Chapter 277: Futile Resistance
The Eight-Tails spoke and immediately entrusted its chakra to Killer Bee.
On the other side, after a cold snort, the Nine-Tails began mocking Kushina with biting sarcasm: "The Uzumaki clan's mighty sealing arts—yet you can't even seal a dead person? You actually need to borrow my power? Hahahaha!"
"It's laughable. Don't forget, I am sealed inside your body!"
Kushina instantly understood that the Nine-Tails harbored deep resentment—not just toward her, but toward all of humanity.
It resented being imprisoned within her for so many years.
So now, instead of lending its chakra, it kicked her when she was down with sneers and ridicule.
By nature, Kushina would never beg the Nine-Tails.
Especially not in such a humiliating way.
But the situation was stronger than she was.
Kushina could bend when needed. She pleaded, "Because your power is too immense, you had to be sealed to prevent unnecessary harm to humans."
"If that is the reason for your hatred, then place all that hatred on me alone. I apologize to you on behalf of humankind!"
"Now, please lend me your strength! If Uchiha Madara succeeds in his ambition, there may be no one left who can stop him!"
"..."
Her heartfelt words left the Nine-Tails silent.
After so many years together, it knew Kushina was a woman of her word.
And after long contact with humans, even it had been touched, however slightly, by their rich emotions.
At this moment, the Nine-Tails wavered.
"Please, Nine-Tails. If Uchiha Madara extracts you from my body, you'll die too, won't you?"
Kushina's voice rang out again.
Meanwhile, Killer Bee, already empowered by the Eight-Tails' gift, instantly unleashed eight tails.
A terrifying wave of chakra surged from him like never before.
He felt a perfect synchronization he had never experienced.
The Eight-Tails cooperated flawlessly—this was true Perfect Jinchūriki form.
The explosive chakra instantly drew Madara's notice.
But he was still at the critical moment of sealing the Three-Tails, unable to act without disrupting the process. If he broke it now, the seal would collapse.
Not only would all his work be wasted, the Three-Tails' chakra would scatter into the air.
Though tailed beasts, as chakra lifeforms, eventually resurrect with time and never die in the truest sense…
Madara could not wait that long.
Between letting jinchūriki escape or enduring the long delay of a beast's rebirth, the latter was unacceptable.
Weighing the options, he stayed his hand.
The good news was that although Killer Bee's chakra had erupted with the power of eight tails, increasing many times over,
he still failed to break free from the chakra black rods binding him.
And the sealing of the Three-Tails was nearly complete.
Once finished, Madara would be free to deal with them.
The bad news: not only had Killer Bee begun to enter a tailed-beast rampage, but the Nine-Tails as well.
Nine immense chakra tails unfurled before them, and even the beast's colossal phantom form appeared upon Kushina.
Seeing this, Madara's eyes grew cold.
"Submit to me!"
He spoke to the phantom of the Nine-Tails with the same words he had once used upon their first meeting.
At the sound of those three words, the ferocity on the Nine-Tails' face faltered into a trace of dread.
Its cold, piercing eyes revealed the terror of domination.
As expected, in that instant, Madara cast the Eternal Mangekyō's genjutsu upon the beast's manifested form.
In the blink of an eye, the rampaging Nine-Tails was subdued.
Even Kushina was stunned.
She had never imagined it could end like this.
The chakra within her, suppressed by the black rods pinning her, could not flow—otherwise, she might have used it to help the Nine-Tails resist Madara's genjutsu.
But that was impossible now.
The same befell Killer Bee.
Though the Eight-Tails was less arrogant than the Nine-Tails and had not manifested its body to provoke Madara,
Madara, having learned from the first, struck again. With the Sharingan's genjutsu, he subdued the Eight-Tails in an instant.
Next, a shadow clone detached from the sealing array and attacked Kushina and Killer Bee.
"Whsshh, whsshh, whsshh—"
Several black rods flew, pinning them once more firmly to the ground.
Already immobilized, now they had no chance at escape.
"Ants need not struggle pointlessly. Soon, it will be your turn."
The clone spoke coldly, then returned to the seal, resuming work with the others and his true self to finish binding the Three-Tails.
Soon, the sealing was complete.
Madara did not move on to the Four-Tails. Instead, a thought struck him.
Though his power allowed him to shorten the sealing time, an hour was still an hour. If anything unforeseen happened during that time, all his efforts would be for nothing.
"I must find a safer place to complete the next seals without interruption…"
With that thought, Madara vanished along with the remaining jinchūriki and the Gedo Statue.
Only Konan, wounded, and little Naruto, unattended, remained.
"This is bad…"
"I have to find a way to let everyone know what happened here…"
"And I must get Naruto back."
Konan looked at the emptiness around her, torn with pain.
She struggled, forcing herself to break free of the black rods impaling her.
Having followed Nagato and his Rinnegan for so many years, she was well-acquainted with the rods' properties.
In other words, she knew their weakness.
After several attempts, the black rod in her left hand loosened.
With another round of effort, she finally pulled it free.
The process nearly drained her of all strength. She sat gasping for a long while before she could continue.
Soon, the black rod in her right hand came out as well.
Finally, after another struggle, Konan freed herself completely.
She hurriedly scooped Naruto into her arms. Fighting against her fading consciousness, she summoned paper birds with the Dance of Shikigami, sending them flying toward Konoha with Naruto.
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