Chapter 46 (Patreon)

Her casual reply only made A think harder.

Once again, he found himself wondering whether Konoha had prepared an ambush nearby. Possibility after possibility surfaced in his mind, only to be dismissed moments later. The endless speculation was beginning to give him a headache.

Killer B, meanwhile, was unusually quiet. At that moment, he was speaking with Gyūki within his inner world.

“B, that chakra feels strangely familiar.”

A similar conversation was taking place between Yugito and Matatabi.

“It resembles Kurama’s chakra,” Matatabi warned. “But something about it is wrong. It doesn’t contain the hatred or negative emotions normally found within a tailed beast’s chakra. Yugito, remain cautious.”

“The Nine-Tails?”

Yugito and Killer B asked their respective tailed beasts almost simultaneously.

“Are you saying the woman in front of us is the Nine-Tails’ jinchūriki?”

Both of them understood perfectly well how corrosive a tailed beast’s chakra could be.

Even though they had established bonds with their respective tailed beasts and could minimise that influence through cooperation, tailed beast chakra was still tailed beast chakra. Neither of them had ever heard of it existing in such an incredibly pure state.

If the overwhelming chakra fluctuation they had sensed earlier had truly come from a tailed beast, there should have been no way to conceal the malice and negative emotions carried within it.

Rather than believing their opponent was a jinchūriki, Yugito and Killer B found it easier to believe that Konoha had produced another shinobi with monstrous natural chakra reserves.

The Senju, Uchiha, Uzumaki, and even the Sarutobi clans had all produced shinobi whose chakra reserves far surpassed those of ordinary people.

They simply could not determine which clan the woman before them belonged to.

The more relaxed Kushina appeared, the less willing the three Kumogakure shinobi became to attack recklessly.

“So this is what you meant by psychological warfare?” Kushina asked inwardly. “Roy-kun, you really do know a great deal.”

“That’s right. I went through plenty of study material in my previous life. You could say I’m familiar with all sorts of positions. That’s more than enough to handle a few brutes from Kumogakure.”

In Japanese, chishiki meant knowledge, while shisei referred to posture or position. Roy deliberately blurred his pronunciation just enough to twist the meaning, but Kushina failed to notice.

“Then you’ll have to teach me more when we have time, Roy-sensei.”

“It would be my pleasure, Kushina-chan.”

At that moment, the three Kumogakure shinobi exchanged glances.

They quickly settled on a plan.

Yugito would use her speed to probe Kushina’s abilities again. A, who was even faster, would remain close enough to support her, while Killer B stayed behind to guard against any possible ambush.

The moment they began to move, Kushina and Roy ended their idle conversation.

Neither taijutsu nor raw speed was one of Kushina’s greatest strengths. Rather than attempting to compete in areas where she was disadvantaged, she abandoned defence altogether and concentrated solely on attacking.

She trusted Roy.

No matter how fast the enemy was, she knew he would stop their attacks before they could reach her.

Yugito wasted no time speaking.

She immediately entered a deeper partial transformation than before. Pale-blue flames enveloped her body as two fiery tails emerged behind her.

Both her movement speed and attack speed rose dramatically.

This time, A and Killer B finally witnessed the restraining ability Yugito had mentioned.

Whenever Yugito’s claws were about to strike Kushina, an invisible force pulled against her arms and legs, as though unseen ropes had wrapped themselves around her limbs.

She could break free almost instantly.

However, in a battle between shinobi of their level, even the briefest pause could prove fatal.

Without the protection of her tailed beast cloak, Kushina’s counterattacks would already have pierced Yugito’s body several times.

What kind of jutsu is that?

A’s eyes narrowed.

There are no hand seals, and I can barely sense any chakra fluctuations. Is it some kind of kekkei genkai?

The technique was clearly a dangerous counter to shinobi who relied heavily on taijutsu.

What A did not know was whether his Lightning Release Chakra Mode would allow him to overpower the invisible restraints.

Inside Killer B’s mind, Gyūki spoke again.

“There are traces of fūinjutsu in that technique. But that shouldn’t be possible. Even the most basic sealing techniques require hand seals, a formula, or some form of preparation.”

