57. Sealing the Beast Part-3

Swish… swish…

Hiruzen makes some quick hand signs.

"Earth Release: Rock Wall,"

Hiruzen quickly erects a rock wall to block the shockwaves.

After a few seconds, the commotion dies down. Kushina jumps out of the crater and confronts the group.

Whiskers appear on her face and her nails grow longer and sharper to form claws. Two long chakra constructs of ears resembling fox's ears form around her head.

ROAR…

Kushina releases another roar and produces a powerful blast of wind. Kisuke and Tsunade swiftly jump out of the way while Hiruzen crosses his arms to withstand the blast.

"This terrifying chakra… it's not something the likes of a normal human can control. I need to get serious if we want to suppress her in this form.

Hiruzen withstands the blast and charges toward the three-tailed form of Kushina.

Swish…

He taps the seal on his wrist and summons a giant Fuma shuriken.

Hiruzen launches the Fuma shuriken toward Kushina.

Swish… swish…

Hiruzen rapidly makes some hand signs.

"Shuriken Shadow clone Jutsu,"

The giant Fuma shuriken multiples in numerous copies and surround Kushina.

"I am not done yet!"

Hiruzen continues to make rapid hand signs.

"Fire Release: Furious flames Jutsu,"

He shrouds a major portion of the Fuma Shuriken with Fire chakra to create giant flaming projectiles.

Bang… bang… bang…

Kushina swiftly dodges a few shurikens with her speed and repels others with her chakra tails.

She extends her chakra arms and attacks Hiruzen from quite a distance.

"Lightning Release: Electric Shock Needles,"

Hiruzen takes a deep breath and puffs his cheeks. He infuses chakra into his breath and spits out multiple fast-paced sharp lightning senbons from his mouth.

BANG… BANG… BANG…

The lightning needles pierce through the rapidly approaching chakra arm and drill numerous holes in the ground at their point of contact.

Haah…

Tsunade uses this opportunity to sneak beside the three-tailed fox. She infuses a large amount of chakra in her leg to bolster her offense and defense and delivers a powerful kick to the waist of the rampaging jinchuruki.

BANG…

The powerful force from the kick sends her flying. The three-tailed fox slides through the ground and creates trenches along the way.

Gah…

Tsunade also spits out a mouthful of blood and holds her waist. The tailed beast managed to counterattack at the last moment. One of its tails pierced a hole through her abdomen.

Tsunade infuses chakra into her palm and heals her body. The hole in her abdomen regenerates rapidly. Tsunade has a pale expression as she exhausted too much of her chakra.

Grrr…

The three-tailed fox growls at Hiruzen as the latter attack it with another jutsu.

"Earth Style: Pillar of Heaven,"

Hiruzen slams his palm on the ground and creates a massive rock pillar underneath the nine-tails. It launches the beast into the air.

Tsunade uses this opportunity and jumps in the air. She infuses a bit more chakra into her foot and kicks the fox to the ground.

BANG…

The fox slams into the ground and generates another crater at the point of contact.

"I got it!" Kisuke makes a Ram hand seal.

A giant Fuinjutsu seal appears on the ground and dark purple chains erupt from the seal. These seals bind the nine-tails and hold it a place. Kisuke also uses his Adamantine Sealing chains to firmly pin her to the ground.

ROAR… roar…

The nine-tails frantically struggle to get free from the bindings. Kushina's skin turns red and the color of the surrounding chakra becomes deep.

"This is bad!" Mito anxiously stares at the dark red chakra.

"At this rate, she will enter into the Four-tails form. Her little body can't handle the transformation and she might die." Mito grits her teeth.

"Kushina, get a hold of yourself!" Mito uses this opportunity when the nine-tails are pinned to the ground to close the gap.

Inside Kushina's mindscape,

Kushina closes her eyes and covers her ears as the echoes grow louder and louder in her ears.

"No! Stay away from me! Leave me alone!"

"Kushina!" Among the echoes, a feeble voice calls her name.

"KUSHINA!" The feeble voice slowly grows louder.

"Kushina… Kushina… Kushina…"

Multiple voices slowly whisper her name. The dissing voices in her head slowly die down.

"Kushina!"

A familiar voice sounds in her ears. Kushina slowly opens her eyes and glances at her surroundings.

