Hearing Minato's words, Obito Uchiha stepped forward slowly and gently placed his left hand on Minato's back:
"I understand, sensei!"
After mastering the Flying Thunder God Technique, even if the enemy was indeed stronger, Obito still had confidence in self-preservation.
That was precisely where Space–Time Ninjutsu demonstrated its overwhelming dominance.
As his words ended, he pulled his hand back.
A series of black chakra runes danced briefly across Minato's red Nine-Tails Cloak.
At the same time, Minato also withdrew his palm from Obito's waist. With a twist of his wrist, he grabbed a kunai and assumed a battle stance.
Binding two ninjas skilled in the Flying Thunder God Technique together using its marking was the best way they could think of to amplify their strength.
After all, it allowed both offense and defense.
And to slow Nagato's advance, such a method was definitely worth trying.
"No problem. Saitama Uchiha will be handled by us."
Tsunade fixed her gaze on Saitama Uchiha while sensing the surging power within her body. Her eyes burned with fighting spirit.
Yet beneath that fighting spirit lingered a tinge of inner conflict.
Up until now, everything Saitama had done deserved the title of villain. Yet there existed deep and complicated ties between him and her disciple.
Nevertheless, Tsunade clearly chose to treat Saitama as a true enemy this time.
Upon hearing Minato's words, Kushina also turned serious toward those two figures. Her pupils expanded and elongated vertically, as if activated in predator mode.
Bloodlust and murderous intent churned violently within them.
The Nine-Tails aura radiating from her body grew thicker. Faintly, a fox appeared behind Kushina roaring skyward, its tail-shaped chakra swaying through the air.
"Since you've arrived, I'll leave this place to you. I hope for a good outcome."
White Zetsu appeared just in time beside Saitama and Nagato.
Half of his body rose from the ground as he peered down at them with a smirk.
As someone responsible for overseeing the entire battlefield, he wouldn't participate in any fights.
Besides, people like Saitama didn't need him to intervene personally. Thus, he clearly understood his own role.
"Go check other fronts and ensure everything is foolproof. I don't want anyone breaking through here again to cause trouble."
Nagato glanced at White Zetsu and immediately ordered.
White Zetsu chuckled lightly before sinking downward while replying,
"Alright."
After all, he was like a workhorse—ready to be used wherever needed.
White Zetsu appeared and vanished within less than a minute. Therefore, before Minato and others could contemplate how to respond should another enemy suddenly emerge, only two adversaries remained.
Noticing those few enemies' quite obvious stares, Saitama signaled toward Nagato:
"While originally you were supposed to handle the Nine-Tails, she seems focused on me now. Then I might as well go test this so-called strongest Tailed Beast first. No objections, right?"
"Just make sure nothing happens to you."
Grasping his chakra rod beneath his sleeve, Nagato teased Saitama first, then leapt forward, plunging downward toward the valley below.
The Black Cloak Bearing Red Clouds billowed out like a blooming flower.
Swish swish—
Nagato spread his arms midair as a long segment of his chakra rod extended outward, emitting a dull glow under the sunlight.
His gaze was icy cold, as if it could freeze the very air.
"Hehe, I'm not about to mess up here. It'd be a real shame to fall now, just one step away from my ultimate goal," Saitama muttered to himself while cracking his neck, producing a series of popping sounds.
As he spoke, the pressure around him thickened, radiating sheer intensity.
Although he had spent considerable chakra and physical strength battling two Kage-level opponents earlier, he remained in excellent condition now.
Both his chakra reserves and stamina seemed completely untouched—still abundant as ever.
That's what gave him the edge—he could keep fighting battle after battle without breaking a sweat.
Locking eyes on Kushina below, a faint crimson gleam flickered within Saitama's Tomoe-marked eyes.
In the next instant, the stationary figure vanished in a burst of crackling electricity.
A ghostly figure shot down from the sky like a wraith.
"Obito!"
Down below, Minato slightly changed expression at seeing Nagato charging forward, immediately warning his disciple beside him.
He first hurled the kunai in his hand forward, while instantly forming ninja seals with the other.
[Ninjutsu – Shadow Clone Jutsu!]
Abundant chakra made it effortless for him to complete the jutsu.
Instantly, the single thrown kunai multiplied into a dense net of blades, flying straight toward the descending enemy.
However, before those kunai could reach Nagato, an invisible force erupted from his body.
Under this impact, the swarm of kunai lost both momentum and direction, flying backward violently instead.
