Nine-Tails Transfer Complete! Hashirama, I'm Coming to See You

"Getting old has made me a little talkative. Haha..." Mito withdrew her hand and turned to walk toward the outer edge of the barrier.

Tsunade stepped forward to support her, but Mito gently brushed her hand aside and walked to the core node of the Sealing Transfer Technique on her own.

"Hiruzen." She nodded at Hiruzen Sarutobi, her tone resolute. "Begin."

Hiruzen Sarutobi looked grief-stricken. He took a deep breath, raised his hand, and shouted in a low voice, "Barrier activated! Transfer ritual, begin—!"

The patterns of the technique on the ground suddenly lit up with golden light, enveloping the entire barrier.

Mito Uzumaki raised her withered hands and slowly yet firmly formed a hand seal.

The instant her palms pressed against the black sealing markings around her abdomen, golden light glowed at her fingertips.

"Five Elements Seal—release!"

The sealing formula spread outward from her abdomen and dissolved, like a flower blooming one final time before withering. Countless intricate curse marks peeled away from the surface of her skin and scattered into the air.

The whole process took less than three seconds, yet every second felt as heavy as a century.

Then—

"Roar—!!!"

A deafening roar exploded, carrying a tangible shockwave that compressed and distorted the air within the barrier.

Everyone's hair whipped violently in the wind.

Crimson chakra erupted from Mito's body, gathering, expanding, and rising until it formed the phantom of an incomparably massive fox in midair.

The Nine-Tails!

Its nine tails lashed fiercely through the air, each swing stirring up gale-force winds that made the talisman pillars at the four corners of the barrier rattle and snap.

Those blood-red vertical pupils swept over everything around it, passing one by one over the tiny humans before finally settling on Mito Uzumaki beneath it.

"Mito—!!"

The Nine-Tails' voice was low and furious, like the rumbling before a volcanic eruption.

"At last, this old man is free!! For all these years—you imprisoned this old man for all these years!! This old man will destroy your Konoha!! I'll burn that damned village, along with all your foolish descendants, to ashes!!"

Terrifying chakra poured down like something tangible, more intense, violent, and filled with destructive intent than anything Mirai had ever felt.

He lay in the center of the barrier, trembling uncontrollably from head to toe. It was his body's natural reaction to power of that level.

So this was the Nine-Tails?

One of the power ceilings of the Naruto world—power that stood above the Kage level.

The sheer force of a single phantom roaring was enough to make ordinary shinobi's legs go weak, leaving them unable to stand.

Before such power, Mirai Uzumaki felt smaller than an ant!

But Mito Uzumaki did not retreat. She did not even spare the Nine-Tails another glance.

Her hands formed another seal as golden light surged from her entire body—

"Adamantine Sealing Chains!"

Chains several times thicker than Mirai's thin chains burst out of thin air from behind her—twenty in total.

Every chain was covered in dense sealing curse marks, gleaming pure gold like twenty flood dragons roaring forth from behind her.

The chains interwove, tightened, and coiled through the air, binding the Nine-Tails' enormous body in an instant.

The Nine-Tails' phantom abruptly froze. Its nine tails were bound behind its back, its limbs tightly restrained by chains, and even its head was forced down by several chains pressing in from every direction.

The moment those curse marks touched the Nine-Tails' chakra, they seemed to come alive, spreading madly and suppressing its power layer by layer.

"Damn it, that disgusting, nauseating power again!!"

The Nine-Tails struggled violently. The chains screeched against one another, and cracks spread across the ground.

But no matter how hard it exerted itself, the Adamantine Sealing Chains did not budge.

"Mito! You old hag—!! Let this old man go!!"

"This old man will kill you—!!"

"Mere humans—!!"

"Just wait!! Once this old man gets out, I'll destroy this trash village first thing!!"

The Nine-Tails cursed everyone in turn, from Mito to Hiruzen Sarutobi, from Tsunade to every Barrier Team member nearby. Its thunderous insults rang out as the chains tightened further and further.

Mito tilted her head slightly and looked at Mirai Uzumaki standing beside her.

His face was pale, and his fists were clenched tight, but his gaze remained fixed on the Nine-Tails without wavering.

He was forcing himself to adapt to that overwhelming pressure, to the oppressive might brought by the Nine-Tails' chakra.

"Mirai." Mito's voice was calm, completely ignoring the Nine-Tails' roars. "Are you ready?"

Mirai Uzumaki took a deep breath and nodded firmly.

"Come on, Grandma."

Mito said nothing more. Her hands shifted through seals as she began guiding the sealing process—

"Five Elements Seal!"

"Mere humans—you think this technique can contain this old man—?!"

The Nine-Tails was still roaring, but as the Five Elements Seal's patterns spread out from Mito's palms, its voice began to break apart, and its struggles grew weaker and weaker.

The crimson chakra was forcibly compressed and drawn together, inch by inch pulled from Mito's body and guided by the technique's patterns toward Mirai Uzumaki's abdomen.

"Ugh—!"

Mirai let out a muffled groan, his whole body suddenly curling forward.

The instant that immense power flooded into him, he felt as though his internal organs had been churned inside out—scalding, heavy, and filled with a tearing pain.

But he gritted his teeth and made no further sound.

Mito watched his face twist from the excruciating pain, and a trace of reluctance flashed through her eyes.

But she did not stop, nor did she slow down. This was Mirai Uzumaki's responsibility, and also his mission!

"Child, hold on a little longer." Her voice was so soft that even the Nine-Tails could not hear it. "It'll be over soon."

The final wisp of the Nine-Tails' chakra was drawn into the seal.

The Five Elements Seal's patterns slowly contracted and solidified over Mirai Uzumaki's abdomen, ultimately becoming a black spiral mark that sank beneath his skin.

The golden light on the ground went out completely.

The Nine-Tails' phantom dispersed into the air, and its roar came to an abrupt halt.

Silence returned to the barrier, as though even the wind had stopped for a moment.

Mirai Uzumaki fell onto his back on the ground, his chest heaving violently. His face was pale as paper, but his breathing had already steadied.

His brows were still faintly furrowed, yet he had already fallen into unconscious sleep.

Mito stood beside him, looking down at him.

She stood straight, her back still carrying the upright bearing she had maintained her entire life.

The golden chains had all withdrawn, and the light slowly faded from her body like the last glow of sunset.

Then she slowly crouched down, reached out, and gently brushed the stray hair from Mirai's forehead.

"Little Mirai..." Her voice was as soft as a murmur. "Grandma's task is complete. The road ahead, you'll have to walk it yourself."

She straightened up and looked back one last time.

The distant mountains glowed warm gold beneath the setting sun. Farther away, the outline of Konoha was faintly visible, smoke curling from the rooftops.

Those were the sights she had protected her entire life.

She smiled—

"Hashirama, I'm coming to see you."