The Tailed Beasts were essentially living masses of gargantuan chakra.
Therefore, they didn't suffer from the aging or death typical of flesh-and-blood creatures.
They were nearly impossible to kill. Kurama had survived ten thousand strikes from the Wood Release: True Several Thousand Hands while wreathed in Susanoo armor.
Technically, they could be "killed" if their Jinchuriki died, but even then, their chakra would eventually reform.
They were effectively immortal, which gave the thousand-year-old Nine-Tails a position of absolute contempt toward humans.
If I can't kill you, I'll just outlive everyone you've ever known.
Coupled with the fact that only a handful of humans had ever defeated it, the beast's arrogance was justified.
But today, as Saiki's blade-qi—infused with Sage Chakra—pierced its core, Kurama felt true terror.
It realized that if Saiki hit a vital point, it wouldn't just dissipate; it would be permanently erased.
That power was capable of obliterating the soul itself.
It was the same kind of power the Sage of the Six Paths possessed—the power of the "Creation of All Things" and the "Six Paths."
Kurama was genuinely afraid.
"Human... who the hell are you?"
Madara Uchiha's Mangekyo Sharingan was wicked and could control it easily, but that only inspired hatred and annoyance.
Kurama had never felt fear toward Madara.
But looking at the white glow on that blade and the wound that refused to knit back together, it was terrified.
Its attempt to roar sounded more like a desperate, shaky interrogation.
Saiki looked at the fox with cold indifference, pointing his sword at its throat.
"Go back into the seal yourself. Otherwise, I'll chop you into a fox-kebab and shove the pieces back in manually."
"Fox-kebab?" A literal question mark seemed to appear over Kurama's head. It had no idea what the hell this human was talking about.
Tsunade, the Konoha ninja, and the arriving Uchiha members understood the implication perfectly.
They looked at the boy and the beast with bewildered expressions.
The Nine-Tails' name alone could stop a child from crying at night.
Yet here it was, acting like a bullied pet in front of Saiki.
Just then, in the shadows at the edge of the crater, a blurred, white, clay-like mass began to squirm silently.
It merged perfectly with the cracks in the rubble. Its presence was so faint it was practically non-existent.
Even Saiki's sharp senses were too focused on the Nine-Tails to notice it.
It was a White Zetsu that had been lurking for hours.
A flicker of urgency crossed its bizarre face. It was transmitting information through the organic network of tree roots and groundwater.
Far away, in the deepest reaches of an underground cavern, a withered figure sat among a forest of pipes extending from the Gedo Mazo.
He was emaciated, his white hair sparse, his skin covered in deep wrinkles and age spots.
His bare torso looked like dried tree bark.
Only the single Sharingan visible through his hair proved that the "Ghost of the Uchiha" still possessed a heart-stopping majesty.
Through the tubes connecting him to the statue, he had been monitoring the battlefield.
His clouded eye contracted sharply.
His withered hands began to weave signs with a speed that defied his ancient state.
"Summoning Jutsu!"
He slammed his palm onto the floor. Tadpole-like runes spread across the stone.
The power of his chakra bridged the vast distance, activating the summoning contract engraved on the Nine-Tails.
On the ruins, Saiki was having a standoff with Kurama.
Tsunade had already issued orders: "Sealing Corps! Form the array with me!"
Saiki gripped his sword, ready to rush the beast to make the sealing easier.
At that exact moment—
As Saiki's blade tore through the air, aiming to pin one of the fox's limbs, Kurama let out a final roar.
Suddenly, with a massive POOF, the Nine-Tails exploded into a cloud of white smoke and vanished.
Saiki's strike hit nothing, cleaving a trench a hundred meters long into the earth.
The edges of the crater collapsed. A massive dust cloud rose like an explosion.
But the Nine-Tails was gone.
"What?!" Saiki's pupils shrank. His arm was still extended in the follow-through, but the mountain-sized fox had evaporated.
The entire battlefield fell into a tomb-like silence.
However, Saiki's brain rebooted instantly. "MADARA UCHIHA?!"
That was clearly a Summoning Jutsu. Since Kurama was Madara's personal summon, his disappearance meant the old man had finally interfered.
"Is Madara nearby?" Saiki wondered, but quickly dismissed the thought.
Based on the timeline, Madara should be immobile, tethered to the Gedo Mazo.
The only other possibility was... "WHITE ZETSU?"
Saiki's spiritual pressure erupted outward.
The intensity was so great it felt like a physical shockwave hitting everyone present.
He focused his Divine Sense specifically on the ground beneath them.
While the others were still standing around in a daze, wondering where the fox went, Saiki had already locked onto his target.
He raised his blade and slashed directly at the dirt.
The Mayfly Jutsu was an incredible infiltration tool, allowing one to merge with the earth itself.
But Saiki's perception was now on a different level. He found the anomaly instantly.
He had been so focused on the Uchiha and the Fox that he hadn't guarded his "home base" from the ground.
His blade bit into the earth, the Sage-infused strike tearing through the bedrock.
BOOM—!!!
The earth groaned in agony as a bottomless gash opened under Saiki's feet, snaking deep into the subterranean layers.
Soil and rock split apart as if a giant had used an axe to pry the world open.
Deep underground, a pale silhouette—White Zetsu—was attempting to flee through the roots.
Suddenly, a wave of lethal dread washed over the creature.
Its path of retreat was cleanly severed by a vertical fissure. The surface of the cut was as smooth as a mirror and radiated a soul-chilling cold.
If it had been a second faster, the biological weapon would have been reduced to confetti.
Before Zetsu could move again, a murderous aura appeared right in front of it.
The thin layer of soil remaining was punched through, and a hand clamped onto its neck like a vice.
Saiki yanked upward.
He dragged a chalk-white, humanoid creature out of the dirt. It had a blank, dead-eyed expression.
"Zetsu. Where is Madara Uchiha?"
Looking at that pale, mocking face—which looked like a corpse trying to tell a joke—Saiki wanted to punch its head into the next dimension.
If he had known Madara still had enough energy for a long-distance summon, Saiki would have pinned Kurama to the ground the moment he arrived.
But he had been arrogant. He had wanted to "teach the fox a lesson."
Now, Kushina was dying, and the fox was gone. Saiki was vibrating with rage.
Facing the crushing strength of Saiki's grip, White Zetsu's face twisted into a bizarre, wildly inappropriate grin.
Its voice was dry and airy, vibrating from its chest rather than its throat.
"Heehee... Lord Madara is... in a place you will never find... waiting for his end... and yours..."
"You seek death!"
A cold light flared in Saiki's eyes. He tightened his grip to snap the creature's neck.
But before he could, Zetsu's tongue lolled out. It left Saiki with a final, mocking, comedic expression before its life force evaporated.
Saiki understood what had happened. Madara had likely placed a curse-seal on Zetsu to prevent any leaks.
But what infuriated him most was the expression on the creature's face.
It was as if it were laughing at him for being played by a dying old man.