Their Respective Opponents, A Duel to Sever Bonds

Naruto moved. Sasuke moved too. Without exchanging a word, the two of them charged out almost simultaneously. Golden Six Paths Chakra and a purple Susanoo skeleton slammed side by side toward Uchiha Sou at the front—one from the left, one from the right, sealing off every possible route of escape.

They did not hit him.

A pale-blue chain lashed in from the side, not at Naruto, but at the ground in front of his feet. The earth split open with a crack, but it was no ordinary fissure—an eerie light shone from within it, as though something were crawling its way out. Naruto stepped over the crack and suddenly felt his body grow heavier. Not the weight of gravity, but as if time itself had slowed. His movements lagged by half a beat, the fist he threw slowing from a bullet to a scene in slow motion.

The same thing happened to Sasuke. As his Kusanagi Sword came down, its blade paused in midair—not because it had been blocked, but because it was "supposed" to pause there. As though some invisible force were telling it: This strike will land 0.3 seconds later.

0.3 seconds. Long enough for someone to step in from the side.

Zhi Li appeared between them.

She still wore that same expression. Her pale-blue Rinnegan had ripples in their pupils like a winter lake, cold without the slightest trace of warmth. Her black robe swayed faintly in the wind, and seven Truth-Seeking Orbs floated behind her—no, not Truth-Seeking Orbs, but seven pale-blue, translucent spheres. Ripples moved across their surfaces, like miniature moons.

She raised her hand. Her ten fingers spread open, each connected to a pale-blue chain. They were not physical objects, but chains condensed from Chakra. They swayed through the air like snakes, like tentacles, like