"Has Tsunade or Nawaki already died?"
Kushina flinched. To avoid disrupting Lady Mito's seal, the village and clan had cut off much of the outside news.And yet, Lady Mito had still guessed something.
Uzumaki Mito read her expression—and knew she was right.
"Was it Tsunade or Nawaki? No matter… tell me. I'm about to die anyway."
"It was Cousin Nawaki, Grand-aunt."
Mito gave a quiet nod, her gaze shifting to her daughter-in-law—Rinju's wife—who now wept uncontrollably.
"Don't mourn. Whether it's my death or anyone else's… do not mourn.This village was Hashirama's vision. It's a long and grueling road. This is as far as I can walk on it. But the village still has all of you. You must carry on, protect Hashirama's dream.Make sure the sacrifices were not in vain."
Behind her, the Adamantine Sealing Chains suddenly rattled and lashed upward, striking toward the floating Nine-Tails.
All nine tails had emerged now, its body suspended in the air—a translucent mass of malevolent chakra.
The chains pierced through each of the nine tails, then coiled mid-air, racing toward Kushina.
Despite the pressure, Mito's chakra was unwavering. The Nine-Tails didn't rampage. It didn't manifest fully into flesh and blood. It remained ghostlike, under control.
Mito stepped toward Kushina and guided her hand—left guiding right—forming hand seals together.
From Kushina's back, Adamantine Sealing Chains burst forth, linking with Mito's.
The Nine-Tails' tails, one by one, followed the connected chains, pulled slowly into Kushina's body.
"Uzumaki Mito! Will you never let me go?!"
The beast roared as the chains pierced it. Its howl echoed through the night sky.
As the seal transferred, more and more of the Nine-Tails' chakra surged out of Mito and into Kushina, its form growing clearer by the second.
Senju Rinju shouted,"The Nine-Tails is resisting! Senju clan—activate the Joint Sealing Technique!"
Over 900 Senju shinobi formed hand seals in perfect unison, slamming their palms onto a massive scroll laid across the ground.
Curse markings resembling the Self-Binding Curse Mark lit up across the scroll.
The markings shot out like chains, wrapping around the Nine-Tails, locking down its limbs, joints, and torso—immobilizing the beast.
'The Senju's Joint Sealing Technique… it really is powerful,' Yako thought.'To combine the chakra of hundreds and restrain even the Nine-Tails…'
With the Senju's aid, the sealing proceeded. The Nine-Tails' chakra continued to enter Kushina in waves.
All nine tails disappeared inside her.
Even its rear limbs had been absorbed.
Everything seemed to be going smoothly—until Yako spotted movement on the distant treeline.
Danzo. And two of his assistants.
More importantly—Danzo's right eye was covered in bandages.
Yako's mind flashed to the corpse of that young Shimura boy…His eyeballs gouged out by Orochimaru. His eyelids sewn to his brow ridge. Two gaping, bloody holes left behind.
'So that's where Danzo went. He sought out Orochimaru… to transplant a new eye.'
Danzo now stood behind Sarutobi Hiruzen, hidden beneath the Fire Shadow's robes and hat.
The Senju didn't notice him—but from the side, Yako could see clearly.
Danzo raised a hand and tapped the bandage over his right eye.
A sealing pattern appeared across the fabric. That eye-cover was no ordinary bandage—it blocked detection, hiding what lay beneath.
Swiftly, he lifted it—just for a second—shielded by Hiruzen's shadow.
He looked straight at the Nine-Tails.
The beast, bound by both Mito's chains and the Joint Sealing Technique, froze.
Its eyes moved.
Slowly… it turned its gaze toward the Valley of the End, toward the colossal stone statue of Uchiha Madara.
Something stirred in its mind.
That overwhelming ocular power—it remembered.
It was as if it were back at the Battle of the Final Valley.
Uchiha Madara, eyes blazing with his Sharingan, casting genjutsu over it—his Armored Susanoo wrapping the Nine-Tails in armor, ramming head-on into Hashirama, who stood upon the great wooden Buddha.
Now, within the seal, a new chakra surged through the Nine-Tails.
It wasn't Mito's.
It wasn't Kushina's.
This chakra instantly transformed into an armored shell—Armored Susanoo—encasing the beast.
Senju Rinju screamed,"Impossible! Why is there an Uchiha Susanoo?!"
He spun around. No Uchiha in sight. Only ANBU at the perimeter.
His gaze snapped back to the Madara statue.
'Did Madara… leave some chakra behind?'
The Armored Susanoo only lasted a second or two—then vanished.
But that was enough.
The Joint Sealing Technique shattered.The Adamantine Sealing Chains burst apart.
The Nine-Tails broke free.
It opened its jaws, chakra swirling rapidly.
A Tailed Beast Bomb began to form.
"Interrupt it! Now!"
Every Senju ninja pushed their chakra to the limit, pouring it into the seal matrix.But the Tailed Beast Bomb only grew larger.
Mito raised her head.
Her once-clouded eyes now shone with clarity.
She glanced to the outer perimeter—
A puff of rich, white smoke bloomed in the darkness. Clear as day.Sarutobi Hiruzen had summoned Enma.
Hiruzen had already shed his robes and hat. He now stood wielding the Adamantine Staff, hammering through the outer trees as if chasing some invisible monster.
He shouted,"Find whoever sabotaged the seal!"
ANBU operatives scattered through the woods.
Yako scoffed inwardly,'Your acting really is top-notch.'
'Danzo's right behind you, hiding in that smoke.'
Mito said,"I'll restrain the Nine-Tails. The sealing from here on… it's up to you."
Two more Adamantine Sealing Chains shot out from her body, binding the Nine-Tails' neck and head, wrenching its snout upward.
The beast thrashed madly.The chains groaned and clanged.
Blood poured from Mito's mouth, but in her final second—she succeeded.
The Tailed Beast Bomb fired.
Not downward.
But at an angle—launched far away.
It missed the Senju.
Every Senju ninja exhaled in relief.
The Nine-Tails, still struggling, tore Mito's chains out from her body.
A swath of flesh came with them.
Blood erupted.
Her back—mangled, torn wide open.
A gaping, grotesque wound exposed raw muscle and bone.
Mito coughed blood and collapsed to her knees.
Still kneeling, she forced her body upright.One last seal. One final hand sign.
"Kushina… I'm going now. Don't be afraid.You'll find someone..."
Only the Nine-Tails' upper half remained suspended.
If not for that Armored Susanoo, the sealing would've been a success.
But Mito fell.
The eldest matriarch of Konoha. Her body brittle and thin, like dry branches.She collapsed, unmoving.
Dead.
An era had ended.
The last of the Founding Generation—Uzumaki Mito—gave her life for the village.