With an ear-splitting shriek of twisting metal, the heavy gate across the sewage channel finally reached its limit. Purple-black slime ate straight through the locks. The metal gate, weighing several tons, crashed onto the flooded floor and sent filthy water spraying everywhere.
Naruto did not look back. He wrapped the last few Industrial Explosive Tags in his hand around a discarded seamless steel pipe with a strip of rag and tied it tight. His crude cluster charge was ready.
He raised his still-bleeding left arm and flashed two quick tactical signals behind him.
Minato and Sasuke understood at once. The three shifted positions: Minato led, Naruto guarded the rear, and Sasuke covered the flank. They kept Sara firmly protected at the center of their formation.
The four sprinted toward the core cooling pool deep in the passage, boots splashing through thick engine oil and sewage. Their heavy footsteps echoed through the narrow corridor.
With the gate gone, the Aberration was unleashed. It surged along the walls and ceiling like a purple-black mudslide, reeking of death and rust. Metal pipes melted in its path, and sheets of wall coating peeled away.
Minato kept retreating at speed while pulling Explosive Tags from his tool pouch. Without looking back, he flicked his wrist again and again, sending individual tags into structural cracks in the load-bearing walls.
Muffled blasts sounded behind them. Fire tore through the darkness. Chunks of concrete and twisted rebar crashed down from above. A massive cave-in struck the middle of the passage, sealing it with tons of debris.
Minato hoped the collapse would slow the slime's advance.
It held for less than three seconds.
The purple-black slime cared nothing for a physical barrier. It seeped through the gaps between the rubble. Hardened rebar liquefied the instant it touched the slime.