Abandoning his inal pn, Obito used Kamui to vanish.

  "Just you wait," he said before disappearing.

  The Konoha ninja waited for half a day, but there was no sign of him appearing anywhere. They shifted positiurly, maintaining a strategiation around the potential threat zones.

  Everyone couldn't help but feel as though they were ba their ninja academy days, experieng the awkwardness of a cssmate yelling, "Don't leave after school!" during an argument.

  It felt strange.

  "Has he left?" someone asked.

  Eventually, all eyes turo the Hyūga members.

  The Hyūgas, without needing further prompting, activated their Byakugan and began sing the area.

  "Everyone maintain your positions," a Hyūga jonin anded. "We'll need full ce of the area."

  Despite being from the same vilge, the female shinobi present instinctively avoided their gaze.

  After all, the Byakugan could see through objects, and the sudden call to a had left many of them rushing out of their homes. Some were still wearing their more... intimate undergarments.

  "At least give us some warniime," a kunoichi muttered, adjusting her hastily donned gear.

  After a thh search, one of the Hyūga jonin spoke up, "Outside the vilge... Wait a moment..."

  Sweat began to bead on the jonin's forehead. "It's the ails. That Uchiha is trolling the ails! It's headed for the vilge!"

  "Which dire?" Hiruzen asked immediately.

  "From the south."

  Hearing this, Minato's expression darkehe pce where he had saved his wife earlier was somewhere in the southern outskirts of Konoha.

  The ails had been there all along?

  "Sandaime-sama, I think I know where it is. Please have everyone prepare defenses on the wall," Minato said, vanishing instantly with his Flying Thunder God.

  "Fugaku-sama, Setsuna-sama, I'm going as well," Masashi said to the Uchiha leaders behind him before using the same teleportation teique.

  Hiruzen and Danzō exged gnces, wasting no time as they immediately began anizing their forces.

  However, when it came to assigning tasks to the Uchiha ...

  "I propose that the Uchiha handle guiding civilians to shelters," a senior member of the Sarutobi suddenly suggested.

  This elderly ninja, a porary of Hiruzen, was one of the key deakers within the Sarutobi . His wrinkled face betrayed decades of ingrained prejudice.

  This proposal likely wasn't directly ordered by Hiruzen. He would never risk su obvious move—it wasn't his style. That didn't prevent some of his from ag indepely.

  "What nonsense is this?" Setsuna shot back with a stern face, his Sharingan flickering to life momentarily. "Evacuating civilians is something our Uchiha , along with the Hyūga, Aburame, and Inuzuka s, have already been coordinating. Given the current situation, withdrawing all Uchiha members to the rear is unrealistic."

  "This is not the time for your Uchiha 's arrogance," Danzō interjected.

  Though he found the Sarutobi elder's suggestion clumsy, the proposal aligned with his own goals. "The arra is in lih the Police Force's responsibilities. sidering the Sharingan's involvement, it's better for you to avoid suspi."

  You shameless snake! I knew you'd try to stir trouble! "Avoid suspi? Didn't the vilge have a very different stan this when Sharinga occurred in the past?" Setsued sharply, cutting off Danzō.

  "Besides, why should the Sarutobi lead the assault? How long has it been siheir members saw the battlefield? Their current skills hardly justify su arra."

  He stopped just short of ht calling the Sarutobi weaklings in front of everyohis immediately ahe hot-tempered Sarutobi members. Several reached for their ons.

  But Setsuna wasn't wrong. Even those in the ANBU from the Sarutobi had been assigned retively less demanding tasks i years, leaving their bat skills rusty.

  Meanwhile, the Uchiha were mgressive than ever, and tensioweewo s had been simmering for years.

  Before the ails could even reach the vilge, the two s were on the verge of g.

  "'t you Sarutobi people stop making things worse?" someone from the Inuzuka barked. A rge dog growled beside its master as the Inuzuka ninja shouted, "Sandaime-sama and Danzō-sama haven't said anything! Aren't things chaotiough already!?"

  "Everyone knows the Uchiha 's strength. It's nonseo say they shouldn't be on the front lines," added a member of the Aburame , is buzzing agitatedly around him.

  "This isn't the time tue. If the ails breaches the vilge, the sequences will be disastrous. I think the Uchiha should also go to the front lines," even the Hyūga chimed in.

  Out of the eight notable ninja s in Konoha, four—including the Uchiha themselves—now stood against the Sarutobi 's stance.

  We don't have time for this foolishness. Faced with this bance of power, Hiruzen made a swift decision.

  "Enough arguing. Regur ninja are useless against a tailed beast. All ninja ranked in and above, head to the wall to stop the ails! Everyone else, guide the civilians to safety!"

