Nine-Tails

"You're... the Collector!"

Kushina Uzumaki's heart suddenly clenched, her pupils widening slightly in shock.

Before her stood the "Collector," a figure who had existed only in intelligence reports, appearing so abruptly and without warning.

It was as though he had torn open a corner of space, or condensed directly out of nothingness.

The way he appeared overturned Kushina's understanding of Time-Space Ninjutsu.

Instinctively, she compared him to her husband Minato Namikaze's signature Flying Thunder God Technique.

Minato needed specially made kunai as coordinates.

Even the masked Black-Clad Man who had brought endless nightmares on the night she gave birth to Naruto had caused distortions in space when using his strange time-space traversal.

Yet Minamoto Takuya... was completely different!

There had been no warning whatsoever when he appeared.

One moment, that spot had been completely empty;

The next, he was standing there in full view.

There were no ripples spreading through space, no lingering energy dispersing, and no signs of any technique being activated.

It was so silent that it sent chills down her spine, as though he had always belonged in that space and had merely switched from "nonexistence" to "existence."

This method of arrival, beyond all common sense, was more mysterious and unfathomable than any Time-Space Ninjutsu she knew.

"It's me." Minamoto Takuya's voice was calm as he broke the dead silence.

Looking at the lingering shock on Kushina's face, the corner of his mouth seemed to twitch ever so slightly.

"Since you know who I am, then... surely I needn't waste my breath explaining why I'm here?"

Kushina Uzumaki's heart sank.

Of course she knew!

Rumors about the "Collector," Minamoto Takuya, were no secret among the upper echelons of the major ninja villages.

This mysterious and powerful being possessed an almost obsessive desire for Tailed Beast Chakra.

After