Looking up at the Hokage Rock to seek faith and solace had become a habit for countless Konoha's villagers and Ninjas.
Therefore,
In the early morning, the sight of Minato, brutally nailed to death on the Hokage Rock, understandably stirred up a shrill and terrifying wave of frenzy within Konoha Village.
"Ahhhhh!!!!"
"Minato! It's Minato-sama!!!"
"On the Hokage Rock! Minato, what happened to Minato-sama?"
"Blood, so much blood!"
"Quick, save him! Go save him!!!"
Countless piercing screams completely tore apart Konoha's peaceful morning.
It was a scene that shook the soul, a horrifying picture that was utterly unacceptable.
Konoha's Yellow Flash, the future Fourth Hokage, had actually been nailed to death on the Hokage Rock within Konoha Village itself.
Provocation!
This was a blatant provocation!
Every Ninja who witnessed this scene felt rage from the depths of their soul. They stared with eyes wide with fury at the scene on the Hokage Rock, watching helplessly as Minato's nearly congealed blood painted the sculpture of the Second Hokage into a terrifying image reminiscent of a hellish scroll.
This even made the originally cold expression of the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama, appear even more sinister and terrifying, sending chills down one's spine and making scalps tingle.
The color of blood…
The crimson Hokage Rock…
From a distance, Minato's body, or rather his corpse, had long since become stiff, his blood almost solidified.
How could there possibly be any life left in him?
The face that once always wore a gentle smile had now turned ashen and numb.
The aura of death emanating from Minato's face was like a heavy hammer striking the mental defenses of countless Konoha's Ninjas, then, with a deafening roar, shattering those once impregnable defenses into pieces.
What was even more chilling and infuriating was that even though he had been dead for some time, Minato's eyes remained wide open, glaring with anger, revealing the immense fury he must have experienced before his death.
There was one more point, the one that made the Konoha's Ninjas feel the most outraged, was that Minato's eyes held a crimson blood color.
Within each pupil, a black pinwheel pattern remained.
At this moment,
Some Konoha's Jonins who had access to high-level classified information began to vaguely sense what had happened.
Because the black pinwheel pattern was the shape of the Mangekyo Sharingan. In fact, this pattern looked particularly familiar.
It seemed…
They had seen it somewhere before.
"Minato!!!!"
Hiruzen, who had been in an all-night meeting at the Hokage's office, was the first to see the horrifying scene on the Hokage Rock.
Minato, a man of integrity, his chosen Hokage successor, had actually been nailed alive to the Hokage Rock.
A slap in the face!
This was a direct slap in the face!
"Uchiha Fugaku …"
"Have you gone mad!??"
Hiruzen was about to explode, because he instantly recognized that the mysterious pattern in Minato's eyes was the pattern of the Mangekyo Sharingan.
Moreover,
The Mangekyo Sharingan of the Uchiha Clan had countless patterns. The pattern in the eyes of each Ninja who awakened the Mangekyo was completely different… there was absolutely no possibility of two being identical.
And at this moment, the Mangekyo's pattern in Minato's eyes was unmistakably the one possessed by Fugaku, according to their investigations!!!
At some point, dark clouds obscured the sky.
A figure clad in red leaped over the gloom and stood on a rooftop. That person looked at the scene unfolding on the distant Hokage Rock, her body visibly trembling rapidly.
"Minato…"
"Mi… Minato!!!!!"
Kushina, wearing a red long dress, had her delicate and beautiful face contorted with anger.
She stared fixedly at Minato's body nailed to the Hokage Rock, veins bulging on her forehead. The whites of her eyes instantly turned into the most viscous crimson in the blink of an eye.
Anger.
Fear.
Stupefaction.
Bewilderment.
Disbelief.
Even doubt about reality.
Countless complex negative emotions surged in Kushina's heart. Her body trembled violently, and her heart felt as if it were being scraped by a knife.
Waves of convulsive, intense pain nearly made her collapse and faint on the spot.
It was the impact of the turbulent emotions causing the hormones and Chakra within Kushina's body to run wild.
Her internal organs convulsed, and her blood boiled like scalding water, emitting steam. Yet, even when the pain reached every cell, Kushina still clenched her teeth tightly, her gaze fixed on Minato's corpse, not moving away for a moment.
"Minato is dead…"
"How could Minato die?"
"Why? Why? Why?"
"Minato, who even Yuki Sora couldn't kill, actually died in the village, died on the Hokage Rock!?"
Her teeth were on the verge of shattering from clenching. Her lips and the flesh inside her mouth were bitten raw by Kushina herself. Blood streamed down the corner of her mouth like a creek, yet she didn't even glance at it.
Anger!
No!
Not just simple anger, but bone-chilling hatred!
At this moment,
Kushina remembered again the terrifying scenes from her childhood in Uzushiogakure.
The annihilated Uzumaki Clan, Minato nailed to the Hokage Rock… all of it hammered incessantly at her soul like iron mallets, making her truly taste the flavor of hatred.
'Kill kill kill!'
'Kill kill kill!'
Substantial hatred rose in Kushina's heart. And at this very moment, the Nine-Tails within her was no longer suppressed by any force.
"Uchiha…"
"Whoever it is, must pay the price!!!!!"
Amid the gnashing, low growls, rampant Tailed Beast's Chakra suddenly erupted from Kushina.
Boom!!!!
An earth-shattering roar was heard.
The next moment,
A flood of deep red Chakra burst forth from Kushina's body, instantly forming the outline of a Nine-Tailed Fox around her.
The Nine-Tails!
