Inside the golden cage of chains, Kakuzu and Hidan's expressions changed for the first time.
Hidan roared and swung his scythe, hacking at the chains sealing the square.
Clang!
Sparks spat outward. The chakra-forged links were preternaturally hard; the recoil knocked his scythe away, his arm went numb, and not a single mark marred the chain.
"Bastard! What is this?!"
He slashed again. And again. The result didn't change.
Kakuzu stared at the chains, green light flickering beneath the brim of his hat, his voice dry with shock. "This technique… Kongo Fusa (Adamantine Sealing Chains)! Uzumaki clan. The intel was wrong—the Nine-Tails jinchuriki's mother is alive!"
The moment he spoke, a crimson figure stepped down from the air and touched the plaza stones.
Her hair was fire-red and floated despite the still air. Beautiful face, violet eyes burning with fury.
Uzumaki Kushina.
She didn't spare the lure—a Naruto shadow clone—even a glance. Her gaze locked straight onto Kakuzu and Hidan.
"You laid hands on my son…"
Her voice wasn't loud, but every syllable rang clear and cold.
"You two bastards—ready to go to hell?"
Having his ritual interrupted and then being threatened by a woman sent Hidan into a frothing rage.
"You stinking woman! What are you to point at Lord Jashin's offering?! I'll kill you first!"
He became a straight-line blur, scythe arcing for Kushina's neck.
Kakuzu's heart lurched—too late to stop him.
Kushina didn't move.
Just before steel could kiss skin, a golden chakra mantle flared across her body.
Clang!
Hidan's scythe struck as if against iron plate and went no farther.
Impossible?!
His eyes bulged.
Kushina's expression didn't change—only anger lived there. She lifted her right hand, unhurried, yet irresistible.
Smack!!!
The slap cracked like thunder.
Hidan pinwheeled through the air, teeth and blood arcing free, before he cratered into the stones more than ten meters away.
Silence swallowed the plaza.
Kakuzu watched, heart sinking. This opponent was a nightmare—sealing arts and taijutsu both were absurdly strong.
"Undying body, huh? Good." Kushina glanced at Hidan, who staggered up with half his face swollen into a pig's head, and her tone turned glacial. "I've got plenty of time—to take you apart, piece by piece."
Dozens of golden chains burst from the ground behind her like venomous serpents, lancing straight for Kakuzu.
He reacted instantly. The stitches along his back split wide and a mass of black tendrils—Jiongu (Earth Grudge Fear)—poured out to meet the chains.
"Hiden: Jiongu (Earth Grudge Fear)!"
Black cords and golden links collided midair.
The expected stalemate never came.
Kongo Fusa—top-tier Uzumaki sealing—innately restrained techniques like Jiongu that wove chakra through ersatz meridians.
The golden chains hunted like living predators, wrapping the black tendrils with ease.
Sealing force surged along the links; the writhing cords went stiff and sluggish as their chakra flow was brutally cut.
Kakuzu's face changed. He felt his connection to Jiongu being severed!
Worse—the "hearts" in his body, each storing a different nature chakra, began to stutter under that same sealing pressure, their rotation no longer smooth.
This woman's sealing could reach his life's core!
"Damn it!"
He made the call in a breath, directing the cords that remained free to spew wind and fire.
"Fuuton: Atsugai (Pressure Damage)!"
"Katon: Zukokku (Head Mincing Pain)!"
Wind fanned flame—the paired ninjutsu roared into a sea of fire that crashed down to consume Kushina.
She snorted.
More golden chains rose beneath her feet, weaving into a vast shield in an instant.
Boom!
The inferno slammed into the barrier, flinging sparks like rain—without budging it an inch.
At the same time, Hidan charged again from the other side, eyes crazed.
"I'll kill you! I'll kill you!"
He didn't care about the damage to his own body; the scythe whirled into a storm.
Kushina didn't even look his way. A few chains split off and cracked through the air like golden whips.
Snap! Snap! Snap!
Each strike detonated force across Hidan's body, flaying skin and forcing him back, yet he relied on his immortality to hurl himself forward again and again.
"Useless! I'm immortal! Lord Jashin will protect me!"
"Is that so?"
Kushina's eyes turned colder still. She had no interest in dragging this out.
Her hands flashed through seals before her chest.
"Kongo Fusa: Tenra Tenmo (Heaven-and-Earth Snare)!"
Her shout rolled like thunder.
Gold drowned the world.
Every chain sealing the square, every chain tangling with Kakuzu and Hidan—answered her command. Innumerable new chains surged from all directions, multiplied tenfold and more.
They fell like a tide, like a colossal net, from sky and earth and every side—unstoppable.
For the first time, despair showed in their eyes.
They tried to dodge—space was locked.
They tried to resist—ninjutsu and steel meant nothing before the golden links.
Kakuzu's Jiongu was crushed, bound, and sealed.
Dozens of chains wrapped Hidan's scythe—he couldn't twitch a finger.
A heartbeat later, the flood swallowed them whole.
They were trussed into two gleaming cocoons, bound from head to toe without the smallest gap, only two terrified pairs of eyes left peeking out.
The chains cinched tighter and tighter; sealing force smothered the chakra within their bodies.
Akatsuki's "immortal duo," utterly hard-countered by Uzumaki Kushina, reduced to lambs on the altar.
…
On a distant hillside—
Shinju lowered his spyglass and smiled at Naruto beside him.
Naruto gaped, mouth hanging open. He knew Mom was strong—but this strong? Members of Akatsuki, trussed up like that?
"See it, Naruto?" Shinju's tone was calm. "That's our mom. So, don't be afraid going forward—we've got the strongest backing in the world."
Naruto nodded hard, eyes full of awe and pride.
Shinju's gaze slid back to the distant fight. He glanced at his system panel, which displayed data on the two "spoils" just captured.
[Name: Kakuzu]
[Abilities: Jiongu (Earth Grudge Fear), five chakra hearts (Earth, Wind, Fire, Lightning, Water), Hiden: pseudo-immortality]
[Name: Hidan]
[Abilities: Jujutsu: Shiji Hyoketsu (Curse Technique: Death-Controlling Possessed Blood), Hiden: true immortality]
He murmured, "Kakuzu's five hearts… Hidan's undying curse… very interesting materials for research."
(End of Chapter)
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