While fighting Kushina Uzumaki in Jinchuriki mode, Rei Kaguya's greatest thought was probably this:
Sage of Six Paths, screw your ancestors.
Unlike Naruto Uzumaki, who only had half of the Nine-Tails inside his body and had never been taught how to use the Nine-Tails' power while growing up, Kushina, who had the complete Nine-Tails sealed inside her and had received a complete inheritance from Mito Uzumaki, could only be described as exaggerated in terms of combat power.
A casual sweep of her arm produced wind strong enough to tear apart the ground and uproot entire stretches of forest.
A roar from her mouth could create destructive force stronger than a direct hit from a Rasengan.
When she ran, her speed was not inferior to Rei Kaguya's while he was in Sage Mode.
Her close-range heavy blows could directly break through the super-strong physical defense granted by Dance of the Larch.
Judging purely by panel attributes, Kushina in the five-tail state already surpassed Rei Kaguya in Sage Mode.
However, the difference in their panels had not reached the point where it could decide the outcome of the battle one-sidedly.
In the end, this was Kushina's first time using the Nine-Tails' power to fight.
The coordination between her and the Nine-Tails inside her body could not be called seamless. At the very least, it could be called pulling in completely opposite directions.
That excessively enormous and violent chakra made it very difficult for her to use sealing techniques that required precise chakra distribution the same way she normally did.
The powerful sensory ability brought by the Mind's Eye of the Kagura also declined because of the Nine-Tails' lack of cooperation.
As a result, Kushina, who now possessed power capable of breaking Rei Kaguya's defense, fell into a very awkward situation.
She had too few effective attacks.
So much so that Rei Kaguya, under Sage Mode, could even rely on the sustain of [Grasp of the Undying] to maintain his health line at around ninety-five percent with ease.
He even had the spare attention to form seals while silently complaining in his heart.
"What is this? A Naruto version remake of Super Trunks fighting Perfect Cell?"
Taking advantage of the final duration of Sage Mode, Rei Kaguya once again dodged Kushina Uzumaki's furious pounce and the follow-up tail whip. He formed the last two hand seals and shouted.
"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique!"
A massive water dragon roared toward Kushina Uzumaki, sending her flying with tremendous impact and smashing her into a huge crater she had blasted out herself not long ago.
Taking this chance, Rei Kaguya ended his first round of Sage Mode and began observing Kushina's reaction after failing to win for so long.
If she continued releasing more tails, then he would recover the second senjutsu clone as well and continue using Sage Mode to circle around her, seeing if he could find an opportunity to defeat her as her reason gradually disappeared.
If she continued maintaining the five-tail state… then he would try fighting her without Sage Mode.
"Why? Why, why, why, why, why!? My strength is clearly above yours!!!"
An enraged roar erupted alongside a massive amount of crimson chakra shooting into the sky.
Kushina's body leaped out from the small lake and once again charged toward Rei Kaguya with a roar.
This time, however, Rei did not choose to dodge.
Instead, he gathered a large amount of chakra into his right arm, created a highly hardened bone spear, and actively met Kushina's claw strike.
Crack—
As expected, the bone spear was smashed into fragments by Kushina's claw.
Rei Kaguya, who had taken the initiative to meet the attack, was driven half into the ground by the opponent's irresistible strength and could not move for a moment.
However, Kushina, wrapped in the Tailed Beast cloak, was also forced back several steps by Rei Kaguya's counterattack.
"It seems what you said about not being able to control your strength properly is true."
Rei Kaguya did not plan to immediately struggle free from the ground.
After spitting out a mouthful of clotted blood, he panted slightly and said to Kushina, "But if you want to kill me with only this much strength, it is still not quite enough…"
Kushina said nothing.
But the increasingly restless Nine-Tails chakra on her body exposed the turmoil in her heart.
Of course Kushina could forcibly borrow even more chakra from the Nine-Tails.
But considering the almost mortal-enemy relationship between her and the Nine-Tails, six tails was already the limit of the Nine-Tails chakra she could currently use.
Any more, and the Nine-Tails' consciousness would begin eroding hers and try to seize her body.
But would six tails be enough to kill Rei Kaguya?
Kushina looked at Rei Kaguya, who had already exited Sage Mode, and silently shook her head in her heart.
Borrowing more Nine-Tails chakra could further increase her destructive power, but it also meant her control over her own strength would decline further.
When facing a large enemy force, that flaw could be ignored.
But when fighting an opponent with Sage Mode, losing control over her strength would only make her attacks even more full of openings and even harder to land.
Even after using the Jinchuriki power she had always hidden, she still could not avenge Minato on the spot?
Impossible.
Absolutely impossible!!!
