BOOM!
Several massive, flame-orange tails swept through the air, carrying the boundless rage of the Nine-Tails as Obito controlled it like a puppet.
Evan simply looked up at him and smiled faintly.
Then his figure blurred.
He slipped between the crashing tails as easily as breathing.
Obito, watching Minato vanish with Flying Thunder God, seemed oddly distracted.
"He flew off again, huh…" he muttered.
"But it doesn't matter. Konoha itself can't run."
His real target had always been Namikaze Minato.
Somewhere deep down, he blamed his teacher.
If Minato was the fastest shinobi in the world, why hadn't he appeared at Rin's side?
Why hadn't he saved her?
Now that Minato was gone, his interest in Evan dropped sharply.
More importantly, he understood a simple fact:
Anyone who could cleave the Nine-Tails in half with a single stroke… would be a pain to fight.
It would cost time. And time was precious.
Better to take the Nine-Tails and raze Konoha.
Obito made his decision instantly.
He glanced down at Evan, tiny as an ant beneath the Fox's feet, and said with forced disdain:
"Forget it. I'm not interested in you."
His Sharingan spun again as he drove the towering Nine-Tails toward Konoha.
Evan's expression turned a little strange.
So tsundere?
Still, that made things easier.
He had just been wondering how to coax Obito into taking the Nine-Tails straight into the village.
Who knew the guy would be this cooperative?
He raised his hand and waved cheerfully.
"Take care on the way. Need me to show you the route?"
Obito: "…"
He almost tripped on the Fox's own head, then shot Evan a cold glance.
What is with this guy…?
Completely unreadable.
Evan watched the Nine-Tails charge toward the village, his expression gradually twisting.
Then he grinned.
"Round two of harvesting is about to start."
Earlier, under the codename "313," he'd disguised himself as Obito and gone on a clan-wide massacre in Konoha.
The harvest had been… substantial.
After that he'd butchered all the escaped prisoners, putting trash to good use—
gaining experience while also earning reputation in Konoha for "cleaning up."
Only then had he rushed over and barely made it in time to save Kushina.
"Evan, why didn't you stop the Nine-Tails!?"
A sharp rebuke suddenly cut through his thoughts.
Evan turned.
From the shadows staggered Sarutobi Biwako, the Third Hokage's wife, supported by several ANBU.
Right now, she was glaring at him with pained outrage.
"Huh?" Evan blinked. "Biwako-sama, you're not dead?"
In the original timeline, Obito was supposed to punch a hole right through her chest.
"Minato saved me," Biwako panted heavily.
Evan nodded. "Ah. That explains it."
He'd warned Minato in advance that there would be an attacker.
With Minato's abilities, it wasn't strange that events had shifted.
But Biwako was in no mood for subtle causality.
"Why didn't you stop the Nine-Tails!?" she shouted hoarsely. "Its target is Konoha—!"
"Ah, so you saw that."
A crooked smile tugged at Evan's lips.
"Then I'm afraid… I'll have to make sure you stay quiet forever."
"W-What?"
Biwako didn't understand at first.
Then Evan flicked his wrist.
Blades and kunai lifted into the air as if pulled by invisible strings—
and screamed toward them.
In the instant before the steel hit, Biwako and the ANBU froze, horror etched onto their faces.
Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud…
Bodies fell one after another.
Evan stepped forward, calmly raising his hand.
Casting Soul-Nurturing Art, he devoured their souls one by one, wiping away any traces that might give him away.
"All right," he said with a grin. "Time to reap the fields again."
His figure blurred and vanished.
Minato's Home
Space rippled.
Minato appeared in the bedroom, cradling Kushina.
He laid her down gently beside baby Naruto.
Looking at his weakened wife, his chest filled with lingering terror.
If not for Evan's intervention, he might have lost her forever.
But he didn't have the luxury to dwell on gratitude.
There were still things he had to do.
"Stay with Naruto," Minato whispered. "Everything will be all right."
Even with the Uzumaki clan's powerful physique, the night's events had drained Kushina completely.
She lay on her side, gazing at her newborn son.
Tears shimmered in her eyes.
Her expression was complicated, her heart in chaos.
It'll be fine… it has to be…
Evan had already intervened.
She had survived.
The Nine-Tails had not fully escaped.
Then Minato would surely be fine as well.
