National Route 9 starts in Ampayon, Butuan as Butuan–Cagayan de Oro–Iligan Road in a Y-junction stemmed from the Daang Maharlika. An 88-meter (96 yd) section of the latter refers a side of the triangle roundabout as part of N9. It is unknown if this is a mistake or not. The other side is named Butuan–Cagayan de Oro–Iligan Road. It passes through urban portions of the city and is the main highway for the city. It meets a Y-junction which stems a diversion road called Mayor Democrito D. Plaza II Avenue (N951). It enters a roundabout with the aforementioned highway and Bancasi Airport Road (N954).
Agusan del Norte
The road enters the province of Agusan del Norte and traverses through the towns of Buenavista, the industrial Nasipit and Carmen. The region ends in the Carmen-Magsaysay border.
Northern Mindanao
Misamis Oriental
N9 and its assigned highway reaches the municipality of Magsaysay and reaches a sharp turn where the direction goes south. It is a road with many turns. After reaching Gingoog, the road is met with the Gingoog–Claveria–Villanueva Road, a diversion that ignores most of the towns in the eastern side of the province. After traversing through many municipalities, it is met again with the western end of the aforementioned road. Upon reaching the city of Cagayan de Oro, it reunites with the Asian Highway 26, albeit it is a spurroute. It also reaches the junction of a coastal highway that ends in Opol instead of the eponymous town. It also gives access to the port road (N946) and two other streets designated as N945. It traverses to the industrial areas of Opol and El Salvador. It passes through multiple more towns including Laguindingan, which is the location of a non-national airport road. Upon reaching Gitagum, a road to the sharp left turn is actually the true route of the Butuan–Cagayan de Oro–Iligan Road because it gives access to its municipal hall and a part of the poblacion, the former road is actually a diversion road. After more towns have been passed, N9 reaches the Misamis Oriental-Iligan border, thus ending the Butuan–Cagayan de Oro–Iligan Road.
N9 starts in Iligan as Misamis Oriental–Maria Cristina Boundary Road. Upon reaching the urban area of the city, it is met with a diversion road that ends near the N77 junction. The route changes to N77 where it goes left while N9's designated highway is Linamon–Zamboanga Road.
Lanao del Norte
The Lanao del Norte portion of the road enters multiple towns including the provincial capital Tubod, which is home to a port road and Panguil Bay Bridge, which will connect Tangub and significantly cut travel time between Misamis Occidental and the aforementioned province.
Zamboanga del Sur
After reaching Aurora, Zamboanga del Sur, the road's name changes to Lanao–Pagadian–Zamboanga City Road. N9 ends during a T-junction between the N1 section of said highway and Karomatan–Tukuran Junction Road, which is also a part of the latter route.
Intersections
Intersections are numbered by kilometer post, with the Rizal Park in the city of Manila designated as kilometer 0.