Given Saiki's battlefield reflexes, it was highly unlikely he couldn't catch Kushina when she stumbled. As for why he "accidentally" grabbed her there... well, who can really say?
Regardless, it wasn't intentional, and what happened, happened.
Taking a deep breath, Saiki easily suppressed the distracting, erotic thoughts swirling in his head. He looked down and saw a sinister, crimson chakra bubbling across Kushina's skin.
"Sensei Kushina, calm down! The seal is destabilizing! The Nine-Tails is trying to break out!"
Hearing the words "seal" and "Nine-Tails," the chaotic storm of thoughts in Kushina's mind hit a sudden pause.
She snapped her head up. Even though her face was still burning red and her eyes were misty with unshed tears of embarrassment, her instincts as an elite ninja finally overpowered her panic.
She subconsciously checked her internal seal. Sure enough, during her moment of intense emotional volatility, a microscopic sluggishness had appeared in the chakra circulation of the Eight Trigrams Seal. It was the undeniable signature of the Nine-Tails exploiting a weakness!
"That... bastard fox!" Kushina ground her teeth. The emerald green of her eyes ignited with genuine fury—not embarrassment this time, but pure hatred directed at the Tailed Beast.
She forced herself to tear her attention away from Saiki and focus entirely on stabilizing the seal.
Seeing her regain a shred of composure, Saiki also let out a breath of relief. However, the incredibly awkward physical contact had made the atmosphere even more strained.
He didn't dare step closer for fear of triggering another emotional spike. He stood exactly where he was, his gaze returning to her lower abdomen. This time, however, his eyes were razor-sharp and deadly serious.
But the Nine-Tails had been plotting this for a long time. Now that it had finally pried open a crack in the seal, it wasn't about to give up!
Inside the sealing space, the Nine-Tails unleashed a deafening, earth-shattering roar. Its crimson chakra, like a dam bursting, surged through the microscopic fissure, flooding violently into Kushina's meridian system.
The cold, viscous, malicious chakra spread rapidly, eroding her rationality and causing her emerald pupils to contract sharply, tinged with an ominous, bloody red.
"AAGH—!"
Kushina cried out in agony. Her body convulsed violently. Her arms, which had been wrapped defensively around herself, dropped limply to her sides. Her fiery red hair whipped through the air without any wind, looking like a literal crown of flames.
The hate-filled chakra rampaged through her system, tearing at her willpower. It ignited her previous embarrassment and panic, twisting them into a blinding, berserk fury.
Her hands moved uncontrollably, forming hand signs. Phantom, golden chains materialized around her body, but because her mind was shattered, the chains twisted erratically, threatening to backlash and crush her.
"Shit!"
Saiki's heart lurched. His formidable sensory perception instantly registered that Kushina was on the verge of a total collapse.
The Nine-Tails' chakra was acting like a parasite, actively attempting to permanently pollute her chakra network. If it succeeded, not only would the seal shatter, but Kushina's own consciousness would be devoured by the beast's will.
He threw his previous embarrassment out the window. He lunged forward, his left hand shooting out to shove Kushina back onto the nearby sofa.
He threw his weight onto her, pinning her shoulders down with his left hand while pressing his right hand firmly against her lower abdomen, attempting to physically suppress the source of the rampaging chakra.
"Let me go! I'm going to tear that stinking fox apart!" Kushina, now partially cloaked in the beast's chakra, thrashed wildly. Her voice was distorted and raspy from the Nine-Tails' corruption. Like a trapped, feral beast, she writhed desperately, trying to break Saiki's hold.
The Nine-Tails' malicious whispers shrieked in her mind: "YES! That's it! Hate everything! Destroy everything!"
The whispers fueled her frenzy. Her nails gouged deep, bloody scratches into Saiki's torso and arms. Left with no choice, Saiki activated the Flower-Flower Fruit, sprouting several extra arms to bind her wrists and ankles.
Having pinned her, Saiki still couldn't relax. The flesh beneath his right palm felt scorching hot, and the red chakra squirmed like a living organism, fighting viciously against his suppression.
Because he hadn't mastered the Eight Trigrams Seal and didn't possess the specific "key" to the formula, Saiki was fighting blind. Even though his Pre-natal Qi—the Sage Chakra—was powerful enough to suppress Tailed Beast chakra, using raw force to crush the beast would simultaneously damage the delicate seal itself.
"Sensei Kushina, snap out of it! It's using your emotions!" Saiki barked, channeling his Sage Chakra to force the rampaging energy back to its source.
