A terrifying, grotesque vortex of orange-red chakra swirled in the air!
"He can materialize chakra?!" Haku asked Sasuke and Sakura, his voice full of disbelief.
"Who is Naruto really?!!"
But how could either of them know?!
Sasuke stared intently into Naruto's eyes...
He was sure!
Those beast-like eyes held a hatred deeper than his own, a hatred greater than that of any avenger! In fact, Sasuke felt as if his own hatred was insignificant in comparison to the overwhelming wrath in Naruto's eyes!
Could this really be the same person who had been the bottom of the class in the Ninja Academy?!
What exactly was this hatred directed toward?!!
...
In the thick mist, Zabuza and Adult Kakashi remained hidden, waiting for an opportunity to strike with deadly precision.
Kakashi knew that this immense chakra, far beyond normal understanding, could only belong to the Nine-Tails!
And considering the scream he had just heard from Sakura...
Something had happened to Naruto and Sasuke!!
Had the seal been broken at such a crucial moment?!!!
He didn't know if Minato-sensei had gone in to help them! Thankfully, Minato-sensei was here—only he had the power to reseal the Nine-Tails!
But facing the Nine-Tails, that terrifying tailed beast who had once taken the life of their teacher in the future, Kakashi was still uneasy.
He had to finish dealing with Zabuza quickly and help Minato-sensei!!
Obito! Rin!
And Sasuke, Naruto, Sakura! Don't let anything happen to them!!!
Like Kakashi, Zabuza, too, had sensed the chakra!
At first, he thought it might belong to Kakashi Hatake, but he immediately dismissed that thought: There's no way it's Kakashi! This immense chakra is far too large for him!
So who is it?
Minato Namikaze?! Did Yagura Karatachi fail to stop him?!!
Or is this chakra Yagura Karatachi's secret weapon? Did he and Minato fight their way here together?
Knowing that Haku couldn't possibly defeat Yagura Karatachi or Minato Namikaze, Zabuza decided to finish off Kakashi quickly and rush to Haku's aid!
Meanwhile, inside the Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals, Haku stared at the swirling chakra vortex, utterly unable to reconcile this power with the image of the earnest, somewhat slow-witted youth he had known.
"What overwhelming chakra!" Haku said, awestruck.
Young Kakashi stared in disbelief at his future student.
He couldn't comprehend Naruto's true background.
Even before this, Minato-sensei's attention toward Naruto seemed different from how he treated Sasuke and Sakura.
Why had his future self deliberately introduced Naruto to Minato-sensei? Did Naruto have some other hidden identity? If he was just a member of Kushina's clan, that wouldn't explain this!
When Obito asked if this was a Kekkei Genkai, young Kakashi responded.
"The Uzumaki Clan's Kekkei Genkai is the Adamantine Sealing Chains! I saw Kushina use it once during a mission with Minato-sensei! It's powerful beyond belief, but it's completely different from what's happening with Naruto now!"
Adamantine Sealing Chains?!
Sasuke and Sakura were stunned!
This was the first time they'd ever heard of the Uzumaki clan! But if such a clan existed, why had Naruto become an orphan? Even if he were an orphan from the Uchiha Clan, he should have lived within the Uchiha clan's territory. Yet no one had ever heard of an Uzumaki clan territory within Konoha!
"What is the Uzumaki clan?!" Sasuke demanded. "I've never heard of that clan in Konoha!"
Young Kakashi replied, "Because that clan didn't truly belong to Konoha. And many years ago, they vanished from the entire ninja world."
"Vanished?"
"The Uzumaki clan was the ruling family of the Land of Whirlpools. It's said that, out of fear of the Uzumaki clan's abilities, other ninja clans united—dozens of large and small clans together—and wiped the Land of Whirlpools off the map."
Even Obito and Rin hadn't known any of this.
Kakashi only knew because, though the Hatake clan was small, it had once been a fairly well-known family. Their large estate contained many books. By chance, he'd come across a volume on Kushina's surname, and on a whim read it through, learning all of this.
Sasuke was stunned.
In that moment, he realized Naruto was just like him.
Both were descendants of clans that had been annihilated.
But what kind of power could drive so many ninja clans to band together and launch a full-scale attack?!
