"Catch!"
With a flick of his hand, Araki tossed Uzumaki Kushina's body into the air.
The Nine-Tails had lived for over a thousand years, after all. It had some acting skills.
While in Araki's hands earlier, it had remained perfectly still, as if it had truly fallen unconscious.
But the moment Araki threw it forward...
"Roar!"
An orange-red Tailed Beast Cloak instantly appeared, covering its entire body. Nine tails sprang out from behind its rear and whipped about wildly. Its eyelids flew open, revealing blood-red vertical pupils that made Torifu Akimichi, who had been about to reach out and catch it, freeze on the spot. A deadly sense of danger surged over him like a tidal wave.
This was the body's instinctive reaction when a human life was threatened, born from decades of experience fighting across battlefields.
"This isn't Kushina. This is... the Nine-Tails!!!"
"Multi-Size Technique!"
Without time to say anything more, Torifu Akimichi made a snap decision. His body suddenly swelled, intending to restrain the Nine-Tails before it could fully unleash even more power.
At the very least... they could not start fighting outright inside Konoha's camp.
"Super Palm Push!"
Before the white smoke had even dispersed, a pair of hands several meters long thrust out from within it. Carrying fierce wind pressure, they slammed down toward the Nine-Tails.
This was a Nintaijutsu unique to the Akimichi Clan. After using the Multi-Size Technique on the entire body, they would apply the Partial Multi-Size Technique to their palms, attacking enemies with powerful palm winds and crushing pressure.
Buzz!
Torifu Akimichi's reaction could not have been any faster. Only a few short seconds passed between noticing something was wrong and launching this mountain-shattering attack.
This was already the most appropriate response he could make.
His slap was not meant to harm