A brilliant white light flared from his palm, shoving the leaking crimson aura back into Kushina's body. But the cold malice clung like a parasite to the core runes of the seal, riding the formula's lines directly into Kushina's meridians to gnaw at her sanity.
Kushina's body shuddered violently. The crimson and emerald in her eyes waged a frantic, flashing war for dominance.
Saiki's suppression brought a wave of agonizing pain, but it also granted her chaotic mind a brief, desperate moment of clarity.
In the depths of her consciousness, she clearly "heard" the Nine-Tails erupt into a fit of venomous, triumphant laughter.
"AAGH—!" She arched her back in agony. Fine beads of cold sweat broke out across her forehead, mixing with her half-dried tears as they rolled down her cheeks.
"Bastard... Saiki... I... I can't hold it..."
Under Saiki's hands, Kushina's body convulsed violently. The agonizing, uncontrolled screams tearing from her throat sounded as if her very soul was being ripped apart.
The crimson chakra, like boiling magma, surged frantically beneath her skin. Every impact forced her slender waist to arch upward in agony, her delicate neck snapping back into a fragile, strained curve. Sweat instantly soaked her fiery hair, pasting it against her pale, tortured face.
"It... it's going to break out!" Kushina's voice was shattered. The clarity in her emerald eyes flickered like a candle in a hurricane, repeatedly swallowed and fought for by the surging crimson tide.
The Nine-Tails' maniacal laughter thundered in her mind, carrying an aura of absolute, apocalyptic malice.
Saiki's brow locked into a dead knot. The white light of his Sage Chakra flared to its absolute maximum, acting as a physical dam to force the solidifying crimson chakra back inside her.
He could feel the cold, viscous malice twisting like a living serpent, locking its jaws onto the core rune-lines of the Eight Trigrams Seal. It was greedily devouring the negative energy generated by Kushina's volatile emotions and the chakra rampage, using it as fuel to violently hammer against the seal's barriers.
"This isn't working!" Warning bells screamed in Saiki's head.
His Sage Chakra was undeniably powerful, capable of temporarily suppressing the rampaging beast chakra. But this power was too tyrannical, entirely incompatible with the delicate, intricate circulation of the Eight Trigrams Seal.
Every time he forced the chakra down, it was like taking a sledgehammer to a Swiss watch. He could clearly "hear" the microscopic groans of the seal's structure buckling under the pressure. If he kept this up, long before the Nine-Tails broke free, Saiki would shatter the seal himself!
He had to repair the seal!
He had to find that hidden core node—the one covered by her pants—immediately!
His eyes turned electric, instantly locking onto the area on Kushina's lower abdomen still stubbornly hidden by the elastic waistband of her ninja pants.
That missing segment of the rune line was now the literal key to life and death!
"Sensei Kushina! Forgive me!" Saiki didn't hesitate for a microsecond. His voice was absolute iron, carrying the unquestionable, ruthless authority of a battlefield commander.
"Wha... what are you doing?!" Kushina looked up in terror, meeting Saiki's eyes. They were stripped of all emotion, filled only with a pure, razor-sharp focus.
She saw her own reflection in his eyes—wreathed in ominous crimson chakra, looking like a piece of kindling about to burst into an inferno.
An icy dread seized her heart.
Before she could react, Saiki's right hand, which was pressing down on her abdomen to suppress the chakra, remained perfectly still. He actually increased the pressure, using overwhelming, agonizing force to stabilize the chakra turbulence in her core.
Simultaneously, he manifested a Flower-Flower arm that shot out like a striking viper. Its target was absolute: the drawstring of Kushina's ninja pants!
"No... NO!" Kushina instantly realized his intent. A mix of profound shame and terror fueled her with a final burst of adrenaline. She twisted her waist frantically, desperate to avoid the spectral hand.
But between the rampaging Nine-Tails chakra tearing her apart from the inside and Saiki's multiple hands pinning her down, she was like a fish nailed to a chopping block. Her futile struggles only triggered more violent chakra backlash and physical agony.
RIIIP—!
The sharp sound of tearing fabric was deafening in the dead silence of the living room.
Saiki's fingers flawlessly hooked the tough drawstring inside the waistband. Without a shred of hesitation or gentleness, he yanked downward with brutal force!
The massive strength, combined with Kushina's weak thrashing, resulted in the loose, dark ninja pants—along with her intimate underwear—being violently, rudely ripped down to the back of her knees!
A massive expanse of sudden, blindingly pale, delicate skin was exposed to the cool air, looking like a slab of flawless mutton-fat jade.
It was beautiful!
The slightly elevated, plump mound, decorated with sparse, red curls.
It was stunning!
Truly, undeniably stunning!!