Gyūki was also familiar with fūinjutsu.

Killer B’s Sealing Technique: Octopus Hold did not require conventional hand seals, but it still relied on ink clones restraining and gradually enveloping the target before the seal could be completed.

In other words, nearly every sealing technique required some form of delay before taking effect.

Throughout shinobi history, the only sealing ability capable of instantly restraining its target without any preparation was the Uzumaki clan’s Adamantine Sealing Chains.

“B, there’s a strong possibility that this technique was derived from the Uzumaki clan’s Adamantine Sealing Chains.”

One technique used visible chakra chains, while the other relied on invisible restraints. Both were designed to bind their targets.

Gyūki suspected that someone in Konoha had studied the Adamantine Sealing Chains and created a weakened version that could be learned by shinobi outside the Uzumaki clan.

However, the true Adamantine Sealing Chains possessed enough power to suppress even a tailed beast.

The invisible restraints before them were struggling merely to hold Yugito for more than an instant.

After hearing Killer B relay Gyūki’s conclusion, A did not place too much importance on it.

Taking advantage of the moment Yugito’s movements were restrained, Kushina drove another Rasengan directly into her chest.

Having already suffered from the same attack once, Yugito had anticipated that Kushina might attempt it again. She had deliberately reinforced the tailed beast cloak over her chest.

The Rasengan struck the thickened chakra cloak and ground violently against it, but this time Yugito was not injured.

Even her clothes remained undamaged.

Just then, another Killer B emerged from the sea.

During the earlier confrontation, one of Gyūki’s tentacles had quietly extended from behind Killer B and slipped beneath the sand. Using the Octopus Leg Clone Technique, B had created a perfect duplicate that tunnelled beneath the beach and entered the sea.

The clone had searched the surrounding area for hidden Konoha forces.

After confirming that there was no ambush, it resurfaced to report.

Neither Kushina nor Roy had noticed Killer B’s subtle manoeuvre.

Kurama had been aware of it from the beginning, but since the other party had merely gone for a swim through the sea, he had not considered it worth mentioning.

The moment A learned that there truly was no ambush, he stopped holding back.

Lightning erupted around his entire body.

In the next instant, he vanished.

Before Kushina could even register his movement, A appeared beside her.

“Lariat!”

His lightning-coated arm tore through the air toward Kushina’s slender waist with devastating force.

He was so fast that Kushina did not have time to react.

So fast!

For an instant, Minato’s image flashed through her mind.

Was this the kind of opponent Minato fought back then?

Although Kushina neither dodged nor raised her guard, A did not relax.

He remembered the semitransparent defensive spell she had used earlier to block the bounty hunter’s large-scale Fire Release technique.

As expected, just before his arm struck Kushina’s waist, it came to an abrupt stop.

Without the slightest hesitation, A changed his attack.

“Lightning Oppression Horizontal!”

He turned the halted Lariat into a brutal backhanded chop, narrowing the point of impact to concentrate its force and shatter the defence.

“Bakudō #8: Seki.”

Pressed against Kushina’s back, Roy raised his right hand.

A pale-blue disc of spiritual energy appeared in front of A’s strike, stopping the lightning-coated chop before it could reach Kushina.

The defensive technique had changed.

A’s eyes sharpened.

That confirmed his suspicion that the opponent possessed more than one method of defence.

He immediately sprang high into the air before plunging downward with even greater force.

“Lightning Oppression Horizontal Chop!”

It was a far more powerful version of his previous attack, strengthened by the momentum of his descent.

A similar hand-chop had once severed one of Gyūki’s horns.

Killer B and Yugito did not remain idle.

The moment Kushina’s attention appeared to shift toward the Raikage above her, the two jinchūriki launched their attacks simultaneously.

From their perspective, Kushina had been completely overwhelmed by A’s speed. She had failed to react to his first two attacks, and now all three of them were closing in at once.

Roy’s voice whispered beside her ear.

“It’s time.”

A sharp light flashed through Kushina’s eyes.

“Adamantine Sealing Chains!”

Eight golden chains and eight crimson chains erupted from behind Kushina at once.

Sixteen chains in total materialised across the battlefield.