Blackened

Seeing Soseki sprint forward to block them, the lead ninja was overjoyed. "Hehehe, so what if he's a genius? He's still an inexperienced rookie. This great me used a little trick, and he fell for it!"

Ahead, Kushina stood frozen as if she had been scared silly, her face twisted in struggle and pain. Clearly, some big dog inside her was trying to take the opportunity to break through the seal.

"You want my power, don't you? Just a little... no, as long as you stop restraining yourself, with your strength, defeating them won't be difficult!"

"No, I can't!"

"Why resist your own heart? You clearly hate those people who bully and humiliate you!"

"I don't like them, but I'd hate the me who released a demon even more! Besides, the village doesn't only have people I hate!"

The lead ninja had no idea why that little girl ahead was not running, but he had no interest in finding out.

After all, his fish had taken the bait!

"Get out of my way!"

"Aha! This is exactly what I was waiting for!"

Just as the lead ninja was about to punch Kushina, he suddenly changed direction. The lightning blazing around his right fist swallowed the unprepared Soseki whole.

With a thunderous boom.

Soseki was hurled heavily through the air, the blood he spat out forming a glittering crimson string of beads.

"Soseki!" Asuma cried out in anguish, charging at the enemy with bloodshot eyes. "Bastard, I'll kill you!"

"Ahahaha! Stop talking big. With that Fire Release of yours that can't even kill anyone?" The lead ninja laughed heartily.

Kushina, who had been struggling in pain, was jolted awake by that piercing laughter. Then she noticed a trace of warm blood on her face.

"This is Soseki's blood? He got hurt... protecting me?"

A wisp of black mist quietly surfaced deep within her eyes.

Meanwhile, Asuma had already lost his mind. He had even forgotten to use ninjutsu, charging at the enemy with a kunai in hand.

"Huh? The Hokage's son is only this capable?" The lead ninja easily caught Asuma by the wrist and mocked him.

Mindful of Asuma's status, he did not dare go too far.

At that moment, Asuma calmed down from his impulsiveness and stared wide-eyed at the space behind his opponent in disbelief.

"Heh? Don't tell me you're trying to say there's an enemy behind me. Idiot, I saw through that trick more than ten years ago..." Just as the lead ninja sneered coldly, a voice that seemed to come from the Netherworld drifted up behind him.

"I'm going to kill you, you bastard!"

The lead ninja stiffly turned around and saw a monster shrouded in bloody mist staring fixedly at him.

That strange, ominous Chakra seemed capable of awakening humanity's deepest fears.

"Ah!!!"

Sarutobi Clan grounds.

The Third Hokage, who had been critically observing the scene in the crystal ball, abruptly stood up. He walked to the window and looked at the crimson blood mist in the distance, which seemed to be tearing through the night. His eyes were filled with worry and heaviness. "What is going on? Why is the Nine-Tails' Chakra erupting in that direction?"

With that thought, he quickly returned to the desk.

With a light sweep of his right hand, the image in the crystal ball began to change.

The next moment, Kushina appeared before him, draped in a layer of blood-red gauze. Also visible were the Cloud Ninja, terrified and collapsed on the ground.

"Damn it! These Cloud Village ninja actually..." The Third Hokage muttered furiously, then suddenly widened his eyes. In a corner of the crystal ball, he had actually spotted Asuma!

"Wait, what exactly is going on?"

Root, underground chamber.

A ninja wearing an Iwagakure forehead protector stared at the old man before him in utter terror.

"What are you doing? No, don't come any closer!"

"Stop struggling. Be good and let this old man give you an injection!"

"What is this? Poison?"

"Heh! Isn't this what Ōnoki sent you to infiltrate Leaf Village for?"

At those words, even though he was trapped in a cell, the Iwagakure spy could not stop longing from showing in his eyes. "This is the First Hokage's..."

Danzo took the opportunity to plunge the needle in.

"Argh!" The Iwagakure spy screamed in agony. In an instant, his body was consumed by trees.

"Another test subject gone!" Danzo frowned, but in the next moment, he hurriedly leaped up to the surface.

"This evil, ominous Chakra fluctuation... it's the Nine-Tails!"

Seeing this, the gloom in Danzo's eyes nearly rippled with delight. "Allowing the Nine-Tails to break through its seal is a grave dereliction of duty. Hiruzen, you are truly unfit to be Hokage!"

Meanwhile, at the Leaf Village border.

Soseki climbed out of a distant crater, the corner of his eye twitching wildly as he took in the scene before him.

Had he accidentally taken things too far?

I thought that, as a descendant of the Uzumaki Clan, she should be able to sense my condition easily... Soseki sighed inwardly. Still, it's fine. If she sprouted tails, that would really be hard to clean up. This situation isn't too bad!

With that thought, Soseki "struggled" out of the crater. "Big sister, please stop. I'm fine."

Upon hearing Soseki's voice, Kushina, in her blackened berserk state, quieted down. The bloody mist around her began to dissipate.

Asuma, who seemed to have been frightened senseless in the distance, finally came back to himself when he heard Soseki's voice. "Soseki, it's great that you're okay!"

As for the ninja from the Cloud Village, he could no longer hear Soseki's voice. Targeted by the Nine-Tails' Chakra, he had been frightened to death!

"This still isn't nearly enough!" Soseki frowned slightly. Naturally, he did not care about those pathetic Cloud Village ninjas, but he noticed that after the blood-red gauze around Kushina dissipated to a certain extent, it stabilized.

At that moment, Asuma jogged over and nervously leaned close to Soseki's ear. "Soseki, what's wrong with big sister?"

"Maybe it's the tailed beast mentioned in the books."

"Is big sister a Jinchuriki? How pitiful!"

Soseki shook his head slightly, then shouted shamefully, "Kind big sister, you have to hold on! You, who are so kind and brave, must never lose to the demon in your heart!"

As if his words had taken physical form, the bloody mist around Kushina dissipated a little with every sentence Soseki shouted.

"This really is too embarrassing!" Soseki took a deep breath and looked to the side. "Asuma, hurry and cheer for big sister with me!"

Asuma, who had been watching from the side, was dumbfounded. He blankly pointed at himself.

Watching someone else shout was fun, but doing it himself was far too embarrassing.

But seeing the persistence in Soseki's eyes, Asuma could only agree.

Then, after holding it in until his face turned green, he finally forced out a sentence. "Big sister, this form of yours is really ugly! Hurry up and change back!"

The instant his words fell, the bloody mist around Kushina surged upward with a whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

Seeing this, Soseki helplessly patted Asuma on the shoulder. "Forget it, you'd better not say anything. If you keep talking, you'll get beaten up!"