"Akashō."
At night, Akashō stood atop the Hokage Rock, leaning on an umbrella. A shadow appeared behind him—judging by the voice, it was Kabuto.
"This is the location of Uzumaki Kushina's delivery, along with the method to silently enter the barrier at that site."
Akashō took the scroll Kabuto handed over and skimmed through it.
"A barrier… interesting. Is this some variant of sealing techniques? A jutsu that directly restricts a specific area."
Akashō had already mastered all of the Uzumaki sealing techniques except the Shinigami-related one, and he had long realized that sealing techniques weren't as powerful as he had once imagined.
Sealing techniques use curse marks to restrict an enemy's chakra. More advanced ones can restrict the body, and the highest-level ones can even bind the soul—like the Shinigami technique.
But sealing techniques themselves come with heavy limitations. For someone like Akashō, who fights independently, they're practically useless.
On the other hand, these barrier-based sealing techniques—besides confining an area like a cage—could even block the perception of En and Observation Haki. If the chance came, he'd have to get his hands on that knowledge too.
"Be careful."
Akashō glanced back at Kabuto and nodded.
"I'm off."
He leapt down from the rock and vanished from Kabuto's sight. When he reappeared from a forest on the other side, he had already transformed into Neferpitou. Behind him followed three shadow clones transformed into Doflamingo, Kokushibo, and Bertholdt Hoover.
"Doflamingo comes with me. You two stay back and act according to the situation."
Neferpitou—his transformed main body—issued the command coldly. With the original present, the transformed shadow clones behaved themselves.
"Yes."
The four of them moved swiftly, racing toward the location marked in Kabuto's scroll.
However, when Akashō arrived, he was surprised to find that there was no barrier at all.
"What's going on…"
To be safe, he reverted to his original form and carefully inspected the surroundings, confirming there was indeed no barrier.
Then, using Observation Haki, he sensed that the cave meant for Kushina's delivery had just been attacked. Inside lay over a dozen corpses, and he couldn't detect the presence of Kushina or Namikaze Minato.
Akashō quickly transformed back into Neferpitou and rushed into the cave.
"Doffy, with me. The rest of you stay here."
He led Doflamingo deep into the cave, arriving at a man-made chamber lit by dozens of candles.
"Sarutobi Biwako."
Akashō frowned slightly as he looked at the lifeless body collapsed beside the crib.
"So I was beaten to it… someone got here first?"
"Who was it? Danzō? That shouldn't be it…"
He scratched his head, clearly puzzled.
How many people could both have a grudge against Namikaze Minato and possess such confidential information?
Even someone like Danzō—who held considerable power in the Hidden Leaf Village—had only just passed this intel to him.
And judging from the current situation, that person must be quite strong to force Minato to retreat temporarily or lure him away.
Danzō was already cooperating with him, so he wouldn't act on his own like this. Could it be…
A thought surfaced in Akashō's mind—could Sarutobi Hiruzen be trying to reclaim the Hokage position and had decided to eliminate Minato?
"No matter what, I should find Minato first…"
Before Akashō could expand Neferpitou's En, the cave suddenly shook violently. Immediately after, a furious roar echoed from afar.
Akashō raised an eyebrow and instantly sent out his malicious aura. Instead of expanding in a sphere, his En shot out in a straight line toward the source of the roar.
"This is… the Nine-Tails?"
Within his En, he could clearly "see" a massive orange-red beast with nine tails rampaging through the center of the village.
The Nine-Tails had already broken free of its seal. So where was Minato?
Akashō quickly directed his aura to search throughout the Hidden Leaf Village. After a short while, he finally located Minato in a forest on the other side of the village. During the search, he also noticed Kushina—barely clinging to life—lying in Minato's home, along with a newborn baby with bright blond hair beside her.
"How strange… babies in this world are born with full hair instead of just fuzz?"
He muttered casually, then refocused entirely on Minato.
"What's going on?"
Doflamingo, standing behind him, couldn't help but ask. His Observation Haki couldn't reach nearly as far as Neferpitou's En.
"Minato's fighting a masked man I've never seen before. Seems pretty troublesome."
Akashō narrowed his eyes.
"Minato's attacks are passing straight through him. What kind of jutsu is that?"
Doflamingo looked at the contemplative Akashō, growing impatient.
"So, decided yet?"
"Yeah. Come with me to Minato's location and act accordingly. Oh, and notify the others to head toward the Nine-Tails. Make sure it doesn't cause too much destruction—I'm only after Minato."
"Got it."
Doflamingo dashed out of the cave. Meanwhile, Akashō kicked straight through the rock wall and shot toward the battlefield where Minato and the masked man were clashing.
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