Deep in Anrokuzan's paralyzed mechanical body, a low-frequency vibration intensified. The red glow on the metal wreckage rapidly faded, replaced by a deathly cold stillness.
Minato stepped across Sara's path, shielding her badly burned hands behind him. He held his Kunai in a reverse grip, his gaze fixed on the heap of smoking scrap. His breathing slowed, and every muscle tensed, ready to deliver a killing blow.
The vibration grew faster. Scattered screws and iron filings began to rise against gravity. Purple-black slime seeped from the surface of Anrokuzan's wreckage, which still glowed dull red from the heat.
Defying gravity, the slime crawled up the steep metal shell. Wherever it passed, the hard armor plates made a sickening sound like flesh squirming. It engulfed massive gears and drive shafts, forcibly fusing them together. The once-precise machinery was destroyed, transformed into organs that defied description.
Anrokuzan's steel components were stitched to the warped substance. An Aberration of flesh and machinery took shape in the center of the hall. A stench of rot and rust rapidly filled the air, burning their throats with every breath.
Sasuke gave a cold snort. He drove his right foot into a half-ton fragment of armor plating on the ground.
The fragment shrieked through the air toward the Aberration's core. Sasuke had put all his physical strength into the kick—enough to punch through a heavy tank.
There was no clang of metal. The fragment passed straight through the purple-black slime on contact. It slammed into the wall behind the creature, blasting out a crater and scattering stone.
Sasuke narrowed his eyes, pushing the Eternal Mangekyo's visual acuity to its limit. He saw it clearly: at the instant of impact, the purple-black substance liquefied and parted. Once the fragment had passed, it re-formed. The whole process took less