Seeing Kushina Uzumaki facing the three of them alone and still wearing such complete confidence on her face, Konan—floating in midair—kept her expression blank, but inwardly she was full of admiration.
Only someone with strength and courage like that had the right to stand at Lord Yoru's side.
At that moment, Konan truly acknowledged Kushina Uzumaki.
"Universal Pull!"
The battle truly began the moment the Deva Path puppet gave that low shout.
Invisible gravitational force yanked Kushina off the treetop and dragged her rapidly toward the Deva Path.
Taking advantage of that opening, Yahiko also used Wood Release, controlling a mass of sharp branches to shoot at Kushina like a thousand arrows loosed at once.
The Asura Path puppet also fired its finger missiles, all ten of them streaking toward Kushina with trails of flame behind them.
The other Six Paths puppets attacked with the five elemental nature transformations as well.
Rule-based, physical, and energy-based attacks all converged on Kushina in an instant, about to swallow her whole.
If it had been anyone else, then unless they possessed a defense that could ignore ninjutsu and render them impervious to blades and blows alike, even one of the Five Kage would have been instantly killed by the combined attack of the Six Paths puppets and the Wood Release user.
But even as Kushina lost control of her body to the pull, she merely let the corner of her mouth lift slightly—and did not even form a hand seal.
Then, from behind her, nine chains suddenly shot out, each tipped with a point sharp as a spearhead.
The moment they appeared, their color shifted from ordinary silver-white to gold, clearly covered in Nine-Tails chakra.
Like the tails of the Nine-Tails itself, the nine chains whipped into motion, swaying at high speed, turning into afterimages and cutting through the air with shrill screams.
Boom—!
Crack crack crack—!
It was like a flash of golden light. The finger missiles exploded in midair at once, producing thick clouds of smoke.
The branches—extremely tough, their hardness actually greater than steel—snapped with crisp cracking sounds.
As for the five elemental ninjutsu, they fared even worse. The instant the golden light passed through them, they were blasted apart.
Kushina had clearly infused the Adamantine Sealing Chains with Nine-Tails chakra and used them to unleash the equivalent of a monstrous-strength strike—
or, more accurately, monstrous-strength whips.
After shattering all those attacks, the chains continued onward with undiminished force, lashing straight toward the Six Paths puppets and Yahiko.
In the eyes and senses of the Six Paths puppets and Yahiko, those slender golden chains felt like mountains moving at terrifying speed.
Even the Asura Path puppet—with defense strong enough to tank countless physical attacks and ninjutsu without a scratch, and with enough raw power to crush Sage Jiraiya with ease—would be reduced to pieces and rendered useless if struck by one of those chains.
Without the slightest hesitation, five of the Six Paths puppets and Yahiko all vanished in body flickers.
Only the Deva Path stayed in place and spoke calmly:
"Almighty Push."
Invisible repulsive force twisted into violent currents, trying to blast away both the incoming chains and Kushina herself.
But when the two sides collided, the scene of the chains being mercilessly hurled away did not appear.
Instead, the chains seemed to hit an invisible wall in midair and froze there. Then the golden chakra coating them erupted outward, turning into a golden storm that tried to contend head-on with the repulsive storm.
Unfortunately, in less than a second, the golden storm fell behind and was smashed apart by the rule-based repulsive force.
The other eight chains instantly changed direction and rushed in to support their "companion."
Eight more bursts of golden chakra erupted, forming a massive golden storm that, for a moment, actually did not seem inferior to the repulsive storm.
The scene resembled a clash of Conqueror's Haki from the world of pirates.
At the sight of that, both Yahiko and Konan's pupils contracted, their eyes full of disbelief.
How was that possible?
How could chakra possibly contend against a force that operated on the level of rules?
It was as absurd as an earth-style jutsu blocking a space-time slash.
Far away, Nagato—controlling the Deva Path—also had a flash of shock in his eyes.
Then he poured more chakra into it, increasing the Deva Path's output.
As the storm of repulsive force grew larger and more violent, the golden storm finally lost even the ability to struggle and was blown apart in an instant.
The nine chains scattered and dissolved into motes of chakra light.
Kushina had already canceled the Adamantine Sealing Chains and vanished with a body flicker.
Boom—!