Kushina, whose entire body was wrapped in the dark-red Tailed Beast cloak, suddenly opened her mouth toward the area where Rei Kaguya stood and began gathering a massive amount of chakra.
Seeing this, Rei Kaguya immediately activated Earth Release and burrowed deep underground, trying to use that method to confuse Kushina's senses and avoid being directly struck by the Tailed Beast Bomb.
"It's… useless. I can see you, Rei… Kaguya!!!"
A sixth tail erupted from Kushina's body.
The Tailed Beast chakra around her instantly became even more violent.
While the Tailed Beast Bomb formed faster and faster, Kushina's body dropped to all fours like a frenzied beast.
Even so, the direction the Tailed Beast Bomb aimed toward remained locked onto Rei Kaguya underground.
"I am so damn sick of this Mind's Eye of the Kagura… After this fight, I absolutely have to find a way to get myself a permanent sensory method!"
Seeing that he could not escape Kushina's lock-on, Rei Kaguya decisively burst out from the ground.
He used up his second senjutsu clone and began constructing his defense with all his strength.
Dance of the Seedling Fern: Thousandfold Mountain!
Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!
Dance of the Larch: Full Bloom!
Layer after layer of bone walls rose from the ground.
Behind the bone walls stood a gigantic rock wall three meters thick.
And behind that, the strongest bone shield, large enough to cover Rei Kaguya's entire body, formed the third layer of defense against a direct hit from the Tailed Beast Bomb.
After completing these defenses, Rei Kaguya stuffed two special [Biscuits] into his mouth as his final insurance.
Then Kushina's Tailed Beast Bomb fired.
The enormous black chakra mass shot forward with unimaginable energy.
In an instant, it engulfed all land within nearly one kilometer in erupting power.
Dozens of bone walls blocked the first wave of impact and energy, turning into ash that filled the sky.
After that, the towering rock wall also collapsed under the Tailed Beast Bomb's explosion, scattering in every direction.
Holding up the gigantic bone shield created by Full Bloom, Rei Kaguya was pressed down by the surging energy shockwave until he could not move.
In a wretched state, he was pushed backward by the blast wave, cutting a molten trail through the ground like a meteor impact.
Then, within the fully expanded Tailed Beast Bomb, he disappeared little by little.
…
"Hah… hah… hah…"
After receiving simple emergency treatment and bandaging, Minato Namikaze ignored the medical-nin's attempts to stop him and returned to Kushina's side using the Flying Thunder God Technique.
When he looked around, what entered his eyes was a land transformed into a flaming hell by the Tailed Beast Bomb.
The trees had become blackened charcoal.
The rocks and soil had melted into crimson, flowing lava.
That unbearably troublesome Rei Kaguya had already vanished.
Only Kushina Uzumaki remained, kneeling in place and panting heavily.
"Kushina…"
Minato Namikaze bent down and wanted to help Kushina up, as well as ask her about the final result of the battle.
But before he could exert any strength, Kushina Uzumaki unsteadily rose to her feet and turned the tables, supporting him instead.
"I am only… a little exhausted. I am not at the point where I need you, a heavily injured patient, to support me before I can move, you know?"
"I am not so weak that I need you to support me either…"
Minato Namikaze shook his head with a bitter smile, then grimaced and shifted the topic away from himself.
"Looks like you won in the end, Kushina… That is good. This way, we will not have to expose the fact that you are the Jinchuriki to everyone on the front line."
"Minato."
"Hm? What is it?"
"After we go back, can you spar with me more often? In that Jinchuriki mode."
"Huh? Kushina, what are you saying!?"
Minato Namikaze's eyes widened.
He could not understand why Kushina, who had always resisted using the Nine-Tails' power, would suddenly say such a thing.
"I am serious, Minato."
Kushina looked into Minato Namikaze's eyes and said word by word, "After this battle, I realized my use of the Nine-Tails' power is still far too shallow. I have to practice more in order to truly become a Jinchuriki the village can rely on with confidence."
"Are you not worried about other people finding out?" Minato Namikaze asked quietly after a moment of silence.
"Then, Minato, if other people discover that I am a Jinchuriki, will you choose to leave me?" Kushina asked back.
"No. Absolutely not!" Minato Namikaze answered without hesitation.
"Then that is enough…"
Kushina smiled gently at her lover.
"With your love, my heart is already full enough…"
Pffft.
Before her voice could fade, Kushina Uzumaki's abdomen was pierced through by a bone spear as thick as an arm.
"Eh?"
Kushina lowered her head, her gaze confused as she looked at the bone spear whose tip carried a faint gray color.
Then, as if every bone in her body had been pulled out, she fell straight down.
Only at that moment did an incomparably sharp sound of something tearing through the air finally arrive.