Kakashi, after all, bore the surname Hatake, not Uchiha. Missing the mark with Kamui was perfectly normal for him. At long range, aiming for the head and hitting an arm—he did it now, and he'd likely do it again in the future. It was just his standard performance, a true paragon of eventually hitting something near where he pointed.
Habara and Kakashi had toiled away for quite some time, dealing what seemed like a heavy blow to the Seven-Tails... Alright, perhaps it wasn't that heavy. The Seven-Tails was definitely injured, its defenses even breached by Kamui, but this hadn't diminished its combat capability.
It had unleashed two Tailed Beast Bombs already; it could certainly manage a third. In fact, fueled by pain and rage, the Seven-Tails was now likely shifting into "Annihilation Mode."
In terms of attack power, defense, and overall combat strength, the Seven-Tails held an absolute advantage. Habara was now essentially out of the fight, and Kakashi wasn't faring much better. Kakashi aside, Habara felt somewhat exposed. He was supposed to be able to contend with Tailed Beasts, wasn't he? Yet he'd only half-succeeded... He'd resisted, but hadn't truly countered it, and instead ended up flattened.
Perhaps that was being too harsh on Habara. If he hadn't just blocked two Tailed Beast Bombs, one might have sailed straight into Konoha proper. Ultimately, Tailed Beasts weren't meant to be fought head-on. Ninja were thinking creatures; they were supposed to use sealing techniques.
Not having a brain worked too, but only if you were on the level of the First Hokage or Madara Uchiha. Only those two gods could casually slap the Nine-Tails around. Habara's strength... was incomparable to theirs, no matter how you looked at it.
For Habara currently, it was hard to say whether he was just one step away from defeating a Tailed Beast or ten thousand steps away. But either way, the result was the same... Not winning meant losing.
For now, Habara had to sit this one out.
Fortunately, reinforcements had finally arrived. Seeing the Third Hokage and several Sealing Teams rushing over from Konoha's direction, Habara let out a long sigh of relief.
Due to the intense battle, the bandaged wound on Habara's right arm had long since torn open again. Clutching his arm, he began to slowly retreat, preparing to withdraw from the battlefield.
The Sealing Team shinobi surrounded the Seven-Tails. While completing the seal immediately was difficult, they began working at once to suppress its chakra. However, since the Jinchuriki's own sealing function was almost entirely defunct, suppressing the Seven-Tails' chakra was no simple task.
Just as Habara couldn't match the god-tier combat prowess of Hashirama or Madara, ordinary sealing specialists couldn't replicate the effectiveness of an Uzumaki.
Therefore, as the Sealing Teams began their work, the Third Hokage summoned his companion, Monkey King Enma, and charged into the fray alongside his personal ANBU guard. With the Sealing Teams applying pressure from the outside, the Hokage wielded his staff, striking relentlessly from within.
Lord Third could be quite vicious. Initially, he seemed to be "freestyling," but he quickly spotted the wound Kakashi's Kamui had inflicted. Hiruzen shifted from random strikes to focused attacks on the injury, eliciting incessant shrieks of pain from the Seven-Tails.
In terms of pure taijutsu, the Third Hokage surpassed even the Sannin. Combined with the utility of his unique summon, Enma (often transforming into the Adamantine Staff), Hiruzen's physical combat prowess was outstanding. With ANBU support, suppressing the already injured Seven-Tails for a short time wasn't unbelievable. After all, in the original story, the Third Hokage had performed a 1-vs-2 against the reanimated First and Second Hokage—though they were mindless puppets at the time, Hiruzen himself was also severely aged.
Due to his advancing age and declining stamina, the Third Hokage's taijutsu technique had already begun to degrade from its peak.
Luckily, the Seven-Tails had already been weakened by Habara and Kakashi's onslaught. Compared to their desperate struggle, Hiruzen appeared considerably more composed—displaying true "Hokage bearing." Furthermore, thanks to his exquisite taijutsu, the Seven-Tails found it difficult to execute its major techniques, significantly reducing its threat level. Whenever the Seven-Tails showed signs of gathering chakra for a Tailed Beast Bomb, Hiruzen unhesitatingly smacked it on the head with his staff, directly interrupting the process.
Hiruzen managed to establish dominance against the Seven-Tails, cutting an impressive figure. Beyond his own considerable skill, the key was the highly organized team he led; their coordination was seamless, their combat effectiveness high.
