"Th-This...!?"
Naruto, bound by golden chains, was startled. He recognized the jutsu his mother had once used in his consciousness space to subdue the Nine-Tails. Knowing how powerful it was, he instinctively tried to break the chains with brute force.
Yet the more he struggled, the tighter the golden chains constricted around him.
In Nine-Tails Chakra Mode, he possessed enough strength to shatter a wall or demolish a building with a casual touch, yet under the restraint of these golden chains, he could not exert any of it at all. Moreover, the Tailed Beast's power within him seemed to be suppressed by the chains. Even his long-mastered Nine-Tails Chakra Mode was on the verge of failing.
Mitsuki was not faring much better than Naruto.
The golden chains had shot out at exceptionally tricky angles, all from blind spots amid the gaps in the sea of trees. With the sea of trees' violent chakra interfering with his senses, he had been unable to evade them and was bound tightly as well.
It was not just Naruto and Mitsuki. Kakashi and Guy, the two Jonin instructors who were likewise struggling against the attacks of the sea of trees, were also ensnared by golden chains that suddenly shot out from gaps in the forest.
"This is bad!"
Kakashi was immediately alarmed.
Unlike the others, he, famed as the Copy Ninja, recognized at a glance the Uzumaki Clan's signature and formidable Sealing Jutsu, Adamantine Sealing Chains. He knew it was not a sealing technique meant for ordinary shinobi, but one used to subdue even more terrifying enemies such as Tailed Beasts.
At that moment, Nagato, who stood silently atop a continuously growing branch, revealed himself from within the sea of trees.
Everyone bound by the golden chains looked up in unison and immediately discovered