"I'm old now, and I tend to ramble. Haha..." Mito withdrew her hand and turned 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 technique markings 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 touched the black sealing markings around her abdomen, golden light glimmered at her fingertips.
"Five Elements Seal—release!"
The sealing formula spread outward from her abdomen and came apart, like a flower blooming one last time before withering. Countless fine curse markings peeled away from her skin and dissipated into the air.
The entire process took less than three seconds, yet every second felt as heavy as a century.
Then—
"ROAR—!!!"
A deafening roar exploded through the air, carrying a tangible shockwave that compressed and warped the air within the barrier.
Everyone's hair whipped wildly in the gale.
Red Chakra burst from Mito's body, gathering, expanding, rising, and forming the phantom image of an enormous fox in midair.
The Nine-Tails!
Its nine tails lashed violently through the air, each swing whipping up fierce winds that made the talisman pillars at the four corners of the barrier rattle loudly.
Its Kurenai slit pupils swept across everything around it, passing over each tiny human before finally settling on Mito Uzumaki below.
"Mito—!!"
The Nine-Tails' voice was low and furious, like the rumble before a volcanic eruption.
"At last, I am free!! For all these years—you imprisoned me for all these years!! I'll destroy your Konoha!! I'll burn that damned village, along with all your foolish descendants, to ashes!!"
Terrifying Chakra poured down like something solid, more intense, violent, and filled with destructive intent than anything Mirai had ever felt.
He lay in the center of the barrier, trembling uncontrollably. It was his body's instinctive reaction to power on that level.
So this was the Nine-Tails?
One of the peaks of power in the world of Naruto—a force beyond even the Kage level.
The sheer presence of its roaring phantom was enough to make ordinary ninja'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 the few thin chains Mirai had summoned burst into existence behind her—twenty in all.
Every one of them was covered in dense sealing curse markings, brilliant gold from end to end, like twenty flood dragons roaring forth from behind her.
The chains intertwined, tightened, and wrapped around the Nine-Tails' huge body with lightning speed, binding it securely.
The Nine-Tails' phantom abruptly froze. Its nine tails were bound behind its back, its limbs tightly clamped by chains, and even its head was forced down by several chains pressing in from all directions.
The moment those curse markings touched the Nine-Tails' Chakra, they came alive and spread madly, suppressing its power layer by layer.
"Damn it, this nauseating, revolting power again!!"
The Nine-Tails struggled violently. The chains screeched against one another, and cracks spread across the ground from the tremors.
Yet no matter how hard it exerted itself, the Adamantine Sealing Chains did not budge.
"Mito! You old hag—!! Let me go!!"
"I'll kill you—!!"
"Mere humans—!!"
"Just wait!! The moment I get out, I'll destroy this lousy village first thing!!"
The Nine-Tails cursed everyone in turn, from Mito to Hiruzen Sarutobi, from Tsunade to every Barrier Team member nearby. Its furious shouts thundered through the barrier as the chains only tightened further.
Mito tilted her head slightly and looked at Mirai Uzumaki 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 crushing might carried by the Nine-Tails' Chakra.
"Mirai." Mito's voice was calm, completely ignoring the Nine-Tails' roars. "Are you ready?"
Mirai Uzumaki drew 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 me—?!"
The Nine-Tails was still roaring, but as the Five Elements Seal markings spread from Mito's palms, its voice became fragmented, and its struggles grew weaker and weaker.
The Kurenai chakra was forcibly compressed and drawn together, inch by inch pulled from Mito's body and guided through the technique markings toward Mirai Uzumaki's abdomen.
"Ungh—!"
Mirai let out a muffled groan, his entire body suddenly arching.
The instant that immense power flooded into him, he felt as though his internal organs had been churned apart—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 agony, 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 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 strand of the Nine-Tails' Chakra was drawn into the seal.
The Five Elements Seal markings on Mirai Uzumaki's abdomen slowly contracted and solidified, ultimately becoming a black spiral mark that sank beneath his skin.
The golden light on the ground went out completely.
The Nine-Tails' phantom dissipated into the air, and its roar came to an abrupt stop.
Silence returned to the barrier. Even the wind seemed to stop for an instant.
Mirai Uzumaki fell flat onto the ground, his chest heaving violently and his face pale as paper, but his breathing had already steadied.
His brows remained faintly furrowed, yet he had already sunk into unconscious sleep.
Mito stood beside him, looking down at him.
She stood perfectly straight, her back still carrying the proud bearing she had maintained all her life.
The golden chains had all withdrawn, and the light slowly faded from her body like the last rays of sunset.
Then she slowly crouched down, reached out, and gently brushed the stray hair from Mirai's forehead.
"Little Mirai..." Her voice was soft as a whisper. "Grandma's task is complete. From now on, you'll have to walk your own path."
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 up from the rooftops.
Those were the sights she had protected all her life.
She smiled—
"Hashirama, I'm coming to see you."
Before you continue