In an open space outside the house where Kushina gave birth, Minato Namikaze climbed up in a somewhat embarrassed manner. Just now, after using the space-time barrier to transfer the Tailed Beast Bomb, a mysterious man wearing a tiger-striped mask had suddenly appeared. The masked man attacked Minato Namikaze, and of course Minato wouldn't sit there and take it. But what shocked him was that his attack passed right through the masked man—meanwhile, the masked man managed to grab Minato and attempted to absorb him into some kind of spatial dimension.
Left with no choice, Minato used Flying Thunder God to teleport away to this location.
The masked man followed closely and came to the open space.
As he sensed the spatial fluctuations accompanying the masked man's arrival, Minato immediately deduced how he had been able to infiltrate earlier.
"To break through a top-secret barrier, kill elite Anbu under the Third Hokage, know that the Nine-Tails' seal weakens during childbirth, and even control Kurama… and to move in and out of the Leaf's barriers freely!"
As these thoughts flashed through Minato's mind, a certain figure appeared in his memory.
Just days earlier, Uchiha Yuan had given him information on Uchiha Madara.
"Are you Uchiha Madara?" Minato asked sternly.
The masked man took off his cloak and responded with a bit of contempt, "Who knows? Perhaps not."
Seeing that, Minato's expression became even graver. "At this point, who you are no longer matters. But why are you targeting Konoha?"
"You could say it was a whim… or perhaps a plan long in the making. For war, and also for peace." As he spoke, the masked man pulled out two chains and wrapped them around both his hands.
Minato took a deep breath, saying no more. After the two of them eyed each other briefly, they charged simultaneously.
As expected, Minato's probing attack passed right through the masked man, and he was immediately bound by the chains. Using Flying Thunder God again, Minato escaped.
One had to admit: when it came to combat, Minato was a genius. After observing the masked man's two transitions between intangibility and solidity, Minato more or less figured it out.
He guessed the masked man had to materialize to attack—making him vulnerable. To attack was to risk being hit.
From the man's behavior, Minato judged that due to Kurama, the opponent didn't want to drag out the battle. He wanted to end it fast.
So this battle became a contest of speed.
Without hesitation, Minato threw a Flying Thunder God kunai at the masked man—passing just over his head.
As it passed, the masked man reached toward Minato's shoulder, while Minato was charging a Rasengan, planning to strike when his opponent became tangible.
The masked man's hand was clearly closer to Minato's shoulder, and at the moment he touched it, he became solid to absorb Minato.
In his eyes, the fight was already over.
But unexpectedly, Minato vanished—reappearing mid-air where his kunai had just flown.
Catching the masked man completely off guard, Minato struck him in the back with a Rasengan, leaving a Flying Thunder God mark behind.
It was clear who won this speed-based battle between teacher and student.
Since awakening his Mangekyō, this was the first time Obito's ocular power had been truly countered.
Previously, Uchiha Yuan had taken him by surprise with superior speed, but this time, Minato had directly unraveled the mystery of Kamui.
Minato's Rasengan was powerful, obliterating the transplanted arm of the masked man.
Obito picked himself up, leaping away to put distance between them. Looking at the familiar figure before him, he suddenly realized he didn't truly understand his teacher.
Shaking his head to dispel the thoughts, he re-assumed the demeanor of the cold, ruthless masked man.
"You reversed the situation on me... You're truly elusive—no chance to let your guard down for a moment." But before he finished speaking, Minato appeared right in front of him.
The masked man realized immediately—Minato had marked him during the previous strike with a Flying Thunder God seal.
The next second, a complex sealing formula flared on his body.
"Contract Seal? You're separating me from Kurama?"
"That's right. Kurama will no longer be yours," Minato answered calmly.
"Hmph… As expected of the Fourth Hokage. You hurt me and even separated me from the Nine-Tails. But you think this is over? You think I wouldn't make preparations knowing Uchiha Yuan has a Mangekyō?"
Hearing this, Minato's expression darkened. He was about to speak when the masked man vanished.
Minato didn't pursue—he could tell the man wasn't bluffing. He had to return to the village immediately to handle Kurama.
—
Inside Konoha, Uchiha Yuan had activated the third stage of Susanoo and was battling Kurama head-on.
The two monstrous entities fought fiercely in the village center.
At first, they were evenly matched.
But Kurama's chakra reserves were immense, while Yuan's ocular power was limited. Even with the Four-Tails' chakra supplementing him, he couldn't sustain a long fight.
So Yuan set his sights on Kurama directly.
He intended to use Magatsuhi enhanced with "Annihilation Mode" and the Yasaka Magatama to strike Kurama's weak spot, then use Inari to absorb his chakra and life force.
With that, he could maintain Susanoo and possibly even defeat Kurama.
But just as Yuan was preparing to act, the ground in the village center began to tremble.
A giant wooden humanoid figure, similar in size to Kurama, emerged from thin air.
Using his Mangekyō, Yuan saw that atop the giant was someone with a white spiral mask.
His face changed instantly: "Tobi?! Why is he appearing now?!"
Yuan remembered clearly—in the Fourth Great Ninja War, Tobi had used Yamato's body to unleash Hashirama's ultimate move: True Several Thousand Hands.
Back then, a massive wooden avatar chased the entire Allied Shinobi Forces.
He had also once been shown Tobi's Wood Release when dragged to Uchiha Madara's location.
Even in his past life watching the anime, Yuan felt Tobi was different from regular White Zetsu—he had his own will and soul.
