"My body…?"
Staring at the fractures spreading across its own flesh, even the Nine-Tails—still shackled under Mangekyō Sharingan control—showed a rare flash of disbelief.
What kind of power is this?
It ignored its raging chakra outright… and shattered its body?
But as a tailed beast, the Nine-Tails could be sealed—yes.
Killed—maybe.
But it would revive eventually.
And as the strongest of them all, a complete Nine-Tails was said to rival the other eight combined.
So even with cracks crawling over its body, it roared and detonated its chakra upward—so violent the air itself seemed to tremble.
"ROOOAR—!!"
Then it surged forward again.
Its mouth opened wide.
Chakra condensed at terrifying speed—
A massive Bijūdama (Tailed Beast Ball) formed.
"Fall back!"
The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, finally moved—eyes narrowing as he took one last look at the masked man.
Then he chose to retreat.
Because whatever that stranger wanted…
as long as he was stopping the Nine-Tails, he was Konoha's "ally" for tonight.
And more importantly—
with that man in front, Konoha's losses would drop hard.
Why wouldn't Hiruzen take the gift?
"Move!"
The shinobi didn't need to be told twice. They scrambled back—messy, panicked, stumbling over rubble as the Bijūdama swelled.
"Bijūdama, huh…"
Behind the Whitebeard mask, Ren's eyes burned with quiet excitement.
He swung Murakumogiri again—calm, almost casual.
"Murakumogiri — Quake Slash!"
SHHHK—!
A visible cutting wave flew out—fast enough to blur.
It met the Bijūdama head-on.
BOOOOM—!!!
The collision ripped the night apart.
Air detonated.
The shockwave distorted space itself—so violent it looked like the sky wanted to crack again.
And then—
in full view of everyone—
the Nine-Tails' "unstoppable" Bijūdama was blown apart.
The explosion washed outward like a disaster wave.
Buildings collapsed. Streets split. The ground bucked and cracked.
For a moment, half of Konoha looked like it might vanish.
Shock.
Pure shock.
The retreating shinobi—including Hiruzen—stared like their brains had stopped working.
Because the scene was impossible:
The masked man stood there, steady and composed—
while the Nine-Tails wasn't.
A fresh, brutal gash ran across its head.
It was already regenerating… but it didn't change what everyone had just witnessed.
One strike.
Bijūdama erased.
And the Nine-Tails still got hit.
"It blocked it again…"
"Who is that?!"
"That chakra… that sword… and that weird power that cracks the air—what kind of monster is this?!"
The crowd's fear turned into awe.
And then, inevitably, into dread.
Hiruzen exhaled hard, his mind spiraling.
Where is Minato?
Why is the Nine-Tails loose?
And why did a masked stranger show up like this is his stage?
Konoha was starting to feel less like a village…
and more like an open playground for monsters.
"Not bad."
Ren nodded, satisfied.
Sage Body plus Whitebeard's power really was a qualitative leap.
Even at 83.25% sync, he could already draw out terrifying strength—and with the Sage Body backing him, the Tremor-Tremor power came without shredding his own insides.
He watched the Nine-Tails' head wound stitch itself together.
A slow, amused glint appeared in his eyes.
"Alright then…"
You couldn't kill it anyway.
So beating it up a little?
Fair game.
Ren moved first.
The Nine-Tails—furious now—snarled and charged in return.
BOOM—BOOM—BOOM—!!
Explosions chained across the battlefield.
Nearly half of Konoha became their arena.
Every collision meant another wave of destruction—another row of buildings erased.
Thankfully, most civilians had already evacuated.
If they hadn't…
Konoha's population would've been carved down in one night.
And inside that chaos—
the fight was one-sided.
From the first exchange onward, Ren was pressing the Nine-Tails down.
Again and again, Tremor-Tremor power fused with Sage Body chakra carved deep into that enormous body—
each hit leaving a heavy, violent wound.
"The Nine-Tails… is getting beaten down!"
"How is this even possible?!"
"That chakra… I swear I've felt something like it before…"
The shinobi watching were frozen in place, stunned past reason.
Only Hiruzen—after the initial shock—narrowed his eyes.
A cold suspicion slid into his thoughts.
That chakra signature…
It resembled something he'd only felt once, long ago—
on the man who used to restrain tailed beasts like pets.
Hashirama Senju.
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