Log. 122356
Date: 8/10/1918
Time: 13:43
Second Lieutenant Uematsu Kambei to Otafuku Airstrip

START Transcript:

"Oh Kami-sama... I've... This is Second Lieutenant Uematsu reporting in. Do you read me, Otafuku Base?"

"Loud and clear, Pilot. What have you found?"

"I've, erm... Man you need to see this. It's-" [STATIC]

"Please elaborate, Pilot. We seem to be experiencing some problems with your signal."

"It's huge! It's a humongous fox..."

"Say again, Second Lieutenant. Did you just say you have spotted a giant fox?"

"I'm not kid-" [STATIC] "-iant freaking fox! Oh Kami! One of its tails just-" [STATIC]

"You're breaking up, Pilot. Repeat your findings."

"It just took out a freaking mountain, Base. Just one swipe of its-" [STATIC]

"Second Lieutenant. We need you to get in closer for a more detailed look."

"It's plenty detailed from where I'm flying, Base."

"That's an order, Pilot Uematsu."

"Yes, Base. I'm drifting in clo-" [STATIC]

"Pilot?"

"Ok, I can count one, t-" [STATIC] "-ine tails. They're like snakes; just writhing about..."

"Please refrain from poetry, Pilot."

"Yes, Base. Ahem, it seems to have a sh-" [STATIC] "-iving off an aura of some kind. I'm... I'm barely holding it together, Base."

"Could you repeat that, Pilot?"

"It has a shroud of chakra. It's making me feel unea-" [STATIC]

"Did you say the creature possesses chakra, Pilot?"

"Yes, already! It seems to be headed East. Possibly toward-" [STATIC] "-epeat; Konohagakure no Sato... If my geography is sound, that is."

"Please refrain from making assumptions, Pilot."

"Assumptions? Well, why don't you just- Oh Kami... Oh Kami..."

"What is it, Pilot?"

"It's looking at me-" [STATIC]

"Pilot? Pilot?"

END Transcript.

Transcript Notes:
Second Lieutenant Uematsu was performing a routine scouting patrol near the border airstrip at Otafuku Town when his circuit took him into the path of the Kyuubi no Kitsune. The static that disrupted his communications is believed to have been caused by the shroud of corrupt chakra that the Bijuu created naturally. His plane (a Tiangou K-18 biplane) was never recovered and he has been listed as Killed in Action.

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FIRE REPUBLIC ARMY AIR CORPS

AFTER ACTION REPORT 11349

CONCERNING EVENTS OF OCTOBER 10th, 1918. KONOHA SGZ.

KYUUBI INCIDENT

15th Observation/Bomber Squadron

2ND LT REI INAKI

We got the order to scramble from the tower at about 1400. I remember this clearly because the party welcoming Major Fuun back from maternity leave had just started. She was our squadron leader, the first in the Republic. Apparently there was this report the military took as the gospel that women could stand more gee-forces than men, so female pilots were pretty common. I didn't mind though-Pretty girls playing airplanes along me, guarding my tail-And doing a good job of it? It seemed like a dream job.

We were ready in record time, all twenty four of us. The T-9 is built as a divebomber and observation plane-Tough, fast, and with long legs. Our squadron had been issued brand new shiny birds, with more metal construction that you usually saw in biplanes. We were also going in with a full combat load for the first time. It seemed like every bomb we could carry was loaded up. Jung (FLIGHT OFFICER INOCHI JUNG) and I were at the end of the launch list, and flew at the end of the Flying V that was procedure back then. Like a big flock of geese, riding our turbulence to save fuel and be ready to drop our bombs in sequence. We headed north-east, told that we couldn't miss our target if we tried.

We picked up smatterings of noise on the box. Some guy said it was a giant fox. We thought it had to be some kind of training exercise. Some kind of hoax. A joke. Only Major Fuun was serious on the way there. We were mostly kids anywya, hotshot rookies given shiny new toys to play with.

It was thirty minutes in we felt it. This... It was like flying into a cloud made of feelings. I felt sick to my stomach-Jung almost bailed out right then and there. Our formation came apart, little by little as we approached our target. A red glow filled the sky ahead of us.

It was something we could deal with, up to a point. Sure, we were pilots but exposure to killing intent from chakra users is something you go through in bootcamp. It quickly separates the combat personnel from the support. But this? This was like nothing I had ever felt before, or since. Like all the raw hate of the world stirred up into a storm.

We could handle that though. It wasn't crippling. It was actually seeing the thing that crippled us.

We broke through cloud cover at about 600 feet ASL. We saw other planes like us all around. Some circling, some running, some attacking. The center of all this, amid burning forest stretching out as far as you could see, was the Fox.

Tan was rammed by a T-13 pilot who had gone insane, and after that the Major just said to break in attack. How she stayed so calm I will never know. I pissed my pants just looking at that damn thing. Half the guys in our squadron lost their nerve and bugged out the second it's head turned our way.

It was as though the Devil himself was turning the Earth to hell. The radio was filled with screams, wails. If it was like this for a pilot, I didn't want to think about the guys on the ground.

The Major ordered us all to arm our bombs through the incredible static. I managed, just barely, to do it. At this point I was entirely on autopilot. By that I mean I was doing things unconsciously. Training kept me on target, but that was all there was. It was thin, fragile and all I held onto. At least three times I can remember I wanted to bug out, but the Major kept calm, kept talking to us on the radio. Even with the disruption from the chakra that thing was putting out I still heard her.

The moment I got a look, I dropped all of my bombs. I think some of them hit. Some didn't. It didn't matter though. The Fox didn't slow down. Nothing could.

But we sure as hell got it's attention.

I still remember the Tails lashing out, and great gouts of flame lashing out and wiping planes from the sky. There was no effort involved on the Fox's part-It was like it was swatting flies away.

The heat threw my plane into a spin. The engine was dead. Jung told me to bail out, screamed... I couldn't let go of the stick. I was frozen.

I felt like I was already dead.

The crash is bits and pieces. I remember blood on my face, trees around me, the smell of burning flesh... I came to, trapped in the terror of the thing's aura. I could only watch as it plowed right through Konoha's defenses. It set anything it touched on fire, and anything it looked at died, instantly.

Then, the Toad Boss (GAMABUNTA) showed up. It was hard to tell through the smoke and fire, but there was only one man who was crazy enough and ballsy enough to take a monster like that head on: Hokage Namikaze. I saw his white coat fluttering in the breeze, managed to see it through my glasses.

I didn't know just what he was doing, but a moment later, a massive light shown forth, brighter than the sun. I had to look away, kept my eyes shut. A few seconds later, I turned back. The light and the Fox were both gone. I looked through my glasses. The Hokage was down. He wasn't moving, just laying on top of Boss Toad's head.

I was "lucky". Anyone else who bailed out was incinerated by the flames, or killed by the pressure waves of the tail swings. The Major herself went out in a suicide run to ram the Kyuubi. She left her infant daughter and husband behind.

I was the only survivor of the bombing run on the Kyuubi. The other half of the squadron, the ones who ran away... I can't judge them as cowards. I can't judge them as deserters. Because trust me, only a superhuman could face that Fox, that thing and feel no fear.

It's little wonder so many things are being named after Minato Namikaze. Hell, some are advocating we make him a saint. I certainly won't argue against it, no sir.

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(A/N: First part written by GiantMonkeyMan on TFF. Thank you very much)