"
Fourth Hokage explained, "Just now, the Second Hokage and I teleported the Ten Tails' Tailed Beast Bomb out to sea. The Land of Lightning is coastal—some tremors are normal."
Raikage: "Wait—out to sea?!"
...
Meanwhile—
The land beside Island Turtle!
Shinju had been diligently forging metal when a sudden sense of dread welled up in his heart. So he lifted his entire blacksmith hut and flew into the sky…
Lowering his head again, he saw the sea begin to churn—then a massive tsunami erupted!
The waves reached seventy or eighty meters high, absurdly colossal!
Seeing that Island Turtle was about to be swallowed, Shinju immediately turned his arms into Wood Release vines, wrapped them around the giant turtle's body, and pulled it into the sky!
Only after a long while, once the tsunami had calmed, did Shinju finally set Island Turtle down again.
At that moment, the Kumogakure shinobi stationed on Island Turtle were whispering among themselves:
"Should we… tell Shinju-san about this?"
"Forget it. He can't join the battle anyway. Telling him will only make him worry. The Allied Forces can handle it…"