Just as Minato was about to be drawn to the tip of the spear, Urashiki thrust the long spear forward without hesitation!
"Pfft."
A faint sound of a Sharp Weapon piercing flesh.
The "Minato" pierced by the long spear suddenly dissipated and vanished like smoke, leaving no trace behind.
It was a Shadow Clone!
"What?!" Urashiki's pupils constricted.
"Swish!"
Almost the same instant the Shadow Clone vanished, another figure of Minato Namikaze flashed out from Urashiki's front-side blind spot! He held a pristine flying thunder god kunai in his hand, its blade aimed directly at the side of Urashiki's undefended neck!
"Bang!"
In his haste, Urashiki barely managed to block this fatal strike with his red Chakra long spear! Sparks flew!
He was shocked and furious! Were the "weakness" and "being knocked away" from earlier all just a disguise?! A trap to lure him into close-quarters combat and lower his guard?!
"I told you... these attacks are useless against me!"
Urashiki gritted his teeth and shoved Minato's Kunai away, a cold and arrogant smile returning to his face. "You should just give up already. No matter how many times you try, the result will be the same."
"Is that so?" the "Minato" before him said calmly.
"Pfft."
The next second, this "Minato"'s figure also dissipated into nothingness like a bubble.
Another Shadow Clone! Two baits in a row!
Urashiki's expression darkened completely, and alarm bells rang in his heart!
"Then... how do you intend to 'dodge' these attacks?"
Minato's calm voice, laden with invisible pressure, came from all directions.
"Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish—!"
Across the battlefield, over a dozen flying thunder god kunai—which had been thrown or secretly placed by the previous Shadow Clones—suddenly lit up at the same time!
Immediately after, several, even over a dozen figures of Minato Namikaze flashed out from different Flying Thunder God coordinate points! They launched a storm-like, omnidirectional, saturation attack against Urashiki in the center from every possible angle—above, below, left, right, front, and back!
The number of Clones and the density of the attacks almost completely filled the space around Urashiki!
"Foolish! I said it already! You're just wasting your effort!!"
Facing this suffocating siege, Urashiki's golden Rinnegan eyes widened in rage! He no longer tried to deal with them one by one, but instead threw his arms wide to his sides!
"Shinra Tensei—!!!"
Vroom—!!!
An invisible repulsive field, more violent and wider-ranging than before, erupted from him as the center, like a rapidly expanding transparent sphere, instantly repelling all incoming attacks!
"Pfft! Pfft! Pfft! Pfft..."
Minato's Clones dissipated one after another within the repulsive field, turning into white smoke. All physical and energy attacks were repelled by this absolute power, unable to get even an inch closer.
As the repulsive field slowly dissipated, Urashiki hovered in the now "clean" air, looking at the empty surroundings, leaving only the Nine-Tailed still pinned in the distance, and... a battlefield that seemed to have no more tricks up its sleeve.
A smug, mocking smile of someone in total control returned to his face.
"Enough, inferior creature. Even if you attacked me—even if it was just a scratch—what good would that do? It would just be a waste of time; you cannot fundamentally hurt me at all!"
The next moment.
"Swish—!!!"
His smug words came to an abrupt halt!
A bone-piercing pain erupted suddenly and without warning from the very center of his chest!
This... was this the opponent's truly hidden, fatal strike?!
"Hmph... u-useless effort!" The intense pain made Urashiki's voice tremble, but the arrogance of the Ōtsutsuki within him was still putting up a desperate resistance.
He endured the tearing sensation, attempting to activate the escape method that had long since become instinct—to thoroughly "energize" the Chakra and will that made up this conscious body, dispersing it into countless red paper cranes, thereby escaping this binding and injury!
His thoughts sent the command like lightning...
...No response.
He focused his mind again, pushing with all his might...
...The Chakra within his body remained cold, stagnant, and completely immobile!
He couldn't even sense or mobilize the Ōtsutsuki Chakra that originally permeated the surrounding space, the Chakra belonging to the [Karma]!
"W-what's going on?! Why?! I can't use it! I can't move... Chakra... why can't I mobilize even a single bit of it?!"
Urashiki could no longer maintain his facade of composure and shrieked in terror!
He felt like an insect trapped in amber; not only was his body completely restrained, but the very source of energy he relied on for existence and resistance had been forcibly severed.
"As expected..."
A calm voice rang out not far behind him.
It was Minato Namikaze. He watched Urashiki, who was pierced and unable to move, with indifference.
"That technique—'Shinra Tensei'..." Minato's voice was unhurried. "Although its defense is absolute, in your current state, especially with your conscious body relying on unstable [Karma] data, you cannot perform it continuously at high frequency without intervals. Every time it is fully activated, it consumes the critical energy during your Fusion process with [Karma], leaving behind a short but fatal 'window of opportunity'."
Logically speaking, if Urashiki only wanted to stall for time and wait for the Fusion to complete, wouldn't the safest method be to just keep using Shinra Tensei?
"So, when I used continuous Shadow Clone feints to create the illusion of an omnidirectional, high-intensity attack, forcing you to use 'Shinra Tensei' to perform a 'total clear'... your choice was actually already within my expectations."
Urashiki lowered his head with difficulty, his gaze finally falling on the source of his pain and binding.
It was chains made of golden Chakra.
It was these chains that not only pierced his "body" but also firmly locked away any possibility of mobilizing his power.
"You... what... what have you done to Naruto?!"
Just as Urashiki's mind was shaken and his thoughts were almost paralyzed by this desperate situation, a female voice filled with murderous intent and grief—one that also felt somewhat familiar to Urashiki—rang out.
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