Tailed Beasts,monstrous, sentient forms of pure chakra, have existed since the very origin of chakra itself. Born of the Sage of Six Paths, they are each known by the number of tails they possess, ranging from one to nine. The higher the number, the greater the power.
Among them, one stands above all: the Nine-Tails.
The strongest. The largest. The most fearsome.
It resides in the Fire Nation, the most fertile and powerful land of the Five Great Nations. Having spent centuries intertwined with human history, the Nine-Tails grew to despise humanity's bottomless greed and treachery.
Its chakra is said to rival the combined might of all other tailed beasts. But with great power comes a curse, it carries immeasurable hatred and malice. Those who covet its strength are often consumed, driven mad, and ultimately devoured by that very power they seek.
Yet even such a beast has known defeat.
Two clans once had the ability to control it.
The Uchiha Clan, with their cursed Sharingan genjutsu, now weakened and mistrusted and seemed to have lost the technique to do so.
And the Uzumaki Clan, masters of sealing arts, nearly annihilated by betrayal and war, with Konoha itself among the culprits.
Now, with both clans' linages broken and scattered, no one remains strong enough to control the Nine-Tails if it is unleashed in this world, unless, it is done by a burning heart and tattered soul.
---
In the midst of evacuation, a teenage boy argued with his mother.
"Mom, I don't want to go! I can help! I'm already a ninja!"
Iruka's eyes burned with pride and youthful determination.
His mother raised an eyebrow, voice dripping with sarcasm.
"Oh yes, our strong, fearless Iruka, ready to fight shadows of any village now that he's graduated. The great master ninja of... Genin rank."
Iruka pouted.
His mother chuckled, pinched his cheek, and pulled him close.
"Honey, I know you want to help. And you will, just not like this."
She cupped his face, wiping drool from the corner of his mouth.
"Right now, if you stay, your father and I can't do our jobs. I can't focus if you're here. So please, go to your grandmother. Help the civilians. That's what Konoha is, not empty buildings and walls."
Iruka lowered his head, finally nodding.
"Okay… but you have to promise to come home safe."
She smiled and raised her pinky.
"Pinky promise?"
Iruka hesitated, then hooked his pinky with hers.
"Pinky promise."
BOOM.
A massive explosion shook the street behind her.
Her eyes went wide.
"Iruka, run. Now!"
He turned and bolted toward the retreating crowd. Behind him, the sky turned red with fire. He didn't look back.
But then...
The ground rumbled.
Iruka stumbled and hit the pavement. A wave of chakra, thick and suffocating, crashed down over the area like a tsunami.
He turned his head.
And he saw it.
A red monster, towering, snarling, breathing chakra like wildfire.
The Nine-Tails.
Its eyes blazed. Its fangs gleamed. Its claws rose high!
"ROOOOAR!"
The sound shattered buildings and rattled bones. Iruka clutched his ears instinctively, wise, as the roar alone could rupture a man's eardrums.
He looked up.
A piece of a building, massive, jagged. It flew toward him like a missile.
He couldn't move.
He couldn't even scream.
This is it, he thought. I'm going to die...
"BANG!"
Two figure appeared in front of him just before impact.
Dust filled the air.
Tears welled in Iruka's eyes, not from dust, but from recognition.
"Mom…"
His mother turned, gently holding his cheeks.
"Now, now, no crying. Big boys don't cry. Didn't you say girls won't like that?"
"Dad! Dad!"
His father groaned, lifting the debris off them. The moment it hit the ground, he collapsed beside his wife.
"Iruka…" he coughed.
"Take this chance. Run. We gave our lives so you could live. There's a letter in the attic, read it later. I'm proud of you. Now go."
"No! I can get help! You promised!"
Iruka reached for his mother but her body was broken. Too broken.
She smiled through the pain.
"We're so proud of you, honey. Follow your dream. Be a great Ninja in the pass you chose. Find someone who loves you dearly. And visit us every year… just once a year is enough…"
"No! No!!! please!! Don't say anything more!"
"You're a ninja now, Iruka," his father rasped.
