Those Explosive Tags Pack a Hell of a Punch

Northern Border, on the road back.

The four of them walked along a mountain road. Jiraiya hummed an off-key tune as he led the way, with Zhili and Minato following behind him and Mirai in the middle of the group.

His eyes were closed, as though he were resting while walking, but Kagura Mind's Eye remained active the entire time.

He extended his sensory range as far as possible, covering a radius of twenty kilometers!

It wasn't just for vigilance. More than that, he was trying his luck, hoping he might find Nawaki and Orochimaru.

Suddenly, his steps faltered.

"What is it?" Minato noticed his hesitation.

To the northeast, roughly twenty kilometers away, two familiar chakra signatures appeared at the edge of his perception.

One belonged to Nawaki—the warm, gentle chakra unique to the Senju Bloodline.

The other belonged to Orochimaru—colder, sharper, and unmistakably distinct.

The two were about ten kilometers apart. Not far, but not close enough to be traveling side by side.

What made Mirai even more alert was that around Orochimaru's chakra, several unfamiliar chakra signatures were tangled together and moving—people were clearly fighting.

"Jiraiya!" Mirai opened his eyes, his voice urgent. "I found Brother Nawaki and Lord Orochimaru!"

"Lord Orochimaru is fighting someone, and there's more than one enemy.

"Brother Nawaki is in another direction. They're about ten kilometers apart."

"Nawaki's in trouble! I'll go help him first!"

He didn't wait for Jiraiya to answer. He kicked off the ground and shot forward like an arrow.

Minato and Zhili exchanged a glance and immediately gave chase, but Mirai was too fast. In the blink of an eye, he had opened up a gap.

The ease vanished from Jiraiya's face. Orochimaru was in trouble?

No one knew Orochimaru's strength better than he did. Anyone capable of forcing him into a fight was definitely no ordinary opponent.

Without asking anything else, he pushed off the ground and flashed after them. In just a few leaps, he caught up to Minato and Zhili, grabbed the two kids, and sped toward the direction where Mirai had vanished.

That kid... how is he so fast?

Watching Mirai Uzumaki's back, a trace of doubt crossed Jiraiya's mind.

Boom—

Golden-red flames shot into the sky, and the blast wave sent shattered rocks and dust flying everywhere.

When Mirai reached the clearing where Nawaki was, he saw from afar that the boy was standing in the middle of an open space in the woods, facing away from them as he looked into the distance.

"Nawaki!"

Mirai froze slightly. That sounded like Sister Tsunade?

He looked up. At the other end of the road, Tsunade was hurrying over with Kushina.

Why were they here?

Behind Mirai, Jiraiya landed with Minato and Zhili.

His brow immediately furrowed. "So many traps. Why would Nawaki be in a place like that? This is bad!"

At the center of the traps, Nawaki heard the commotion as well. He turned around, and his eyes lit up when he saw Tsunade. He opened his mouth, about to call out, "Sister"—

Then the corner of his eye caught sight of the ground beneath his feet.

A ring of Explosive Tags on the ground flashed with a blinding red light. Their fuses had already begun burning, hissing like venomous snakes.

His expression shifted from delight to confusion, then to despair.

The paper tags were packed densely in a circle. What bound him wasn't rope, but the distance to death.

"Sister—" Nawaki cried out instinctively. His pupils shrank to pinpoints, and his entire body froze in place, unable to decide whether to run or stay still.

Tsunade froze too.

When she saw the burning Explosive Tags, shock instantly filled her eyes, and her whole face turned white as paper.

Her body wanted to rush forward faster than her mind could react, but she was too far away. There was no time.

At that moment, a golden blur flashed in from the side.

It was so fast that the naked eye could barely follow its path, like a meteor trailing flames.

Within the light, the silhouette of a boy could vaguely be seen, his red hair whipping wildly inside a golden Chakra Cloak.

It was Mirai Uzumaki!

He rushed to Nawaki's side, but there was no time to retreat. The Explosive Tags were about to detonate!

He could only raise a hand, seize Nawaki by the shoulder, and use all his strength to hurl him violently into the distance.

Nawaki's body traced an arc through the air, and then—Boom!—the Explosive Tags detonated instantly!

The blast wave slammed into the airborne Nawaki, throwing him onto the nearby grass. He rolled twice before stopping, then turned back in terror—

The flames of the explosion completely swallowed that golden figure.

The ground shook violently, and the blast wave bent all the surrounding trees.

The power of dozens of Explosive Tags detonating at once blasted a crater several meters wide into the center of the clearing. Thick smoke, rubble, and flames surged upward together.

"Mirai—!!" Kushina's scream was heart-wrenching.

She froze as though struck by lightning. Her eyes instantly reddened, tears spilling out as her legs went weak, yet she still instinctively tried to rush forward.

Minato's pupils constricted sharply. He took a step forward, only for Jiraiya to grab the back of his collar. "Don't go over there! The explosions aren't over yet!"

When Zhili saw the flames swallow Mirai, something in her mind seemed to explode with a buzzing roar.

Her entire body froze. It felt as though an invisible hand had clutched her heart tightly, hurting so badly that she couldn't breathe.

For the first time, violent emotion appeared on that ever-cold face—

Her lips parted slightly. She wanted to say something, but no sound came out.

She watched the outline of that red hair disappear beneath the flames. She watched that golden figure vanish at the heart of the explosion.

At that moment, she felt as if something inside her had shattered.

"Mirai Uzumaki—!" Her voice was hoarse, trembling with near-collapse. "Who gave you the right to die—?! I haven't beaten you yet—!!"

Suddenly, heat flooded her eyes. Warm liquid ran down her cheeks—not tears, but vivid crimson blood.

Izumi Uchiha's pitch-black eyes underwent a violent change—the edges of her pupils took on a layer of scarlet, which rapidly spread!

One tomoe, two tomoe, three tomoe appeared on her irises almost simultaneously, slowly revolving around her pupils.

She awakened the Three-Tomoe Sharingan in an instant!

"Zhili, your eyes—" Minato noticed the bloody tears on her face.

But Zhili had no attention to spare for her own changes. Her gaze was fixed firmly on the cloud of smoke that had yet to disperse, and her legs had already begun walking forward beyond her control.

"Don't come over—!" A violent coughing fit suddenly rang out from within the flames. "Cough, cough, cough—I'm choking to death..."

Everyone stopped moving at that exact moment.

The thick smoke slowly dispersed, revealing the charred ground at the center of the explosion.

A figure draped in a golden Chakra Cloak slowly ran out. More than half of the cloak had been blasted apart, exposing the heat-scorched clothing beneath it.

His hair stuck up in a messy tangle, but his skin had no serious burns. He was merely filthy and disheveled, looking as though he had just crawled out of a coal heap.

Mirai Uzumaki braced himself on his knees, stood up, patted his chest twice, and coughed several more times. "Cough, cough, cough... Those Explosive Tags pack a fucking huge punch."