Suppressing the Nine-Tails' Chakra, the Absolute Solace of the Sage Body

The berserk red chakra was like boiling magma, madly licking at the surrounding air.

Even the night wind was completely ignited by that intensely evil heat, turning into scorching waves that swept outward. The trees within dozens of meters had no chance to struggle; their moisture instantly evaporated, their bark carbonized, and they crumbled into black ash.

Kushina had completely lost her human reason. On all fours, she let out beastly growls from her throat that did not sound human. Her once-clear eyes now held only savage crimson vertical pupils.

Behind her, the fox tail condensed from high-density tailed beast chakra suddenly went taut. Like a thick red steel whip, it tore through the air with a piercing sonic boom and viciously lashed toward Sosuke's head!

The speed and power of that strike were enough to flatten a small hill.

Faced with this devastating blow, Sosuke did not even raise an eyelid.

He formed no hand seals and did not retreat even half a step. He merely lifted his left hand casually.

Boom!

The red chakra tail struck Sosuke's palm squarely. Two completely different powers collided violently in midair, unleashing a visible ring-shaped shockwave that sheared half a foot of soil from the ground.

Yet then came a sight that made one's scalp tingle.

The scorching demonic chakra, hot enough to melt steel, met Sosuke's palm as if it had struck a wall of sighs. The tangible emerald Yang Release aura surrounding him was not corroded in the slightest. Instead, it erupted with even more dazzling light, forcefully sealing those red evil thoughts outside.

Sosuke's left hand was as steady as a mountain. His five fingers, like forged iron, clamped tightly around the berserk tail.

"A beast locked in a cage dares bare its fangs at me?"

An extreme coldness and arrogance seeped through Sosuke's gentle voice. The green glow in his eyes flared as the [Mastered Sage Body] within him was fully activated.

The laws of life from a higher dimension were a primordial power that surpassed every form of energy in the shinobi world, and the destined nemesis of the Ōtsutsuki Divine Tree clan. The chakra of a mere tailed beast did not even have the right to struggle before true divinity.

Sosuke took a fierce step forward. His right palm, carrying an incomparably brilliant mass of green light, passed unobstructed through the high-temperature fox cloak and pressed with flawless precision against Kushina's flat abdomen.

That was where the Eight Trigrams Seal's formation core lay.

"Get back in there."

With Sosuke's cold shout, vast Yang Release chakra, like a tsunami, blasted through his palm into Kushina's body without restraint.

At the same time, inside Kushina's seal space.

Within the dark, damp sewers, the Nine-Tails was frantically ramming the bars behind a massive iron gate. Sensing its host's weakness in the outside world, it was preparing to break out of its cage in one push and tear that white-clad human who had dared provoke it to pieces.

But the next second, a huge crack split open in the sky above the seal space without warning.

Endless emerald light poured down like divine punishment. A towering giant hand formed entirely from pure Yang Release chakra tore through the void and crashed down with an irresistible, terrifying pressure.

Utterly human-like shock and fear instantly filled the Nine-Tails' massive fox eyes.

That presence! That life force, pure to the extreme!

It was even more domineering and brutal than Senju Hashirama, the man who had once pinned it to the ground and treated it like a dog!

"Roar—!"

The Nine-Tails only had time to let out a miserable wail before the green giant hand clutched its throat. There was no room for resistance. Like gripping a kitten by the scruff of its neck, the hand brutally smashed the Nine-Tails' mountain-sized body back into the deepest part of the cage.

Bang!

The sealing runes on the iron gate instantly blazed under the nourishment of Yang Release, completely mending the cracks.

Back in the real world.

The boiling red cloak around Kushina vanished in an instant like lingering snow under the blazing sun.

The berserk demonic chakra receded, replaced by an exceptionally gentle and pure life force.

The Yang Release chakra in Sosuke's palm turned into strands of warm currents that flowed through Kushina's extraordinary meridians. The channels scorched by the Nine-Tails' chakra, the torn muscles, even the extensive burns across her skin, all began to regrow and heal at a visible rate under that godlike healing power.

The pain ebbed away like a receding tide, replaced by a warmth and peace that seeped into her soul.

The crimson in Kushina's eyes faded, returning them to clarity. Drained of strength, she fell forward and crashed solidly into a broad embrace carrying a faint scent of grass and trees.

Sosuke caught her slender waist, and the Yang Release aura of his Mastered Sage Body tightly wrapped around her, shutting out the chill of the deep night.

Kushina struggled to open her eyes. Before her was Sosuke's flawless face.

There was none of the hypocritical concern of Hidden Leaf's higher-ups, nor the guarded coldness of ANBU. This man, who had just slaughtered Hidden Cloud's elite with ruthless methods and then used absolute force to shove the Nine-Tails back into her stomach, was now looking at her with a lofty gaze, as though appraising an object.

Overbearing. Dictatorial.

Yet damnably reassuring.

At that moment, Kushina's defenses completely collapsed.

Over the years, she had endured endless rejection and fear in Hidden Leaf. The higher-ups treated her as a nuclear weapon, while the civilians treated her as a monster. Like duckweed adrift in a raging storm, she had desperately tried to grasp even a shred of acceptance, only for reality to batter her until she was covered in wounds again and again.

