Chapter 15: Nine-Tails! Nine-Tails!
"Squad 17, arrange for the evacuation of non-combatants!"
"Quickly, go report to Lord Third Hokage!"
"Squad 5, follow me to engage and hold back the Nine-Tails!"
"Support! Support!"
After the initial chaos, ninjas arrived one after another, spontaneously coordinating manpower to prevent greater losses... They diligently carried out the tasks within their capabilities...
The only mistake, perhaps, was severely underestimating the Nine-Tails...
If a few Chunin or even Jonin could distract the Nine-Tails, Tailed Beasts wouldn't be considered ultimate weapons.
"Watch out!"
"Don't get too close!"
"Use shuriken with paper bombs..."
"ROAR!"
After the sharp claws swept past, the smell of blood filled the air. The group of ninjas who had volunteered to hold back the Nine-Tails didn't even manage to attract its attention before dying under one of its claws...
What followed was collapse... An evacuation line, winding like an earthworm, was exposed, falling into the Tailed Beast's crimson eyes... They were perilously close to the Nine-Tails!
Uchiha Mikoto was classified as a non-combatant and was crowded with other evacuees heading to the shelter. She couldn't break free at all...
"Kitahara... go... check on Itachi... check on Sasuke..." As a mother, all she could do now was trust the crow.
"Caw!"
What kind of joke is this... Uchiha Mikoto is in much more danger here than at home! It didn't know how Itachi and Sasuke managed to survive this catastrophe...
But it could recognize one thing: if the situation continued like this, Mikoto would definitely not escape the Nine-Tails' attack! What it could do was trust Itachi, and find a way to help Uchiha Mikoto escape!
The crow deeply regretted its laziness; it had never left a single Flying Thunder God Technique seal! The Nine-Tails' ferocious gaze had already turned towards them...
On the other side, several ninjas responsible for the evacuation exchanged glances. There were no other combatants in this area. They could only nod to each other, "Let's go!"
"...Be careful!"
Several white claws, as slender as bamboo poles, pierced through the chests and abdomens of all the ninjas... A strong wind swept through, and most of the people in the area were dead or injured...
The children who had been shielded by their parents and elders crawled out one by one. Their clothes were soaked in blood, their faces stained crimson, the fear in their eyes yet to fade.
"Dad... Mom..."
With the first child's soft murmur, cries instantly erupted across the open ground. Grief began to spread...
"Grandma..."
"Brother... Brother..."
"Child... My child..."
Under one devastating swipe of the Nine-Tails' claw, only a few dozen out of several hundred people survived; not even one in ten remained.
Kitahara let out a long breath. Fortunately, Uchiha Mikoto was mostly unharmed. A shower of crow feathers drifted down as she got up... those were its shattered shadow clones...
I daren't imagine, if something happened to Uchiha Mikoto, I don't know how I would face the Fugaku family and my own conscience...
"Kitahara... I'll take them to the shelter first!" A girl appeared beside Uchiha Mikoto, her face dazed, allowing Mikoto to lead her. There were many with such expressions...
Even an aftershock was more than this broken group could bear!
A massive chakra reaction instantly caught Kitahara's attention. The Nine-Tails' fanged maw slowly opened, and a sphere of variegated colors gradually formed...
"It's a Tailed Beast Bomb!" Uchiha Mikoto exhaled, all hope lost, "...Run... Run quickly... Kitahara!"
Uchiha Mikoto knew quite a lot; an ordinary person without such knowledge wouldn't be able to say that... Her current decisiveness didn't resemble that of an ordinary housewife.
The Tailed Beast Bomb's trajectory was likely aimed at the Hokage Building. But the Fourth Hokage's home wasn't far from the Hokage Building... With the Tailed Beast Bomb's power, this area was almost certainly a death trap...
Kitahara could only be thankful that the Uchiha clan's documents recorded such a technique as the Tailed Beast Bomb, and Mikoto had read about it and could recognize it...
"Caw!"