The repulsive storm swept across the forest like a hurricane. Trees hundreds of meters across were uprooted, shattered, and blown apart.
Even the dust never had the chance to rise before it too was blasted away.
A huge trench was carved straight through the forest.
"Wind Release: Pressure Damage!"
A light shout reached the Deva Path's ears.
A hurricane even larger in scope than the repulsive storm instantly engulfed it.
Because the Six Paths puppets transmitted signals through Yin-Yang Release black receivers, they had a stiffness and cooldown the original body did not.
The Deva Path, having just used Almighty Push, was in that cooldown window and could not use repulsive force again to blow away the windstorm.
Swallowed by the hurricane, it and the tree beneath its feet were snapped loose and hurled away.
At that moment, a blur shot forward. The windstorm—which should have spread hundreds of meters, even kilometers—was suddenly drawn together as if pulled by a magnet, all its force converging into the Preta Path standing before the Deva Path. Every bit of the Wind Release chakra inside the storm was absorbed.
The chakra the Six Paths puppets had just spent was restored in an instant.
"So that one's the corpse puppet that can absorb ninjutsu. When it absorbed Wind Release: Pressure Damage, the chakra inside all six corpse puppets surged for a moment, then vanished. That puppet's ability can convert ninjutsu back into chakra and feed it to the one controlling them from behind the scenes."
"Energy-type ninjutsu can't be used against them. Otherwise it's just supplying them with more chakra."
Watching from a distance, Kushina memorized the Preta Path's appearance at once and made her judgment. Then she fixed her gaze on the strongest of the group, the Deva Path, and thought,
"That attraction-and-repulsion ability has at least a three-second cooldown."
At the same time, Kushina began building a plan in her mind.
She formed a single hand seal and called out:
"Shadow Clone Technique!"
With several popping sounds, ten more shadow clones in Nine-Tails Chakra Mode appeared on the surrounding treetops.
The moment they appeared, they did not help Kushina fight the enemy. Instead, they vanished in flickers, disappearing so quickly that neither the Six Paths puppets nor Yahiko had time to stop them.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh—!
Then the sound of something cutting through the air like a torrential downpour suddenly filled the sky.
Everyone's attention was drawn upward.
Paper shuriken folded from white sheets were falling at incredible speed, like snowflakes descending as hard and fast as rain.
"Explode!"
Before the rain of paper shuriken could swallow Kushina, Konan in the sky gave a light cry.
A chain of explosions detonated at once.
Under the control of Fire Release: Explosive Flame Formation, the terrifying heat and firelight surged upward like an inverted volcanic eruption, transforming into a huge pillar of flame roaring toward Kushina.
"Wood Release: Silent Strangling Binding Technique!"
Yahiko coordinated with Konan from afar, using Wood Release to make the surrounding trees erupt into wave-like tangles of green vines and branches, rushing upward from below and downward from above alongside the pillar of flame, intent on burying and binding Kushina.
Kushina, however, did not even glance at those attacks.
Her eyes remained locked on the Six Paths puppets, especially on the strongest among them, the Deva Path.
But the golden chakra covering her body suddenly extended outward, taking the shape of two enormous golden arms. One clenched into a fist and smashed into the descending pillar of fire, while the other reached down and grabbed the incoming vines.
The huge pillar of fire was blown apart with a single punch.
Though Yahiko's Wood Release was powerful, it lacked the chakra-absorbing properties of true Wood Release. Once caught in the golden giant hand, it could not absorb the golden chakra and could only writhe like a nest of snakes inside the grip.
"Universal Pull!"
Seizing the chance, the Deva Path decisively unleashed invisible attraction again, dragging Kushina toward it and at the same time interrupting the two giant golden arms, letting the scattered pillar of fire re-form into a roaring fire dragon.
The vine branches all snapped apart, but new shoots grew immediately from the broken ends and continued binding toward Kushina.
Whirr—
The Asura Path's head split open mechanically, revealing a cannon barrel that fired a massive laser blast straight at her.
The beam was packed with searing heat and piercing force, as if it could melt through and punch through anything.
The other Six Paths puppets no longer wasted chakra by using the five elemental releases against Kushina. Instead, they stood ready to finish her off at any moment, intending to use the unique abilities of the Six Paths to kill her instantly.
Once again, Kushina faced the same kind of overwhelming situation as before.
