Ren hadn't expected to burn one of his Sage-chakra storage clones before Kushina even entered full jinchūriki mode.
He hadn't expected Orochimaru's interest to run deep enough to cooperate with Minato like this.
Orochimaru's curse mark was, at its core, a degraded replication of Jūgo's unique constitution—tainted by natural energy from Ryūchi Cave.
When injected, it granted the host a forced compatibility with absorbing natural energy.
And that was why Ren lost control instantly.
His Toad Sage Mode was only LV1—barely a foot in the door.
After ten days of nonstop study, he'd only managed to create two clones capable of storing a small amount of senjutsu chakra, desperately maintaining the balance between chakra and natural energy.
The curse mark's sudden interference shattered that balance.
If Ren hadn't reacted fast—recalling one sage clone and letting Kushina and Minato's sealing suppress his internal turbulence—
He might have started petrifying on the spot.
But the curse mark wasn't entirely bad.
Now—through that Ryūchi Cave-tainted "product"—Ren could faintly sense where Ryūchi Cave lay.
Which meant…
If he needed a "reason" to disappear later—
One was practically sitting in front of him.
As Ren broke the seals with senjutsu chakra and forced his power back into alignment, he glanced at Minato.
Minato's eyes were wide.
"That is… Sage Mode. No mistake."
Kushina stared.
"Sage Mode!? Isn't that something only the First Hokage and Jiraiya-sama can do?"
"It's Sage Mode," Minato confirmed, then frowned. "But it's crude. The balance isn't stable. And something else is interfering…"
Kushina pointed at Ren's neck.
"That wound—the one Orochimaru's snake made. His abnormal state—was because of that."
"I'll verify."
Minato formed a Rasengan and blinked behind Ren—
Ren's counter-kick appeared in Minato's peripheral vision.
Too fast—!
Minato teleported ten meters away—
But Ren appeared near the destination kunai at the same time and drove a bladed kick into Minato's side.
"Guh—!"
"Minato!?"
Kushina's chakra flared red—
But Minato staggered back to her, blood soaking his clothes, forcing a smile.
"I… dodged at the last moment with Flying Thunder God… Don't look at me like that, Kushina. I'm Namikaze Minato—the Yellow Flash…"
But Kushina's face had already darkened.
Her hair lifted like flame.
"Minato~ go back to camp. Find a medic. Now."
"B-but—"
"No 'but.'"
Minato tried again—then stopped.
Kushina's tone had become absolute.
He swallowed his worry.
"…I'll return as fast as I can."
He vanished.
Only Kushina remained—tails forming, chakra boiling.
Ren narrowed his eyes.
"Worth it? This battlefield is only a dozen kilometers from Kanayama. Once you go tailed-beast…"
He stared at her.
"That chakra will be sensed. Konoha has hidden your identity for years."
"You know why."
"I do."
Kushina's voice changed under the tailed-beast cloak, violent and resonant.
"I know they'll fear me. I know I'll be ostracized. I know the life I had will never return."
Her gaze sharpened, savage.
"But so what?"
"This power exists to protect the village. To protect the people I love!"
"You hurt Minato in front of me—do you think I'm going to watch him fight with those wounds!?"
"This is my first time fighting with the Nine-Tails' power."
Her tails lashed.
"If I kill you by accident… don't blame me for hitting too hard!"
A roar tore the air, red chakra surging into the sky.
Even Ren, still wearing crude Sage Mode, felt pressure on his lungs.
"This is the Nine-Tails…"
Ren inhaled slowly.
"The strongest of the tailed beasts."
"Come," he said, stepping forward without fear.
"Let's see how far I still am from you."
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