The Tailed Beast Bomb, sliced in half, exploded on either side of the sword light, but the sword light remained completely unaffected as it slashed swiftly toward the Nine-Tails.
At this terrifying sight, even the fearless Nine-Tails felt intense fear, as though it were nothing but a weak ant being trampled at a human's whim.
But the sword light gave the Nine-Tails no time to think. In the blink of an eye, it struck the Nine-Tails, unleashing a powerful shock wave.
It kicked up an enormous cloud of dust, instantly engulfing the Nine-Tails.
Those outside could not see what was happening within, but they could hear the Nine-Tails' agonized screams.
Those screams sent chills through everyone who heard them. For a moment, the people of Konoha even felt some sympathy for this Tailed Beast.
Then the Nine-Tails' voice abruptly vanished, and silence fell over the scene.
After a long while, one Ninja could not help asking:
"Could the Nine-Tails be dead?"
"A Tailed Beast that powerful wouldn't die so easily!"
"Then why isn't it making any noise?"
"Who am I supposed to ask?"
For a time, everyone was intensely curious about what had happened inside the smoke, but not one of them dared go in to check.
Only Orochimaru seemed to have figured something out, because he recognized that the Ghost-Faced Mask Man's attack used the very true qi Ye Feng cultivated. It was also extremely powerful, which meant that even if the Ghost-Faced Mask Man was not Ye Feng, he was closely connected to him.
With that thought, Orochimaru relaxed, turned around, and left.
Meanwhile, Shadow Six had arrived inside a wooden house, where a somewhat weakened Kushina lay with Little Naruto.
Seeing the Ghost-Faced Mask Man enter, Kushina struggled to sit up.
Shadow Six did not stop