The Nine-Tails was a mass of pure chakra. A walking, colossal source of energy.
Even the faint chakra leaking into the air was enough to suffocate ordinary people, leaving them gasping for breath.
Everyone could feel it.
That ominous, overwhelming power.
That was why, in the eyes of the public, the Nine-Tails had always been seen as an ill omen.
And yet, in a single instant, even that monstrous force was subdued by the Sharingan.
The control placed upon it shifted. The original sealing formula restraining the Nine-Tails began to unravel piece by piece.
Stripped of the Nine-Tails, Uzumaki Kushina looked utterly broken.
The masked man, Uchiha Kenji, showed no emotion.
"Alright," he said flatly. "Come out."
"Nine-Tails!"
With his shout, the Nine-Tails tore through the weakened seal and emerged.
Its enormous body dwarfed the surrounding mountains.
"Good. Now march toward Konoha."
He turned his back as if everything was proceeding exactly as planned.
"Stop!"
Kushina, finally freed from the burden inside her body, forced herself to her feet and cried out.
"The Uzumaki Clan truly is remarkable," the masked man said coldly. "Even after a Tailed Beast is extracted, you don't die immediately."
"Since you were the Nine-Tails' Jinchuriki… I'll let it kill you."
The Nine-Tails roared and raised a massive paw, bringing it crashing down toward Kushina.
Outside the screen, everyone's hearts clenched.
For the first time, Uchiha Sasuke truly saw the Nine-Tails' terrifying form. It was no smaller than the Summoned Beasts the Legendary Sannin could call forth, perhaps even larger.
And its aura was far more dreadful.
Was this something human power could confront?
Even the First Hokage would have considered this dangerous.
At the last second, Namikaze Minato arrived and pulled Kushina out of harm's way.
"You truly live up to the name of Konoha's Flash," the masked man remarked. "But you're too late."
Kushina barely had the strength to ask one thing.
"Naruto… is Naruto safe?"
"Yes," Minato replied gently. "He's safe. He's somewhere secure."
"Good…"
She forced out a breath.
"Minato, you have to stop that man and the Nine-Tails."
"They're going to flatten Konoha."
Hearing that, the usually warm, sunlike smile vanished from Minato's face.
For the first time, a dark expression crossed it.
Perhaps in that moment, he understood Senju Tobirama better than ever.
Uchiha Madara…
He deserved to die.
"He's fled again. No matter. Let's head to Konoha."
The masked man watched Minato disappear with Flying Thunder God once more, his tone tinged with faint contempt.
The next instant, Minato reappeared in his home.
He gently laid Kushina beside their newborn son.
He looked at the two people he loved most.
Sadness flickered across his face.
Even if luck was on his side, even if he suppressed the Nine-Tails' rampage, he knew he would lose at least one of them.
He had already decided how he would deal with the Nine-Tails.
He understood what it was.
A monster beyond scale.
As a shinobi whose strength lay in precision and speed, he had no ideal method for confronting a creature like this head-on.
That was the only shortcoming in his otherwise well-rounded skill set.
Against human opponents, he never faltered.
But against a Tailed Beast, against a colossal monster, even the Rasengan he had developed from the concept of the Tailed Beast Bomb lost its edge.
In ninety-nine percent of battles, shinobi fought other shinobi.
Tonight, he faced the remaining fraction.
And as Hokage, he could not retreat even a single step.
Minato tightened his fist.
He opened the wardrobe and draped the Hokage cloak over his shoulders.
Under Kushina's faint blessing, he said softly, "I'll be back soon."
Then he vanished.
The scene shifted.
Under the peaceful night sky, Konoha slumbered in calm, unaware of the catastrophe about to descend.
Hatake Kakashi appeared in the frame.
Younger.
Much younger.
Around the age Kaede Kitahara was now.
He walked alongside an equally youthful Guy, chatting casually.
But even the young Kakashi sensed something was wrong.
The air felt colder.
What nearly made Sasuke lose control was the next scene.
A young Uchiha Itachi, carrying an even younger version of himself.
Sasuke had been born before Naruto.
Watching his older brother patiently care for him felt surreal.
There was no trace of the later cruelty.
"Sasuke, don't cry," young Itachi said gently. "No matter what happens, big brother will always protect you."
Why… did you become like that?
Sasuke's chest tightened.
He could not reconcile the two versions of his brother.
The peace shattered.
The masked man arrived in Konoha and summoned the Nine-Tails.
Chaos erupted.
Against a monster the size of a mountain, civilians fled in terror.
"Move, Nine-Tails."
Under the masked man's command, destruction began.
Even watching through the diary, the devastation was horrifying.
Kakashi and Itachi had lived through that night.
But they had been children.
Not the main combat force.
Itachi had only been able to carry Sasuke and escape.
Now, every memory flooded back.
The scene shifted again.
A much younger Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, already clad in battle gear before any report was finished.
"I understand. I'll suppress that thing. You focus on evacuating non-combatants!"
Only after giving orders did he think grimly:
"Kushina's seal was broken? Even with so many safeguards?"
Konoha's defenses trembled under the Nine-Tails' assault.
No.
They were overwhelmed.
Ninjutsu, taijutsu, genjutsu.
None of it mattered.
Most techniques could not even break its hide.
Compared to the Summoned Beasts of the Legendary Sannin, this was on another level entirely.
Each of the nine Tailed Beasts was at least Kage Level.
The complete Nine-Tails, without specialized sealing or counters like the Sharingan or Wood Release, was nearly Super Kage Level in destructive force.
Chunin. Jonin.
In front of it, the distinction was meaningless.
One slap.
If that failed, another.
Minato finally arrived atop the Hokage Monument, standing against the looming beast.
"Bearing the name of Hokage, protecting the family in this village… that is my duty right now. I won't let them run wild any longer."
He set his resolve.
The Nine-Tails noticed him.
A Tailed Beast Bomb began to form.
"Noticed me, have you?"
Minato narrowed his eyes.
"You won't destroy this place."
The Tailed Beast Bomb condensed.
Then launched.
Its overwhelming force tore through everything toward the Hokage Monument.
Everyone watching felt a chill.
If they were facing that attack themselves, they would have no answer.
Even Uchiha Itachi, who had awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan and possessed Susanoo, calculated silently.
Could his Susanoo withstand that?
Barely.
And that was just one attack.
For the Nine-Tails, it was nothing.
Against a monster like this, brute force meant little.
"It can only be sealed," Itachi muttered. "Nothing else will work."
Sasuke clenched his teeth.
So this… was the true power of the monster inside Naruto.
In that earlier footage, White Robe Sasuke had crushed a fragment of the Nine-Tails' will with one hand.
He had thought that was impressive.
Now he understood.
He had underestimated it completely.
If things had gone differently…
They would all be dead.
On screen, Minato vanished.
In the blink of an eye, the Tailed Beast Bomb disappeared.
A distant mountain range erupted in a blinding explosion.
The blast alone could have leveled a town.
Only now did everyone truly grasp why Jinchuriki were treated as strategic assets by every village.
This was not just power.
It was devastation incarnate.
Like a walking weapon of mass destruction.
If unleashed on a battlefield, who could possibly stand against it?
Minato's voice echoed faintly.
"With this scale… I have to choose the detonation point carefully."