The days in Konoha had continued smoothly, peaceful and brimming with autumn vitality.
It was the night of October 10th, Year 53.
High up on the roof of his house, Akira sat under the clear, starry sky with his two pets beside him. A plate of savory smoked ribs rested between them, and the three of them quietly watched the silver moon glow over the sleeping village. It was a rare, serene moment.
BOOM!
The peaceful atmosphere vanished in an instant as a violent explosion shook the very earth beneath them. Dense black smoke and towering pillars of flame surged into the night sky, painting the clouds blood-red.
Rising from the destruction was a monstrous beast standing over two hundred meters tall, its nine fiery tails thrashing furiously and shattering entire buildings into dust with a single sweep—the Nine-Tails, also known as Kurama, the Nine-Tails Demon Fox.
A wave of suffocating, cold, and malicious chakra flooded the air like a heavy, crushing fog. Beside Akira, Po and Snowy began to tremble uncontrollably, terrified by the sheer pressure of the Tailed Beast's aura.
ROOOOOAAAR!
The Nine-Tails let out an angry, earth-shattering roar at the moon, its deafening voice echoing across the mountainside as it swiped its massive claws through residential streets, instantly turning homes into splintered debris.
Akira stared at the giant fox unleashing utter devastation. For a brief second, he was paralyzed in absolute shock. Seeing the real Nine-Tails in person was completely different from any memory or story—it was colossal, a living disaster.
He quickly composed himself. His heart was pounding, but it wasn't from terror.
It was from wild, surging excitement.
Akira rested his hands on Snowy and Po, channeling a smooth stream of warm chakra into their bodies to soothe their frayed nerves.
"Relax, you two," Akira murmured softly, giving Snowy a gentle tap on her beak. "If you work hard enough, Snowy, maybe you can grow nine tails and become a real nine-tailed fox to beat that guy up one day."
Snowy gave a faint, terrified squeak, clearly not finding the joke funny.
"Alright, playtime's over," Akira said, his tone turning completely serious. "Head down to the reinforced basement. Stay there and do not come out until I return. It's safe down there."
Both pets rubbed against his hands, Po even grabbing Akira's sleeve with a heavy paw, desperately trying to drag their master down toward the cellar with them. Akira gave them a reassuring pat and gently pushed them toward the hatch. "Go. That's an order."
Once the hatch clicked shut, Akira turned his gaze back to the burning village. High-pitched battle cries rang out through the smoke as dozens of Konoha shinobi leaped across the rooftops, hurling barrage after barrage of explosive tags and giant water jutsu toward the beast in a desperate bid to slow its advance.
This is it.
With a quick weave of hand signs, two Shadow Clones materialized beside him with a soft poof.
"You know what to do," Akira said calmly.
"Understood," both clones replied in unison.
The three figures scattered in different directions across the rooftops. Akira had made a crucial last-minute strategic call: while Konoha was plunged into absolute chaos, he would launch a multi-pronged operation.
The Nine-Tails' sudden assault distracted every major power in the village. Danzō's Root force would be preoccupied keeping a tight watch on the Uchiha compound, the Third Hokage and the main military force would be risking their lives to contain the beast, and the major clans would be scrambling in total disarray to defend their territories and civilians.
It was the ultimate blind spot.
Akira assigned the most dangerous task to Clone Two: infiltrating Root headquarters under the cover of a simple Transformation Technique and a plain fox mask. Meanwhile, Akira's main body and Clone One took on the monitoring duties—ensuring the scattered Chakra Sealing Bowls were functioning properly and determining whether they needed to retrieve them or leave them hidden.
As Akira leapt across the wooden rafters, the air grew increasingly heavy, thick with the dark, stinging stench of the Nine-Tails' chakra.
Akira's main body split from Clone One, darting toward the commercial market district while Clone One headed toward the Academy sector.
GWAAAARGH!
Suddenly, the Nine-Tails let out another furious howl as a gigantic, expanding wooden staff slammed directly into its chest, shoving the colossal beast backward with terrifying force toward the village outskirts.
Akira paused on a rooftop, watching the massive staff retract through the smoke. Lord Third has engaged the Nine-Tails Demon Fox, Akira thought, his eyes narrowing.
Without wasting another second, Akira dropped down into a shadowed back alley where he had hidden one of his porcelain bowls days prior.
He flared his Byakugan, the veins bulging around his eyes. Through the wooden crate, his x-ray vision picked up dense, swirling streams of dark orange Kyūbi chakra rapidly siphoning into the porcelain vessel.
Bzzzt.
In a matter of seconds, the storage array reached maximum density. The glowing ink marks converged at the bottom, locked down tight, and the bowl completely deactivated, turning back into an ordinary piece of discarded ceramic.
Akira nodded with deep satisfaction. He didn't pick up the bowl immediately—retrieving it now while chakra was actively flooding the area would draw unnecessary attention.
Keeping his dōjutsu active, Akira slipped back onto the rooftops. Sirens blared across the village as civilian evacuation teams rushed families toward the emergency underground shelters while squads of ninja hurled fireballs and shuriken at the towering monster in the distance. Using his Byakugan's 360-degree vision, Akira easily mapped out the patrol routes of nearby Anbu and civilian defense squads, ghosting through the dark alleys and avoiding every single ninja in the area.