Chapter 58: The Aftermath and the Gathering Storm
The sight of the weakened but still defiant Nine-Tails galvanized Konoha's leadership into a final, coordinated assault.
"Wind Style: Vacuum Great Sphere!" Danzo led the charge, unleashing a massive orb of compressed wind that slammed into the fox, forcing it back several meters.
Not to be outdone, Sarutobi Hiruzen's hands became a blur. "Five Nature Release: One Great Combo!" Fire, Lightning, Water, Earth, and Wind—all five basic chakra natures erupted from the Hokage in a dazzling, overwhelming display of elemental power that showcased why he was called "The Professor." The combined force hammered the Nine-Tails, driving its body deeper into the cratered earth.
As the fox struggled to pull its head from the ground, Tsunade saw her opening. She leaped into the air, her fist pulled back, glowing with concentrated chakra. "This ends now! Six Paths: Ultra Heavenly King Gun!"
She combined her monstrous strength with the advanced physical technique, delivering a blow directly to the top of the Nine-Tails' skull.
BOOOOM!
The impact was cataclysmic. The ground for a hundred-meter radius shattered and collapsed, creating a new, deeper pit. The Nine-Tails was driven into the center, its form flickering, utterly stunned and unable to move.
"What are you all standing around for?!" Tsunade barked, landing gracefully on the crater's edge. "Seal it! Now!"
"Y-Yes, Tsunade-sama!" the Sealing Team stammered, scrambling into position.
The sheer, raw destructive power Tsunade had just displayed left the entire assembly in a state of shocked silence. Sarutobi Hiruzen looked on with a complex mix of pride and chagrin. Jiraiya wiped cold sweat from his brow. Orochimaru's usual smirk was replaced by a slight, thoughtful twitch. Danzo's face was a thundercloud of envy and calculation. The clan patriarchs simply stood in awe, realizing that the Senju heir's power was on an entirely different level.
And she hadn't even used her full strength. None of them knew about the Armament Haki that could have further amplified that blow to potentially lethal levels.
It took the Nine-Tails a long moment to stop seeing stars. By the time its vision cleared, it was too late. The Sealing Team had completed their intricate hand signs. A complex pattern, the Eight Trigrams Seal—an enhanced version of the Four Symbols Seal—flared to life on Uzumaki Tomoko's stomach.
With a final, furious, and deeply unwilling roar that echoed across the landscape, the Nine-Tails was forcibly drawn into its new prison. The colossal chakra presence vanished, leaving behind an eerie silence.
Sarutobi Hiruzen finally allowed himself to breathe a full sigh of relief. The Jinchuriki transfer had been fraught with disaster, but it was over. Konoha had retained its ultimate weapon.
"Sarutobi," Danzo's voice cut through the quiet, his tone as sharp as a knife. "You must devote all resources to uncovering that masked man's identity."
"Danzo, we must be cautious," Hiruzen warned, his voice low. "That individual's power... it may have reached the level of Uchiha Madara himself. Provoking him would be suicide for Konoha."
"Cowardice!" Danzo spat. "Should we tremble and hide just because an enemy is strong? Anyone who dares set their sights on Konoha must be eliminated!"
His grandstanding was met with poorly concealed disdain from the surrounding shinobi. When the mysterious man was present, Danzo had been conspicuously quiet. Now that the threat was gone, he was posturing as a fearless patriot.
"This matter is concluded," Hiruzen stated firmly, cutting off any further argument from his old rival. "We will investigate, but discreetly. We will not openly antagonize him." He fixed Danzo with a hard stare. "And you, Danzo, will remain silent on this. If your actions bring disaster upon this village, I will not hesitate to sever our ties permanently."
He knew Danzo's tendencies better than anyone. While he often turned a blind eye to his friend's scheming, this was a matter of village survival. He could not allow Danzo to play his games.
Danzo responded with a cold "Hmph!" before turning and stalking away, his Root operatives melting into the shadows behind him.
Hiruzen then turned to the remaining shinobi. "The rest of you, focus on damage control and reassuring the villagers." The battle had been impossible to miss. The roars, the explosions, and the sight of two titans clashing under the moonlight would be the talk of Konoha for years to come.
Back at the comfortable estate he shared with Mikoto and Kushina, Shinra had already changed back into his casual clothes.
"Shinra! You're back! Are you okay?" Mikoto and Kushina rushed to him the moment he entered, their faces etched with worry.
"What could possibly happen to me?" Shinra replied, puffing out his chest with a theatrical flair. "When your man goes out, handling a little fox like that is a piece of cake!"
"Yeah, as you say," Kushina retorted, rolling her eyes but unable to hide her relief. "It's just a 'little fox.' No need to look so proud of yourself."
Shinra's triumphant expression deflated slightly. He had been hoping to bask in a bit of admiration. Kushina's bluntness always had a way of keeping him grounded.
"But... you really fought the Nine-Tails? We felt the chakra all the way from here. Even Mikoto said it felt unstoppable," Kushina pressed, a flicker of doubt in her eyes.
Now Shinra was genuinely offended. Not only had she ruined his moment, but she was doubting his prowess!
He immediately produced a specially crafted sealing scroll. "Look! I extracted more than half of the Nine-Tails' chakra. It will take that fox seven or eight years to recover from this!"
Kushina blinked. "If you were so much stronger than it, why did you need its chakra in the first place?"
"That... is a long story," Shinra said, his tone shifting to something more serious. "And the Nine-Tails' chakra itself isn't the end goal. I'll explain it all when the time is right." He had no intention of telling them about his plans for the Sage of Six Paths Mode. That kind of knowledge was a burden they didn't need to carry. In a world where knowing too much could lead to despair, ignorance was sometimes a blessing.
Seeing his resolve, Kushina, for once, didn't push further. She understood that some things were beyond her for now.
News of Konoha's Jinchuriki transfer spread through the shinobi world like wildfire. It was impossible to hide an event of that magnitude. The intelligence networks of the other Great Villages were soon buzzing with the details.
The implications were seismic. Konoha had just voluntarily crippled one of its arms. A new Jinchuriki was a liability, not an asset; it would be years before Tomoko could be trusted on a battlefield without the risk of the fox breaking loose. The unspoken agreement not to deploy Tailed Beasts was a thin veneer of civility that would shatter the moment full-scale war began.
Konoha, with its fertile lands and central position, had long been the object of envy for its rivals. Now, with the "tiger's fangs" temporarily removed, the other villages began to lick their lips. The tentative skirmishes at the borders were about to escalate. The brief period of peace was over, and the storm of the Second Great Shinobi World War was gathering on the horizon.