Far from Konoha Village, Kakuzu and Hoshigaki Kisame were growing increasingly frustrated.
They clearly knew they were facing only Sora's Shadow Clone, yet they couldn't defeat it.
After all, this Shadow Clone possessed half of Sora's chakra and could use all of her techniques.
Sora's Shadow Clone alternated between ninjutsu attacks while keeping both Kakuzu and Kisame at bay.
Normally, with their combined strength, Kakuzu and Kisame could have dispatched a mere Shadow Clone.
But the trouble was that Sora's Shadow Clone could also use Observation Haki.
This made it extraordinarily difficult for Kakuzu and Kisame to land a decisive blow.
Against Sora herself, they knew they stood no chance of victory.
The lightning-fast attack they had witnessed earlier had left both experienced shinobi terrified.
But failing to defeat even a Shadow Clone would be truly shameful.
How much chakra did Sora possess, anyway?
Why could this Shadow Clone use such powerful ninjutsu without running out of energy?
It seemed impossible to overcome.
...
Meanwhile, in Konoha, Sarutobi Hiruzen commanded the village's shinobi to evacuate civilians while organizing a counterattack against the Nine-Tails.
Sora, watching from a distance, found the scene darkly amusing.
"Using shuriken and kunai against the Nine-Tails? Are these people here just for comedy? How did such incompetent fighters become ninja? The standards for becoming a shinobi have really fallen too low."
She observed several ninja leaping toward the Nine-Tails, throwing all the kunai and shuriken from their pouches with great force.
Although some had explosive tags attached, their power against the massive Nine-Tails was negligible—like trying to hurt a mountain with a pinprick.
The Nine-Tails merely roared, and the resulting air pressure sent the attackers flying.
The massive beast swatted away the airborne shinobi as though they were nothing more than annoying flies.
Those who survived the impact were barely alive, their bodies broken and shattered.
Suddenly, Sora's gaze shifted toward Hokage Rock. "So he's finally arrived."
Namikaze Minato appeared atop his own carved likeness on the monument.
Sora tensed. Though she had resolved Miyuki's immediate crisis, another danger still loomed.
Minato stared grimly at the Nine-Tails rampaging in the distance.
"As Hokage, protecting the village and my family is my duty. I won't allow you to continue this destruction!"
The Nine-Tails noticed Minato, turning to face him with its fierce, glowing eyes.
"So you've spotted me," Minato murmured.
The beast opened its massive jaws and began condensing chakra for a Tailed Beast Bomb.
Minato quickly formed hand seals. "Don't even think about destroying this place!"
The Nine-Tails fired the concentrated sphere of chakra, which hurtled toward Minato at frightening speed.
A deep furrow appeared in the ground along the bomb's path.
Suddenly, the Tailed Beast Bomb came to a standstill.
Looking closer, one could see it wasn't actually stopped—it was trapped in a space-time barrier.
When the entire sphere was contained within the jutsu, Minato drew a special kunai.
"Flying Thunder God: Guiding Thunder!"
The next second, a massive explosion occurred far outside Konoha's boundaries.
Minato had used the Flying Thunder God Technique to redirect the Tailed Beast Bomb.
The explosion completely flattened a distant mountain.
Minato glanced back at the devastation. With such destructive power, the teleportation point had to be chosen carefully.
Seeing the Tailed Beast Bomb safely redirected, Hiruzen and the other shinobi realized Minato had intervened.
Minato was considering how to explain the situation to Hiruzen when he sensed a presence behind him.
A hand reached silently to grab him from behind.
Reacting instinctively, Minato gripped his Flying Thunder God kunai tightly and stabbed backward.
To his shock, his kunai and arm passed straight through his opponent's head, only to have his wrist seized a moment later.
"Your opponent is me," Uchiha Obito declared solemnly. "And now... it's over!"
Obito activated Kamui, attempting to pull Minato into his dimensional space.
Just as Minato was about to be sucked in, he used the Flying Thunder God Technique and vanished.
Under his mask, Obito frowned. "He escaped... I must be faster. Next time I'll absorb him the instant I make contact."
Minato reappeared outside the wooden house where he had earlier taken shelter from the exploding tags on Naruto's blanket.
"My attack passed right through him, but then he solidified to try and pull me in," Minato reasoned. "What kind of jutsu is that?!"
As he pondered this, the space before him distorted.
Obito materialized again.
"There's nowhere to run, Namikaze Minato!"
Minato regarded Obito with intense concentration. This opponent clearly possessed space-time ninjutsu, which explained how he had teleported Miyuki instantly.
He had broken through Sora's defenses, penetrated high-security barriers, known exactly when the Nine-Tails' seal would weaken during childbirth, and even managed to break the seal and control the beast.
As far as Minato knew, only one ninja in history could move freely without being hindered by Konoha's protective barriers.
"Are you Uchiha Madara? No, that's impossible—he died long ago!"
Obito scoffed. "Who knows? Perhaps that's not necessarily true."
"It doesn't matter who you are," Minato said coldly. "Why target Konoha?"
"If you insist on an answer—it was both a whim and a carefully laid plan. It serves the purposes of both war and peace."
Obito released a chain from his left hand, letting it fall to the ground.
Minato remained on full alert. Regardless of identity, the figure standing before him was clearly no ordinary enemy.
He had the ability to control the Nine-Tails, possessed space-time ninjutsu beyond Minato's own, and harbored dangerous ambitions.
If not stopped here and now, this threat could prove even more devastating than the Nine-Tails' rampage.
If Minato returned to the village, this opponent would surely follow, making the battlefield even more chaotic.
Minato glanced leftward, in the direction where Sora was engaged in combat. Any enemy capable of keeping Sora occupied was formidable indeed.
With Sora being contained elsewhere, Hiruzen would have to handle matters in the village alone. Minato needed to keep this masked opponent here.
Obito attached the shackles at both ends of the chain to his wrists.
"Now that the Nine-Tails has been unleashed," he said coldly, "your situation is hopeless!"
Obito rushed toward Minato, who likewise charged forward to meet his attack.
The battle between master and unwitting disciple was about to begin.
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