Seeing Seiki rushing forward frantically to block the attack, the Lead Ninja couldn't help but rejoice. "Hehe, what can Seiki do? He's still an inexperienced rookie who fell for my simple trick!"
Ahead, Kushina stood frozen in place like she'd been stunned, her face twisting with inner struggle—the Nine-Tails sealed inside her was clearly trying to break free.
"You want my power, right? Just a little bit... no, if you'd just let go of your restraint, you could easily defeat them with your strength!"
"No, I can't do it!"
"Why resist your true self? You clearly hate those who bully and humiliate you!"
"I don't like them either, but I'd hate myself even more for releasing that monster! Besides, not everyone in the village is bad!"
The Lead Ninja had no idea why that young girl hadn't run away, though honestly, he didn't care to find out.
After all, his fish had already taken the bait!
"Get out of my way!"
"Aha! This is exactly what I was hoping for!"
Just as the Lead Ninja was about to throw a punch at Kushina, he suddenly changed direction. The lightning radiance exploding from his right fist completely engulfed Seiki, who couldn't dodge in time.
A thunderclap boomed as Seiki was thrown backwards through the air. Blood spurted from his mouth, forming a shimmering crimson pearl necklace mid-flight.
"Seiki!" Asuma cried out painfully, charging at the enemy with bloodshot eyes. "Damn you, I'll kill you!"
"Ahhaha! Don't talk big! That fire technique of yours couldn't even kill anyone?" The Lead Ninja laughed heartily.
Kushina, caught between pain and despair, was jolted awake by the sharp laughter, finally realizing there was warm blood on her cheek.
"This... is Seiki's blood? Did he shed this for protecting me?"
From deep within her pupils, a wisp of black mist silently emerged.
Meanwhile, Asuma had completely lost his head, not even bothering to use ninjutsu as he charged at the enemy wielding a kunai.
"Huh? Is the Hokage's son really this weak?" The Lead Ninja easily grabbed Asuma's wrist while mockingly commenting.
Knowing Asuma's status, he held back a little.
At this moment, Asuma also calmed down from his rashness, widening his eyes in disbelief toward something behind his opponent.
"Heh? You serious? You think someone's behind me?" While the Lead Ninja scornfully mocked, a voice that seemed to rise from the Underworld echoed behind him.
"I'm going to kill you, bastard!"
The Lead Ninja stiffened as he turned around. There stood a monster surrounded entirely by bloody mist, staring at him malevolently.
That eerie, ominous chakra seemed capable of awakening humanity's deepest fears.
"Ahhh!!!"
...
Inside the Sarutobi Clan residence.
The Third Hokage abruptly rose to his feet, watching critically the images forming inside his crystal ball. Walking toward the window, he looked into the distance at the scarlet mist nearly tearing apart the night sky, his eyes filled with concern and unease. "What exactly happened? Why has Nine-Tails' chakra erupted from that direction?"
With these thoughts in mind, he quickly strode back to his desk.
Her right hand swept lightly across the crystal ball, and its images began to shift and change.
In the next moment, Kushina appeared before him, her body wrapped in a crimson shroud, along with a Cloud ninja who had collapsed onto the ground in sheer terror.
"Damn it! These Cloud shinobi have actually..." The Third muttered in fury, then his eyes suddenly widened in shock—for at one corner of the crystal ball, he spotted Asuma's figure!
"Hold on, what exactly is going on here?"
...
Deep within the underground chamber of Root headquarters,
A ninja clad in the insignia of Iwagakure stared in absolute horror at the elderly man before him.
"What are you going to do? No, don't come any closer!"
"Stop struggling. Just let this old man give you a little injection!"
"What is this?! Poison?!"
"Heh! Didn't Onoki send you into Konoha specifically for this purpose?"
At his words, even though trapped like he was, the Iwa spy couldn't help but let his eyes gleam with desire—"So this is... the First Hokage's..."
Before he could finish, Danzo plunged the needle downward.
"Aaaaaaaargh!" The Iwa spy screamed in agony—and in an instant, wooden tendrils engulfed his body.
"There goes another test subject," Danzo frowned, immediately leaping upward moments later.
"This evil chakra... It's the Nine-Tails!"
Witnessing this scene, dark shadows danced joyfully across Danzo's face as he muttered, "Allowing the Nine-Tails to break free from its seal constitutes grave negligence! Hiruzen, you truly make a poor Hokage."
...
Meanwhile, at Konoha's borderlands,
Seiki climbed out from a distant crater, his temple twitching violently at the sight before him.
Had he gone a bit too far?
"I originally thought that she, being a member of the Uzumaki clan, would easily sense my condition," Seiki sighed inwardly. "But thank goodness—if she had sprouted Nine-Tails' tails, that would've been really hard to contain. Compared to that, this current situation isn't so bad after all."
Thinking thus, Seiki 'struggled' his way out of the crater. "Big sister, please stop. I'm fine."
Kushina, in her corrupted berserk state, calmed down upon hearing Seiki's voice, the blood mist around her gradually dispersing.
And from a distance—seemingly stunned stiff—Asuma finally regained his senses when he heard Seiki speak. "Seiki! Thank goodness you're okay!"
As for those Cloud ninjas? They couldn't hear Seiki anymore. Targeted directly by Nine-Tails' chakra, they had literally died of fright!
This standard just won't cut it, Seiki murmured with a slight frown. He didn't care much for those pitiful Cloud ninjas—but he did notice that the red veil enveloping Kushina had only partially dissipated instead of vanishing entirely.
At this point, Asuma ran over nervously asking beside Seiki's ear, "Seiki…what's wrong with Big Sister?"
"Perhaps something mentioned in books—the Bijuu."
"So Big Sister is a Jinchuriki? How pitiful!"
Shaking his head slightly, Seiki cried out in anguish, "Kind-hearted Big Sister! Please hold on tight! You mustn't let the demon within conquer your kind and brave heart!"
Like a physical manifestation of verbal assault, every shout from Seiki caused Kushina's Blood Mist to dissipate slightly.
"This is just way too embarrassing!" Seiki huffed, taking a deep breath and glancing away. "Asuma, quickly help me cheer Big Sis on!"
Asuma, watching from the side, gave a confused look and pointed to himself.
It was amusing to hear others shouting encouragement, but when it came to himself, it felt extremely awkward.
But faced with Seiki's determined stare, Asuma had no option but to go along.
After working up all his nerve to the point of turning red-faced, he finally blurted out, "Big Sis, this form of yours looks really ugly! Change back already!"
The moment those words left his mouth, the Blood Mist around Kushina shot straight up.
Witnessing this sight, Seiki sighed helplessly while patting Asuma's shoulder. "Forget it—you'd better stop talking. If you keep going, you're gonna get punched!"
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