The night of October 10th, Konoha Year 48, was a night that countless Konoha citizens would never forget for the rest of their lives.
Because on that night, they witnessed with their own eyes, and even experienced firsthand, what a Tailed Beast truly was, what a moving natural disaster meant.
Countless Konoha ninja, moreover, proved with their own lives just how fragile the strength of lower-ranking ninja was in the face of a Tailed Beast.
Most of the Root members present were personal survivors of that catastrophe. Towards the Nine-Tailed Fox, they harbored an instinctual fear.
This fear was unrelated to emotions or mentality; it was like how some people would inexplicably tremble at the sight of a snake—an instinct originating from the body itself.
When facing a Jinchuriki, they mostly regarded them as a different species among humans, harboring no fear, perhaps even a disdain for the different kind. Fighting them naturally came with ease.
But when the Nine-Tailed Fox truly appeared, they—
Were terrified!
A hundred meters away, a Nine-Tailed Fox formed of chakra, as colossal as a mountain, threw its head back and roared, as if venting years of pent-up frustration and depression.
Atop the head of the golden chakra Nine-Tails, Naruto stood, looking down upon the Root ninja below. To be honest, this feeling of looking down from a great height, surveying all living beings, brought a sense of intoxication far surpassing any fine wine.
"Intelligence is wrong!! Retreat!!!" Faced with such a behemoth, Terai had already lost his initial confidence. He roared loudly, rapidly circulating the chakra within his body, risking his body being torn apart to use the Body Flicker Technique to its maximum distance.
"How do you use the Tailed Beast Bomb again? Yin and Yang chakra, 2:8 ratio, right?" Naruto asked Kurama, his hands already beginning the practical application.
In front of the massive fox head, a large amount of Yin and Yang chakra rapidly converged. Perhaps because it was his first time using it, the condensing sphere even showed irregular protrusions, making one suspect it might explode directly!
But as Yin and Yang chakra continued to be infused, this phenomenon lessened, until finally, a jet-black chakra sphere that seemed capable of devouring everything hovered before the fox's head.
"It's a bit difficult, but not by much!" Through the perception of his Mind's Eye of Kagura, Naruto quickly locked onto the Root ninja fleeing at high speed in the distance. With a mere thought—
A Tailed Beast Bomb, approximately six meters in diameter, like a cannonball with its fuse lit, carved countless circular shockwaves in the air as it flew towards the fleeing figures in the distance.
"It's over…" Glancing over, the same thought instantly surfaced in the minds of all Root members.
Even though they had already scattered and fled to avoid becoming the Tailed Beast Bomb's target, with a Tailed Beast Bomb of this scale, whether they were the direct targets or not was already irrelevant. The shockwave of the explosion alone would be enough to tear their bodies apart.
The instant the Tailed Beast Bomb hit the ground, the world seemed to have its mute button pressed. In that moment, Inuki only then realized that the sound of his own heartbeat was actually so clear, so deafening.
Fortunately, the Tailed Beast Bomb's target was Terai. Unfortunately, there was almost no cover in his direction.
BOOM!
The moment the Tailed Beast Bomb exploded, the jet-black night sky instantly became as bright as day, as if a second sun had appeared in the world.
All people or things engulfed by this endless light and heat vanished from the mortal realm.
After a long while, the explosion caused by the Tailed Beast Bomb slowly dissipated.
A massive crater on the earth became the proof of its existence.
"If you had listened to me earlier, why waste so much time?" Kurama huffed.
"I needed to test out the chakra mode too, right?" Naruto withdrew his gaze from the distance, smiled faintly, then turned and slowly disappeared into the night.
Sunagakure, Sensor Division.
A Suna ninja sat cross-legged within a perception-enhancing jutsu formation. Around him, several members of the sensor team were each attending to their own tasks.
"Northeast direction, large-scale chakra reaction! S-rank!" Suddenly, the sensor ninja shouted loudly.
Hearing this, the surrounding workers' expressions changed drastically. S-rank was an energy fluctuation on the level of a Tailed Beast.
"Northeast? Could it be that Konoha has invaded?" the team leader thought, quickly relaying this information upwards.
Several minutes later. Bang!
The door to the meeting room was violently pushed open from the outside. A young ninja with a white cloth wrapped around his head took three steps in one stride and quickly sat down in his seat.
"My apologies for keeping everyone waiting," the ninja apologized to the Suna higher-ups seated around the circular table.
"Commander Yura, there's no need for such formality. We are all aware of the distance from the defensive line to the meeting room," an elder said amicably.
Yura was the youngest among the Suna higher-ups. Although everyone present knew he had reached this position at such an age entirely due to a special experience in his childhood that earned him Elder Chiyo's high regard, leading to him being entrusted with important responsibilities.
Yet, not a single Suna higher-up present dared to underestimate him.
Because Yura, to some extent, represented Elder Chiyo and Ebizo.
Although Elder Chiyo had declared long ago that she would no longer participate in Sunagakure's political affairs, who would dare ignore her existence? "The situation is urgent. Save your pleasantries for later!" the middle-aged ninja seated in the main position said bluntly.
Seeing the room quiet down, he turned his head to look at a ninja by his side. "Baki, you explain the situation."
"Yes, Elder Iwaji!" Baki stood up and relayed the intelligence passed up from the sensor team.
"That's the situation!" Elder Iwaji tapped his fingers lightly on the table. "My thought is to have Fukusuke, who is stationed at the northern defense line, dispatch some ninja to support the eastern defense line."
"Then what about the northern defense line? Iwagakure might seize the opportunity to stir up trouble," a high-ranking official asked.
Iwagakure and Sunagakure were generational enemies.
"The resulting gap will be filled by ninja from within the village!" Iwaji said. "Any other problems?"
The higher-ups present exchanged glances. Given the urgency of the situation, they didn't waste any more time and nodded in agreement.
"None." "I agree…" "Acceptable." "…"
"Yura, you will be responsible for reinforcing the northern defense line," Iwaji nodded slightly.
"A large-scale redeployment of ninja in a short time can only come from your forces."
Fortunately, these bastards still have some sense and didn't waste too much time on this matter.
"I understand," Yura readily agreed, seemingly unconcerned about his forces being redeployed.
"We just signed an alliance treaty with Konoha, and Konoha's current Hokage, Tsunade-hime, is keen on diplomacy. Could that S-rank chakra source be a misunderstanding?" Baki asked.
"Logically speaking, Konoha shouldn't commit such a foolish act of self-sabotage."
"It had better be a misunderstanding," Iwaji huffed.
Regarding Sunagakure and Konoha, he had always been a hawk.
The so-called alliance treaties—from the Warring States Period until now, which one had ever been stable? But he knew even more clearly that the current Sunagakure was without a leader. Clashing with Konoha would bring Sunagakure nothing but harm.
"Should I contact Konoha?" Baki asked.
His relationship with Konoha ran deep.
From the Konoha Crush plan to the alliance treaty signed by the two villages after the Fifth Hokage, Princess Tsunade, took office, he had been Sunagakure's representative.
"You can try. Sunagakure is not suited to clash with Konoha in the short term… at least not before a Fifth Kazekage is chosen," another elder agreed with his suggestion.
Sunagakure's power was too dispersed now. Even a street fight required coordinated use of hands and feet. The current Sunagakure's "hands and feet" all had their own ideas. How could they fight? With what could they fight?