And now, this man had forcefully torn apart all her disguises, laid the cruelest truth before her, and then given her an absolutely safe haven in a manner that allowed no refusal.

Not as Hidden Leaf's weapon.

Only as Senju Sosuke's private possession.

Feeling the pure Yang Release within her constantly nourishing her very essence, Kushina's eyes moistened again. But this time, they were not tears of despair. They were the complete surrender of someone who had finally found a place to belong.

She stretched out her hands, still covered in blood, and tightly grasped the white haori at Sosuke's chest, burying her face deeply against him.

"Mas...ter..."

A whisper as faint as a thread slipped from her cracked lips. The instant she spoke that word, she let go of all her wariness and stubbornness, completely passing out in Sosuke's arms.

Hearing that form of address, a satisfied cold smile curled across Sosuke's lips.

The dual conquest of body and soul was complete.

With one hand, he lifted the unconscious red-haired girl into his arms and turned toward Hidden Leaf Village.

Under the night sky, Hidden Leaf was as quiet as a gigantic graveyard. Yet beneath that peaceful facade, who knew how many filthy schemes and transactions lay hidden?

"Since you all enjoy playing the game of killing with a borrowed knife..."

Under the moonlight, Sosuke's gaze turned incomparably cold and sinister as the chakra of his Mastered Sage Body erupted beneath his feet.

"Then I'll personally drive this knife into your hearts."

Boom!

The ground instantly exploded into a huge crater. Holding Kushina, Sosuke became a bolt of green lightning that tore through the night sky, shooting straight toward the heart of Hidden Leaf.

Hidden Leaf Village, Hokage Building.

The Hokage's office on the top floor was brightly lit.

Hiruzen Sarutobi stood before the enormous floor-to-ceiling window, holding his trademark pipe and taking puff after puff. Thick smoke obscured his wrinkled face, making the emotions in his eyes impossible to discern.

In a shadowed corner of the room, Shimura Danzō leaned on his cane, his single eye glinting with a dark, cold light.

"By now, Hidden Cloud's Thunder Beast Squad should have succeeded." Danzo's voice was hoarse, carrying undisguised venom. "Even if that arrogant brat Senju Sosuke truly displayed Wood Release on the western front, there is no way he can emerge unscathed after facing Hidden Cloud's elite assassination unit alone."

Hiruzen Sarutobi exhaled a ring of smoke, his brow furrowing deeply. "Danzo, you went too far with this. Kushina is, after all, the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki. If Hidden Cloud truly takes her away, the village's strategic deterrence will be greatly diminished."

"Hiruzen! You are still as indecisive as ever!" Danzo struck his cane heavily against the floor and retorted sharply. "Senju Sosuke's threat has already far surpassed that of the other shinobi villages! He subdued Uchiha Fugaku on the western front, and now the entire Uchiha clan is secretly drawing closer to the Senju clan! If you let him continue developing, how much longer will you be able to sit in that Hokage's seat?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi fell silent.

This was the thorn he feared most deeply. The Senju Clan's former glory had been too immense. Once Sosuke truly awakened Wood Release comparable to the First Hokage's, Hidden Leaf's entire power structure would face a complete reshuffle.

Thus, when Danzo proposed this poisonous plan to kill two birds with one stone—deliberately opening the barrier to let Hidden Cloud infiltrate and luring Sosuke to his death—he had chosen to close his eyes and tacitly approve it all.

"As long as Sosuke dies at Hidden Cloud's hands, we can rightfully declare war on the Land of Lightning and take over all of the Senju Clan's remaining assets at the same time. As for the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki..." Danzo sneered. "Root's elite have long been lying in ambush along the border. Once Sosuke and Hidden Cloud fight each other to a standstill, our men will step in and bring Kushina back."

Hiruzen Sarutobi sighed, just about to say something to conceal his guilty conscience.

Then—

Rumble—!

A deafening explosion suddenly erupted inside the Hokage Building. The entire building shook violently beneath the terrifying impact, and dust sifted down from the ceiling.

"What happened?!" Hiruzen Sarutobi's expression changed drastically as he spun around.

Danzo also sprang to his feet, his single eye fixed upon the office's heavy solid-wood door.

In the corridor outside, the four elite ANBU guards who should have been standing watch had not even had time to scream before their presences vanished completely.

Then—

Bang!

The Hokage's office door, representing Hidden Leaf's highest authority and built of solid steel and hardwood, along with the half-meter-thick load-bearing walls on either side, was kicked directly into pieces by an unstoppable burst of violent force.

Shattered wood and stone flew through the office like cannonballs, smashing the expensive tea table and filing cabinets.

Within the billowing dust, heavy yet steady footsteps struck, one after another, against the taut hearts of Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzo.

A tall figure in white, holding an unconscious red-haired girl in his arms, slowly emerged from the dust and stepped across the wreckage.

A chilling smile rested on Sosuke's refined, jade-like face. Looking at Hidden Leaf's two highest rulers as if they faced a great enemy, he spoke softly, like he was greeting old friends.

"Gentlemen, staying up so late... were you waiting for me?"