  This decision was ral and appeased everyone. Ea quickly split their forces accly.

  Hiruzen and Danzō headed straight for the wall.

  As they ran, the two old rades remained silent for a while.

  "This doesn't bode well, Hiruzen," Danzō suddenly said.

  "I know. Where is Orochimaru? Isn't he with you? Why hasn't he e out for something this big?"

  "He's guarding the Root base to prevent spies from taking advantage of the chaos." At least, that's what he cimed.

  The versation ehere, leaving Hiruzen's face grim and Danzō expressionless.

  Their years of colboration gave them a mutual uanding; eaew what the other meant without needing further expnation.

  But their thoughts were quickly interrupted by a sound not heard in years: the roar of a beast.

  The roar came from the south, apanied by a fierce wind that swayed the surrounding trees. The ground trembled beh them, cracks spreading across the earth.

  In the southern sky, the night was dyed a terrifying shade of crimson. Their hearts sank as they quied their pace.

  Finally, the wall came into view. Beyond the distant barrier, they saw it—a colossal, fme-red fox with ails swaying behind it, striding towards the wall.

  On the wall, the defenders were unleashing a barrage of shuriken, kunai, and elemental jutsu.

  Fire, water, and lightning lit up the night sky, but these attacks were futile.

  The ails didn't even aowledge them as it marched forward, the attacks dissipating harmlessly against its chakra-cloaked form.

  Ihe vilge, cries of panic filled the air as civilians fled in all dires. Parents clutched children to their chests, and the elderly were helped along by neighbors.

  "ails!" Hiruzen's eyes burned with rage. His aged hands formed fists tight enough to draw blood.

  Siaking over as Hokage from the Sed, Hiruzen had worked tirelessly to shield Konoha from the horrors of war. Now, such a sight felt like the ultimate mockery of his efforts.

  Danzō, though maintaining a posed exterior, was just as furious.

  The two elders increased their pace, leading a wave of shinobi from Konoha's northern and southerors toward the wall.

  Beyond the wall, Masashi stood atop a tree, watg the ails approach. His Sharingan spun slowly, analyzing the massive chakra presence before him.

  Moments ago, Minato had teleported away one of the ails' Tailed Beast Bombs using the Flying Thunder God, f Obito to engage him directly elsewhere.

  Now, only the ails remained, its eyes bzing with the Sharingan.

  Ordinary kunai couldn't pierce Susanoo. Likewise, typiinjutsu was useless against the ails.

  To deal with such a massive chakra entity, only a power of equal magnitude would suffice.

  Masashi began f hand seals.

  He had a siderable amount of chakra. Or rather, the Uchiha itself could be seen as a massive reservoir of energy.

  While Madara's chakra was less abundant than Hashirama's, that didn't mean he had a small amount—at the time, nobody had more chakra than Hashirama.

  Another characteristic of the Uchiha was that their Sharingan enhaheir chakra capacity. Each evolution of the Sharingan signifitly increased their chakra reserves, strengthening their overall power.

  The Uzumaki was known for their extraordinary physical resilienaturally abundant chakra, vibrant vitality, and long lifespans.

  The Uchiha and Uzumaki were quite parable in this regard. When the Sharingan reached the three-tomoe stage, the Uchiha's chakra was as abundant, if not more, than the Uzumaki of a simir level.

  However, the Uchiha didn't show the same ridiculous vitality, as they rarely tapped into their physical energy reserves.

  This might have beeo Indra.

  However, Indra trained under Hagoromo, practig both spiritual and physical energy from the start. Coupled with his ihree-tomoe Sharingan, he eak form from the beginning, while Asura only mao catch up without ever surpassing him.

  With knowledge from his lifetimes, Masashi had focused on developing his physical energy from the start. His three-tomoe Sharingan was far beyond the standard.

  Even he didn't know the full extent of his chakra reserves.

  The most he'd used was during the Third Great Ninja War near its end. After his teammates were wiped out, he went all out, chasing a group of Kiri ninja for aire day.

  He e by using his Ice Release to create a 'Kiri ninja museum' along the shoreline. Afterward, he still had enough energy to teleport bap and make it just in time for dinner.

  The sensation of exhaustion—tongue lolling out, struggling to squeeze out chakra as if milking a dry cow—was something he hadn't experienced even across two lifetimes.

  Maybe the ails would be strong enough to push him to that point. Opportuo expend chakra so freely so close to home didn't e often.

  Whether the number of tails correted with a tailed beast's strength, he couldn't remember. However, the Ten-Tails did indeed have ten tails.