At the same time, Minato and Obito disappeared from their spots, flashes darting through the air rapidly.
"Die!!"
Saitama hadn't even landed yet when a piercing sound came rushing up from below, the air vibrating intensely.
A thick red chakra tentacle spiraled upward from beneath, exuding ruthless aggression.
Quickly adjusting his posture midair, Saitama tilted his body sideways in anticipation of the strike.
Swish—
The tentacle swept past him but missed its target.
Still, Saitama felt the scorching heat radiating off it. The side of his clothing nearest to the appendage turned blackened at the edges.
But none of this fazed him.
Immediately after dodging the attack, Saitama launched his counterstrike.
Chakra Transforming into Lightning surged downward in droplet-like bolts, accelerated by his diving descent—targeting both the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki and Tsunade standing nearby.
They shot forward in a hail of lightning bolts, ripping through the air like bullets.
Piercing cracks echoed as they flew past, leaving faint black fissures in their wake—a sign of the devastation they carried.
"Hmph!"
Rather than use ninjutsu, Tsunade slammed her fist into the ground before Saitama's technique arrived, shattering the earth beneath her feet.
Then, gripping a chunk of shattered ground with one hand, she hurled it forward, placing a thick slab of earth in front of herself and Kushina as a shield.
A massive stone slab, dozens of meters long and several meters thick, was effortlessly lifted by her and held like a shield in front of Saitama's jutsu.
Zzzzt—
[Sage Art: Lightning Cutter], formed from concentrated Sage Chakra, struck with immense force. It hit the ground near the two of them, piercing countless tiny black holes through the stone slab in front of them.
Yet, it missed its intended targets—the two of them completely.
Seeing that his attack still had no effect whatsoever, Saitama narrowed his eyes slightly, then without warning twisted his body.
At the same time, he swung his right arm in a blinding slash across something behind him.
Haku's white chakra flashed past. Kushina's red tentacle split into two halves.
The severed end of the red tentacle kept moving forward from momentum before dropping to the ground.
It turned out that after her initial attack missed, Kushina—powered by the Nine-Tails Cloak—hadn't immediately withdrawn her own tentacle; instead, she secretly maneuvered it to strike Saitama from behind.
She tried to ambush him just as he launched his jutsu.
But obviously, this little trick couldn't possibly evade Saitama Uchiha—battle-hardened and equipped with the Sharingan.
The severed tentacle didn't spray blood, but from the cut spewed scorching liquid chakra.
Saitama found this rather unexpected.
Caught off guard, he barely managed to cross both arms in front of his face as defense.
Sure enough, this liquid chakra was no ordinary substance.
The instant it made contact, his sleeve vanished in a puff of white smoke.
Then the hot chakra landed on his arm, boiling and churning like lava.
His skin visibly reddened before their eyes.
"This is Nine-Tails' chakra…indeed extremely oppressive. Does it naturally carry the Scorch Release characteristic?"
This amount of damage was trivial for Saitama now, but the unexpected shift surprised him. He muttered under his breath, analyzing the chakra.
This was the first time he had been in such close proximity to the Nine-Tails' power. All prior intel came third-hand, so some discrepancies were expected.
After all, the Nine-Tails—the strongest Tailed Beast—likely had many hidden abilities it hadn't even used yet. That made sense.
And the Eight-Tails he fought before couldn't even compare.
"Take this!!"
Shadows flickered. A crimson figure rapidly approached from afar, closing the distance between them in an instant.
Before Saitama's eyes, a fist wrapped in Nine-Tails' chakra expanded quickly, flying straight toward his chest.
This punch came unexpectedly swift.
Even Saitama felt a sudden surge of alertness.
Tsunade seized the fleeting moment as Saitama was about to land. Summoning unprecedented speed and strength, she suddenly struck.
Boosted by the Nine-Tails Cloak, [Monster Strength Fist] seemed to rip through the space it passed.
"Damn it!"
Saitama threw his arm forward to meet the incoming fist. A dense layer of white Sage Chakra surged over his punch.
Since he couldn't dodge, he had no choice but to endure the blow directly.
In the next moment, their fists collided.
The Nine-Tails' chakra and Sage Art chakra began canceling each other, transforming the Chamber around them into dense red and white zones.
Transparent shockwaves erupted from both fists before blasting outward in all directions.
Saitama was hit hard with every impact, his clothes shredding and his skin splitting open as the force slammed into him.