Minato didn't know what she was thinking.
He memorized the sight of mother and child as if carving it into his soul.
Then he opened the wardrobe.
He took out his white ceremonial cloak and draped it over his shoulders.
Under the light, the four large characters—"Fourth Hokage"—seemed to blaze.
"Minato…" Kushina called out, not turning around. "You're going… aren't you?"
"Yes."
He nodded.
"Saving you and Naruto is my duty as a husband and father. Now that you're safe… I need to fulfill my duty as Hokage."
He paused.
"By the way, Kushina—how is the Third Hokage?"
"I didn't see him. I don't know if he's okay," Kushina replied weakly.
"I understand. Rest well. I'll be back soon."
"Minato…"
Her voice suddenly grew stronger.
"Don't face the Nine-Tails alone. Go find Evan. He said he has a way to deal with it."
She couldn't help but fear that Minato, for Konoha's sake, would still choose the Reaper Death Seal.
Minato's eyes flickered.
Evan, huh?
He hadn't expected Evan to gain the power to stand against a tailed beast.
"How reliable," he murmured, smiling softly.
"All right. I understand."
He flashed her a bright grin.
"Don't worry. I'll be right back. I am the Hokage, after all."
Konoha Village
The moon hung high, clear and cold.
The earlier chaos had been confined mostly to the clan compounds.
It had been suppressed quickly, barely touching the lives of ordinary villagers.
To most people in Konoha, tonight was just another quiet, leisurely night.
Lanterns glowed warmly.
Crowds moved through the streets.
Taverns were rowdy with laughter and clinking cups.
Vendors hawked their goods.
Children shouted and played.
Arguments, scolding, teasing…
All of it wove together into a tapestry of noisy peace.
And yet, beneath that surface…
Some sensitive shinobi felt a faint, inexplicable sense of danger creeping in.
They just didn't know where it came from.
In a side street, swirling space rippled open.
The masked Uchiha Obito stepped into the village, black cloak billowing.
Spatial distortions slowly faded behind him.
Under the mask, his face twisted with hatred.
He vaulted onto a street, looking down the brightly lit main road and up at the Hokage Rock, where four stone faces watched over the village.
His heart filled with instinctive disgust.
"Tch."
He snorted coldly.
His hands flashed through seals.
He slammed a palm to the ground. A summoning crest spread out beneath him.
"The so-called Will of Fire… laughable," he murmured.
"If not for Konoha's decisions, Rin would never have…"
"But she still died to protect this filthy village…"
"Minato-sensei, why weren't you there that day? Your speed is the fastest…"
"Sensei… we fought face-to-face, and you still didn't recognize me.
Looks like you all truly forgot I even existed…"
"Konoha will end tonight. Rin… I'll avenge you with my own hands."
Cold, murderous thoughts surged through his mind.
His eyes turned bloodthirsty.
"Summoning Technique—Nine-Tails!"
BOOM!
"ROOOOAR!"
A roar filled with pure malice exploded across the village.
A violent storm of chakra swept outward, shredding surrounding houses into splinters.
Villagers were flung like rag dolls.
As the smoke cleared—
A mountain-sized fox appeared.
Nine tails whipped into the sky.
Under the moonlight, it reared back and howled.
Its crimson slit pupils were full of madness and bloodlust.
"What's happening!?"
"W-What is that!?"
"No way… It can't be…"
"Nine tails… those are nine tails…"
"Nine-Tails! It's the Nine-Tails Fox!"
Someone finally shouted the name buried deep in every Konoha citizen's nightmares.
Fear and despair spread like wildfire.
Some people bolted in blind panic.
Others collapsed on the street, legs refusing to move.
The once-peaceful village descended into chaos in an instant.
Screams.
Cries.
Wails…
The night was shredded by sound.
On a nearby tower, the mastermind—Uchiha Obito—stood watching it all.
Cold laughter danced in his crimson eyes.
Was this hell?
No.
He had seen a hell far worse than this.
"Nine-Tails. Begin."
His voice was icy.
Chakra flared.
The Nine-Tails' massive tails swept through the buildings like scythes, crushing everything.
The beast rampaged like a kaiju in the middle of a fragile city.
Villagers trying to flee were crushed under falling rubble, turned to pulp.
Screams of agony and terror blended together.
Konoha plunged into turmoil.
