"Hirohiko, what did you find?"
Seeing Hirohiko staring blankly, seemingly too shocked to speak, a trace of anxiety flashed across Yukina's face. Unable to hold herself back, she asked again.
What was wrong? Was this problem serious? Could it be that Uchiha Nobuhiko had seemed to give them hope, but Chiaki was actually beyond saving?
Had Uchiha Nobuhiko already cut off all of Chiaki's chances of survival? Had making them think Chiaki could still be saved merely been a scheme to keep them here?
At that moment, Yukina's heart sank, and her heartbeat quickened. She suddenly realized something extremely important.
The Sealing Fire Jutsu Scroll Uchiha Nobuhiko had placed inside Chiaki was real, and it was also true that Chiaki was under Uchiha Nobuhiko's control. But one thing might have been false: the method of control might have been impossible to undo.
Even if it was undone, Chiaki might still have only one path left—death.
The reason he had made them believe that capturing the Masked Man would save Chiaki was to exploit their feelings for Chiaki, to make them stay behind. No, it was to make Teacher Kushina, the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, stay behind so he could seize the Nine-Tails!
And it all made sense!
With the power Uchiha Nobuhiko had displayed, he could have done it. If Teacher Minato and Teacher Kushina's combined Rasengan had not shattered his defenses, he could have seized the Nine-Tails completely.
At the time, Teacher Minato and Teacher Kushina had only coincidentally discovered that incorporating Nine-Tails Chakra into the Rasengan could fundamentally increase its power. Uchiha Nobuhiko could not possibly have known that the Rasengan could be used that way.
So it was perfectly reasonable for him to set such a trap, confident that his own abilities would let him seize the Nine-Tails.
They