Thin streams of blood slowly trickled from wounds across his body.
BOOM!
It felt like his fist had slammed into solid diamond—no movement, just a brutal rebound that sent a shocking force right back through his arm.
His arm instantly went numb, transmitting this force to his shoulders, then chest…
So naturally, he immediately flew backward like a kite with its string cut loose.
Tsunade, on the other side, clearly had the upper hand.
Although her figure also unsteadily retreated backward, her condition appeared significantly better than Saitama's at this moment.
"Ha!"
Kushina leapt forth from behind Tsunade. Chakra tentacles, combined with more nimble Adamantine Chains, surged forward together.
Though controlled by the same person, these two attack methods operated independently without interfering—almost like two different ninja with separate minds manipulating them.
The chains moved as flexibly as vipers while the chakra tentacles wielded bold, wide arcs.
Both forced Saitama to exercise twice the caution.
Quickly stepping aside, Saitama dodged the chakra tentacle already swinging toward his face. Then, with his other hand, he grabbed the chain coiling upward from beneath his feet.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
Before he could struggle further, the chain had completely wrapped around that arm and continued spreading along his limbs to engulf his entire body.
Glowing chakra-infused runes shimmered across its surface, temporarily paralyzing the arm so it couldn't move at all.
Saitama's expression changed. He realized his unintentional carelessness had unexpectedly placed him at a disadvantage.
His opponents were Kushina, the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, and Tsunade. Judging from destructive power alone, they weren't inferior to the two Kages he had previously faced—individually, these two women were even stronger.
"I've got him! Tsunade-sama!"
Kushina shouted loudly. But before her voice finished echoing, Tsunade's figure had already shot forward.
Ever since Saitama forced her back, Tsunade had closely watched Kushina's battle.
Therefore, when she saw Kushina successfully unleashing a dual-element pincer attack, she decisively chose to charge ahead.
She slammed her foot into the ground, cratering it beneath her, then launched forward like a missile.
Just as she anticipated, Saitama found himself temporarily immobilized during Kushina's assault.
In this fleeting instant arose the perfect opportunity for her to strike again.
[Monster Strength Fist]
Tsunade's expression turned serious and resolute.
The red chakra surging over her right hand made the launched punch appear like a cannon glowing with red light, exuding tremendous pressure.
The air compressed at the fist's front became visibly tangible—a concentrated blast forming into a straight line toward its target.
Saitama tried retreating backward or dodging sideways.
But Kushina's chains were incredibly strong, continuously pulling at his arm.
[Adamantine Chains], a secret art of the Uzumaki Clan capable of effectively restraining the Nine-Tails, definitely lived up to its reputation.
At least for now, Saitama Uchiha was indeed held in place and unable to move.
A sudden flash of crimson light flickered within Saitama's eyes as the Tomoe rapidly connected together.
The next instant, he yanked hard with his trapped arm. A surge of Sage Chakra blasted through the chains — finally shattering Kushina's Adamantine Chains.
However, by then it was already too late for Saitama Uchiha to respond to Tsunade's attack.
Kushina's chains had successfully kept Saitama immobilized for two seconds—more than enough time to complete their mission.
Boom—
The air trembled violently as a fiery red "cannonball" slammed into Saitama's body.
His chest instantly went numb on impact, only to erupt moments later in a searing, fiery explosion as if a bomb had detonated inside him.
"Pfah!"
Spitting out a mouthful of blood, Saitama uncontrollably flew backward.
This time, he soared faster than ever before, sonic booms ringing out continuously behind him.
In the blink of an eye, Saitama crashed through hundreds of meters of space and embedded himself deeply into the stone wall behind.
The cliffside shook from the tremendous impact; countless boulders tumbled down from above, burying him beneath.
"Did we get him?"
Tsunade remained in her punching stance, crouched over and panting heavily.
The chakra surrounding her fist gradually dimmed, and the Nine-Tails Cloak enveloping her body also faded, becoming translucent as if most of its energy had been drained away.
That punch had been the most powerful she'd ever thrown.
Not only was it the culmination of her own strength packed into one blow, but it was also amplified by the raw power of the Nine-Tails itself.
Therefore, she couldn't imagine anyone surviving such a direct hit to the chest, much less still being able to fight afterward.
Still, even as she thought that, Tsunade didn't lower her guard right away. Her eyes stayed locked on the area ahead.
According to the information they had gathered, this opponent was a ninja who had received a transplant of Hashirama's cells.
