Time turned back slightly.
Kushina Uzumaki, who had begun showing signs of labor around noon, had already arrived at the hidden location Konoha had prepared outside the village for the Jinchuriki's childbirth under the escort of the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, the Third Hokage's wife, Biwako Sarutobi, and a group of elite Anbu.
There, she began the painful struggle before delivery.
But the entire time they left the village, their figures had never escaped the watch of two pairs of eyes.
One side was White Zetsu, lurking underground.
The other was Nagato, who had used the Animal Path's ability to summon several invisible chameleons while he sat on a giant bird capable of flight, remotely controlling them from far away.
"Hm. Konoha's Anbu have already set up their defensive formation… From the look of it, Root should not be far from launching their surprise attack."
Using the Rinnegan's shared vision to observe the Konoha Anbu hidden around the temporary delivery room, Nagato lightly tapped the black receiver on the giant bird's body with his finger.
Out of habit, he was about to use the Magic Lantern Body Technique to contact Shisui Uchiha and remind him to conceal himself properly, so he would not be noticed by Kakashi Hatake or anyone else before Root made their move.
But when he tried to gather Shisui Uchiha's thought waves, he unexpectedly discovered that Shisui was in combat and had no attention to spare for contacting him.
"Hm? There should not be many people in Root capable of forcing Shisui Uchiha into a hard fight… And judging from the fact that Konoha Village has not reacted at all, it must also be someone capable of suppressing him without causing a major disturbance…"
"Strange. Is their first target Kakashi Hatake's Sharingan? That should not be right. Normally, they should clearly prioritize investing their combat strength into the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki. Otherwise, with the strength they can only keep hidden in the dark, it would be very easy for Konoha's shinobi to suppress them if they do not borrow the rampaging Nine-Tails' power to create chaos."
"Or could it be… Kakashi Hatake's Sharingan is not merely an ordinary three-tomoe Sharingan, but…"
"A Mangekyo Sharingan?"
Just as Nagato was analyzing the situation and wondering why Root had treated Kakashi Hatake's side as their first target, three chakra sources so massive they were enough to make the world change color appeared without warning in three separate areas less than two kilometers from Kushina's delivery room.
"Three!?"
Nagato snapped his head toward those three presences.
Even from such a distance, he could still see how enormous their forms were. They were gathering vast amounts of chakra at a terrifying speed.
His pale purple Rinnegan suddenly widened.
"Jinchuriki!? Iwagakure and Kumogakure!?"
"Are you trying to start another war!?"
…
"Uwaaaaaaaaah—!"
"Kushina!?"
Inside the temporary delivery room, Kushina Uzumaki had originally still been in acceptable condition. She was only a little weak from excessive stamina consumption.
But when three Jinchuriki simultaneously entered their Tailed Beast forms and released shocking Tailed Beast chakra, she suddenly let out a cry of agony.
Sweat poured from her body in an instant.
At the same time, the formula sealing the Nine-Tails within her abdomen violently rioted in response to the chakra outside, as if it intended to tear through her body and return to the world.
Faced with a scene troublesome enough to leave even the finest medical-nin helpless, Biwako Sarutobi unsurprisingly fell into panic and shock.
Minato Namikaze, who had been accompanying Kushina at the side, grabbed the Flying Thunder God kunai he had placed nearby with a grave expression and prepared to go out to meet the enemy.
"Minato!? Where are you going!?"
"I will deal with those enemies who somehow managed to invade this close…"
"Lady Biwako, please continue delivering Kushina's child. Do not worry. In the name of the Fourth Hokage, I swear that I will absolutely not allow the enemy's attacks to fall upon you."
Even as he said that, Minato Namikaze's heart was filled with an uncontrollable panic.
On one hand, he was glad he had listened to Jiraiya-sensei's suggestion and used various methods to leave a large number of Konoha's jonin in the village. Under such a sudden wartime situation, at least they would not be completely without usable manpower.
But on the other hand, he could not stop himself from forming an ominous and pessimistic prediction regarding the outcome of this battle.
Three Tailed Beasts.
That number meant at least two forces among the Five Great Shinobi Villages had personally entered the field and activated their Jinchuriki, their villages' weapons of war, to attack Konoha.
Yet at this exact moment, Konoha's own Jinchuriki was unable to fight because of childbirth. Worse, they had to remain on guard at all times against the possibility that the Nine-Tails might break free from her body and attack Konoha instead.
Even if this battle happened in Konoha proper, even if all of Konoha's high-level combat power aside from the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki could directly enter the battlefield, and even if the enemy had entered deep alone with little chance of reinforcements and might not have more high-level combatants than Konoha did…
As long as even one Tailed Beast Ball fell into Konoha proper, the losses Konoha suffered would be more tragic than in any Shinobi World War.
And right now, there were three invading Jinchuriki.
Could he truly intercept every single Tailed Beast Ball?
Amid chaotic thoughts, Minato Namikaze's figure had already appeared near the closest chakra source.
And the true form of the Tailed Beast gathering chakra to fire a Tailed Beast Ball entered his vision.
A ghostly blue energy body.
Two flaming tails raised high, swaying constantly.
The Two-Tails.
Kumogakure.
"Roar!"
Before Minato Namikaze could use the Summoning Technique to summon Gamabunta, the Tailed Beast Ball in the Two-Tails' mouth had already finished gathering.
It shot from its mouth, roaring toward the brightly lit Konoha Village.
At the same time, the other two Tailed Beasts far away also fired Tailed Beast Balls powerful enough to destroy heaven and earth.
Damn it!
Minato Namikaze had no time to think.
He immediately appeared in front of the Tailed Beast Ball fired by the Two-Tails with a Body Flicker worthy of being called the fastest in the shinobi world.
Then, with a grave expression, he opened the Flying Thunder God Barrier and gritted his teeth as he transferred that massive condensed chakra body to a region outside Konoha.
Boom—!
Flames nearly a hundred meters high surged into the sky.
The earth trembled violently beneath that world-shaking strike.
Although it had not struck Konoha proper, that heaven-shaking blow was already enough to plunge Konoha Village, which had not suffered an attack from foreign enemies for far too long, into panic and chaos.
"Hah… hah… Can I still make it? No. No, I have to make it!"
After transferring the Two-Tails' Tailed Beast Ball, Minato Namikaze had no time to catch his breath.
He immediately activated the Flying Thunder God Technique and returned to his home inside Konoha proper, then flashed once more to the top of the tallest building in Konoha, preparing to grit his teeth and transfer away the next two Tailed Beast Balls as well.
Then, he saw a small figure rapidly falling from Konoha's sky.
"What…"
Before the thought of identifying the other party fully formed, that tall, thin figure stopped his descent in midair with nowhere to borrow force.
Then, slowly, he raised his hand toward the two Tailed Beast Balls already near at hand.
In a voice as majestic and sacred as a god's, he shouted clearly:
"Shinra Tensei!"
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