"This is—Uchiha's brat?!"
The moment Kai stepped out in front of Gamaken, Jiraiya's face flashed pale. He shouted without thinking:
"That's a Tailed Beast Bomb! Its destructive power isn't like normal ninjutsu—move, now!"
Right now, human strength looked painfully small in front of a bijū.
And this mess… was Jiraiya's fault.
He couldn't let an innocent bystander—especially a genius—get dragged into it.
So he warned Kai, and at the same time, his hands flew through seals. His long white hair rippled like something alive.
"Lion's Mane Technique!"
Rustle—rustle—!
In an instant, the white hair behind his head swelled violently, blooming into a thick mane like a lion's ruff. With a sharp whip of his head, those strands shot out like countless vines, wrapping around the wheel-sized Tailed Beast Bomb.
For a heartbeat, it looked like he'd bound it into a white cocoon.
But Jiraiya didn't relax even slightly.
His expression stayed heavy.
Three breaths later—
the white cocoon began expanding at terrifying speed.
The hair strands stretched tight as steel wires.
Then—snap.
A single strand broke.
Crack.
Crack—crack.
Second. Third.
More and more snapped in quick succession.
A technique that could restrain a mountain-sized target… still couldn't truly suppress a Four-Tails Tailed Beast Bomb.
It was buying time—nothing more.
Jiraiya barked at the boy and the toad behind him:
"Run! I can't hold it for long!"
He could block it for a moment.
He couldn't erase it.
The only real option was to move it away from the village—
or get out of its line.
But the instant he finished speaking—
RIP!
The Lion's Mane bindings tore apart like cloth.
The Tailed Beast Bomb—raw, roiling, hateful chakra—was exposed again, pulsing so violently Jiraiya's skin prickled from the heat.
"I'm screwed, I'm screwed, I'm screwed…" he groaned. "I just got back and I'm about to be hospitalized for two months!"
He clenched his teeth.
If he had to, he'd eat the hit.
Not dodge.
Not let it fly into Konoha.
Even if he didn't die, he'd be out of commission for ages.
But then—
his vision flickered.
The air in front of him… wavered.
"This…?"
Jiraiya's brows tightened even more.
That space distortion—he knew it.
It felt like—
like the ripples left behind by Minato's Flying Thunder God.
But there was no time to think.
Because the distortion expanded into a swirling vortex.
And the wheel-sized Tailed Beast Bomb—
the instant it touched that vortex—
vanished.
Gone.
Like it had been swallowed into another world.
The crisis… disappeared.
"That's—space-time ninjutsu?!"
Jiraiya snapped his head toward Kai.
More precisely—toward Kai's eyes.
Between the three of them, only one type of power could do something like that.
Uchiha ocular techniques.
Jiraiya stared for a long second, voice low and stunned:
"…So your 'three tomoe' really are different."
"…This is Mangekyō, isn't it?"
His emotions twisted into something complicated.
A ten-year-old with Mangekyō.
Maybe Sarutobi-sensei losing to him wasn't humiliating at all.
For the first time in a long while, the Toad Sage felt something close to… defeat.
Rustle—rustle—rustle.
Shadows poured in from the village.
Konoha's shinobi arrived in waves.
Fugaku's eyes locked onto Kai instantly—worry flashing across his brows. His Mangekyō stirred, beginning to turn.
But when Fugaku spotted the white-haired man nearby, he froze.
"Jiraiya-sama…? He's back?"
"Probably because the village has changed," a calm voice answered from behind.
Nara Shikaku arrived, followed by Inoichi and Chōza.
More clan shinobi kept streaming in, taking positions between the village and the rampaging Naruto.
Seeing the formation, Fugaku immediately stepped back half a pace—yielding the center to Shikaku.
In battlefield judgment, Shikaku was simply better.
Shikaku didn't waste time.
One scan of the situation, and orders came out clean and sharp:
"Sealing unit—present? Prepare containment."
"Medical unit—stand by."
"All Earth Release users—raise walls. Multiple layers. Now."
The commands rippled outward.
Outside the forest line, massive earth barricades rose one after another, boxing the battlefield in, cutting off the village from the blast radius.
Only when the walls were mostly set did Shikaku call toward the center:
"Jiraiya-sama, Kai-sama—area is isolated. You can act freely."
He could tell both of them had been holding back because of Konoha behind them.
Jiraiya finally exhaled.
"Nara's kid… not bad."
Then he slapped Kai's shoulder, grin returning like a mask.
"Alright, brat—let me show you the true power of the Toad Sage—"
He stopped mid-sentence.
"—Huh? What the hell is that?"
Clink… clink…
In front of them, several chains appeared.
Not iron.
Not steel.
Golden.
And the sealing pressure rolling off them was so pure and heavy it made Jiraiya's scalp tingle. Stronger than any sealing he'd seen in his life.
His eyes narrowed until they were almost slits.
Then he blurted, voice cracking:
"Vajra Sealing Chains?!"
He snapped his head toward Kai.
"Kid—do you have Uzumaki blood?!"
That kind of bloodline sealing technique should only be possible for Uzumaki descendants.
Uchiha didn't have that.
Then Jiraiya turned—fast—looking at Fugaku with suspicion, hesitation, and a very rude amount of silent calculation.
Fugaku: "..."
He didn't even know what to say.
Something about it felt deeply offensive.
But there was no time.
Because everyone's attention was already being ripped back to the same place—
Naruto.
The Four-Tails Naruto—who had been dominating the battlefield, chasing Jiraiya like prey—
shuddered when he saw those chains.
Not metaphorically.
His whole body trembled.
Even the exposed muscle fibers quivered, like instinct had recognized a predator.
As if those chains were the devil itself.
Kai's lips curved slightly.
"Yep. Looks like Kurama has been 'disciplined' by Vajra Sealing before."
He lifted his hand.
Then pressed it down.
BOOM—!
Three golden chains shot out like slender, vicious serpents, snapping around Four-Tails Naruto. The sealing aura spread on contact, crawling across him like living script.
In moments, it coated his entire body.
"Aaaoo—!"
The howl cut off mid-note.
The four red, demonic tails weakened… thinned… and began to fade.
Kai walked forward.
Step.
Step.
Step.
And when Naruto's body finally went limp—about to collapse unconscious—Kai caught him gently, drawing him into his arms.
Looking at the kid's burned, ruined skin, Kai let out a quiet breath.
Then he tapped Naruto's forehead lightly, as if knocking on a door.
"Nine-Tails…"
"Come out. Let's talk."
Silence.
Absolute, suffocating silence.
Around them, the battlefield felt frozen.
To anyone watching, it looked like Kai was talking to air.
Kai raised a brow, smiling faintly.
"If you won't come out…"
"…then I'll go in and find you."
Kurama: !!!
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