Although he didn't know why Kushina's power had suddenly skyrocketed, Nagato had reached the most crucial moment.
Even if it meant draining away most of his life force, even if it cost him decades of lifespan, it no longer mattered.
His expression hardened. The hollows in his cheeks deepened visibly by the second, his skin grew darker and duller, his whole appearance like a man who hadn't slept in days.
Life force poured endlessly into the Gedo Statue. The chains that had stalled began moving again, their strength surging. Caught off guard, Kushina was yanked up into the air.
At the critical moment, golden hands formed at her shoulders and pressed against the ground, kicking up dust, but still failed to stop her body from being dragged away.
Once more, Nagato paid with lifespan and grievous damage to his body to strengthen the Gedo Statue. Even with Sage Mode and Nine-Tails Mode stacked together, Kushina still couldn't resist. She was pulled inexorably closer.
Their distance shrank quickly, three hundred meters…
Nagato's chest heaved, his body straining under the burden. Each breath sounded like a bellows. Blood streamed steadily from the corners of his lips. His face remained calm, but the flickering light in his eyes betrayed the turbulence within.
"This ends here." He stretched out his right hand toward the struggling Kushina, eyes snapping open, chakra surging forth.
"Banshō Ten'in!"
Crushed beneath the weight of it, Kushina was like a camel whose back had broken, utterly helpless as she was dragged toward him.
In that instant, both she and Kurama's hearts sank. They knew too well: once pulled in, the ending would be far worse than simply their deaths.
Three hundred meters. Two hundred. One hundred…
Time seemed to slow. Dust motes hung visibly in the air.
Once the Nine-Tails was absorbed, the sealing of all the Tailed Beasts would be complete. Even if his body was failing, Nagato would have no more reason to fear what little remained of Konoha's strength.
At this desperate moment, neither Kushina nor Kurama could do a thing.
Then, a golden figure flashed in. It intercepted Kushina mid-air, and as if erasing with a brush, whisked her away into nothingness.
The golden figure was none other than the one person who could still reach her in time: Minato. Among the few who had survived Shinra Tensei with fighting strength intact, he was the fastest.
At the last possible second, he caught Kushina in his arms and vanished with her through the Flying Thunder God Technique.
If there was anyone who could have freed her from the Gedo Statue's chains, it was Minato, or Obito.
Reappearing a kilometer away, Minato had foiled Nagato's painstaking plan. After expending so much effort, life, and strength to reel in the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki, his chance was ruined in an instant by the Flying Thunder God.
That accursed jutsu he had loathed since the beginning had cost him everything.
His target vanished, and the Gedo Statue's chains, suddenly aimless, recoiled swiftly back into its maw.
Nagato stared at Kushina and Minato in the distance, his face turning gray, twisted by frustration, anger, and unwillingness.
Ye Zi, Kushina, Minato, pillars born of Konoha's so-called "Golden Era." Now, all three stood at the peak of the shinobi world. With the Sage Modes of the three great holy lands, they inherited the truest legacy of the Legendary Sannin.
The Shikkotsu Forest's Sage Mode gave Kushina monstrous regeneration, and with Yin Seal Release and Kurama's chakra, she was practically unkillable.
Mount Myōboku's Sage Mode increased Minato's chakra reserves, granted him large-scale perception despite not being a sensor type, and enhanced all his abilities.
Ryūchi Cave's Sage Mode combined the strengths of both Shikkotsu Forest and Mount Myōboku, albeit to a lesser degree.
In a sense, the three now stood as equals, none could be easily defeated.
Nagato, in his deteriorating state, now faced both Kushina and Minato, and with reinforcements from Konoha gathering, the tide was against him.
"Kushina."
Minato's eyes flickered with surprise at the sight of her golden chakra cloak. He gave her a look of subtle signal.
Catching it instantly, Kushina understood. They had once been teammates, their teamwork seamless even without words.
Clang, clang…
Countless golden chains burst from her back, over a hundred, filling the air behind her in a breathtaking spectacle.
Minato drew a marked kunai and tossed it at a forty-five degree angle. It wasn't thrown hard or fast. Then he immediately wove signs.
Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique!
In the blink of an eye, the marked kunai multiplied into hundreds.
At that moment, Kushina's golden chains lashed out, hooking onto each kunai.
Her terrifying chakra control was displayed perfectly: every chain held a kunai, flawlessly.
With the setup complete, Minato charged toward the Gedo Statue, while Kushina stayed behind, weaving the chains into a vast, radiant spiderweb.
Nagato had no idea what they planned, but he knew Flying Thunder God was dangerous. One misstep, and the two could seize the opportunity.
The situation was dire.
His partial fusion with the Gedo Statue gave him power to restrain the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki, but it cost him mobility. If not for Flying Thunder God, Kushina would already have been absorbed.
That was the truth, chains that Sage Mode and Nine-Tails Mode together couldn't break, Minato's jutsu could bypass with ease. Space-time ninjutsu truly held overwhelming potential.
As Kushina and Minato prepared their counterattack, Nagato clenched his teeth, eyes flashing with madness. If this dragged on, he might burn out entirely, but at this point, he had no choice.
Far from the battlefield, two figures surfaced from the earth.
"Looks like he failed," White Zetsu remarked.
Ye Zi was expressionless, his gaze shifting sideways. A squad of ten Konoha shinobi was rushing to reinforce Kushina, unfortunate enough to stumble across him and White Zetsu, who had chosen now to reveal themselves.
To survive Shinra Tensei and still stand meant they had strength, or luck.
"You're… Ye Zi!" one of them gasped, even hardened veterans paling in shock.
Before the thought fully sank in, ten earth spears erupted from the ground before them, impaling their chests.
At this level, even elite jōnin were no longer in the same league as Ye Zi, Kushina, or Minato.
The ten were slain instantly. From here, Ye Zi could sense the devastation within Konoha, as well as the flares of chakra at multiple battle sites.
One was Kushina's position. Another, at the village's edge.
"Is it lack of strength, or just bad luck?" Ye Zi murmured coldly.
White Zetsu chuckled with schadenfreude. "Maybe both. After all, the Yellow Flash's Flying Thunder God is tricky, and if the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki hadn't awakened at the critical moment, she'd have been swallowed by the Gedo Statue long before he arrived."
Just one more second, and the tide would have turned to Nagato. But there are no "ifs" in battle.
Ye Zi stayed silent, expressionless, his gaze fixed toward Kushina's direction.
Such immense chakra… truly not to be underestimated.
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