"Looks like Lord Hokage managed to hold him."
Chōza Akimichi stepped back toward Shikaku Nara and Inoichi Yamanaka, but his eyes stayed locked on the Adamantine Prison Wall ahead.
"Help me up…"
The heavily injured Inoichi suddenly spoke. In his mind, there was no way something like this could suppress an out-of-control Naruto for long. Someone had to enter Naruto's mindscape and awaken his true self.
"Inoichi!"
The exhausted Shikaku immediately tried to stop him. The last time Inoichi entered Naruto's mind, it had nearly cost him his life. Doing it again now might be a death sentence.
Boom!
Before Shikaku could say more, Naruto slammed into the Adamantine Prison Wall, sending a deep, shuddering impact through the ground.
The gathered shinobi trembled involuntarily.
On one hand, they wanted to stop Naruto's rampage. On the other, the raw power radiating from him filled them with fear.
"This won't hold…"
Hiruzen Sarutobi took it all in, sensing that Naruto's chakra was steadily growing stronger. The Adamantine Prison Wall alone wouldn't be enough.
"Where is Senju Haruto…?"
He sucked in a sharp breath, silently praying Haruto would arrive soon.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
No matter what, he had to buy more time.
Poof! Poof!
Two shadow clones appeared at his side, and the three Hiruzen Sarutobis moved in, forming a triangular formation around Naruto.
"That's…"
Chōza noticed Hiruzen's positioning and spoke without thinking.
"It's…" Shikaku's eyes narrowed—he understood exactly what the Hokage was about to do.
"The Four-Corner Sealing Barrier."
"The what?" Chōza and Inoichi asked together.
"It's an S-rank sealing technique," Shikaku explained quickly. "It needs three people. They form a green pyramid-shaped barrier from the east, west, and south, creating solid walls to trap the target inside…"
As he spoke, they could see Hiruzen and his two clones performing the technique, enclosing Naruto within the sealing formation.
But…
"This jutsu only restrains movement—it won't strip away his chakra or reverse the Nine-Tails transformation," Shikaku added grimly.
While Hiruzen focused on buying time, mutters began to spread through the crowd of shinobi.
Some were calling to kill Naruto outright.
From their perspective, the only way to stop the Nine-Tails was to eliminate its jinchūriki before the transformation reached completion.
"No!" Hiruzen roared without hesitation.
Naruto wasn't just Minato Namikaze's son—he was Konoha's vital jinchūriki. They needed the Nine-Tails' power.
Haruto…
Even Hiruzen wasn't sure how much longer they could hold out.
Naruto was trapped between the Adamantine Prison Wall and the Four-Corner Sealing Barrier, but his chakra kept climbing.
And now… the eighth tail was beginning to form.
"Fire Rat Bullet!"
Just as Hiruzen strained to keep the seal intact, a flaming projectile shaped like a mouse came hurtling toward him.
"Hm?"
His senses sharpened instantly. ANBU operatives rushed forward to intercept, but as they approached, the fireball split into dozens of smaller blue flame missiles.
They tore through the ANBU's defense and struck at both Hiruzen and his two clones simultaneously.
"Yugito Nii…"
Hiruzen recognized her at once and braced himself for impact.
He knew that if he released the Four-Corner Barrier now, he might not get another chance to restrain Naruto.
"As expected of Konoha's Hokage," Yugito's voice drifted from the darkness as she emerged into view.
Before attacking, she had made sure—Senju Haruto wasn't here. She didn't know why, but to her, this was the perfect opportunity.
The elite jōnin gathered here were all injured to varying degrees. Even the Hokage was struggling to contain one tailed beast.
So what would happen… if a second one appeared?
A faint smile tugged at her lips.
As a kunoichi of the Hidden Cloud, she respected Hiruzen Sarutobi, but she had no sympathy—and no reason to waste such a rare chance.
Matatabi's chakra burst forth, engulfing her in an instant.
The sight made every shinobi present draw a sharp breath.
One Nine-Tails was already more than enough to terrify them—now another tailed beast had entered the fray.
And unlike Naruto's partial transformation, Yugito was a perfect jinchūriki, unleashing her full power in seconds.
ROAR!
The massive Two-Tails Matatabi landed heavily on a building, muscles coiled, and howled toward the moonlit sky.
Her chakra and voice rolled outward, echoing across the village.
It wasn't an exaggeration to say that many villagers, hearing that dreadful sound, were instantly thrown back into the terror of the Nine-Tails' attack years ago.
Now they could see it too—Matatabi's towering form blazing against the night.
Two tailed beasts… in Konoha.
And no Fourth Hokage to protect them.
"The end…"
A man in the crowd dropped to his knees, eyes hollow, his will to fight gone.
"We're all going to die…"
Screams followed—wave after wave—as the civilians, just barely evacuated moments ago, broke into a frenzied stampede out of the village.
In that moment, their faith in the shinobi shattered completely.
No one could protect them.
They were living in hell.
"Die!"
Yugito, controlling Matatabi, condensed the tailed beast's chakra into her maw, forming a massive black sphere—the Tailed Beast Bomb—and aimed it straight at Hiruzen.
The Hokage stood his ground, but Enma the Monkey King knew the truth—Hiruzen could not block this in his current state.
"Move, Sarutobi! If you don't, you'll die!"
It wasn't just Enma—Chōza knew it too. Seeing that Hiruzen wasn't dodging, he lunged forward, wrapping his massive arms around the old man's waist and hurling them both sideways.
The moment Hiruzen moved, the Four-Corner Barrier collapsed.
"Damn it…"
Enma cursed under his breath, throwing himself toward Naruto to stop him.
But it was too late.
Naruto's eighth tail erupted into being.
BOOOOOOM!
A thunderous blast ripped across Konoha, a shockwave tearing outward and leveling buildings in every direction.
Naruto's form was no longer vaguely human—he swelled to match Matatabi's size, his muscles thick and powerful.
But there was no skin—only raw, burning chakra, making the Nine-Tails' visage that night all the more terrifying.
Several villagers who saw it collapsed in sheer fright.
"Nine-Tails!"
Yugito roared toward the fully transformed Naruto, drawing his gaze to her.