Blurry images of Nawaki, Tsunade, Minato, Yuji, Shikaku, Inoichi, Choza, and Hana stretch their hands toward her and whisper her name with a smile.

"Everyone!"

Kushina stretches her hand to hold their hands. The surrounding darkness slowly fades away to reveal the face of her friends. Tears flow from her eyes as she slowly stands up and takes a step forward toward them.

"Kushina, love is the absence of judgment. Your friends won't judge your shortcoming, they will accept you for who you really are!" Mito's serene voice echoes in her surroundings.

Kushina hugs her friends, and the bright light pierces through the surrounding darkness. Multiple Adamantine Sealing chains rise from her back and rip apart the surrounding illusion.

Kushina opens her eyes and glares at the figure of a giant Nine-tails fox.

Grrr…

Nine-tails release an intimidating growl towards her.

"I am not afraid of you. My friend and my family believe in me. I won't let them down."

More Adamantine Sealing chains escape from her body and wrap around the Nine-tails.

"This jutsu… this chakra… YOU!"

The nine-tails roar and struggle to get free from the chains as it recognizes the familiar chakra type. The chains stab through Nine-tails head, torso, and tail and pin it down to the ground.

"So, this was your plan, Mito Uzumaki. This child has a similar chakra as yours. You want to tie me down to this child? But how long… how long will you stay with this child? There will be more opportunities in the future."

The Nine-tails glare at Mito through the seal.

In the outside world,

After Mito applies the suppression seal on Kushina's forehead. Nine-tails chakra cloak around her slowly disperses. The tails on her back vanish one by one and Kushina returns to her normal state.

"Release her!"

Mito gestures to Hiruzen and Kisuke. Kisuke releases his Adamantine Sealing chain while Hiruzen dispels his Earth Release: Rock prison.

Tsunade picks up Kushina and carries her toward the ceremonial altar. She places her on top of the altar. Mito draws the sealing pattern of Four Symbol Seals with her chakra and precisely overlaps it with the previous Four Symbol Seals to create the Eight Trigram Revolving seal.

Inside Kushina's mindscape,

Bang… bang… bang…

Multiple stakes and Tori gates fall from the sky and firmly pin the Nine-tails to the ground. Mito reappears inside Kushina's mindscape and glares at the Nine-tails.

"With this, you won't be able to influence her chakra for a while. Stay tranquil inside her!"

Grr…

The Nine-tails growls and opens its mouth.

"You…"

Bang…

With a wave of Mito's hand, another Tori gate falls from the sky and seals Nine-tail's mouth. Mito exits Kushina's mindscape.

Her vision turns blurry, and she falls to the ground.

"Grandma!"

"Oba-san!"

"Lady Mito!"

Tsunade hurriedly supports her. Mito loses consciousness in her arms. Tsunade picks her up and carries her to her room. Kisuke also picks up an unconscious Kushina and walks into the house.

"Hokage-dono, I will lower the barrier. You and your man can return to take some rest." Kisuke informs Hiruzen.

"Very well!"

Hiruzen nods and retreats. Kisuke makes some hand signs and dispels the transparent barrier around the Senju clan compound. He stares at the messy land in front of the house.

"This looks like a lot of work!"

A few minutes later, Kisuke knocks on the door of Mito's room.

"Please come in!"

Tsunade calls him in.

Creak…

Kisuke opens the door and enters the room. He turns his attention towards Mito and notices her emaciated face. Mito is lying on the bed in a comatose state.

"How long does she have to live?" Kisuke steels his heart and asks the question.

"Her vitality is rapidly deteriorating. Despite the best vitality elixir from the Shikkotsu Forest, she can't seem to recover. Earlier, I summoned a fragment of Katsuyu and she remarked that both grandma's life and the chakra vessel are broken. It's the reason the vitality elixir does not affect her. At this rate, grandma will lose her life within a week!"

Tears flow from Tsunade's eyes. She hugs Mito's body and sobs into her embrace.

Kisuke closes the door and leaves. He sighs and stares at the giant moon in the sky.

"Grandfather prophesied that a great calamity will befall the Uzumaki clan after his daughter's death!"

He clenches his fists.

"As the current leader of the Uzumaki clan, I have to be prepared for everything."