However, Saiki had absolutely no time to admire the scenery. The complete rune line—which extended past her lower abdomen and finally terminated deep within the Dantian region—was finally, entirely laid bare before him.
The complex black patterns converged at a core point located precisely at the Gate of Wonder, just below Kushina's flat stomach. It was emitting a faint, azure glow—the signature of the seal's core. But currently, that azure light was being viciously suffocated and eroded by a thick, writhing mass of crimson Nine-Tails chakra!
Saiki's gaze locked onto the core node, his pupils contracting.
There, where the azure light should have been flowing steadily, a hyper-condensed, serpent-like coil of crimson chakra was gnawing relentlessly. Hairline fractures had already appeared along the edges of the rune lines, greedily absorbing the negative energy born from Kushina's intense emotional spike and the chakra rampage.
"Found it!" Saiki barked, his voice carrying an unquestionable resolve that instantly overpowered Kushina's terrified gasps and the Nine-Tails' roaring in her mind.
Without a second thought, the right hand pressing down on Kushina's abdomen erupted with an even more blinding, pure white light. The Sage Chakra acted as an impenetrable dam, violently plugging the flood of leaking chakra at the core.
The power was so tyrannical that Kushina's body arched violently again, a broken whimper tearing from her throat as if her internal organs were being crushed by the pure, overwhelming energy.
At the exact same moment, Saiki's other hand shot forward like lightning. At his fingertip, he condensed a microscopic point of absolute, purified Sage Chakra. It wasn't meant for suppression; it carried the intent to heal. With flawless precision, he drove his finger directly into the core node entangled by the crimson rot!
"GET BACK!"
Inside the sealing space, the Nine-Tails unleashed a roar of apocalyptic fury, its crimson slit-eyes practically bleeding.
It sensed the lethal threat this pure energy posed to its corruption!
It frantically pumped more chakra into the breach, desperate to completely pollute and tear open the core node!
HISS—!
The moment Saiki's fingertip touched the core of the rune, a screeching sound erupted—like freezing water dropped into boiling oil!
Pure white and blood crimson collided violently, tearing at each other!
That single point of white Sage Chakra acted like a branding iron, plunging ruthlessly into the tangled crimson mass.
The Nine-Tails' hate-filled chakra let out a silent, agonizing shriek. The cold, viscous energy was scorched, purified, and scattered!
Under the blanket of the white light, the hairline fractures on the core node began to knit back together at a visible rate!
"AAGH—!" Kushina's scream pitched higher. Pinned by Saiki, her body shuddered uncontrollably, like a fish tossed onto the shore.
Two diametrically opposed forces were waging a brutal war at the absolute core of her being. It didn't just bring unimaginable physical agony; it felt as if her very soul was being torn in half!
The Nine-Tails' malice and Saiki's purifying light were using her fragile consciousness as a gruesome battlefield.
Saiki had already exhausted a massive amount of energy the night before and hadn't recovered much. Now, forced to simultaneously suppress the Nine-Tails, pin Kushina down, and surgically repair the seal, fine beads of sweat broke out across his forehead. His fingertip remained perfectly steady, but the pressure he was enduring was immense.
He could clearly sense the Nine-Tails' manic, desperate will to fight back. Like a parasite refusing to die, every pulse of purification was met with an even more violent backlash.
He had to maintain absolute, flawless focus. He had to precisely control every microscopic flow of his Sage Chakra—repairing the fractured runes while ensuring his own overwhelmingly dominant energy didn't accidentally shatter the delicate architecture of the seal itself.
Time seemed to freeze in the silent, violent clash of energies.
The Nine-Tails' resistance was ultimately futile. If it hadn't been Kushina's Tailed Beast—meaning hurting it would hurt her—Saiki would have already dragged it out and cut it to pieces.
Kushina's body was tossed back and forth between agonizing pain and a bizarre, soothing sensation of being forcibly purified. Her consciousness, caught between the Nine-Tails' manic whispers and the pure, stable, powerfully comforting light of Saiki's chakra, began to blur.
Finally!
The last, stubborn trace of crimson rot on the core node was entirely devoured and purified by the white light!
The azure glow—the true core of the Eight Trigrams Seal—flared brilliantly, then stabilized, radiating a soft, unbreakable light.
The damaged rune lines were completely repaired. The profound, mystic pathways reconnected flawlessly, and the immense power of the seal instantly surged back online!
ROAR—!!!
Inside the sealing space, the Nine-Tails' colossal body was caught by an invisible, unstoppable force and slammed brutally against the walls of its cage. It unleashed a world-shaking roar of agony and absolute, unadulterated fury!