"Be strong. Don't make me… repeat… myself…"
Iruka wept. But then....
He ran.
---
Elsewhere, near the village's edge, the battlefield was chaos.
Anbu, clan ninja, and the Third Hokage stood shoulder to shoulder against the Nine-Tails, trying to hold the beast back with chains, barriers, and every jutsu imaginable.
"Lord Third! The barrier's failing! We're losing sealing squad members, some are collapsing, others are being picked off silently by an unknown attacker!"
The Third narrowed his eyes, glancing toward the sealing teams, dozens of shinobi weaving hand seals nonstop. One had a kunai in his chest. Others had fainted from chakra exhaustion.
His eyes turned toward the Nine-Tails, its gaze glowed red.
Sharingan.
A chill ran through him.
"Bring every available Uchiha jonin squad here. Now!"
The Anbu saluted and vanished.
Moments later, a wave of Uchiha forces arrived, led by Fugaku Uchiha himself.
"Orders, Lord Third?"
" Is every member of your clan who have the ability to cast an illusion on Nine-Tails is here?"
"Yes lord third. These are all the elite members of the clan."
Taking a quick look at thirty or so many ninjas with sharingan turning behind the bangs, third hokage nodded and then ordered.
"Use your Sharingan to cast a mass illusion on the Nine-Tails. Immobilize it. I'll push it out of the village."
Fugaku's jaw tightened.
"With respect… this isn't something basic Sharingan can handle. Even a three-tomoe isn't enough. We'll need at least fifteen minutes of prep to hold it for even one minute."
The Third's eyes narrowed.
"Ten. No more."
Fugaku gritted his teeth but in the end, he nodded.
"Understood."
He turned to his men and gave orders. Uchiha gathered, chakra surged. The illusion technique began to form.
Time crawled.
More shinobi collapsed.
The masked intruder was still unaccounted for.
And then, the Nine-Tails turned its head sharply.
Toward Hokage Rock.
Its mouth opened.
"He's charging a Tailed Beast Bomb!"
Panic spread.
"We can't stop it!"
A black sphere of swirling chakra formed very fast, dense, deadly, destructive.
They could only watch.
Pray.
Hope.
And then...
WHRRRRP.
The air twisted.
The sphere, shot in the distance but just before crashing into the rock wall, it disappeared into space like it had been swallowed whole.
Seconds later, a massive explosion shook the distant earth, far from Konoha.
"It's the Fourth Hokage! He teleported it away!"
Cheers erupted.
"ROOOAR!"
But the celebration died instantly as the Nine-Tails, enraged by its failure, snapped the chakra chains holding it down.
The battle resumed.
Just as they were about to lose control again, the Sharingan in the Nine-Tails' eyes vanished.
For a second, the beast hesitated.
The chains reformed, tightening.
And that resulted in one single action from the beast, fury!
It went berserk.
Just as the shinobi were about to be overwhelmed again, the Uchiha squad gave the signal.
"Now!"
A powerful genjutsu took hold.
The Nine-Tails froze.
"Push it out of the village, now!"
The Third Hokage unleashed a massive wind technique. A coordinated strike followed.
The Nine-Tails was blasted outside Konoha's walls.
The moment passed.
The Sharingan users collapsed, blood streaming from their eyes. The illusion broke.
The beast rose again, roaring and began to charge another Tailed Beast Bomb, directed at the village.
But this time it was slower as if there was a bit of playfulness as it watched the tiny humen, fall in despair as it charged the blast, strong enough to make them in powder.
Despair spread.
Until...
FLASH.
The Fourth Hokage appeared just above it's head, falling down, flanked by the giant toad Gamabunta, summoned from Mount Myōboku.
SLAM.
Gamabunta's sword crashed into th
e Nine-Tails' skull.
Immediately afterwards, The beast vanished, teleported away by the fall of fourth hokage on its head.
Another explosion echoed in the distance.
Following orders, half the shinobi remained behind to aid the wounded.
The other half raced toward the impact site.
They knew.
This fight wasn't over.
But hope had returned, at least, that's what the thought...
---