Back when Uchiha Yuan was browsing forums, he learned that this guy even appeared in the Shinobi Data Book. His name was listed as "Tobi", born from the Divine Tree—a mysterious sprout, the child of chakra.
So his Wood Release was innate—unlike other White Zetsu who needed Yamato's enhancement to use simple techniques.
At this point, Uchiha Yuan's expression turned grim. One Nine-Tails was already enough of a headache, but now another Tobi had arrived and even summoned a wooden giant.
"Looks like I'll have to use my trump card." With that thought, a bottle of milk appeared in Yuan's hand.
But this wasn't ordinary milk—it was a special item from the Tom and Jerry text game Yuan had played. Drinking it would double his stats.
Without hesitation, Uchiha Yuan downed the bottle.
The moment the milk entered his mouth, all of Yuan's stats doubled.
He immediately activated Magatsuhi and Annihilation Mode to empower his Yasaka Magatama, then hurled it at Kurama.
The Magatama struck Kurama's weak point directly, inflicting injury.
Yuan then activated Inari, absorbing Kurama's vast chakra and life force into himself.
With his doubled stats, Yuan could clearly sense his Susanoo advancing to the next stage.
The next second, Yuan injected his ocular power into Susanoo.
Susanoo's body expanded again. The Susanoo, which was originally the same size as the Nine-Tails, it now dwarfed the beast, growing to an immense scale. The Susanoo's lower body also developed legs.
At the same time his Susanoo wielded an inmense blade, with purple arcs of lightning that danced along its surface, emanating a suffocating pressure.
At this moment, Yuan could clearly feel that his power had surpassed that of Kurama, who had no jinchūriki.
A Tailed Beast without a jinchūriki is on a completely different level than one with.
While a jinchūriki is a cage that binds a beast, it's also a form of protection. If this had been the Kurama synchronized with Naruto, not even a complete Susanoo would be guaranteed victory—let alone a fourth-stage one.
But unfortunately for Kurama, no jinchūriki was here to aid him.
Yuan controlled Susanoo to swing the purple lightning-wreathed blade, sending Kurama flying.
At this point, Kurama had regained his consciousness. Earlier, when Yuan first manifested his third-stage Susanoo, Kurama didn't think much of it—he believed he could still fight.
But once Susanoo evolved again, Kurama realized he was no match.
Using the momentum from Yuan's attack, Kurama let himself be flung away.
As he climbed up from the ground, he immediately turned and fled. Finally freed from a jinchūriki, he had no intention of being captured again.
Yuan was momentarily stunned. He hadn't expected Kurama to choose escape.
Meanwhile, the wooden giant in the village center continued rampaging. Although the Third Hokage and Uchiha Shisui were doing their best to intercept, they were clearly outmatched.
Had it only been the Third Hokage, Yuan would've chased Kurama without hesitation.
But Shisui was still there—and he hadn't awakened Susanoo yet. If this went on, he'd be in serious danger.
Yuan hesitated.
"Yuan, go after Kurama! The wood giant—Hiruzen, Shisui, and I can handle it. Plus, I've sensed the Fourth Hokage's chakra. He should be here soon."
A familiar voice spoke in Yuan's ear.
He turned quickly and saw Hyuga Asana atop Shadiao.
Hyuga Asana had entered Sage Mode.
Two small white horns had sprouted on her forehead. Purple eye shadow encircled her eyes, and her skin was even fairer than before, with faint traces of scales.
Yuan also noticed that Asana's Byakugan had changed.
Previously, after its evolution, it had resembled the Tenseigan: blue pupils surrounded by radiating arcs resembling electric currents.
Now, her pupils were still blue—but those arcs had turned a dark purple-black, giving her a more ominous and mystical aura.
"So this is Sage Mode?"
"Mhm. I've got pretty decent talent in this area. I've practically mastered the perfect version of Snake Sage Mode. To go even further, I'd have to continue transforming—develop serpent-like features or even grow a snake from my body. I couldn't accept that, so I stopped here."
That made Yuan recall Kabuto Yakushi's own Snake Sage Mode. Kabuto had claimed his was the perfected form, but Asana refused to undergo further transformation and stopped just shy of it—which made sense.
"Yuan, go now! Kurama's getting away. We'll talk after this is over."
Yuan nodded and dashed off after Kurama.
As Hyuga Asana glanced toward the center of the village—where the wooden giant was still rampaging and the Third Hokage and Shisui were barely holding their ground—she muttered to herself:
"Now that I've mastered Sage Mode, I guess I can call myself a true powerhouse."
With that, she leapt off Shadiao's back. While midair, she formed hand seals. A bolt of blackish-purple lightning descended from the sky.
"Sage Art: Lightning Style – Thunder Flash!"
Crack! The lightning struck Tobi directly on the head of the wooden giant.
Tobi's body twitched violently, black smoke rising from him.
As he was paralyzed by the lightning, Namikaze Minato appeared and struck Tobi off the wooden giant with a Rasengan.
"Ahhh—!" With a miserable scream, Tobi crashed to the ground.
Shisui quickly used Body Flicker to appear next to Tobi. Raising his short sword, he slashed toward Tobi's neck.
Tobi was split cleanly in two.
But just as Shisui reached to retrieve the "corpse," both halves of Tobi's body sank into the ground.
Only then did Shisui realize—Tobi was still alive.
"Shisui, forget him! Let's take care of the wooden giant first!" Hyuga Asana shouted.
(To Be Continued...)