It was a day like every other. For Minko, it meant that she would have to go to the market to buy some groceries since the ones stocked up in the kitchen were beginning to end.

She had been given a great idea — new stores had been recently introduced in the outskirts of the village, so she would go see which goods they had meanwhile one of the volunteer caretakers was responsible for taking care of the kids.

It was a good little adventure for the afternoon, so she left the orphanage around that time and took off to see what the new shopping venue had to offer. She walked at a hushed pace while observing the nearby food stalls within the village.

"The Ramen Ichiraku stall is still as lively as ever… Maybe I should visit them later this week." In her days as a Tokubetsu Jounin, Minko went to Ichiraku on every opportunity she could get when out of missions.

Continuing her journey through the village, she passed by every major market, ultimately opting to only go on the recently founded ones that Raijin suggested before. It was already beginning to darken outside when she arrived there.

Her eyes wandered around all the stalls and stores located at the venue. The only one that caught her attention was named "Kora's General Market", with notable fresh items that, at first glance, could be said to have been placed on the shelves on that day.

She stayed there for another half an hour before leaving with some shopping bags that had lots of groceries in them. She didn't worry about the money since the orphanage was well-off under her administration and didn't have any financial crisis with the funds donated by Konoha's government.

Looking at the people around, she couldn't help but notice that the night was peaceful like every other, something that soothed her to no end. The years she lived as an active Shinobi were too intense for her psyche, something that she had to consult with the Yamanaka clan some time ago. But due to her refusing them to gain access to her memories, she didn't recover completely from the period that traumatized her.

So, when she heard a savage screech and numerous screams from people around her, she stopped recalling her past but instead looked above to see the most terrifying beast she had ever seen.

The Nine-Tails stood tall with his back turned to Minko's direction. His position was deeper within the village, something that worried her since the orphanage she took care of could also be implicated by his sudden appearance.

Dropping the bags, Minko looked with a deep frown at Kurama's direction. Her expression denoted a solemn gaze while she took a stance she hadn't made in years.

~~

Shinki observed in shock as the nearby houses collapsed under the relentless attack of the red-haired beast. The screeches were so loud that his eardrum was continuously ringing.

He was currently trying to flee the residential area away from the beast that appeared inside the village. The volunteer caretaker assigned to guide them was leading the way for eleven children who accumulated lots of bruises on their bodies.

"Does anyone know where Raijin is?" Shinki asked the children behind them. Due to him being the oldest of the bunch now, he felt a sense of responsibility towards every kid from the orphanage. However, nobody could answer his question since Raijin never disclosed that he was leaving the premises that day. "That guy… He just had to disappear now!" 

He looked around but couldn't find the boy anywhere in the house, so he rushed with the other people who knew of a path that could distance themselves from the monster. Frustrated, the only thing that Shinki could do was to tighten his lips and hope for the better.

~~

Minko flickered continuously towards the orphanage. 

As a former Jounin, she felt that this situation could escalate to a massive destruction zone in the nearby area, considering the previous battle zones with giant summons she had already seen on previous battlefields.

Konoha had given everything to her. From her husband to her children, and even her grandson, whom she remembered fondly. That's why at this moment she felt like she had to save the kids to protect the future generation of the village.

With an accelerating pace, she appeared right in front of the group. Looking at them, she said hurriedly: "I will take each of you to a safe house, come with me!" with that said, she made the hand signs supposed for the Summoning Jutsu — a technique that allowed her to summon a lizard that was large enough to all the people from the group to get up on.

"Long time no see, Lady Minko," the lizard creature said with a happy tone. It had been a long time since Minko had summoned him.

"Now it's not the time for jokes, Yoruko! I need you to let them ride on your back!" she said hurriedly.

While seeing the children assembling on the back of the lizard summoned by her, she took a little time to count heads. 'There are only eleven?! Where's Raijin?' she looked distressed to see that he was not with them.

Looking at Shinki, Minko asked: "Where is Raijin at?"

Shinki immediately answered: "We don't know, Minko-sama. He always disappears without warning anyone."

Frowning, Minko had a firm gaze. After a few moments, she moved her head in the orphanage's direction. 

Sensing what she was about to do, the caretaker who had been silent until now got worried. "Minko-sama, please don't! That boy isn't worth it!"

Feeling a little conflicted, Minko turned to him and replied with a calm face: "I will go."

~~

Atop the Hokage Mansion, Hiruzen Sarutobi and a team of Anbu were gathered.

"Do not slow down your attack! We need to stop the Kyuubi from destroying our home!" Hiruzen said in a commanding tone.

"Yes, Lord Third!" all Shinobi chanted in unison as they flickered.

'This crisis… Just who freed the Nine-Tails to cause this much destruction?...' Hiruzen had a somber expression as his nostrils could catch the odor of iron coming from the blood of the fallen citizens and fellow Shinobi. 

Doing a sequence of hand signs of the Summoning Jutsu, smoke came out of seemingly nowhere. In it, emerged a monkey that had white hair and garnered in a combat vest. With a jump, he quickly transformed into a staff that fell onto Hiruzen's hands.

"Let's put an end to this, Enma." he said with deep conviction. Positioning himself in his trademark combat stance, a battle would promptly be issued.

~~

"Raijin, where are you?! We already found a safe place!" Minko flickered towards the orphanage, now turned into a flimsy building ready to collapse at any given moment.

Seeing its state, she despaired. 'Is he still inside?! I have to check.' Using her sensing ability, she could see all the chakra fluctuations inside the house. 'Indeed, there is no one. But then, where has he gone?'

Just when she was about to turn, the Nine-Tails blasted off a house with its hands, sending it off in her direction. The acceleration of such destroyed remains of the building was too much for her to dodge in time with her Body Flicker.

'Is this how I'm going to die?!' Her sensory abilities heightened due to it being a do-or-die situation as she saw the detritus coming closer and closer to her at each millisecond. 

It was too late. Her eyes had already lost motivation to move and were already closed. She had close to no chance of leaving alive out of that ordeal. 

However, at the last moment, a scene came back to her memories.

///

"I am going to be a better person tomorrow than I am today! If I do that every day, then eventually I will be like father, won't I, grandma?" The boy had eyes full of excitement. He spoke a lot about his dad, but that made the person next to him even happier.

"Yes, my boy. You are going to be great, indeed." Minko replied with a sweet expression. Her hands caressed the hair of the boy who seemed to be her grandson.

"And then I will…"

///

Opening her eyes in a quick motion, Minko's pupils regained a liveliness that hadn't been seen since the times of her active duty. 

With rapid and almost untraceable movements, Minko infused all of her chakra onto her soles and crouched, using her foothold as support to dodge the incoming debris.

The jump seemed enough to have her out of the reach of danger, however, her legs couldn't be saved in time.

A huge tile had crumpled her legs to an unrecognizable degree.

Still in the air, time seemed to stop when she looked at her lower body. She froze. The impact, however, came like a truck and made her collapse with a wall nearby. Losing consciousness, the only thing she could think was:

"I-I don't want to die… I still… have a promise to keep…" Blood could be seen oozing out of her mouth while her eyes assumed a bleak state.