I can't even rub/form a Rasengan of any Type! But a Tailed Beast Bomb, I can still manage one!
A small black pellet instantly condensed in the crow's sharp beak, shooting towards the still-forming Tailed Beast Bomb in the air!
BOOM!
A massive explosion violently tore at people's eardrums...
In the sky, the blackish-purple sphere vanished. The giant fox's fangs were shattered, and its nine massive tails drooped to the ground, clearly having suffered heavy damage.
The Nine-Tails' eyes were tightly shut, as if dead. Supporting ninjas swarmed towards the Nine-Tails...
The crow was scared out of its wits. Even if it wasn't a ninja, it could sense the vast chakra within the Nine-Tails had not dissipated. Common sense should dictate that the Nine-Tails couldn't be killed by a single Tailed Beast Bomb. How could there still be such foolish ninjas!
"Caw!"
What Kitahara hadn't considered was that it had seen the original story and understood the power of the Tailed Beast Bomb more thoroughly than ordinary ninjas. But this group of ninjas probably thought it was enough, or at least believed the Nine-Tails had lost its combat ability.
It could no longer care about the outcome. It cawed at Uchiha Mikoto, startling the dazed clan head's wife... One person and one crow, leading a group of stragglers, ran frantically.
The Hokage Building was no longer safe; its nearby shelter could also be ruled out. The Uchiha clan's shelter was too far from the Hokage Building... They would go wherever was far from the Nine-Tails...
"ROAR!"
"Run quickly!"
"Don't run! Lure the Nine-Tails outside!"
"Hold on! Lord Third Hokage will be here soon!"
A succession of miserable screams echoed through Konoha. Even without looking back, Kitahara could guess what had happened...
The afterimages of two claws tore apart everything in front of them. Under the reflection of the crimson Sharingan in the Nine-Tails' eyes, even blood appeared pale.
The ensuing blaze momentarily lit the path ahead. It was a black energy blast, and this was just the beginning...
Explosions were incessant, the firelight flickering continuously like high-grade New Year fireworks... It seemed that bastard who summoned the Nine-Tails had learned his lesson...
"Caw!"
Kitahara condensed a shadow clone, meeting an incoming energy blast. The clone was blown to smithereens, and the others were also wretchedly thrown to the ground by the shockwave.
Crudely made wooden sandals came into view...
"Quickly, get them to the shelter!"
"Second squad, continue searching for survivors!"
"The rest of you, follow me!"
A short figure appeared before them. The old man's deep voice was incredibly reassuring at this moment. The Third Hokage, the former Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi, had finally appeared.
Ever since the Nine-Tails' surprise attack, Hiruzen Sarutobi had been gathering his direct ANBU subordinates to enter the fray. Unfortunately, the Nine-Tails was a summoned beast; all ninjas trying to lure it outside became sacrifices.
This damn Nine-Tails was like a house-wrecking husky, single-mindedly demolishing Konoha's buildings, destroying everything in its path...
The ANBU had no choice but to prioritize rescue efforts... Uchiha Mikoto's group were the only survivors near the Nine-Tails.
"...Lord Third, the Uchiha clan head's wife... is also in this group!"
Someone among the ANBU quickly recognized Uchiha Mikoto and Kitahara... They had almost complete intelligence on the Uchiha clan.
Hiruzen Sarutobi frowned, "Get these people to the nearest shelter first! Also, send someone to notify the Police Force, order them to conduct rescue and evacuate non-combatants on the spot!"
"Preferably... don't appear here!"
Completely unaware of the conversation happening outside, after confirming the shelter's safety, Kitahara silently left a crow-shaped Flying Thunder God seal on Mikoto...
It had to confirm the safety of those two cubs, and then... In fact, from the moment it saw the Nine-Tails, it was certain that Kushina Uzumaki would undoubtedly die...
Minato Namikaze would surely not live alone either... But, facing such figures, shouldn't one at least see them off?
Perhaps, it could help with something...
(End of this chapter)