Looking at the sky filled with dust, the roar of the Nine-Tails finally ceased.
Some, believing the ordeal was over, let out a collective sigh of relief.
However, as the strongest of the Tailed Beasts, Kurama was a calamity in its own right.
It was not an existence that could be handled so easily.
Before the dust had even settled, a pinprick of heart-stopping crimson ignited at the bottom of the crater.
Then, it expanded violently!
HUMMM—!!!
A wave of devastating energy erupted with the Nine-Tails at its center, instantly blasting away the remaining dust.
In the pit, the massive body of the Nine-Tails hadn't stood up yet.
Its colossal head was buried low, its jaw nearly touching the floor, but a terrifying light was brewing deep in its throat.
A sphere of energy, black as ink with a blindingly bright core, was rapidly forming, spinning, and compressing in its maw!
Berserk Tailed Beast chakra flooded into it, causing the surrounding air to warp and scream with an unnatural hum.
"A Tailed Beast Bomb!!!"
In the distance, Tsunade, who had just stabilized her footing, felt her pupils contract as she screamed in horror.
That hyper-condensed, apocalyptic energy made even a powerhouse of her caliber feel her scalp go numb.
This was not a power an ordinary ninja could ever hope to oppose!
"GET BACK! SCATTER!!!" Tsunade roared at the top of her lungs to the Konoha ninja following her.
Panicked and desperate, she bit her thumb and rapidly wove hand signs, slamming her palm into the earth.
"—Summoning Jutsu!"
Katsuyu, the massive Slug Sage, materialized beneath her.
Its soft, mountain-like body rose up, preparing to tank the incoming shockwave.
Tsunade stood atop Katsuyu's head, her chakra cycling at a manic speed.
The diamond seal of the Strength of a Hundred began to spread black runes across her entire body.
A terrifying volume of chakra erupted from her.
Faced with a Tailed Beast Bomb, a master of Taijutsu and Medical Ninjutsu had few options; to protect Konoha, she was ready to stand her ground and die.
She stared fixedly at the core of destruction in the pit, ready to physically strike the Tailed Beast Bomb the moment it launched.
However, even a hastily condensed bomb from Kurama was not something Tsunade could reliably stop.
In that split second, Saiki moved.
Facing that black sphere of death—capable of leveling half of Konoha and making the very space around it shiver—he wasn't about to let Tsunade take that risk.
The rain from his Auspicious Cloud cascaded down as Saiki's body began to radiate a pure, white light.
It functioned like a suit of invisible celestial armor; he had stepped halfway into his Sage Transformation.
He didn't dare unleash his full power yet.
He had to save energy to treat Kushina later, so he couldn't afford to waste a single drop.
With a thunderous roar, the Nine-Tails spat out the Tailed Beast Bomb.
Saiki was a step faster than Tsunade, flickering into place right in front of her.
Tsunade's eyes widened to dinner plates.
HUMMM—!!!
The Tailed Beast Bomb, carrying its apocalyptic weight, swallowed everything in its path.
It tore through the atmosphere with a shriek of annihilation, heading straight for Saiki.
Time seemed to freeze in that instant.
The sphere of death was reflected in Tsunade's pupils, growing larger by the millisecond.
Her heart nearly stopped. She could already feel the stinging heat of the extreme energy scorching her skin.
Her chakra surged to the limit; her Strength of a Hundred marks were pushed to their breaking point.
Beneath her, Katsuyu braced its body for impact.
But a cold wave of despair washed over her—at this distance, against this power, a head-on collision meant being ground into dust!
"SAIKI—!" Tsunade's scream carried a tremor she didn't even realize was there.
However, facing total destruction, Saiki's eyes remained terrifyingly calm.
He clenched his right fist, which was now flowing with a concentrated layer of pure white light.
He pulled his arm back to build momentum, looking like a white comet as he lunged toward the orb that sought to end the world.
BAM—VROOOM!!!
It wasn't a world-shaking explosion, but rather the agonizing sound of two absolute forces being squeezed together!
Time felt as if it were being stretched and solidified.
