Chapter 113: Sniped Right Under His Nose
"Wh-what is that thing?! Why is there a monster that big?!"
"It's got to be the size of a mountain! How does something like that exist in Konoha? It looks like… a nine-tailed fox."
"Run! This area isn't safe—get to the emergency shelters!"
"That thing's heading this way!"
"Grab the children and go, NOW!"
"Everyone, follow me! There's a shelter this direction!"
"Stay calm—the last thing we need is a stampede!"
As the Nine-Tails' rampage escalated, all of Konoha plunged into chaos.
Under the direction of chūnin and genin, civilians fled in waves. The Nine-Tails was still two or three kilometers from this area—a considerable distance—but the scale of devastation visible in the distance made it clear that "far away" did not mean "safe." Staying to spectate could be a death sentence.
The skyline behind them was already rubble. Flames licked the sky. Columns of smoke churned upward. The Nine-Tails' roars carried faintly over the rooftops.
Nobody knew how many people had already died in the blast zone.
Every senior jōnin above the age cutoff was racing to reinforce Minato. The young-generation elites, per Hiruzen's orders, had been barred from the battlefield—their lives too precious to risk.
As Hiruzen had said: Konoha was in a generational gap. The young couldn't afford to die any faster. If no leaves survived to burn, the Will of Fire would go dark. So the young did not fight today.
Even Kakashi—one of the jinchūriki's designated guardians—had been ordered away. He was not permitted to join a fight this dangerous.
* * *
Forget it. The Tailed Beast is none of my business. I'm curious about it, sure, but now's not the time. On the other hand… the village is in total chaos right now. Snatching a person or two in the confusion should be perfectly feasible.
Orochimaru pulled his gaze away from the Nine-Tails and turned around, ready to take advantage of the pandemonium to abduct his "person of interest"—the stranger whose body he'd sensed was fundamentally unusual. So unusual he didn't even need to dissect the man to know.
Then Orochimaru's expression shifted. He went momentarily rigid.
Huh?! Wait—who is that?
He wondered, for a split second, if his eyes were playing tricks on him.
But his eyes never played tricks.
He'd just been sniped.
Right in front of him—clear as day—a figure had materialized behind his "prey." A single heavy knife-hand strike to the back of the neck. The prey's eyes rolled back. And then the figure dragged the unconscious body away into the chaos. Just like that.
What just happened?
Orochimaru stood there, blinking, watching someone steal his target in broad daylight.
His eyelid twitched. He'd been about to pursue when a thought struck him—and his vertical pupils contracted in disbelief.
That presence… the one who sniped me—that was Yagami?!
The thought had barely formed when the figure—mid-drag—turned to look directly at Orochimaru.
He'd been spotted. Or rather… he'd been spotted from the very beginning.
Orochimaru's expression stiffened. Then, almost reflexively, he produced a kindly smile.
Ryū returned the exact same smile.
And then, without a word, dragged his quarry away and vanished.
Orochimaru: "…"
* * *
In the end, Orochimaru let it go. He'd already been seen—there was no point in following now.
Besides, Ryū's backward glance had been a warning. In the instant their eyes met, Orochimaru had felt threat.
A single look. That was all it took to make him sense danger.
So Minato's wariness toward this "Yagami" wasn't unfounded after all.
Looking out at the pandemonium engulfing Konoha's streets, Orochimaru let out a dry, humorless laugh.
Since when did I become so… uncompetitive?
Whatever.
Until he'd fully mapped out what Yagami was capable of, Orochimaru decided it was better not to provoke him. Getting beaten half to death by a teenager was not a life experience he was keen to acquire.
* * *
Minutes ticked by. This Nine-Tails was not the same beast as in the original timeline.
Without Obito's genjutsu controlling it, the Nine-Tails fought with full lucidity—applying decades of accumulated battle experience rather than simply charging like a berserker. In canon, it had been all brute force, no finesse. Now, it was calculating.
That said, it was still getting pushed back. Konoha fielded a staggering number of shinobi, and once Hiruzen and the other elite combatants arrived on scene, the Nine-Tails was starting to feel the strain.
Dealing with Minato alone was maddening enough—the man was simply unhittable. And now Hiruzen was there too.
Chakra surged inside the Nine-Tails' maw. A Tailed Beast Bomb—pitch-black, denser than lead—materialized between its jaws. The sphere was larger than the beast's own head by several multiples.
Minato's face went white: "No—we can't let it finish charging! One shot at full power, and half of Konoha is gone!"
Hiruzen nodded and immediately performed a Summoning Jutsu. Minato followed suit, conjuring an enormous toad.
Both summoning creatures launched their assault the instant they appeared. The battle raged ferociously—every structure in the surrounding area had long since been reduced to debris.
At least a fifth of Konoha was rubble.
And it had been less than twenty minutes since the Nine-Tails broke free.
* * *
Some distance from the battlefield, a plainly dressed man watched the apocalyptic combat unfold from afar, clicking his tongue in awe.
Of all the Reincarnation worlds I've been through, the Naruto world has to have the highest raw power level. Thank God we didn't try to destroy Konoha with our own strength—we gathered intel and bought artifacts instead.
Because that level of combat? If I'd walked into that, I'd have been shredded in seconds. Man, when am I gonna be that strong? First-ranked veteran Reincarnator, here I come…
While he was muttering to himself, a small device in his pocket buzzed three times.
He pulled it out and frowned: "A rally signal from Imiao Ichirō? What's that guy up to? Well… he is my teammate. I'd better check it out."
He glanced at the well in front of him. A cold smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.
He'd already laced five water sources with lethal poison. That alone was going to give Konoha a world of hurt.
As for how many would die? He didn't care. All that mattered was completing the mission.
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