Naruto: I, Uchiha, Just Want to Die

Chapter 192: Reinforcement, Destruction, and Confronting the Nine-Tails!

From the eastern side of Konoha, Uchiha Ci moved without pause.

After leaving Orochimaru's research facility, he leapt across the low rooftops near Konoha's water reservoir, passed through residential streets, and passed landmarks like the future home of Naruto, the Konoha Theater, the closed Ichiraku Ramen shop, and the tea street leading to the Yamanaka Flower Shop, finally exiting Konoha's core area.

The Third Training Ground was located in the southwest corner of Konoha, bordered by dense forests. Beyond it lay the Forest of Death, the venue for future Chūnin Exams.

At this moment, the entire Konoha seemed to have been abruptly awakened.

Hearing the distant rumbling and seeing the clawed, crimson silhouette in the sky, countless villagers were jolted from their sleep. They walked onto the streets, staring blankly toward the direction of the Third Training Ground.

Ninjas on standby during wartime emerged spontaneously from their homes. Under the web-like command of Anbu operatives dispatched from the Hokage's office, they began evacuating the public, leading villagers to the shelters.

Simultaneously, numerous ninja residing in the village converged toward the Hokage's office, forming a battle-ready force along the way.

In the distance, the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, had already shed his Hokage robes, donning his combat gear and armor.

Standing atop the Hokage office platform, his forehead protector was tied tightly, and its tails fluttered in the fierce wind.

Witnessing the unfolding scene, Uchiha Ci felt as if he had been transported to the Nine-Tails Rampage after the Third Shinobi World War—if not for the discrepancy in timing.

Shaking off the thought, he weaved against the flow of people and dashed ahead toward the Third Training Ground.

Uchiha Ci threw a shuriken, hooked a wire to it, and glided to the top of a water tower. Grabbing its spire, he steadied himself and surveyed the scene before him.

The Third Training Ground no longer resembled a training field.

Massive craters dotted the ground, the earth was split apart, giant trees lay toppled, and training equipment had been shredded to dust. The entire area looked as if a Category 8 hurricane had plowed through it. Cracks over four meters wide extended from the ground all the way to the barrier walls surrounding the training field.

The culprit behind this destruction was Kushina Uzumaki, enveloped in a crimson aura.

She was on all fours, fully in a half-tailed-beast state. Her eyes radiated madness, and eight tails swayed ominously behind her, exuding a heavy, malevolent presence.

At that moment, Kushina raised her head and locked her gaze on Minato Namikaze, who darted around her, attempting to guide her toward uninhabited areas. To her, he was like a persistent flea.

Her face was filled with rage.

Black, white, and red chakra molecules rapidly gathered at her mouth, forming a massive tailed beast ball over eight meters in diameter that began compressing.

Seeing this, Uchiha Ci's eyes widened.

This was an authentic Nine-Tails tailed beast ball—far beyond the imitation he had painstakingly buffed up to create.

As he felt the overwhelming power of this beyond-human capability up close, Uchiha Ci's body trembled slightly.

He wasn't sure if it was from fear or excitement, but a ridiculous, tempting thought suddenly arose in his mind:

Can I take this head-on?

At that moment, Minato noticed Uchiha Ci standing atop the water tower.

His eyes lit up as he waved and shouted, "Ci! I'll stall Kushina and lead her to the Forest of Death! Get to the Third Hokage and seek reinforcements!"

Though the distance of several hundred meters muffled the sound, Uchiha Ci could discern Minato's words through his Sharingan's keen vision. Minato seemed to say:

"Forest of Death... chance... you go!"

Understanding dawned upon Uchiha Ci. Nodding knowingly, he interpreted it as an instruction to lead Kushina to the Forest of Death and create an opportunity.

Since Minato had yet to master Flying Raijin: Guiding Thunder and couldn't teleport the tailed beast ball away, asking him for help was perfectly reasonable!

With this realization, Uchiha Ci immediately twisted his foot and leapt down from the water tower toward Kushina.

Mid-air, he wasted no time, immediately stacking buffs.

First, activating the Cursed Seal Stage 1, followed by Snake-Pupil Sharingan. Then, he stimulated his heart to ignite its flame, loosened the Eight Trigrams Seal to unleash the Zero-Tails, donned his artificial tailed-beast cloak, and activated the forbidden technique Body Revival.

This routine was second nature to him by now.

In the next instant, he transformed into a radiant light mid-air!

On the other side, Minato's scalp tingled as he saw Uchiha Ci recklessly jumping down from the water tower.

"Wait... Uchiha Ci, what are you doing?!"

But Uchiha Ci's thought process was simple.

There was no way he could allow the tailed beast ball to detonate within Konoha!

As he descended, Uchiha Ci quickly sorted through his arsenal and picked out a few clone techniques:

Mud Clone and Earth Clone Jutsu.

These were among the spoils he had gained from fighting three hundred Sand Shinobi. Though not far superior to the standard Clone Technique, they were perfect for this situation as he hadn't yet mastered Orochimaru's Snake Clone Technique.

As the glowing figure fell, Uchiha Ci crossed his hands in a seal.

Bang!

Smoke erupted. The radiant half-tailed-beast transformation obscured the commotion.

Under the cover of this blinding flash, Uchiha Ci's true body flung a kunai into the ground, slipped into the shadows, and spun mid-air, kicking up a dust cloud as he landed firmly in front of Minato.

At this moment, the rampaging eight-tailed Kushina was about to unleash her tailed beast ball at Minato.

Suddenly, a brilliant light appeared in her vision.

Through it, she saw that infuriating boy again—the one who made her pulse race with a mix of rage and bewilderment.

Uchiha Ci!

"GAIA!!"

The boy shouted clearly as he launched himself in the most classic flying-kick pose, cloaked in radiant white half-tailed-beast energy, aiming directly at Kushina's face!

Seeing this, a resounding voice echoed in Kushina's mind—the cunning, tempting words of the Nine-Tails:

"Kushina! What are you waiting for?

He's the reason you're in this state! Destroy him! Rip him apart! Kill him! Show him, and the entire world, that you are—"

"SHUT UP!"

Kushina clutched her ears in agony. Her crimson face and hollow, white eyes lifted savagely.

Then, without hesitation, she fired the tailed beast ball directly at the boy in front of her.