  Ninjas loved speg and creating theories. For instance, some cimed the Oail from Suna represented wind and sand, though its chakra ily carried magic properties.

  Simirly, there were wild cims about the ails being fire-aligned.

  Looking up close, it did appear somewhat fiery. While the ails in manga was depicted as a giant, furry fox, in Masashi's eyes, it was more like a mountain of fmes.

  Its crimson chakra radiated blinding brilliance, like an inferno illuminating the skies.

  However, this was merely chakra. Its essence wasn't different from human chakra, though the tailed beasts' chakra surpassed human limits in its violent iy.

  The ails' cws smmed repeatedly into the ground, shaking the earth and whipping up powerful gusts. Trees fell en masse, uprooted by the force.

  "Nothing's w! Our stro jutsu..." a ninja called out in desperation.

  They're right. ventional tactics are useless here.

  It seemed godlike, embodying fire itself, as if to burn away all darkness and unleash brilliance.

  On the walls, the ninja's expressions were filled with sorrow and despair—not for their lives but for Konoha behind them, where their families resided.

  Those who had leapt from the walls to try and halt the beast's advance couldn't even make it pause. Teiques that once decimated enemies on battlefields barely scratched the ails.

  The beast, oher hand, could sneeze or swat its cws and send people flying.

  The walls provided no sense of safety.

  Now, from the Konoha ninjas' perspective, only Masashi stood before the ails.

  Hiruzen and Danzō, along with the Konoha forces they led, had also arrived at the walls.

  "Hold the line! We must protect the vilge!" Hiruzen's voice carried across the battlefield.

  "The evacuation isn't plete. We need more time," Danzō added, his single visible eye fixed on the approag beast.

  Standihe titanic beast, suffocation pressed heavily on them. Its sheer presence was overwhelming.

  They, too, saw Masashi fag the ails.

  Even among those from the Sarutobi , historically unfriendly with the Uchiha, none harbored schadenfreude. In the face of such catastrophe, there were no divisions—only Konoha ninjas united.

  Two sides remained: a mountain-sized tailed beast and the humans as small as sand grains.

  All sound vanished from the walls. Only the ails' heavy footsteps echoed.

  Eyes filled with sorrow as another determined rade prepared to sacrifice themselves against the beast, trying to slow it down by even the smallest margin.

  This person wasn't the first, nor would they be the st. At this moment, every ninja present repared to die.

  In the silence, Masashi's voice was crystal clear.

  "Ice Release: Prometheus!"

  In an instant, white repced crimson, shrouding everyone's view.

  A t white titan stood firm on the earth. Its rugged, angur form seemed humanoid yet alien. Even the Akimichi 's bulk couldn't achieve such a physique.

  The giant's legs fred outward, with its lower torso resembling a skirt.

  Somewhere, someone had once spoken of Prometheus, who defied the gods t fire to humanity.

  The ninja world, of course, had no Mount Olympus. But as Masashi molded a mecha-like figure using Ice Release, everyone instinctively felt that the monstrous giant before them was terrifying.

  For the eion, including Hiruzen and Danzō, it evoked memories of something disturbingly simir.

  Then, they heard Masashi's voice more.

  "Sage Art: Armament!"

  What had appeared white became semi-transparent crystal, crawling over the giant's body and f what looked like armor.

  At least, the ninjas thought that massive piece must be a shield.

  But the armor's design... seemed oddly familiar.

  "Wait, isn't that his work?" someone on the wall suddenly excimed.

  "That design... from the festival!"

  "Masashi-sama created this!"

  It was one of the evacuating civilians. Although the southern district wasn't as crowded as the north, it was still densely poputed. Evacuation was far from plete.

  Konoha's forces had improved the evacuation's efficy, but the ails was so close to the wall that even those far back could see the titan Masashi created.

  The southern district had hosted st year's Uchiha Id Snow Festival, where he had showcased his immense skill. Among the massive ice sculptures he created were two massive figures: the Prometheus Titan and the Ats Guardian, both inspired by aales of beings who challehe gods.

  Though the ninja world had no Greek mythology, the sight of giant mecha-like sculptures had left a deep impression.

  "Masashi-sama is that powerful of a ninja?"

  Masashi, however, wasn't paying attention to this. He was ihe Prometheus, in Sage Mode, the markings on his face still shifting.

  Ahead of him, the ails paused, staring at the unfamiliar entity. trolled by the Sharingan, it still felt a surge e.

  Opening its mouth, it began f aailed Beast Bomb.

  Masashi ged his hand seals.

  The Prometheus' feet released bursts of wind, lifting it off the ground.

  With incredible speed, it charged at the ails, extending a massive hand to grab the Tailed Beast Bomb.