Its crimson chakra was violently sucked back into the depths of the cage like a retreating tide. The microscopic crack it had just managed to pry open was slammed shut and sealed tight—even stronger than it had been before!
Its crimson slit-eyes glared murderously at the outside world, burning with apocalyptic hatred and frustration. "C-cursed human! Bastard! I will tear you to pieces!!"
With the source instantly severed, the oppressive, suffocating aura of violence dissipated as quickly as a receding tide, leaving behind only the sound of ragged, desperate panting and a scene of utter chaos.
Saiki's highly strung nerves finally slacked a fraction. The pure white Sage Chakra at his fingertip slowly faded away.
He let out a long, silent breath, the sweat on his forehead finally rolling down his temples.
However, this brief moment of peace lasted for only a heartbeat.
Kushina's body jolted violently—not from pain, but from the sudden, freezing crash of reality and absolute exposure.
The agonizing war in her gut and the roaring of the Nine-Tails were gone. They were replaced by the sudden chill of the air against her skin, and... an overwhelming, devastating sense of being completely, utterly exposed.
Her senses slammed back into her body with terrifying clarity.
The first thing she registered was Saiki's hand, still pressed firmly against her lower abdomen.
His palm was warm. The lingering traces of his Sage Chakra carried a strange, soothing energy, and the point of contact even produced a faint, tingling numbness.
But right now, that touch felt as scorching as a branding iron!
Immediately following that was the sudden, freezing emptiness covering her lower half.
Her pants had been brutally yanked down to the back of her knees. A massive expanse of smooth, delicate skin was laid bare to the air. The cool room temperature felt like thousands of microscopic needles pricking every inch of her exposed flesh.
She could even clearly feel the area just below her waist—the exact spot where Saiki's fingertip had just touched to repair the runes—still humming with the phantom pressure of his touch and the lingering resonance of his energy.
"Uh..." A minuscule, terrified gasp, heavy with profound panic, slipped past her lips.
Stiffly, with agonizing slowness, Kushina lifted her head and looked down.
Her eyes fell upon her flat, smooth stomach, and... the completely unobstructed, fully exposed sealing formula that extended all the way to the very edge of her most intimate area.
The mystic black patterns snaked across her pale skin. A faint azure glow still pulsed at the core node—the undeniable proof that it had just been repaired.
Her gaze drifted lower... past the edge of the dark fabric bunched at her knees, to the sudden, glaringly bright expanse of snowy white skin exposed just above her thighs.
Time seemed to freeze in that exact moment.
The air was dead.
A room that, seconds ago, had been a hurricane of clashing chakra and screams of agony, was now filled with a suffocating silence—broken only by the sound of Kushina's heartbeat growing faster, louder, and more erratic.
Ba-thump!
Ba-thump!
Ba-thump!
To her, the sound was as deafening as war drums.
A surge of heat—far more violent and scalding than the Nine-Tails' chakra—rocketed from the soles of her feet straight to the top of her head!
It instantly incinerated every last shred of her rationality!
"AIIIEEEEEEE—!!!"
A short, incredibly shrill, ear-piercing scream of pure terror shattered the silence!
Like a woman bitten by the world's most venomous snake, Kushina's body exploded with a force far greater than her earlier struggles. She violently bolted upright.
Caught completely off guard, Saiki was violently shoved backward by her sudden burst of energy. The hand pressed against her abdomen was instantly dislodged.
"NO—! DON'T LOOK!!!"
Kushina's voice was completely unrecognizable. It cracked with a tearing, sobbing hysteria, laced with an unspeakable, ultimate shame and panic.
She completely forgot about the newly stabilized chakra and the seal in her body. She even forgot about the boy sitting right in front of her. Her brain was consumed by a single, overriding imperative: COVER UP!
NOW!
IMMEDIATELY!
In a frantic, scrambling panic—nearly crawling and rolling over herself—she lunged for the pants bunched at her knees. Her fiery red hair stuck wildly to her sweat-drenched forehead and cheeks. Her emerald pupils were contracted to pinpricks of absolute humiliation, swimming with terror, panic, and the tears of someone wishing the earth would swallow them whole.
Her slender fingers shook so violently they refused to obey her commands. She fumbled desperately, grabbing the waistband and frantically yanking upward, desperate to hide the exposed skin.
"You... you..." While she was desperately pulling up her pants, she snapped her head up. Her tear-filled emerald eyes, burning with panic and a towering, apocalyptic fury, locked onto the stunned Saiki.
Her lips trembled violently as a broken, shattered sentence squeezed through her teeth: "You... you saw everything...?!"