Chapter 406: Am I Weaker Than Madara?
If someone had average neural reflexes, even with Naruto's current strength, they wouldn't be able to dodge the chakra sealing chains manipulated by Li Yao's Obito clone.
Simply put—extreme speed was unbeatable.
Minato's greatest strength was exactly that—speed that defied logic. Especially his neural reflexes. When paired with rapid physical movement or teleportation, it made him nearly invincible.
At this moment, Naruto's performance was already on par with Minato's in terms of spatial reaction and mobility.
The massive form created by Kurama's chakra didn't hinder Naruto's movement—in fact, thanks to the nine tails he could now control, he had enhanced agility in avoiding the sealing chains, almost like having nine extra limbs.
"This can't go on, Naruto!"
Kurama warned, "We have to destroy that Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, or we won't hold out for long."
From Li Yao's point of view, Naruto and Kurama were still handling things with ease.
But only Naruto and Kurama knew how much pressure they were really under.
"I know! But I can't find an opening!"
Naruto replied urgently.
All of his focus was going into dodging the sealing chains. There was no room to cooperate with Kurama to prepare a Tailed Beast Bomb.
"Use Shadow Clones!" Kurama suggested.
"No." Naruto shook his head and explained, "Those chakra sealing chains are special. If a clone gets caught, the chakra might not return to me."
While clones could help reduce the pressure, they were too vulnerable to being bound by the chains and having their chakra absorbed.
If too much chakra was lost, they wouldn't be able to maintain their current state.
Also, they had to preserve enough chakra for the clone gathering Sage Chakra at Mount Myōboku, meaning he couldn't create many clones.
Without a large number of them, just a few wouldn't make much of a difference.
"I know the risk, but…" Kurama said gravely, "If we keep dragging this out, we'll be the ones who fall first."
The golden Nine-Tails mode wasn't the same as the standard full-tailed beast form. It was a taijutsu-chakra mode that enhanced chakra quality by burning it, massively boosting strength, speed, and defense.
It was Kurama's own unique ability, used to push his power to the limit alongside a perfect jinchūriki.
But the drawback was clear—it didn't last long.
At most, they had ten more minutes. After that, the golden mode would collapse, and Kurama would need to stop and focus on gathering chakra again.
The masked man's sealing chains cost very little chakra to use and he had access to the chakra of eight other tailed beasts. In a battle of attrition, Naruto and Kurama couldn't win.
So they had no choice but to take a risk.
"Alright, let's do it your way."
Naruto thought about it and agreed with Kurama's reasoning.
Poof! Poof!
He instantly created two shadow clones.
The clones, also in golden Nine-Tails form, immediately blocked several sealing chains from different angles, buying the original Naruto a brief opportunity.
"Tailed Beast Bomb!"
A car-sized Tailed Beast Bomb launched from Naruto's mouth, aimed straight for the Demonic Statue's head, targeting both it and Li Yao's Obito clone.
"Looks like the sealing chains alone won't cut it."
Li Yao's clone shook his head. With a simple motion, he distorted the space ahead, forming a vortex that swallowed the incoming Tailed Beast Bomb.
Rip!
The two shadow clones were caught by the sealing chains, which wrapped around them tightly.
Poof! Poof!
Naruto immediately dispelled the clones, not even pausing to be surprised by the masked man's space-time ability being different from his mom's intel.
But the chakra from the dispersed clones didn't return to him—instead, it was completely absorbed into the Demonic Statue.
"Just as I thought."
Naruto's expression darkened. He'd expected this, but losing so much chakra all at once was still a serious blow.
He couldn't risk using clones again.
"Pull back for now, Naruto."
"I'm trying!"
Both Naruto and Kurama knew they needed distance to properly counter the sealing chains, but Naruto was already giving his all.
The masked man and the Demonic Statue weren't static—they kept following him. There was no chance to retreat.
At this rate, they really would lose again.
Unconsciously, despair began creeping back into Naruto's expression.
"Why was it so easy for Madara to wrap the golden Nine-Tails' neck in the original story?"
Even though Naruto was fighting with everything he had, from Li Yao's clone's perspective, he was annoyed by his own performance.
Madara had controlled all nine tailed beasts at once with sealing chains.
But here he was—struggling with just Naruto and Kurama.
Was he really weaker than Uchiha Madara?
Li Yao's clone was frustrated. Yet, without using other abilities and relying solely on the sealing chains, he couldn't take Naruto down.
Maybe the world had been "buffed."
Might Guy had felt stronger than in the original story. Now Naruto seemed stronger too.
"Forget it. No need to compare with Madara. I'll just become the Ten-Tails jinchūriki."
After a few breaths, Li Yao's clone shook his head and stopped focusing solely on the sealing chains.
Dragging this out any further would only waste mental energy.
And becoming the jinchūriki of the Ten-Tails required immense mental strength. He couldn't afford to squander it on Naruto.
Rip!
Suddenly, the sealing chains retracted into the statue's mouth, leaving just one chain hanging outside.
"What's he planning?"
Naruto was more serious than ever. He didn't let his guard down just because the masked man had stopped attacking.
"No idea."
Kurama also wasn't sure. Besides space-time techniques, the masked man only had genjutsu through the Sharingan.
But now that Naruto was a perfect jinchūriki, genjutsu no longer worked on him. Space-time jutsu was all the masked man had left.
Realizing this, Kurama quickly warned Naruto to watch out for space-time tricks—but Naruto didn't respond.
Rip!
At that moment, the chain from the statue's mouth shot out again.
"Naruto?"
"What's wrong?"
"Dodge it, now!"
Kurama shouted in alarm, but Naruto didn't move. He stood frozen as the sealing chain looped around Kurama's neck.
"What's going on?!"
"Naruto?!"
Inside the sealed space, Kurama roared in fury. Why hadn't Naruto dodged?
Once bound, there'd be no escape.
Naruto quickly explained, "A chakra suddenly cut off my control over my body—I can't move!"
"What do we do? Kurama, can you take control of my body?!"
Naruto was panicking too. The masked man's unexpected move had caught him completely off guard. The opposing chakra was identical to his own—he couldn't reject it. It was like trying to kill himself—impossible.
He could only watch helplessly as his control was cut off completely.
(END CHAPTER)
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