I warned you, Kushina.

Kushina realized that ordinary ninjutsu would likely be useless against Might Guy. She would have to use that one technique.

Adamantine Sealing Chains.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.

In the next instant, five massive golden chains burst from Kushina’s back, darting forward with astonishing agility.

They drove Guy straight back.

Then, under Kushina’s control, the five chains moved as if they were extensions of her own limbs, swiftly binding Guy’s arms, legs, and torso so tightly that he could not move.

On the stands, Kisame’s eyes narrowed at the sight.

He knew that the Adamantine Sealing Chains were a power unique to the Uzumaki clan: multiple chakra chains extending from the back, not only serving as formidable weapons of attack, but also as means to erect barriers and seal the tailed beasts.

In the original story, Kushina, having just given birth and then having the Nine-Tails torn from her body, had used this technique while in an extremely weakened state, expending the last of her chakra to subdue the rampaging fox with ease.

It could be said to be a sealing art no less formidable than the Hand of Suppression and Ninefold Splitting.

“Roar!”

Might Guy bellowed like a maddened beast trapped in a cage, straining with all his might to break free of the chains, but it was to no avail. Soon the red light in his eyes faded, his gaze turned dull, and he toppled face-first to the ground.

He fell unconscious.

“Hmph.”

Kushina gave a soft snort, looking pleased with herself.

Her Adamantine Sealing Chains could even restrain the Nine-Tails, let alone a mere Might Guy.

It was over.

Guy, you’ve disappointed me terribly.

Kisame said to himself, then shook his head and rose to leave.

“Stop right there!”

Suddenly Kushina turned to Kisame and shouted sharply.

At first, she had also assumed Kisame was just an ordinary villager who happened to be watching the commotion. But during this sudden incident, he had remained calmly seated in the stands the entire time, composed beyond reason.

Clearly something was wrong.

Kushina was quick-witted, and suspicion immediately took hold: Guy’s strange condition might have something to do with this unfamiliar man before her.

It was necessary to stop him and investigate properly.

Kisame’s body paused, but he did not heed Kushina. He continued toward the exit of the training ground.

Kushina frowned, and in a flash she appeared before him.

“I told you to stop. Didn’t you hear me? I won’t say it a third time.”

Her voice was icy, and the more she looked at Kisame, the more suspicious he seemed.

“You’re sure you want to stop me?”

Kisame halted and asked back calmly, “Think carefully. The price you’re about to pay may be your life.”

Kushina was startled and instinctively stepped back two paces, sensing the intense killing intent radiating from him.

But still.

Who was Uzumaki Kushina?

She had had a terrible temper since childhood, and in the ninja academy she had once been the local queen bee, known as the “Red-Hot Habanero.” When had she ever shown weakness?

“No one who can scare me has been born yet!”

With a cold laugh, Kushina leapt back to a safe distance, then clapped her hands together in a sharp crack.

Once again she unleashed the Adamantine Sealing Chains, commanding several golden links to lash fiercely toward Kisame.

Kisame moved.

But he neither met Kushina head-on nor fled in panic. Instead—

He charged like lightning toward Uchiha Mikoto and Kakashi on the side!

Mikoto gasped, and after reacting she swiftly hurled several kunai at Kisame.

Kisame had already raised his right hand, firing the Needle from his index finger. With several metallic clangs, he knocked all the kunai aside and pressed the attack toward Mikoto.

At the same time, Kisame formed hand seals one-handed with his left hand, and in a flash of dazzling gold, a golden lightning whip appeared in his palm.

He lashed it toward Kakashi, who lay on the ground.

Not good!

Mikoto’s face changed color. She narrowly avoided the Needle’s assault and tried to save Kakashi, only to be struck by Kisame’s whip. Her whole body went numb at once, robbed of all ability to resist.

She was only an ordinary jonin; to handle Kisame’s bizarre methods of attack while also protecting Kakashi was simply too much.

She was taken down in a single exchange.

As the saying goes, pick the soft persimmon first.

Kisame would never be so foolish as to face the Adamantine Sealing Chains directly and waste precious time in a fair fight against Kushina.

He was in the Leaf Village now, and he had to end things quickly and get away at once. Otherwise, if even more troublesome people were drawn here, leaving would likely not be so easy.

At present, he had taken hostages in the form of Uchiha Mikoto and Kakashi.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.

Those golden chains that had been chasing after Kisame were forcibly withdrawn by Kushina, who was unwilling to risk harming the hostages.

“I warned you, Uzumaki Kushina. Remember this: it was your stupidity and arrogance that killed your best friend and Kakashi.”

Kisame bound Mikoto and Kakashi with the lightning whip, ready to take their lives at any moment.

“Stop! What do you want?”

Kushina’s expression changed drastically, and she was thrown onto the defensive.

Suddenly, a voice spoke to her inside her mind.

“Kushina, this man is dangerous. You can’t beat him. Let me lend you my power...”

The voice was full of temptation.

“Shut up, Kurama!” Kushina snapped under her breath.

The Kurama in her words was the Nine-Tails sealed within her body.

As the Nine-Tails’ jinchuriki, Kushina understood better than anyone how terrifying the beast’s power was. She also knew full well that she could not casually accept its “kindness,” or she would eventually be eroded by the Nine-Tails’ chakra and lose herself.

At that moment, Kisame across from her stated his condition.

“Uzumaki Kushina, I want you to stand there and not move. If you can take my next technique, I’ll let them go. But if you dodge even an inch, I will... kill these two immediately.”

The moment he finished speaking, he opened his mouth and a massive amount of chakra gathered there, glowing with blue light.

It condensed into a high-density blue sphere.

This was the ability of the Sharkskin Sword, Samehada, Unleashed.

Whoosh.

As Kisame spat it out, the sphere shot forth like an arrow from a bow, racing straight toward Kushina.

Kushina sensed the terrifying power contained within it, but for Mikoto and Kakashi, she had nowhere to retreat.

“Ha!”

She gave a sharp cry, crossing her arms before her chest as immense chakra burst from her body, forming a barrier around her.

Boom!

The blue sphere slammed directly into Kushina’s crossed arms and exploded at once, its blinding radiance swallowing everything.

Several seconds later.

Where Kushina had stood, a deep pit seven or eight meters across had appeared. She lay on her back inside it, her body covered in wounds, eyes tightly closed.

Alive or dead, it was impossible to tell.

“Kushina!” “Lady Minato!”

Seeing this, Mikoto and Kakashi cried out at nearly the same time, but a searing pain suddenly shot from the backs of their heads.

They had been knocked unconscious by Kisame.

Kisame abandoned the two hostages and leapt to the edge of the crater, preparing to confirm whether Kushina had lost the ability to fight.

Just then, a sudden change erupted.

Boom.

A vast, sinister, and dark chakra leaked from the unconscious Kushina’s body and surged skyward.

It formed a blood-red pillar of light.

Everyone in the Leaf saw it. In an instant, countless gazes gathered on this suburban training ground.

Facing this terrifying power,

Kisame remained expressionless. He not only did not flee, but instead charged straight toward Kushina in the crater.

In the palm of his right hand, a black seal in the shape of the character for “seat” appeared without a sound.