But she remained calm.
Then, as if she had just received some new information, the corner of her lips curved upward.
In the next instant, a ring of red pigmentation suddenly appeared around the corners of Kushina's golden, slit-pupil eyes—the eyes brought forth by Nine-Tails Chakra Mode.
At the same time, an enormous new energy surged into her body, like a character in a game suddenly receiving a powerful buff.
Kushina Uzumaki had entered Nine-Tails Chakra Sage Mode.
Whoosh—
With that state amplifying her, her ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu all rose sharply, while her already top-tier chakra control now faintly brushed the ceiling of what even mixed Otsutsuki bloodlines could achieve.
This time, she did not need to create a chain first and then coat it in Nine-Tails chakra.
The natural energy fed back from her shadow clones directly fused her chakra and the Nine-Tails' chakra into an entirely new form of senjutsu chakra.
That senjutsu chakra could likewise be used for ninjutsu and for the Uzumaki clan's unique abilities.
So Kushina condensed a single chain even stronger than before.
There was a flash of gold—but it did not strike at the incoming attacks or at the Six Paths puppets.
Instead, it wrapped around a giant tree below.
Kushina's body, which had been hurtling toward the Deva Path, suddenly froze in midair.
But rule-based force was not so easy to resist.
The Deva Path only had to increase its chakra output slightly, and the tree anchoring Kushina would be torn up from the roots.
That tiny gap was enough.
Kushina flashed into gold, broke free of the attraction, and vanished from Yahiko, Konan, and Nagato's sight.
Boom boom boom—!
The various attacks collided with one another, setting off a chain of explosions.
The fire dragon formed from countless explosive tags ignited a raging blaze throughout the forest.
None of the three withdrew from the sea of flames. Instead, they were about to extend their powerful senses and search for Kushina's location.
Then, a streak of golden light flashed before the Deva Path's eyes.
A fist filled its entire vision.
It had come too fast.
And the timing had been perfect.
The Deva Path, which had just been momentarily distracted while preparing to use its sensory abilities, instinctively unleashed Almighty Push, releasing a repulsive storm that distorted the space around it.
The fist right in front of it—and Kushina, who had flickered directly into its face—were blasted away in an instant, with no resistance at all.
But as Kushina was sent flying backward, her body burst into a puff of white smoke.
At that sight, both Yahiko and Nagato's pupils shrank.
They'd been tricked.
The Six Paths puppets were about to turn and sweep their different fields of vision around, ready to share what each saw—
when, at that same moment, the familiar golden light appeared again in Nagato's vision from afar.
Only this time, it was not in front of the Deva Path.
It was in front of the Preta Path.
Boom!
A fist wrapped in golden chakra smashed squarely into the Preta Path's face.
There was no scene of its head flying off.
Instead, a terrifying golden storm erupted from the blow, like a transparent wall of golden air, sending the Preta Path hurtling backward at incredible speed.
The scenery around it blurred with it, showing just how fast it had been blasted away.
Crack crack crack—!
As it flew backward, something—whether it should be called force, chakra eruption, or the energy of natural energy itself—seeped from the golden storm into the Preta Path's body and went berserk inside it.
Its meridians, bones, and the Yin-Yang Release black receivers embedded throughout its body all gave off crisp breaking sounds.
And along with them, the body covering the puppet began to split apart and crumble.
If one didn't know better, it would have looked like the Preta Path, not the Asura Path, was the mechanical puppet.
The instant its face took that blow, Nagato completely lost control of the Preta Path. He could not even attempt to absorb the golden storm.
Boom—
Before the shattered corpse even hit the ground, a pillar of golden light burst upward from the spot where the Preta Path had just been blown away.
The shockwave from that rising column hurled the remaining Six Paths puppets, Yahiko, and Konan into the air.
When the golden pillar climbed a hundred meters high, it burst outward. Golden chakra spilled down like a fountain.
And as it fell, that chakra actually began to develop translucent golden meridians and bones—then flesh formed over them.
"ROAR—!"
When the transformation ended, a colossal fox, huge as a mountain, completely golden and half-transparent, stood within the forest and let out a roar that shook the heavens.
Its nine swaying tails made the earth quake.
This was Kushina Uzumaki's complete tailed-beast transformation.