Fugaku still aimed to carry out his coup, intending to use the power of the Nine-Tails to kill Hiruzen Sarutobi, Danzo, and the other Konoha leaders. So when Hiruzen deliberately provoked the Nine-Tails, luring it away from the village center, Fugaku's plan unfolded smoothly.
The Nine-Tails was drawn from the heart of Konoha to the outskirts.
After all, neither Fugaku nor Hiruzen wanted the village utterly destroyed. Fugaku, confident in his eventual victory, was already picturing himself wearing the hat of the Fifth Hokage. Hiruzen, as the current Hokage, felt duty-bound to protect the villagers.
Both sides wanted to avoid leaving behind a Konoha ruined beyond repair.
Despite the Nine-Tails' massive frame and the devastation its roars caused, Fugaku's control kept it relatively restrained. Besides Hiruzen, Danzo, and the shinobi around them, it was not rampaging indiscriminately.
"Fire Release: Dragon Flame Bomb!"
One of the Nine-Tails' enormous tails swept up, blocking the blazing fireball. The beast's claws smashed down toward Hiruzen, who sprang aside just in time.
The claws gouged into the earth, splitting the forest open with a thunderous crack.
Hiruzen glanced back and gritted his teeth.
No wonder the Nine-Tails was feared. That one blow would have killed him outright.
"Summoning Jutsu: Monkey King Enma!"
A white-furred monkey with a golden circlet appeared in a puff of smoke, crouched on a nearby trunk as it glared up at the skinless monster looming over the treetops. It froze for a second, then rumbled:
"The Nine-Tails again?"
"Yes, old friend. Another dangerous mess," Hiruzen said with a weary shake of his head.
"No problem. It's just a skinless fox."
"Transform into the Adamantine Staff, Enma." Hiruzen's gaze hardened.
"Understood!"
The Nine-Tails roared. Its eight tails lashed out, stabbing at Hiruzen like a volley of spears.
Hiruzen hefted the Adamantine Staff—now several times taller than he was—and swatted the tails aside like pins.
With Enma's indestructible body, the staff could even contend with the Nine-Tails' blows.
"Enma, enlarge!"
"Got it!"
The staff grew even larger. Hiruzen, like an ant wielding a colossal club, swung it straight at the snarling, hairless fox.
"Naruto… wake up!"
Boom.
The first strike smashed the Nine-Tails' head sideways.
Boom.
The second blow hammered it into the ground.
Boom.
The third piled it deeper into the shattered earth.
For a brief moment, everything went still.
Naruto did not wake up.
"—ROAR!!"
An even more enraged Nine-Tails dragged itself out of the crater.
Hiruzen's performance had been spectacular, but it barely left a mark. The Nine-Tails seemed almost uninjured. It let out a shrill screech and lunged again at the now slightly winded Hiruzen.
"You're old now, Hiruzen."
Enma's voice came from the staff. Hiruzen's chest burned; three full-power swings had already pushed his aging body.
Hiruzen ignored the complaint and focused only on evasion, slipping just outside the reach of claw and fang.
"This won't do," Enma muttered.
"I know!"
An earth wall shattered under the Nine-Tails' impact, the beast's jaws closing on empty air where Hiruzen had been a heartbeat earlier.
"We either wake Naruto and break the Nine-Tails' hold on him, take down Fugaku, who's controlling it… or…"
Hiruzen didn't finish the sentence.
The third option was obvious: the Reaper Death Seal.
A jutsu that would work—at a price.
Konoha had gained peace once before with that technique, but it lost its youngest Hokage in return.
Hiruzen wasn't afraid of sacrificing himself. He'd lived long and seen much; there was no lingering regret about his own life.
But he had held back from using the Reaper Death Seal, not just because he still believed his comrades could defeat Fugaku, or because he hoped Naruto could be awakened, or because the battlefield had been moved outside the village, limiting civilian casualties.
It was also because the Nine-Tails was sealed inside Naruto—the child of a hero. Using the Reaper Death Seal on the Nine-Tails would drag Naruto down with it.
I'm sorry, Naruto. If you grow too strong for me to stop… I will have to do it, Hiruzen thought.
If that day came, he would have no face left to meet Minato and Kushina in the afterlife. How could he explain it to them?
So unless there was no other choice, Hiruzen chose to drag this out for as long as he could.
…
Fugaku was besieged.
Just as Hiruzen pinned his hopes on holding out until Fugaku was defeated, Fugaku was betting on the Nine-Tails finishing off the aging Third Hokage. Once the Nine-Tails returned to his side, no one in Konoha would be able to stop the Uchiha's takeover.
"Fire Release: Ash Pile Burning!"
A cloud of scorching ash spewed from Asuma's mouth, rushing toward Fugaku.
"Hah, showing off," Fugaku sneered, not even bothering to call on Susanoo.
Using Fire Release against an Uchiha?
Let me show you what real fire techniques are.
"Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation!"
A towering wall of flame erupted, swallowing Asuma's ash cloud and reversing it back toward him. Before it could detonate in his face, a white-haired figure dropped down in front of him.
"Water Release: Water Formation Wall!"
Water surged up, meeting the Great Fire Annihilation head-on. Steam exploded outward as fire and water collided.
Even so, the Water Formation Wall was almost boiled away. Several nearby shinobi immediately launched attacks at Fugaku himself, forcing him to cut off his jutsu and call forth Susanoo to block.
"Don't rush it, Asuma." Kakashi exhaled, glancing sideways at him.
Asuma's expression was grim.
The Nine-Tails was chasing his father. The key to breaking this deadlock lay out there with them. How could he not be anxious?
"That guy… can't last much longer," Kakashi said, watching Fugaku from behind his hitai-ate-covered eye.
Whether it was Great Fire Annihilation or Susanoo, techniques of that scale devoured chakra. Fugaku couldn't keep this up forever.
But the same logic applied on the other side.
If Fugaku was nearing his limit… was the situation with the Hokage any better?
Asuma bandaged a fresh wound and asked, troubled:
"Weren't you supposed to stay in the Uchiha compound battlefield?"
To keep Fugaku contained, Shikaku had ordered the returning special strike team to help lock down the compound, preventing the scattered Uchiha from regrouping with their leader.
"Danzo took over…"
Kakashi's tone turned complicated.
Danzo had pushed him out.
Root operatives fought with excessive brutality.
It looked less like they were quelling a rebellion—and more like they were harvesting trophies from the Uchiha.
PS:
Monkey King Enma - Hiruzen Sarutobi's personal summon, a white-furred monkey king with a golden circlet.
Reaper Death Seal (Shiki Fūjin) – Re-emphasized - Forbidden sealing jutsu that summons the Shinigami to seal away a target's soul (or chakra, such as a tailed beast's) at the cost of the user's own life.
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