Chapter Thirty-Nine: Nine-Tails Chakra
In Konoha Village, in a relatively remote corner of a civilian district, more than a dozen dilapidated houses stood in lonely isolation.
Rumble—rumble—
From the air, violent roaring sounds echoed from afar. Most of the civilians in this district had already fled.
In front of one of the houses, a man dressed in coarse linen clothing stood quietly at the doorway, his head tilted upward as he gazed at the rampaging Nine-Tails in the distance.
The man appeared to be around twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old. His hair was entirely silver, and a long, narrow blade scar ran across the right side of his face.
"Is this… Nine-Tails chakra?"
Staring at the chaos in the distance and sensing the sinister chakra drifting through the air, a crazed smile spread across the man's lips.
As he spoke, he pulled out a sealing scroll from his chest and placed it directly on the ground.
Unsealing Technique: Five Elements Release
Five clusters of chakra appeared in the man's right hand and pressed down onto the sealing scroll.
Whoosh—whoosh—whoosh—
In an instant, the seal on the scroll was released. A powerful suction burst forth, drawing in the golden Nine-Tails chakra that had dispersed into the air and pulling it into the opened sealing array.
Streams of golden Nine-Tails chakra converged continuously, forming a small golden vortex cloud above the corner where the man stood.
"Hahaha! Faster! Absorb more!"
Watching this scene, the man's face twisted into manic delight.
In the darkness, Ryūya's figure leapt swiftly through the dense forest along Konoha's outskirts.
The sounds of battle carried through the air, growing ever more intense. The clash between the village and the Nine-Tails had clearly entered its most ferocious stage.
There was nothing Ryūya could do about that, and he could only choose to ignore it.
He knew very well that before Minato Namikaze forced Obito to retreat, the battle between the Nine-Tails and the village would not end anytime soon.
The only thing he could do now was to help stabilize the situation within the village as much as possible.
"Huh?!"
Suddenly, Ryūya landed atop a tree canopy and stopped.
Lifting his head toward the moonlit sky, he saw a golden vortex more than ten meters tall forming not far ahead.
Amid the noisy, chaotic surroundings, this strange golden vortex had somehow gone completely unnoticed.
"Is that Nine-Tails chakra? Someone is collecting Nine-Tails chakra?"
Carefully sensing the sinister pressure emanating from the vortex, Ryūya immediately recognized that it was composed of dispersed Nine-Tails chakra.
Such a massive concentration of Nine-Tails chakra gathering in one place was clearly abnormal.
Seeing this, hesitation appeared on Ryūya's face.
He was considering whether to approach and investigate.
In the original Naruto storyline, very few details about the Nine-Tails incident were ever explained. Ryūya had no way of knowing whether what he was seeing had always existed, or whether it was a change brought about by his own arrival.
With the situation unclear, he did not dare take unnecessary risks.
Just as Ryūya hesitated, the golden vortex of Nine-Tails chakra began its final phase of compression and rotation.
Gradually, the golden vortex shrank smaller and smaller, until it finally vanished into the air.
Sealing Technique: Five Elements Seal
"Haha, it's finally done! The first step is a success!"
In front of the house, the man rapidly formed hand seals, resealing the scroll that now contained a massive amount of Nine-Tails chakra.
"Heh… still hesitating? What an ignorant rookie who doesn't know when to advance or retreat."
After finishing everything, the man put away the scroll and stood up, looking in Ryūya's direction.
Earlier, he had already sensed the trace of chakra that leaked out when Ryūya's emotions fluctuated.
Compared to this man, Ryūya's real combat experience was clearly lacking.
Whoosh—
In a flash, the man leapt straight toward Ryūya.
Having unexpectedly acquired Nine-Tails chakra, the man now wanted to clean up loose ends and then focus entirely on carrying out his plans.
Atop the tree canopy, Ryūya's expression changed as he sensed the man rapidly approaching.
Wind Release: Great Breakthrough
Without hesitation, Ryūya formed hand seals and unleashed the technique.
A violent gale formed in front of him and roared toward the oncoming man.
"Tch! Not weak at all, huh!"
While leaping, the man's expression shifted slightly as he felt the powerful wind. His hands rapidly formed seals midair.
Wind Release: Beast Wave Violent Wind Palm
In an instant, massive wind-attributed chakra gathered along the man's arm, forming a gigantic blue beast claw.
Boom!
The blue beast claw collided with the gale, instantly tearing it apart and dispersing it completely.
After shredding the gale, the blue chakra claw retained its momentum and continued slashing toward Ryūya.
Ryūya hurriedly flashed away to evade.
Dust and debris billowed as the spot where he had stood was blasted into a large crater by the blue claw.
Failing to land the first strike, the man did not stop. With a flick of his wrist, a chakra blade appeared in his hand as he leapt forward again, launching another attack.
Seeing how fierce the enemy's assault was, Ryūya did not hesitate. He bit his finger and began summoning the Green Snake.
Bang!
White summoning smoke erupted, and a massive snake tail swept viciously toward the man.
Caught completely off guard, the man was struck directly and smashed hard into the trunk of a large tree, snapping it in half.
"Green Snake, attack!"
After landing the surprise blow, Ryūya commanded the snake to press the attack.
Strike while he's weak—finish him!
His earlier hesitation had nearly pushed Ryūya into a deadly situation. He would not make the same mistake again.
From their brief exchange, Ryūya had already confirmed that the man's strength was at least that of a special jōnin.
"Damn it!"
Facing the rapidly charging Green Snake, the man's face turned ashen as he could only retreat in a panic.
Against the overwhelming size advantage of the snake, he had no good countermeasures.
As the Green Snake smashed tree after tree aside and the man desperately dodged, the sealing scroll suddenly fell out from his chest.
Not good!
Seeing the scroll drop, the man's expression changed drastically. Forgetting everything else, he turned back in an attempt to retrieve it.
Bang!
Before he could, the Blue Snake's ferocious attack arrived in an instant.
The blow was ruthless and precise, sending the man flying like a cannonball toward the distance.
At the same time, the Blue Snake turned its head slightly and inhaled, swallowing the precious sealing scroll straight into its belly.
Flying through the air, the man let out a despairing howl upon seeing this.
With the scroll swallowed by the Blue Snake, retrieving it was now virtually impossible.
Decisive to the end, even as his body was still airborne, the man cast a resentful glance at Ryūya near the snake and rapidly formed hand seals.
Unsealing Technique: Five Elements Release
From a distance, he directly released the seal on the Nine-Tails chakra.
In an instant, a massive surge of Nine-Tails chakra spread across the Blue Snake's entire body.
Roar—
The violently corrosive, evil chakra caused intense burning pain throughout the snake's body.
"Blue Snake!"
Ryūya's expression changed dramatically.
The overwhelming pain caused the Blue Snake to thrash violently, making it impossible for Ryūya to approach.
This situation lasted for nearly ten minutes before finally ending. The once-mighty Blue Snake lay barely alive on the ground, its body covered in large patches of severe burns.
Seeing this, Ryūya did not hesitate. He immediately took out large amounts of food, force-feeding it into the Green Snake's mouth, then formed hand seals to help it rapidly convert the food into life energy.
An hour later, the Blue Snake's condition finally stabilized.
Ryūya lifted his head and looked toward the Hokage Tower, a trace of gloom flashing through his eyes.
Over there, the Nine-Tails' massive figure had already disappeared—it had likely been forced out of the village by the Third Hokage.
The Fourth Hokage's death was imminent.