A violent storm erupted!
The massive recoil from a genuine Bijūdama instantly pulverized the already cracked ground beneath Kushina's feet. It sent her skidding backward, carving a massive trench three meters wide and thirty meters long!
In exchange for that recoil came an unparalleled, terrifying force.
Mid-air, Ren Uchiha, clad in his semi-tailed beast cloak, was instantly flattened like an Indian frybread as the Tailed Beast Bomb slammed right into his face.
What does it feel like to have a Tailed Beast Bomb pressed against your nose—to feel its shape and temperature firsthand? Ren could tell you with absolute certainty:
It is hot!
The temperature far exceeded the thousand-degree heat of a standard Fire Style Chakra Mode! Furthermore, because the impact created a violently flowing film of wind around the sphere, the pressure was immense. Even with all his strength, Ren couldn't break free; he was pinned to the surface of the bomb like a spider flattened by a hammer, limbs splayed, head bleeding.
And then there was the "push-back" force—it was intense! Really intense! It had the aesthetic beauty of an old used Alto fitted with a Ferrari engine.
Unfortunately, that experience only lasted three seconds. The Tailed Beast Bomb carried Ren across Training Ground Three and slammed into the outer barrier.
"Gah! Ugh!"
Pinned between the bomb and the barrier, Ren's eyes bulged as he vomited a huge mouthful of blood. The Tailed Beast Bomb was like a powerful soccer ball hitting a net, bulging the Konoha barrier outward by dozens of meters before—
CRACK!
The barrier shattered! The bomb's momentum didn't slow as it pushed Ren out another eight hundred meters, straight into the Forest of Death!
Before he could even feel the power of the final explosion, Ren had already been ground into ash during that brief yet eternal flight.
In the distance, inside the Forest of Death...
BOOM!
A mushroom cloud, far larger and more devastating than the artificial one Ren had created earlier that day, billowed into the sky!
"Haaa... hiss..."
Kushina exhaled a long breath of malice that condensed into white steam. After the shockwaves subsided, that annoying brat—the one who tried to steal her beloved Minato—had finally been turned into fireworks.
Driven by instinct and the Nine-Tails' violent emotions, Kushina wanted to tear something else apart. But when she looked up, she froze in place!
There, past the gaping hole in the Training Ground Three barrier and at the edge of the Forest of Death, stood a boy. He tilted his neck, cracked his joints as if nothing had happened, and stood up while patting the dust off his clothes.
Despite the traces of pain on his face, he wore a wide, chilling grin. He raised his head, and his crimson, two-tomoe snake-pupil Sharingan locked onto hers!
"Nice move!"
"But—"
"You beast, my pain is far greater than yours!!!"
Ren roared, his eyes widening.
In an instant:
Genjutsu: Sharingan!
Demonic Illusion: Mirror Heaven and Earth Change!
The feedback from the Earth Clone's destruction hit Ren's main body. It was the agony of being run over by a truck dozens of times, bones shattering, skin tearing, and then having chili water poured over the wounds while being flipped over a grill—a heart-piercing torture like having every fingernail ripped out one by one!
Ren endured it, recorded it, transformed it into a Sharingan Genjutsu, cast it on himself, and then—through Mirror Heaven and Earth Change—transferred every ounce of it to the Nine-Tails' consciousness controlling Kushina!
In a heartbeat:
"ROOOAAARRRR!!!"
"GAAHHH!"
"I'll kill you! I'll kill you!"
"REN UCHIHA!!!"
The Nine-Tails, now sharing Ren's agony, let out a piercing shriek! It clutched its head and rolled frantically on the ground, claws tearing deep gashes into the earth, its eight tails thrashing like a broken fan, leveling everything in the vicinity!
It was suffering to the absolute extreme!
Seeing this, a joyful smile spread across Ren's face. His blood, which had cooled after half a month without a life-or-death battle, began to boil once more! Dark, radical emotions surged in his heart.
This high-intensity exchange had allowed him to find his "normal" Uchiha mental state again. He covered his forehead and burst into mad laughter.
"Hahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!"
"Nine-Tails! Do you feel the same pain I do?!"
"Yes, exactly like that! Hate me! Resent me! Show me this pathetic display that brings me such pleasure!"
"Hahahahaha! You claim to be the collection of all the world's negative emotions, the taster of all suffering? To me, it's not enough! Not nearly enough!"
Ren's eyes turned predatory. He tilted his chin up and barked arrogantly:
"You beast—you're just missing a leash! And I shall be the master who tames you! Now, bow down and—"
Halfway through his speech, the Nine-Tails—having used Kushina's surging consciousness to break the genjutsu—scrambled back to its feet.
The first thing it did? Gather another Tailed Beast Bomb in its mouth, aimed directly at Ren.
"DIE!"
"DIE!"
"I'LL KILL YOU, UCHIHA BRAT!"
Ren swallowed hard, gulping down the rest of his heroic speech. Without a word, he spun around at the edge of the Forest of Death and bolted!
Talking tough was one thing, but Ren knew the score. If it came to a real fight, he was no match for the Nine-Tails. Half of Kurama could beat all the other tailed beasts combined; Ren's current power level was barely that of a standard Jinchūriki—he was a snack.
He recalled Minato's helpless expression and the words whispered to him a moment ago:
"You're a bit reckless, but the result is good. Ren, I have to trouble you this time. At this rate, Kushina will grow a ninth tail and the seal will break completely. We have to save her here! I need you to create an opening for me... an opening where I can actually reach her!"
Back in the present, Ren sprinted through the Forest of Death. He had no clear plan on how to create that opening yet. He felt like he was playing a Battle Royale game. He pushed his Cursed Seal Stage One to the limit, reinforcing his legs to achieve maximum speed.
The forest was complex and unfamiliar, so he couldn't use the terrain. Instead, he chose the most direct path: the 800-meter scorched trail left by the previous Tailed Beast Bomb. The shortest distance between two points is a straight line.
But as Ren stepped onto that path, something buried deep within him—amongst all his messy powers—reacted to the environment!
The Zero-Tails, sealed in his abdomen, suddenly jolted upright. It slammed its head against the gate of the sealing jutsu, sending Ren a message:
"Chirp~ Chirp!"
Ren didn't stop running. The sounds, which no normal person could understand, were instantly translated in his mind.
Ren's pupils shrank. "What did you say?"
"You can absorb the malice leaking from the Nine-Tails' chakra in the air?!"
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