The Third Hokage didn't need to defeat the Seven-Tails outright. By simply maintaining this suppression, the Sealing Teams could gradually complete the process of resealing the Tailed Beast. Low casualties, high efficiency, sound strategy – this was how shinobi should deal with Tailed Beasts.
In comparison, Habara and Kakashi's fighting style was full of momentum and visually spectacular, but the consequence was that if they failed to kill the Tailed Beast, they would be killed by it. Of course, under the urgent circumstances, it was the only option they had.
If Habara and Kakashi's method was inferior to the Third Hokage's, then the Third Hokage's method was still inferior to what Kushina Uzumaki could achieve. But the problem remained: Kushina wasn't in Konoha right now.
Watching the sealing barriers erected by the teams gradually contract, Habara knew Konoha had the situation under control. He breathed easier, no longer rushing to retreat. Instead, he leaned against a large tree to rest... With the overall situation decided, Habara could afford to show his side that wasn't particularly adept at running.
An ANBU operative approached Habara and gently supported his shoulder.
Normally, having recently been targeted for assassination by a similar figure, Habara should have remained vigilant, avoiding contact with ANBU – after all, ANBU and Root were practically intertwined; who knew who was really under the mask? This time, however, Habara didn't refuse the gesture.
"Good work," the ANBU operative said, having clearly witnessed Habara's earlier performance.
Habara shook his head. "Still not quite good enough. According to the usual tropes, after binding the Seven-Tails, I should have performed the 'swallowing the Tailed Beast whole' routine. Instead, I got wrecked in just a few exchanges... The Eight Branches Technique looks intimidating, but it's still lacking, huh."
"..."
That was bordering on humblebragging. In terms of visual impact alone, the Eight Branches Technique arguably surpassed the Seven-Tails itself. Other shinobi could only be dominated by a Tailed Beast, while Habara could dominate one. With such a unique ability, who could honestly say it was "lacking"? Not to mention he'd tanked two Tailed Beast Bombs with it.
It was only thanks to a Kinjutsu like the Eight Branches Technique; if it had been Habara's own body, a single hit from a Tailed Beast Bomb would have meant instant death.
"What, is there a problem?" Habara asked when the ANBU remained silent.
"Nothing," the ANBU replied, his voice carrying a faint trace of surprise beneath the muffled tone, as if genuinely caught off guard by something familiar yet unexpected. "It's just been a long time since I heard someone talk like that. Takes some getting used to."
"And you, Mokusu?" Habara probed. "Don't tell me after all this time you haven't even made it into the ANBU core? That seems unlikely, right?"
Mokusu went silent again. "..."
"You have two choices now," Mokusu stated flatly. "One, I take you to Konoha Hospital, but you shut up. Two, you keep talking, and I leave."
"..."
Considering their profound friendship, Habara decided to hold his tongue. In truth, he was in terrible shape and genuinely belonged in a hospital bed.
However, just as they reached Konoha's outer wall, the seemingly subdued Tailed Beast chakra suddenly flared violently, threatening a secondary eruption.
"What's happening? Did the Hokage lose control?"
Habara found it hard to believe. Surely the Hokage could suppress a half-crippled Tailed Beast? If the Third's strength had waned to such an extent, then Danzo Shimura might actually have a shot at the seat.
Fortunately, the Seven-Tails' chakra didn't fully erupt again. The bomb was successfully defused before detonation... It wasn't a major catastrophe, just a snag during the resealing process.
The Takigakure shinobi Jinchuriki, for some unknown reason, could no longer serve as a vessel for the Tailed Beast. The residual seal on his body couldn't contain the beast, nor could it be repaired. In fact, the seal had somehow become reversed—instead of sealing the beast in, it was actively pushing it out.
Because of this powerful rejection, forcing the Seven-Tails back into the Jinchuriki was impossible. At that moment, to prevent even greater disaster, the Third Hokage made a decisive call, bringing his staff down hard on the Jinchuriki's head.
Though a ninja, the Jinchuriki's durability couldn't compare to a Tailed Beast's. Once the Jinchuriki died, no matter how powerful the Tailed Beast, it was forced to "follow its host in death."
Thus, in its battle against the Konoha shinobi, the Seven-Tails hadn't lost, but it had died nonetheless.
Similarly, with the Jinchuriki deceased, uncovering the reason for his sudden rampage became significantly more difficult.