This was a rampage filled with boundless hatred, Chakra of extreme negativity that, in an instant, completely submerged Kushina.
"Be careful!"
"Kushina-sama is rampaging!"
"Quick, someone think of something!"
"It's over, it's over! Minato-sama is dead, Kushina-sama is rampaging… Is the world trying to destroy Konoha!???"
Some Konoha's Jonins rushed to the scene upon hearing the news, but they were utterly powerless to stop Kushina's rampage, because the gap between them was far too great.
Don't forget…
This Kushina was vastly different from the one in the original work. The current Kushina's combat power was among the very top even within the Kage-level.
A Perfect Jinchuriki!
And of the Nine-Tails, no less!
Her combat power was simply absurd!
The Konoha's Jonins who approached, trying to stabilize the situation, didn't even have the ability to get close to Kushina before being violently blown away by the hurricane stirred up by her rampage.
This was the power of a Perfect Nine-Tails' Jinchuriki. Just the hurricane generated by gathering Chakra had destructive power comparable to an S-Rank Ninjutsu.
Rumble!
Rumble!
Centered on Kushina, the streets and buildings of Konoha crumbled at a visible rate, quickly forming a hundred-meter radius of ruins.
Fortunately, this area wasn't a residential district, so no one was present.
Otherwise, just this initial wave of the rampage would have caused who knows how many innocent casualties.
In the sky, a pillar of red, so dark it was almost black, shot into the sky, connecting for hundreds of meters. It stood like a towering pillar, radiating immense pressure.
It was the Nine-Tails' Chakra erupting from Kushina, tearing apart the floating clouds in the sky, vaguely pulling the entire sky into a murky hue.
Minato's death.
Kushina's rampage.
For all Konoha's Ninjas, these were utterly unforeseeable events. At this moment, even Hiruzen and the others, who had experienced countless life-and-death situations, visibly showed panic on their faces.
"First, find a way to stop Kushina!"
Hiruzen shouted sternly. "No matter what happens, we absolutely cannot let the Nine-Tails' Jinchuriki rampage in the village. If the Nine-Tails truly emerges, the situation will be beyond control!"
After speaking, Hiruzen directly tore off the Hokage Robe draped over his shoulders, revealing the Ninja Armor underneath.
"From now on…"
"I will protect Konoha!"
Hiruzen shattered the window and leaped out from the Hokage's office.
By the time he landed, over thirty Hokage's direct Anbu had already appeared behind him, all wearing animal masks, charging forward with him towards Kushina's location.
Minato was dead.
The top priority now was to ensure the Nine-Tails' Jinchuriki didn't develop any further problems!!!
…
Within the viscous bloody light, Kushina's gaze became dazed. Countless memories flashed through her heart, slightly steadying her grief-stricken mind.
She remembered when she first came to Konoha, she was just a young girl unaware of the ways of the world.
Back then, in order to gain Konoha's acceptance, she had shouted the laughable slogan of 'I will become the first female Hokage'.
It was precisely because of this overly ostentatious slogan that her life at the Ninja Academy wasn't very happy.
There were always people bullying her in one way or another. Because she was from the destroyed Uzumaki Clan, no matter how much other children bullied her, no parents would stand up for her.
This was probably loneliness!
Moreover, she was also very slow.
Even with ten times the effort in the Ninja Academy courses, she could only achieve average grades. Unlike that effeminate Minato back then, who seemed to effortlessly take first place in the Ninja Academy.
Therefore,
Kushina had always envied Minato. Which child in the Ninja Academy didn't wish to have exceptional talent?
The 'happy' life of blending in with the other children didn't last long, because the fate of the Uzumaki Clan was generally tortuous.
Not long after graduation, she was captured by a Kumogakure's Jonin.
Back then, alone and helpless, she thought her life would end just like that. But when she had even given up on herself, she suddenly saw an unbelievably warm smiling face.
"Are you okay?"
"Don't be afraid, I'm a Konoha's Ninja too!"
To this day, Kushina still remembered the warm smile on Minato's face under the night sky. This boy was like a little sun, radiating gentle sunlight, completely illuminating her lonely and gloomy life.
"I'm Minato. You probably don't remember me, but I was your classmate at the Ninja's Academy."
"You're very pretty…"
"I like you."
"Kushina, let's be together when I become Hokage!"
"That guy Yuki Sora is terrifying, Kushina, don't intervene. Let me handle him!"
"Compared to the village's safety, my personal safety is insignificant. If it can resolve this incident, even sacrificing my life would be worth it."
"Whoever wants to harm the village will have to step over my corpse first!"
"…"
Minato's gentle smile and reassuring words flashed through Kushina's mind like a revolving lantern, causing her to show a happy smile. But this happiness was quickly interrupted by cruel reality.
Lifting her head, through the viscous bloody light, when Kushina saw Minato's corpse nailed to the Hokage Rock again, all false happiness was torn apart.
Dead.
Minato is dead!
What meaning did those happy memories hold now!??
Tear apart.
Destroy.
Hatred.
Kushina's brain was boiling. She knew she had to do something, or else the violent emotions in her heart would literally make her body explode.
"Uchiha! Uchiha! Uchiha! Uchiha! Uchiha!"
"You all…"
"Must die ahhhhh!!!!!"
Her last shred of reason completely collapsed upon seeing the Mangekyo Sharingan's pattern. What followed was the Nine-Tails' Jinchuriki entering a purely instinctual mode… a true monster, devoid of humanity.
And this monster was breaking through all obstacles, charging madly towards the direction of the Uchiha Clan's compound.