"Tsk, tsk…"
From the top of another tower in the distance, Evan watched quietly.
"Tailed beasts really are weapons of war. That destructive power is something else."
"Well then… I should get started too."
He chuckled and pulled a spiral mask over his face again.
Once more, he became "Uchiha Obito."
Then he launched himself into the fray like a hunting predator, diving into the ranks of Konoha shinobi.
He wanted strong prey.
In the shinobi world, ranks were… flexible.
Some jōnin were weak as wet cardboard—you killed them and got maybe one or two thousand experience.
But some "low-ranked" ninja were absurdly strong—
one swing and you'd net ten or twenty thousand experience.
After all…
Konoha's jōnin might be throwing pots and pans,
but its genin fought like they were trying to blow up the world.
Common knowledge.
"Who's there!?"
"Ah—!"
"Enemy attack—!"
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
Evan didn't even need a weapon.
Relying purely on his physical body, he smashed through one shinobi after another.
His attacks were fast, vicious, precise.
No one could withstand even a single strike.
With the Eight-Nine Mystic Art's Diamond Indestructible Body, he stood unshakable in the storm.
He was like a bulldozer tearing through Konoha's forces, leaving only corpses in his wake.
He had no choice—
to clearly distinguish his fighting style, he absolutely could not use his sword.
In the end, he planned to pin everything on Uchiha Obito.
He sneered inwardly.
Let's see how you clear your name after this, Obito.
Right now, though, everyone in Konoha had their nerves fixated on the Nine-Tails.
Hardly anyone noticed the slaughter in Evan's corner of the battlefield.
And those who did… were already dead.
Wherever he passed, rivers of blood flowed and corpses piled high.
Meanwhile—
The battle against the Nine-Tails had already begun in earnest.
Even without a single Hokage on the field, Konoha's coordination still far exceeded that of other villages.
Under the rallying of the clans, elite shinobi were mobilized at lightning speed, surrounding the Fox from all directions.
But the sheer size of the Nine-Tails was not something ordinary ninja could handle.
Countless figures leapt and fell,
like swarms of ants gnawing at a mountain.
Ninjutsu of every element lit up the sky in a dazzling display—
but the effect was pitiful.
One casual swipe of a tail, one stomp of a paw,
and one, two, sometimes several shinobi died on the spot.
The beast's monstrous chakra radiated crushing pressure.
All their efforts could do was slow its advance.
And yet, even so—
Konoha's shinobi charged again and again, fearlessly and without hesitation.
It was a tragic, desperate resistance.
[Ding! You have slain 466 allied Konoha shinobi. Gained 2,000,000 experience points.]
Evan didn't know how much time had passed when the system prompt finally chimed in his mind.
The bloodlust fogging his thoughts began to clear.
"Oops. Guess I accidentally overshot the quota," he said mildly.
His lips curled.
He'd only set himself a "small goal."
Now he'd easily doubled it.
In that case, it was time to stop.
You couldn't harvest all the crops at once.
You had to let them grow… then cut them again.
He lifted his head.
Before him stood several dozen Konoha shinobi, swords and kunai trembling in their hands, yet still raised toward him.
"With that kind of courage… try to survive and become stronger," he rasped mockingly.
The moment he stopped killing, the survivors broke down.
"Monster—he's a monster!"
"Kill him! He must have brought the Nine-Tails here!"
"We're no match for him!"
"Hold the line! We are Konoha shinobi who carry the Will of Fire! The Hokage will be here soon!"
The Will of Fire, huh…
Evan snorted, suddenly intrigued.
He ignored the terrified shinobi.
He slowly raised a hand.
Mirror Flower, Water Moon.
His genjutsu spread outward, engulfing everyone in sight.
Within their minds, he rewrote a single belief.
He took his own cloaked, masked appearance—
and overlaid it onto the body of the very shinobi who had been shouting about the Will of Fire.
In their eyes, that Konoha comrade…
became the masked devil who had just slaughtered them.
"Let's see how strong your Will of Fire really is," Evan murmured, amused.
He stepped back, leaping lightly onto a nearby rooftop.
With a thought, he dismissed the cloak and mask, letting his face shift back.
Rage—pure, righteous Konoha fury—settled onto his features.
"Hmph."
He straightened, then shouted from the rooftop—
"Who dares invade my Konoha!?"
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