It was the combination of all these reasons that forced Ueno Kei to intervene. Otherwise, if Naruto suffered irreversible harm or some terrifying consequence, it would be something Ueno Kei absolutely did not want to see.
"Damn it!" Ueno Kei cursed inwardly. After he entered the battlefield, Orochimaru had withdrawn far away. Ueno Kei's sudden arrival had also made the Nine-Tails Naruto had transformed into immediately lock onto him. Handling Naruto had already been extremely difficult for Ueno Kei.
What? Use the Wind Wing Blade Technique? Use high-powered Lightning Release ninjutsu to incapacitate Naruto?
How could Ueno Kei possibly bring himself to do that? Just like Jiraiya back then, he could not use any of his strength or techniques at all. Meanwhile, Orochimaru would occasionally come over to harass him, leaving Ueno Kei thoroughly vexed!
Boom! Taking advantage of the moment Ueno Kei's attention had just been drawn away by Orochimaru, a massive crimson chakra palm came smashing down viciously. Ueno Kei could not evade it in time and was grazed along the edge. His clothes immediately caught fire as if set ablaze, and a searing pain pierced deep into him.
Ueno Kei swiftly tore off that sleeve. The skin beneath, once spotless and fair, had already turned bright red, with parts even scorched black. That had only been a brief graze—one could only imagine how terrifyingly high the temperature was.
Yet Ueno Kei paid no attention to it. He only looked worriedly at Naruto, whose tails had already grown to seven, while the eighth was faintly beginning to emerge. Just a graze had left him like this—what kind of intense heat and pain must Naruto be enduring beneath the layers of Demonic Fox Cloak formed from the Nine-Tails' chakra?
"Oh?" Orochimaru's eyes suddenly lit up, as though he had