The air hung in the sky, the arms of time freezing abruptly as a bright flash streamed through the ether.
And from that flash came a gargantuan beast, its full form materializing into reality as though warped through space and time.
CRASH!
The Ninetails landed atop a well engineered building, reducing it to splinters of wood under the sheer pressure of its feet.
But before the inhabitants of that home could be crushed under the descent, a spark of yellow lightning streaked through the home, revealing a blonde man, meters away from the beast.
In his hands laid his wife and child, held lovingly towards his chest with a subtle embrace.
"Minato." Kushina called out weakly. "You came."
The Fourth Hokage's eyes slightly creased in sadness as his gaze met the pitiful state of his wife, his ears capturing his son's wails of worry.
"Don't worry Kushina." He forced a reassuring smile across his lips then placed her gently on the grass.
"I'll end everything right here."
With those words, the Hokage's face hardened. He then struck his thumb onto his teeth, ripping through it to release pints of blood.
Weaving quick but accurate handsigns, Minato slammed his palm onto the ground, immediately spawning a cloud of white smoke.
As the fog cleared, an otherworldly toad marked with strange patterns could be seen.
It stood at twice the size of a horse, and atop its back laid a saddle tailored with snake skin.
"Gamasaru, take my wife and child to somewhere safe."
Minato laid his wife and child onto the toad's back, gently stroking through her and his son's face with a smile.
"Ye…s, Yes Sir!" The toad nervously saluted the Hokage, watching the beast fume with a hot smoky breath.
Kushina's face was twisted with a look of worry, but she chose to stay hopeful, and only part ways with her husband after cautioning him.
"Please be careful."
Minato responded to her with a smile as Gamasaru hastily rushed away from the battlefield.
"Don't worry, I will." The toad then leaped into the forest, traveling to a safe distance away from the imminent clash.
With his family in safe hands, Minato turned his sights back to the Ninetails, staring the beast down with a wrathful peer.
The monster's eyes widened vengefully the moment it took notice of the Hokage, his eyes growing scarlet as blood lust filled the air.
"Your rampage stops now." Minato declared to the beast, but his words only elicited a thunderous roar that shook the ground with a violent quake.
The Beast then drew its head back, swirling chakra into a spherical ball of disaster, before releasing it with a flash of red.
BOOM!
The ground burst forth, crumbling under the weight of the explosion.
But it never hit its target.
Now suspended in the air, Minato slammed his palms together, causing streams of blue chakra to dance around him in large magnitudes.
"Summoning Jutsu!"
Immediately after his words, dark symbols stretched across the air, to form a ginormous web of intertwined sigils.
These sigils then absorbed his outpour of chakra, adopting a radiant blue hue that birthed a massive burst of white smoke.
"Hey, hey, hey!" A loud and imperative voice pierced through the smoke.
"You've gotten yourself into a bit of a pickle— Minato."
Arms and limbs the size of mountains, a cloak worded with oil, an elongated smoking pipe, and a tree-like sword strapped to his waist.
That form and adornment was the very countenance of the Summoned warrior, the Chief toad himself, Gamabunta!
Ruffling through his hair with half a smile, Minato responded in between nervous chuckles.
"Sorry Chief, it couldn't be helped."
The Chief toad took in a deep whiff of his smoky kiseru, before exhaling its heated fumes into the air to calm himself down.
"Darn it, you and that Jiraiya always summon me to the worst of places!"
Gamabunta locked his eyes onto the Ninetails, its breath growing increasingly hotter each passing second.
"Chief." Minato called out in an impassive tone, his eyes hardening with seriousness. "Here he comes."
The moment Minato's last word echoed, a deafening boom rent the night sky in two, as an infernal ball of beastly chakra came rushing in their direction.
"The Orange foxy really means business!" Gamabunta exclaimed, leaping into the air to avoid the deadly blast.
He landed nimbly, for his size at the very least.
Then rushed forward, his hand strategically placed atop the scabbard of his blade.
But the beast offered the warrior no rest, lifting its head to swirl dozens of miniature biju bombs that hung in the air, before blitzing forward like a showcase of ethereal fireworks.
A myriad of explosive spheres came crashing down onto Gamabunta, but he evaded them, twisting his large body from side to side, and traveling forward with a set of powerful leaps.
The ground erupted in flames, causing peals of earthquakes, and gusts of heavy winds to stretch through the battlefield.
However, the Chief toad wasn't fazed in the slightest.
Seasoned from decades of pain and battle, he was well cooked in the art of war.
"Water Style." Gamabunta weaved another explosion, tossing his pipe into the air, as dense fluid filled his belly. "Water bullet!"
Like a spinning torpedo, the Toad fired a mountain carving ball of water towards a descending cacophony of blasts.
The water bullets collided with Kurama's attacks, casting the battlefield in steam.
Using the smokescreen as cover, the Warchief bolted forward, traveling in a straight path towards the Ninetails.
"You just need to touch him, right Minato?!"
Gamabunta's question was met with affirmation from the Hokage, giving him a firm go ahead to push forward.
And that he did.
With a flick of his finger, the toad flung his sword out of its scabbard, catching it in the air, before bolting in front of the Orange beast.
His blade flashed in the eyes of the moon's radiance, as ounces of forged steel cut through the wind, descending onto the Ninetails with elegant fury.
But the Fox Spirit blocked his attack, his sharp talons locking together to pary the blade's descent.
"Tch, you darn cat!" Gamabunta cursed, losing his foothold as the beast drove him backwards with a forceful shove.
The Amphibian warrior tried to regainhis stance, but before he could even take another step.
A flurry of ghostly tails latched at him, wrapping him into a tight deadlock.
"Minato." Gamabunta called out with shaky breaths. "We might be done for!"