"So, you want me to protect the village in case something happens?"
Garp's boisterous laughter rang through the Hokage Building as he pulled out a packet of rice crackers from God knows where.
"Yes, Garp-san. Although I have no information about what's to come, I have been feeling a deep sense of unease. If nothing happens, that might be for the best."
Minato remained calm and answered the old man, unbothered by his personality. He already had his own evaluation of the man in front of him.
He was just an older, non-perverted version of Jiraiya, straightforward and carefree.
"Good. Then put me somewhere near the village's center. If something happens in your village, I'll respond accordingly. Give a signal flare if you need me there for some unexpected reason."
Garp was starting to like Minato more and more. He was young, powerful, and used his power and authority for the betterment of his village.
He had already learned Minato's age earlier. The boy was seven or eight years older than his grandson, Luffy, but they were nothing like each other.
Time passed by in a flash.
Garp was sitting on top of the Hokage Building with a quiet expression on his face. His Observation Haki was active, but the range of his observation was limited.
BOOM!
Suddenly, Garp heard a large explosion from the place where the childbirth was happening, and he bolted there straight away.
A large amount of smoke suddenly appeared near the region.
Garp's speed was extremely high, and he instantly reached the area with Moonwalk.
His Observation Haki was already pushed to its maximum limits, but he didn't sense Kushina and Minato at all.
Suddenly, a large Nine-Tailed fox appeared from the smoke. The fox had a pair of red eyes with three tomoe surrounding each eye.
Garp narrowed his eyes, and his aura rose sharply.
'The Nine-Tails? Wasn't it supposed to be sealed inside Kushina?'
Garp knew it wasn't the time to be thinking. The beast was already preparing to rampage across the village.
"EVACUATE THE CIVILIANS. I WILL HANDLE THE NINE-TAILED!"
Garp's booming voice roared throughout Konoha.
Sarutobi Hiruzen, who had already prepared to don his war armor, paused slightly but resumed his actions.
Shimura Danzo was about to redirect his Root to stop the Uchiha clan when Garp's voice reached him. His eyes narrowed a little at the unexpected variable but he still ordered his unit to do the same. This was a golden chance to humiliate the Uchiha and remove Minato's prestige as the Hokage.
'Protect some useless civilians? Ha! That old monkey can do the thankless job. I, Shimura Danzo, will use this chance to undermine the village's scourge, the Uchiggers.'
[A/N: Sorry. I had to do it.]
Meanwhile, the shinobi active in the region were already moving. They had seen Garp walk through the skies to approach the Nine-Tails as quickly as possible. Right now, evacuating the civilians took priority over everything else. After the higher-ups reacted, they could deal with the Nine-Tails.
Garp coated his fists in Armament Haki and smashed his fist into the Nine-Tails' head.
Kurama, who was trapped in Obito's genjutsu, was sent flying towards the outskirts of the village.
'I need to get this fox outside of the village first. Otherwise, my attacks may cause some devastation in the village.'
Yuhi Shinku, the father of Yuhi Kurenai, who was leading the shinobi during the evacuation, looked at the scene in front of him with wide eyes.
"Who is that old man? Hokage-sama said he had hired him, but how is he so powerful and completely unknown to us?"
Zetsu, who was watching from the sidelines, narrowed his eyes at the sight of the Nine-Tails getting clobbered.
"Who is that rowdy old man?" White Zetsu asked in his goofy voice, but Black Zetsu was in no mood to respond to him.
"He was hired by that guild that Nagato told us about?" His voice was thick with confusion.
He had been in the shinobi world for a thousand years at this point. Two months ago, Nagato had mysteriously disappeared and came back a month later, fully healed. His physical body had been restored to its peak, and even the internal damage from excessive chakra consumption had been cured.
Zetsu had tried multiple times to enter the guild mentioned by Nagato, but neither he nor the members of the Akatsuki managed to enter that place.
According to Nagato, only specific people chosen by the guild could join at this point. It would take some time for the guild to open up to the public.
Obito, who had completely drowned in his hatred, cared little about the guild. He had instead focused fully on taking the Fourth Hokage down and causing destruction in Konoha.
Near the outskirts of the village.
Garp could finally utilize his powers now without worrying about causing wanton destruction.
Black and red lightning crackled around his fists as he coated his arms in Conqueror's Haki.
Grin!
"Come, Fox! Let me taste the power of a tailed beast!"
Man and fox instantly started engaging in a brutal fight with each other. Garp still refrained from using his Galaxy Impact and other explosive abilities, but he was also completely stopping the Nine-Tails from releasing a Tailed Beast Ball.
Kurama's eyes, which mimicked the Sharingan, suddenly faltered, and his eyes once again returned to normal.
Minato had taken Obito down!
Of course, Garp had no idea about that.
As soon as the Nine-Tails faltered for a moment, Garp instantly used Soru and bashed its head cleanly with a Conqueror's Haki-infused fist.
Minato instantly brought Kushina to the scene, intending to fight the Nine-Tails and help Garp. But looking at the scene in front of him, he couldn't help but take a deep breath.