Rei Ao looked at Kushina like that and found it kind of funny.
"Of course," he replied.
Then, before Kushina could even react, he suddenly reached out and lifted the hem of her top.
The cool night breeze brushed across her skin.
"Eek—!"
Kushina yelped and jerked backward like a startled rabbit. She hurriedly pressed her hands down on her clothes, her cheeks so hot they could fry an egg.
"W-what are you doing?!"
"Obviously, I'm getting rid of the 'trouble' on you."
Rei Ao spoke as if it were the most natural thing in the world, his hand still hanging in midair.
"The seal and chakra nodes are on your abdomen. It's inconvenient through clothing. Relax—I'm not interested in a little flat board right now."
F-flat board?!
Kushina froze for a second, then realized what he meant and got so angry she practically started smoking from the top of her head!
W-who are you calling flat?!
She was still young—one day she definitely would…!
But before she could keep protesting, Rei Ao's hand reached over again.
This time, his palm pressed directly—steadily—against her stomach.
His hand was warm, almost scalding.
Kushina's body went rigid, all her embarrassment instantly replaced by tension.
She could clearly feel the heat and the lines of his palm; through the thin layer of skin, it was like he was touching the restless, crimson power inside her directly.
"Relax."
His voice sounded above her head, carrying a strange calming force.
"You might feel something."
The moment the words fell, Kushina felt a faint numbness spread through her whole body!
It didn't hurt—rather, it was like something solid, some tough "shell," was being gently tapped from the inside.
Then she saw light.
Not the moonlight outside, and not the golden glow of the Nine-Tails.
It was an orange-red light seeping out from her own abdomen!
An incredibly complex sealing formula made of black curse-script appeared on the smooth skin of her belly like a brand.
But now, right where Rei Ao's palm covered it, fine cracks began spreading outward from the center.
Crack… crack…
A soft shattering sound, as if it rang straight inside her soul.
"Nn…"
Kushina felt that violent power she'd been suppressing—binding down—start to break free of her control.
But the agony she'd expected—power going wild, being swallowed—never came.
Because the palm pressed to her abdomen was like an absolute control valve, precisely guiding that vast orange-red chakra as it burst through the seal!
"Come out," he said softly, his hand lifting slightly upward.
In the next instant, a sphere of orange-red light—condensed to the extreme, radiating terrifying pressure and an ominous aura—was forcibly "yanked" out of Kushina's abdomen!
The moment it left her body, it immediately began to swell and distort wildly!
"ROAAAR—!!!"
A roar exploded—more violent, more frenzied than the Nine-Tails from before, filled with pure, annihilating desire!
Orange-red chakra surged like a tide, instantly forming a second Nine-Tailed Fox of comparable size—but far more ferocious and savage in appearance.
Its fur burned like flames. Its blood-red eyes held no reason at all, only endless killing intent and the urge to destroy.
The bloodthirsty aura pouring off it made the air feel thick and sickly sweet.
"Hahahaha! I'm out! I'm finally out!!"
The wild Nine-Tails threw back its head and howled, its voice overflowing with the ecstasy of escape and venomous resentment piled up over who knew how many years.
"Kill! Destroy everything! Make this world feel pain!!"
It raised a massive claw, about to swing down at the forest below and the golden Nine-Tails beside it—
Then it froze.
Because it saw the other Nine-Tails.
Another enormous one, giving off a familiar yet nauseating presence of its own kind—but with eyes that were clear (relatively speaking), a docile posture… and, incredibly, two tiny humans standing on its head— a golden Nine-Tails.
Wild Nine-Tails: "…?"
Its brain, packed with destructive impulse, couldn't quite process what it was seeing.
Who am I?
Where am I?
Why is there another me here?
Why does that one look so obedient?
And what's with those two humans?
Especially that black-haired one—why does he make my fur prickle…?
Before it could make sense of this bizarre scene, the golden Nine-Tails under Rei Ao's feet moved.
No roaring. No posturing. Not even any dramatic emotional surge.
It simply—calmly (by Nine-Tails standards)—raised one front paw.
And then, at a speed totally mismatched with its massive body—almost like teleportation—it slapped the newly freed, still dumbfounded wild Nine-Tails right in the face!
Simple. Brutal. Direct.
"BOOM—!!!!!!!"
A deafening crash rang out, like two mountains colliding!
The wild Nine-Tails didn't even have time to react properly.
Its huge body, barely formed, was sent flying sideways like it had been rammed head-on by a ten-thousand-ton ship at full speed.
"RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE!!!"
It smashed through who knew how many ancient trees, carving a deep trench hundreds of meters long into the ground.
Only then, amid a sky of dust and shredded wood, did it finally—barely—come to a stop.
A single hit!
"ROAR!!"
The wild Nine-Tails struggled up from the wreckage, letting out a howl mixed with searing pain and extreme fury.
Orange-red chakra roiled violently around it—it had been completely enraged!
But the golden Nine-Tails was only just getting started.
It lowered its limbs slightly.
Its massive body became a blurred streak of golden lightning, crossing hundreds of meters in an instant and appearing right in front of the wild Nine-Tails.
Two giant claws that could tear the earth apart came down like a storm.
Grab—rake—slap—smash!
Every strike carried mountain-splitting power, landing precisely on the wild Nine-Tails' body and head!
The wild Nine-Tails flailed its claws in a futile counterattack, spitting out Tailed Beast Bombs.
But every attack was either nimbly dodged by the golden Nine-Tails, or casually swatted apart with a claw or tail.
This wasn't even the same level of fight!
The golden Nine-Tails was like a veteran hunter, toying with a beast that had raw power but no technique.
Its movements were efficient and clean.
Every attack landed on the spots that hurt the most—the hardest-to-handle points, the most impossible nodes to defend.