Boom! Boom! Boom!
Amid a series of thunderous booms, several fierce attacks suddenly struck the spot where Uchiha Chen had just appeared.
The grass, which had been swaying gently in the breeze and growing peacefully, was now obliterated by the ferocious assault, leaving not even a trace behind.
The ground that had taken the brunt of the attack was shattered, with only a massive crater several meters deep remaining.
At that moment, Kushina stood nearby, tense and ready for anything, her expression grave as she tried to assess the enemy she knew nothing about. Her eyes gleamed with wariness.
Behind her, several Adamantine Sealing Chains coiled around her body, forming what looked like a sturdy shield to guard against any sudden ambush.
Clearly, after witnessing Uchiha Chen appear in exactly the same way as Uchiha Obito, Kushina had immediately concluded that he was the one who had attacked Konoha and ultimately caused both her and Minato's deaths.
She didn't know why she had come back to life, or why she was completely unharmed.
Even her clothes no longer had the holes the Nine-Tails' claws had torn through them.
But she still unleashed all her strength without hesitation and launched a fierce attack on Uchiha Chen.
But how could Uchiha Chen, inside the Kamui Dimension, be hit so easily?
Looking at Kushina, who stood before him with a solemn expression and radiated an intense desire to attack, Uchiha Chen was initially baffled. He couldn't understand why she had suddenly attacked him.
But after thinking it over, he understood. Sure enough, his appearance, identical to Uchiha Obito's, had led her to misunderstand. After all, she had just witnessed someone appear that way.
Uchiha Chen had never dreamed that one day he would end up taking the blame for Uchiha Obito!
His face darkened ominously. He knew full well that if he didn't explain things quickly, Kushina would pin the blame on him for good, and he'd never be able to shake it off.
Even if he failed to win her over, he still had Kotoamatsukami as a last resort. But he was still eager to experience the genuine Blood-Red Habanero!
"Tap, tap, tap..."
A series of crisp footsteps sounded behind Kushina, accompanied by a slightly dejected voice. "Kushina, you're so heartless! I went to all that trouble to bring you back, and you actually attacked me."
As he spoke, Uchiha Chen deliberately made his voice sound hurt and slowly approached Kushina.
Perhaps the voice sounded familiar. Uzumaki Kushina finally stopped attacking and turned to look warily at Uchiha Chen as he slowly approached.
"Crack!"
With a sharp snap, the chain behind Kushina shot out like a striking serpent, stretching into a long whip that cracked through the air with a piercing boom.
At the same time, she shouted angrily, "Don't come any closer!" The ready-to-strike Sealing Chains instantly drew a line between them.
Seeing Uchiha Chen stop before the line after she warned him off, Kushina regarded him with disgust. "Don't call me that. I don't have a little brother like you, who wants to kill me!"
"I never imagined you'd have such tremendous power. I underestimated you before. But even if it costs me my life, I'll kill you and avenge Minato!"
Blinded by rage, Kushina had already forgotten what she'd just heard about Uchiha Chen bringing her back to life. She didn't believe a word of it.
She blurred forward, ready to attack again.
At the center of her assault, Uchiha Chen called out once more, "Kushina, please hear me out first, okay? I really did bring you back to life! And I wasn't the one who attacked you!"
But no matter how loudly Uchiha Chen called, Kushina remained unmoved and continued attacking as she pleased.
Several Sealing Chains slammed toward Uchiha Chen like heavy hammers. They couldn't hit him at all, but this couldn't go on. It would only fuel Kushina's anger.
With no other choice, Uchiha Chen decided to leave for now and give Kushina some time alone to calm down.
Maybe after he'd been gone for a while, once Kushina's emotions had settled, she would be willing to listen to his explanation.
With that thought, Uchiha Chen called out again, "Kushina, calm down for a while. I'll come back to see you later." As soon as he finished speaking, he vanished from the spot.
After Uchiha Chen left, Kushina could only stop attacking, frustrated and unwilling. Aside from her anger and frustration, she had no effective way to stop him from leaving.
Gradually calming down, she began to take in her unfamiliar surroundings, a trace of confusion in her eyes. She reached out and slowly felt her chest, where the wound that should have pierced straight through her had been—the one made by the Nine-Tails' claw.
But when her fingers touched her chest, all she felt was soft fabric. The only thing she could feel was the green maternity dress she'd been wearing when she gave birth.
Yet the agony of being pierced through the chest remained vivid in her memory, as if it had happened only moments ago. And now, there wasn't the slightest trace of a wound.
The jarring contradiction left Kushina completely bewildered and at a loss.
She didn't know how to make sense of what was happening. She was confused and had no idea whether this was a hallucination before her death or whether she'd fallen under a Uchiha genjutsu.
"Argh! This is so frustrating!" Nearly driven mad by it all, Kushina clutched her head and thumped it, trying to kick every question she couldn't answer out of her mind.
She decided to wait quietly for Uchiha Chen to return so she could ask him what was going on.
The air seemed to freeze. Aside from the breeze, silence filled the surroundings. Finally alone with her thoughts, Kushina could no longer suppress the powerful emotions surging inside her. Her longing washed over her like a tide.
She didn't know how long it had been since she died, or how much Naruto had grown. Time seemed to have lost all meaning here. Kushina could only pray silently that Naruto had grown up safe and sound.
Kushina had no idea that only a day had passed in the outside world. Lost in sorrow, she unknowingly let a string of tears fall, each one heavy with guilt.
Meanwhile, Uchiha Chen reappeared outside and looked at Mikoto, who was now fully dressed. He said helplessly, "Mikoto, Kushina mistook me for Uchiha Obito, the one who attacked her earlier. She even attacked me just now."
He saw the worry on Mikoto's face and gently reassured her. "Don't worry. I won't hold it against her. Our powers are practically identical, so it's understandable that she mistook me for him.
"But you may have to wait a little while. Once she's calmed down, I'll take you to see her." With that, Uchiha Chen sat down with Mikoto, and they waited quietly.
However, Mikoto's worries were quite different from what Uchiha Chen had assumed.