As they spoke, there was a series of soft pops, and all the senbon embedded in Naruto's body suddenly fell out!
The cuts across his body visibly knit themselves closed as a puff of chakra mist rose from his skin.
Rin said, "It's his body's self-healing forcing the senbon out! A regeneration ability this strong is like the legendary ninja art of Tsunade-sama: Creation Rebirth!"
Sakura's voice trembled as she stared above Naruto's head. "Th-that... what is that?!"
Just moments ago, she had looked up and seen the crimson chakra coiling around Naruto gather above him into the shape of a massive, fiery-orange beast's head?!
The beast's face was twisted and monstrous, with a huge mouth and ears…
Savage fangs. A roar that made your blood run cold.
"What the hell is that?!!" Sasuke stared at the enormous monster of chakra surging above Naruto.
Young Kakashi said, "A wolf?! No... it looks more like a fox!!"
Because of the Nine-Tails, the people of Konoha feared foxes more than any wolf.
In the blink of an eye, Naruto, crawling on all fours and completely out of his mind, didn't go after Haku—
He lunged at them instead?!!
Minato's eyes sharpened. Had he fallen so completely under the Nine-Tails' control that he couldn't tell friend from foe anymore?
No.
It wasn't that he couldn't tell friend from foe—Naruto's target was him.
...
["ROAR——————!!"]
With a beast's roar, the fox's head above Naruto seemed to come to life, baring a wicked grin.
["Fourth Hokage! Minato Namikaze!!"]
["You actually sealed this old man inside that brat!! Damn you!!! I clearly killed you and Kushina! Why are you still alive?!"]
"H-he's talking?!!" Sakura's voice shook with fear and shock.
Sasuke watched Naruto, now controlled by the chakra, and felt even more terrified than when Haku had been about to kill them with senbon.
"Fourth Hokage! What is that thing?!!" Sasuke roared. "And what does he mean by 'seal'?!!"
Wait—seal?!!
Sasuke suddenly remembered.
Something everyone in the village knew.
Twelve years ago, the village's great hero—the Fourth Hokage.
In order to save the village…
He sealed the Nine-Tails Demon Fox, then died from the strain.
Could it be... this thing is...?!
Minato Namikaze said in a low voice, "The Nine-Tails."
Sakura, Sasuke, Obito, Young Kakashi, and Rin all stared at Naruto, eyes full of utter disbelief.
Especially Rin. She knew the bond between Naruto and Minato-sensei.
For the village, the sacrifice Minato-sensei and his family had made was beyond anything that could be measured.
Thinking of that, Rin—gentle as water on the surface, yet stronger than the two boys on her team—felt tears spill from her eyes.
"Y-you've got to be kidding..." Obito staggered back a step. "That's the legendary Nine-Tails?!!"
Haku: "The Nine-Tails?!"
He didn't know much about it, but he wasn't completely ignorant either.
It was said that the Fourth Mizukage, Yagura Karatachi, was the Three-Tails' Jinchūriki.
Naruto...
He was the Nine-Tails' Jinchūriki?!!!
["Aaaaaaah!!"]
Naruto's claw swept sideways at Minato Namikaze!
Minato slipped aside, and the tips of Naruto's claws instead raked across Haku's Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals.
Even so, the ice mirrors that had withstood Sasuke's Fire Release and Sakura's punch just moments ago shattered one after another with sharp cracking sounds!
The Nine-Tails roared in fury again!
Chakra exploded around Naruto! All of the Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals shattered at once, and Haku, along with the rest of Team Minato and Team Kakashi, were blasted away!
Staring into the dense fog at the huge crimson fox head roaring within it, Zabuza couldn't help but ask Kakashi first, "What the hell is that thing?!!"
The one who answered wasn't Kakashi, but Haku, who had just emerged from the ruins of the ice mirrors.
Standing at his side, Haku said quickly, "It's the Nine-Tails!"
Zabuza's pupils shrank sharply.
"The Nine-Tails?! The Jinchūriki sealed away by Konoha?!!"
"Yes, Zabuza-san. I never imagined the Nine-Tails' Jinchūriki would appear here! And right now he's attacking someone with everything he has!!"
The one being attacked was…
The Fourth Hokage?!!!
"..."