Red Hair

While Natsume quickly ran to the fighting, a sword slipped toward her from a tricky angle. Fortunately, due to her heightened awareness, she was able to easily dodge and parry. Without waiting for the other party to reveal themselves, Natsume weaved a few hand seals and released a fireball. Although the size was incomparable to the full jutsu, it was enough to force the opponent out of stealth.

Based on the robed figures chakra level, he was a mid-level warrior. In a sense, this was a fair fight. Natsume didn't humor the possibility of being weaker and continued her assault. The robed figure didn't expect her to be so strong, so she had the upper hand in their exchanges. It wasn't long until Natsume managed to land a severe blow at the target's brow, shattering the mask used to protect from sharingan.

A cascade of red hair fell out from behind the hood and mask, and a fair face was revealed to Natsume. Although the figure was small, Natsume only saw her opponent as an enemy shinobi. However, now she saw them as a child, maybe five or six years old. The hair was a clear indicator of an Uzumaki. Seeing her cover was blown, the Uzumaki girl jumped backward, threw off her robe and quickly rolled the left side of her hair back into a tight bun.

Natsume didn't dare to underestimate the young girl. Since she was an Uzumaki, her chakra level made sense despite her age. And according to her studies, the Uzumaki had powerful physical bodies. Therefore, the best method to deal with her would be ninjutsu or genjutsu. Her three tomoe spun around and around. She had made eye contact for long enough to set a trap.

The most effective genjutsu is one that completely traps the opponent, making them vulnerable to attacks without chance of defending. However, these are also the easiest to notice by the target. If the target is proficient in countering genjutsu, this is an easy way to lose a duel. However, a subtle genjutsu is far less effective, but in an even match, can result in an advantage. One opportunity is all it takes to kill someone on the battlefield.

Although Natsume had not trained very long in using the genjutsu abilities of her dojutsu, the three tomoe sharingan came with an instinctual understanding of its users' innate abilities. Since the chakra drain of her newly matured sharingan was exceedingly high, she decided to take a risky bet.

The two of them traded blows several times causing Natsume to be thankful of her decision. The Uzumaki clan already had ridiculous chakra reserves, but the person in front of her was extremely well trained. The moment of truth was fast approaching. Natsume detected a change in the Uzumaki girl's intent as she went for a vital strike. Natsume took the hit directly and blood flowed down her leg. Seeing her attack land, the Uzumaki girl became more relentless and kept aiming for the wounded side.

However, Natsume couldn't hold back a grin when the girl fell right into her trap. The successful attack and subsequent wound were both genjutsu. Her trick paid off, causing the Uzumaki girl to expose a vital weakness in her defense.

Fsssh!

Blood sprayed out from a deep sword wound in the girl's shoulder. Despite the trick succeeding, the girl still managed to dodge the lethal strike to the heart. This showed how skilled she was despite her age. With an injury like that, most would need to retreat. However, a series of fuinjutsu seals appeared all over the girl's body which seemed to rapidly restore her wound at the cost of a significant amount of chakra.

Neither of the two children spoke any words. They were both resolute and in their actions. Neither of them had much in terms of chakra remaining, but they would not stop fighting just because of that. If need be, they would throw punches at each other until one victor remained. Just as they were going to begin fighting again, the underground facility shook.

Awhuuuuu!

A terrible howl echoed throughout the earth, causing all parties to halt fighting. The terrifying chakra extended out in all directions. Anyone with even mediocre perception would be overwhelmed by the intensity of the chakra. Everyone understood what they just heard and what it meant. Ryunosuke turned to Reiji and gave him a meaningful glare. Meanwhile, the leader of the black robed group did the same to one of his members.

"Natsume!" "Mito!" They spoke simultaneously. However, their reaction was too slow as the Kyuubi's claw penetrated into the dirt, causing the roof to cave in. Its claws dug deep and pulled up, removing the large chunk of earth, and revealing the shinobi underneath as if they were bugs under a rock.

Natsume and Mito looked up and gulped. Although they were shinobi, they were still children. That being said, even an adult would be terrified of the nine tailed demon fox. Its eyes looked at all the shinobi as if they committed a grave sin. Having revealed them, it casually swung one of its nine tails down to smash them to death. However, a flash of metal shot past the tail, deflecting it backward. While several silvery-blue chains surrounded the Kyuubi's tail and arm before pinning it down.

Tajima landed next to Natsume with his sword out, having just deflected the attack of the Kyuubi. While a red-haired older man landed next to Mito, several chains sticking out of his body holding back the Kyuubi's assault. Tajima pulled Natsume back behind him and kept his sword pointed toward the Uzumaki.

"Tajima-kun, you've grown." The old man spoke with a tone that carried seniority.

"Ashina-sama." Tajima didn't return the greeting, but simply acknowledged the man's seniority. Even with his sharingan, he wasn't confident in taking on the leader of the Uzumaki clan alone. The man didn't give Tajima another look, but instead turned to the frightened child behind him.

"Uzumaki Mito, what are you doing?" Mito's face turned pale and sweat dripped down her brow. She looked even more frightened facing Ashina than the Kyuubi.

"O… Ojii-san, I… I…" However, he didn't give her a chance to explain herself and simply picked her up. Meanwhile, the rest of the shinobi finally caught up and reinforced their fellow clansmen. If not for the Kyuubi currently roaring and struggling against the powerful chains, they would likely engage in battle. Being trapped for so long, Kyuubi couldn't take it anymore and began to gather chakra.

"Bijuudama!" Several people shouted.

"Retreat!" Tajima grabbed Natsume and fled. However, she was mesmerized by the Bijuudama. Watching the negative and positive chakra flow together and form a ball of pure destruction gave her inspiration. The previous failure at her self-made jutsu seemed trivial.

Several chains shot out of Ashina to pull Kyuubi's head down, changing the angle of his attack. The interruption broke Natsume's train of thought and she remembered their mission.

"Hinako!"

"Don't worry, we won't leave anyone behind." Tajima reassured her. Everyone was safely able to escape the blast radius, mostly due to Ashina launching several more chains to pin Kyuubi to the ground. However, the bijuudama still destroyed a large section of forest. Several animals could be seen fleeing along with the shinobi. Natsume gulped after seeing the destruction.

'Truly the demon fox...' Natsume thought.