Astonishment

Ye Zi had understood the enemy's connections thoroughly when he left Konoha.

Now that things had come this far, even if he still harbored a trace of hesitation, he could no longer stop himself from taking that final step toward the end.

Countless roots surged toward her. In Sage Mode, Kushina's senses were extraordinarily sharp. She controlled her golden chains, anchoring them to the ground and using them to lift herself into the air, away from the incoming roots.

To evade Ye Zi's attacks, the assault on the Gold and Silver Brothers immediately lost all momentum, giving them a chance to catch their breath.

Although the Gold and Silver Brothers' tailed-beast transformations concerned Ye Zi somewhat, his target was still the Nine-Tails. By a twist of fate, he had instead saved the Gold and Silver Brothers. That had not been his intention, but the brothers belonged to his faction. He had attacked Kushina while also saving two combatants—killing two birds with one stone.

Even without Sage Mode, Kushina's perception of danger had been extremely sharp. Now that she had Sage Mode as well, landing an attack on her was exceedingly difficult. In particular, Kushina had mastered Nine-Tails Mode and could share Chakra with the Nine-Tails inside her, making her several times more troublesome to deal with.

Even a sneak attack would have no effect, because every movement was within Kushina's perception.

"..."

Ye Zi continued forming hand seals without saying a word. Once again, he used Wood Release, which possessed powerful binding abilities. This time, he unleashed a massive amount of Chakra without holding anything back. In an instant, more than a hundred thick roots condensed and swept toward Kushina like a landslide.

This use of Wood Release had already surpassed the scale of Wood Release: Wood Forest.

Madara Uchiha,