Countless buildings turned into rubble, piling into a massive wave. When the force of the Shinra Tensei weakened, that wave of debris was pushed beyond the outskirts of Konoha.
Hidden underground, Ye Zi and White Zetsu were untouched by the blast. But even without looking, they knew exactly what had happened to the village.
This Shinra Tensei Nagato unleashed was even stronger than the one he had used to destroy the Hidden Waterfall Village.
The scale of Shinra Tensei could vary greatly, and there was no doubt this was the strongest he had ever used, but it still had not reached its absolute limit.
At this moment, while still locked in a tug-of-war with the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki, Nagato had held back just enough to keep some reserves, not pushing Shinra Tensei to its peak.
Even so, this "restrained" version, meant to clear the battlefield, had in the blink of an eye destroyed four-fifths of Konoha.
No one had been able to react, let alone defend against it. Those unlucky enough to die instantly were spared from witnessing the village's current state while the survivors, though not few, now struggled to stand amidst the ruins, staring blankly at the devastation.
In their minds, this power could only be described as godlike.
Pfft…
When the Shinra Tensei ended, the backlash hit. Nagato coughed up blood, staining his robes crimson.
His breath grew uneven; he seemed to have burned through a great deal of stamina. His once pale skin lost its sheen, his eyes sank deeper, and in an instant he looked ten years older.
It was lifespan, it was life force that sustained all this, and after coughing blood, enduring agony no normal person could bear, Nagato still wore a cold smile.
The obstacles were gone, and his dream, one worth sacrificing his life for, was closer than ever…
That deep obsession, that unyielding will, were written all over the blood-stained smile on his face.
The chains suddenly pulled taut, it was the Gedo Statue's chains, now retracting. Shaken by the horror of Konoha's destruction, Kushina could no longer resist its power. Her feet dragged deep grooves into the ground as she was slowly pulled toward it.
Sage Mode combined with partial Tailed Beast Transformation… even the fusion of those powers, along with the sealing nature of the Adamantine Chains, seemed unable to withstand the Gedo Statue's chains at this moment.
The most precious thing in her heart had crumbled; countless lives had vanished before her eyes in an instant. That grief and fury could tear apart anyone who loved this place.
Thanks to Sage Mode's perception, she had felt, with agonizing clarity, each life as it was extinguished in that moment when Shinra Tensei struck.
It was like a painting titled Cruelty, unfurled at the fastest speed possible before her eyes.
"You dare…!"
Her voice burst out from the depths of her rage, each syllable trembling with uncontrollable fury, her articulation almost breaking.
The thick, unshakable anger on her face gradually turned into bone-deep, icy killing intent.
Seeing Kushina's emotions boiling yet still untainted by the Nine-Tails' influence, Nagato could tell she was indeed a jinchūriki who perfectly suppressed her beast.
But to him, once his chains had bound hers, and once he had cleared the battlefield at the cost of his own lifespan, the matter was settled.
What Nagato did not know was that a dangerous figure was lying in wait, well beyond his perception, ready to strike him dead at any moment.
Survival of the fittest, the mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind it, these simple, familiar metaphors carried a cold, ruthless truth.
When the oriole stretches its beak toward the mantis, the mantis never knows the hunter behind it; and when the oriole is about to feast, it never knows the venomous snake lurking in its shadow.
The strength her rage granted Kushina still could not match the Gedo Statue's might.
Dragged toward it inch by inch, her speed began to increase, she was fully aware of the danger now.
She knew she should calm herself, but the thought alone could not cool the flames in her heart.
How could the destruction of four-fifths of the village not fill her with boundless fury?
It wasn't just her, everyone who looked upon the village now felt that same seething wrath from the bottom of their hearts.
When Shinra Tensei struck, Minato could have evaded with the Flying Thunder God Technique, but he hadn't expected its range to be this vast. One misstep and he was caught in it, fortunately, his injuries weren't severe.
The death toll might not have been overwhelming, but almost everyone was hurt, some lightly, some gravely, many near death. Those still able to stand and fight now moved toward Kushina and Nagato, their hearts burning with vengeance.
From within the ruins, Tsunade rose to her feet, stunned at the scene before her. Without hesitation, she released all her chakra.
Minato gathered every able-bodied Konoha ninja and rushed toward Kushina's location at top speed. The Shinra Tensei had altered the terrain so drastically that even his Flying Thunder God markers had been pushed to the village's edges.
The force that could obliterate nearly the entire village, yet the Gedo Statue could still hold Kushina in place, was proof enough of the incredible strength of its chains.
Facing that strength, Kushina was being pushed to the edge of the cliff. Even in Sage Mode, she could produce hundreds of chakra chains, but their quality had not changed.
Nine chains or hundreds, the power they could output remained the same. In this tug-of-war with the Gedo Statue, she was completely at a disadvantage.
"What do I do…"
Biting her lip hard enough to draw blood, she struggled.
Without Sage Mode and the Tailed Beast Cloak, she would have been dragged away long ago, and badly hurt by Nagato's Shinra Tensei.
The cold crisis wrapped around her whole body, but it could not extinguish the fire in her heart.
In that perilous moment, the Nine-Tails' consciousness and Kushina's own established a subtle link.
Kushina stood before the cage; the Nine-Tails was behind it.
"Let's work together."
The fox looked calmly at the woman beyond the bars, its eyes now devoid of any hostility.
In her most dangerous moment, the Nine-Tails willingly offered her the key.
Why?
There was no need to think about it now. Kushina's fury felt briefly cut off, and she suddenly showed a beautiful smile.
As a jinchūriki, Kushina had been influenced by her predecessor, ever since the Nine-Tails was sealed within her, she had, in truth, fully accepted it.
The Nine-Tails had always known this. Perhaps… that was the most important key of all.
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Currently on Chapter 598 - Two Kage Left