Tsunade could barely breathe. She watched as Saiki's fist, glowing with that pure white radiance, physically halted the Tailed Beast Bomb.
Under his bizarre power, the massive black sphere behaved like a compressed rubber ball.
"AAAAAGH!!!"
Saiki let out a guttural roar, the power in his fist surging.
His sleeves disintegrated like rotten cloth, exposing his wiry, rock-solid muscles.
Like an actual rubber ball, the Tailed Beast Bomb hummed and was launched into the air by Saiki's punch.
It shot into the distance, flying toward the horizon at a speed even greater than its initial launch.
The bomb's trajectory left a blinding scar across the sky, like a meteor falling in reverse.
Finally, it detonated miles away, high above the mountain range surrounding the Hidden Leaf.
BOOM—!!!!
In an instant, a jagged white gash tore through the heavens.
A violent ring of energy expanded outward.
Even from dozens of miles away, Konoha's sensing barrier groaned under the pressure.
The earth shook violently. Trees were snapped like twigs.
A tidal wave of dust and shattered rock swept toward the village, only to crash harmlessly against the outer defensive array in a series of brilliant ripples.
"HUMAN—!!!"
Kurama stared in disbelief, its eyes nearly bulging out of its sockets.
A human had just physically tanked a Tailed Beast Bomb and punched it away after neutralizing its kinetic force.
Is he really that monstrous? the fox wondered.
In all its thousands of years, perhaps only the Sage of the Six Paths possessed that kind of raw, biological power.
Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju were powerful, but they would never tank that hit with their bare skin; they used giant avatars and wooden statues.
Tsunade's heart was hammering against her ribs so hard it felt like it would break.
If anything had happened to Saiki... she couldn't even process the thought.
The heart that had finally started to beat for him would have truly died this time.
At that moment, the Shadow Clone that had gone to fetch his weapon finally arrived.
While his hand-to-hand combat was top-tier, Saiki was most comfortable with a blade.
His strength, combined with his swordsmanship, yielded the highest destructive potential.
The clone blurred across the battlefield, accurately tossing the ancient longsword toward Saiki in a perfect arc.
"CATCH!" the clone's voice shouted before vanishing into smoke.
Without even turning his head, Saiki reached out with his left hand and caught the blade mid-air.
The familiar weight and texture sent a jolt through his arm, awakening a dormant power within his spirit.
Kurama might be a victim in this scenario, but Saiki didn't mind carving the beast into pieces if it meant getting Kushina back.
Saiki's aura shifted instantly.
His gaze locked onto the Nine-Tails.
Even though Kurama was the avatar of terror, hatred, and disaster, it felt a primal jolt of fear.
The fox's fur stood on end like a startled kitten.
Recovering its pride and feeling humiliated that it feared a human, Kurama raised a massive claw and swiped at Saiki.
Clang!
Saiki drew his blade in a blur, meeting the claw head-on with a simple, unadorned slash.
SHING—!!!
The screech of metal on chakra was deafening, sending sparks flying like a localized thunderstorm.
The claws that could shred steel were cleanly sliced through by Saiki's blade.
He had essentially just given the demon fox a very violent manicure.
Before the beast could even register the pain, Saiki spun the blade and delivered a second strike.
A blinding arc of white light tore through the air, aimed straight for the Nine-Tails' torso.
Kushina was dying. Saiki had no time to waste. He had to incapacitate the beast immediately.
The blade-qi was white as snow, tearing through the atmosphere with a murderous intent that could sever all things.
"ROAR—!"
Kurama's crimson pupils contracted to pinpricks.
Driven by a massive instinctual alarm, it tried to twist its body aside.
CHIIING!
Even the fox's chakra cloak, harder than reinforced steel, couldn't stop that freezing edge.
The white light ignored all defenses, piercing through the Nine-Tails' massive frame like a hot knife through butter.
"AWOOOOOO—!!!"
This time, the howl wasn't a roar of rage. It was a scream of pure, agonizing disbelief.
Dark red, hyper-concentrated chakra sprayed from the wound like scalding blood, painting the sky in a series of horrific crimson arcs.