"Ah, I understand."
Watching Yukina shake her head once more, Kushina drew a slight breath and finally stopped insisting. Slowly, she released Hirohiko and Chiba's hands. Her red Nine-Tails Cloak swayed as she gradually straightened up.
"As long as Hirohiko can wake up."
At this, Yukina cast a deep glance at Chiba beside her, forcing a smile as she nodded heavily.
However, rather than saying those words for Kushina's sake, she was saying them to herself.
At this moment, every movement Chiba had made, every word he had said to her, every touch, every little moment they had spent together surfaced clearly in her mind once again.
Yukina was right.
Although the Nine-Tails had exhausted itself in its earlier rampage and no longer had the strength to resist my extraction, allowing me to obtain a large amount of Nine-Tails Chakra with only a small amount of my own Chakra, a hard battle lay ahead. The fact that Hirohiko's Tailed Beast Mode could still be maintained was already something to be grateful for.
The amount of Nine-Tails Chakra was essentially exchanged for my own Chakra.
Chiba no longer seemed to be of any use. Rather than waste it and find ourselves short later, I should stop now.
A bitter fight is imminent. I can't be so willful.
At this moment, Kushina took a deep breath, forcing herself not to look at Chiba as she repeatedly reminded herself.
"Yukina, stay here and look after Chiba and Hirohiko. Under no circumstances can you let the battle reach this place."
Then, after taking another deep breath, Kushina looked seriously at Yukina and spoke in an almost commanding tone, like a teacher giving an order.
"No! I want to fight too. My Gentle Fist still has a chance—"
Upon hearing this, Yukina instinctively tried to