But even so, she doubted his regenerative abilities could fully neutralize the damage from that last punch.
So, Saitama's current condition was probably serious injury.
And serious injury meant they'd achieved their goal.
"There's something off. His aura fluctuated briefly but quickly stabilized again, showing no major change."
Kushina raised a silent warning, urging Tsunade to stay on guard.
At the same time, she silently extended her Adamantine Chains and chakra-infused tentacles toward Saitama's location, moving with eerie silence.
Tsunade's expression tightened; she knew once more she had underestimated Uchiha Saitama.
Kushina's sensory perception was never wrong—she had no choice but to trust her partner, raising her vigilance against Saitama yet again.
"Tsunade-sama, look out!"
Suddenly, Kushina redirected the chains under her control straight toward Tsunade's position, shouting urgently.
In her perception, the enemy buried under debris had weakened. But the real danger was now closing in fast—appearing out of nowhere, just meters behind Tsunade.
But this warning clearly came too late.
Boom—
Before Tsunade could react, Saitama's figure abruptly erupted from underground.
"Heh."
"Hey there," Saitama said with a faint smirk before driving his hand forward without hesitation.
Tsunade-sama's face remained frozen in the same expression as before the moment Saitama struck.
Enhanced by [Sage Mode], Saitama's stealth capabilities had reached their peak. Only Kushina, the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, could sense him through her sharp awareness of hostility — which was exactly why Saitama went after Tsunade first.
A streak of white lightning pierced upward through Tsunade's body. On the other side, Kushina's eyes suddenly constricted as she turned to rush over.
A massive ninjutsu ripped through Tsunade's body, leaving a gaping wound and hurling her violently into the air.
Yet even then, Saitama wasn't finished.
Tsunade's regeneration was powerful, and with another Jinchuriki around, anything less than a killing strike wouldn't cut it.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
Adamantine chains and chakra tentacles arrived next, surging toward Saitama and vaguely weaving into what resembled a sealing formation.
Unwilling to take chances, Saitama abandoned his attempt to finish off Tsunade. He yanked his arm out of her body along with the residual chakra from his technique, quickly pushing off the ground to leap away.
Seeing this, several chains swiftly caught Tsunade and pulled her toward Kushina.
"Tsunade-sama?!"
Kushina frowned down at the bloodied Tsunade she had just saved, already steeling herself for the worst.
But what lay before her eyes once again sent shockwaves through her mind.
Right in front of her, Tsunade's grievous wounds were visibly closing stitch by stitch beneath the glow of green light and dense markings...
What they were witnessing was beyond even what could be called a medical miracle.
"I didn't think Tsunade would've already mastered the [Strength of a Hundred Technique] by now. Still, even so, how long can your regeneration hold out? Try it again — twice more?"
Landing in front of both of them, Saitama appeared completely unscathed aside from having torn clothing across his chest.
However, the Three-Tomoe pattern in his eyes had changed into his personal Mangekyou design.
To counteract the damage from Tsunade's earlier punch,
he had no choice but to activate the [Izanagi] sealed within his right eye.
"I'm fine!"
The previously horrifying wound had vanished completely. The glowing markings that spread from Tsunade's forehead had expanded further across her face instead, adding an ominous intensity to her pale complexion.
Seeing Kushina's confusion, Tsunade explained:
"This is the [Strength of a Hundred Technique] I developed using the [Yin Seal]. It's not yet complete and still contains some flaws, but judging from how it worked just now, the effect seems solid."
Kushina nodded. She could tell that Tsunade's condition wasn't as stable as she appeared.
That last recovery had clearly drained her significantly, subtly dimming the fire of life deep within her body.
"He seems to possess some sort of defensive or even damage-avoidance ninjutsu too," Kushina murmured softly, turning her gaze elsewhere.
There was no way Tsunade's punch should've done nothing more than tear his clothes like that — it was simply impossible.
Tsunade responded grimly:
"Then we push him to his limits — we test whether his jutsu has any boundaries!"
"Then let me try Nagato next. At least for a short time, I'm nearly 'immortal' and can afford to be more daring."
Kushina placed her hand on Tsunade, channeling chakra directly into her. The nearly invisible Tailed Beast Cloak covering Tsunade's body became solid once again.
"No problem."
BOOM—
A loud explosion came from the distant battlefield where Nagato was fighting.
Two figures stumbled back in chaos, crashing heavily into a stone wall and embedding themselves deep into it. They remained motionless for quite some time afterward.
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