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The spear's thrust was too fast for the naked eye, yet for a moment, it seemed to slow in the eyes of every witness.
All eyes were on that single, decisive strike.
The enemy's power was unexpectedly immense. His goal—the Dragon Vein, akin to infinite chakra, and the mightiest of Tailed Beasts, the Nine-Tails.
This reality weighed heavily on Minato and the others.
So, they all hoped. They needed this blow to pierce the enemy's heart.
A hope destined to be dashed.
Hanataki was strong. Even while absorbing the Dragon Vein's energy, he sensed the threat to his life.
The purple radiance bathing the underground palace was fading. The energy surging into his body slowed to a trickle.
His shadow clone had bought him time, but too much had been spent.
The light dimmed.
The power dwindled.
Until…
The spear of silver light punched clean through Hanataki's chest.
A violent eruption of chakra followed.
A purple shockwave rippled outwards like a stone dropped into water, washing over everything.
Minato and the others stood their ground, arms raised against the stinging wind.
"I hit him!" Naruto shouted through the gale, his eyes watering as he watched the silver pillar pierce the enemy's heart.
Yes!
His eyes were red-rimmed, shimmering.
Minato lowered his arm, hearing Naruto's triumphant cry. Shibi and Chōza instinctively smiled in relief.
Minato frowned. The prickling sense of danger hadn't faded.
"Rejoicing a bit early, aren't you?"
Hanataki's chest bore a gaping hole, silver light fading from within. Not a single drop of blood spilled.
His lips were curled in a mocking smirk.
The shadow clone vanished, its purpose fulfilled.
The spear's light dissipated completely.
The grotesque cavity in Hanataki's chest was laid bare.
It was… wrong.
A cold shiver ran down Kakuto's spine.
A man with a hole through his torso, yet no blood. He looked… fine. Perfectly healthy, his face full of color and vitality.
"Something's off," Minato said from behind Naruto, his voice low. He'd never seen anything like this. But his instincts screamed.
Naruto's elation curdled, turning heavy and cold.
Before their disbelieving eyes, the hole in Hanataki's chest began to knit itself shut. Flesh writhed, muscle and skin flowing like liquid to fill the void. In moments, his chest was whole again.
Even his pierced robes mended themselves, threads weaving back together as if never torn.
The scene was absurd. A silent mockery. It told them all that the last few moments might as well have been an illusion.
That this enemy had never been harmed.
That no one could harm him.
Naruto would rather believe it was all a hallucination than accept this man possessed a power to resurrect from death itself.
A power like that… could such a being even be called human?
Goosebumps prickled across Naruto's skin. For the first time, the true scale of the threat facing the shinobi world dawned on him. The immense, crushing burden that Kakuto-nee had been carrying alone.
His gaze shifted to the figure who had stood at the forefront since her arrival.
A frame not particularly strong, yet one that had shielded them from countless storms.
Emotion surged in Naruto's chest like snowmelt in spring, a torrent that threatened to spill from his eyes. In this moment, he understood Kakuto-nee's resolve. He grasped the weight of her constant duties. He saw why her name inspired such reverence across the nations.
Her existence was the shinobi world's hope. The people's unwavering faith, made flesh.
"Fifth Hokage," Hanataki drawled, brushing non-existent dust from his sleeve. "You didn't think killing me would be that simple, did you?"
His head tilted, his smile dripping with sarcasm and pride.
Kakuto's lips pressed into a thin line. Her expression remained an unreadable mask.
"Of course I didn't," she said, her voice flat.
"Hmph."
Hanataki chuckled, seemingly pleased. "Well said. You're strong. So how could I be weak?"
The words held a strange, intimate weight.
Kakuto's brow twitched slightly.
Naruto's teeth ground together. To him, it was pure provocation.
Minato's eyes never left Hanataki's face, analyzing every micro-expression. The earlier conversation replayed in his mind.
'Do you know a shinobi named Kakuto?'
'Kakuto?'
'I don't know anyone by that name.'
'Is she someone to you?'
'She's my sister.'
On the journey here, Hanataki had asked him that. Minato's gaze flicked between the enemy and the Hokage. A shocking hypothesis began to form. This enemy claimed to be the Fifth's brother. Yet the Fifth seemed to have no knowledge of him.
"But your strength doesn't matter," Hanataki continued, his tone light. "I can't do much to you. You can't do much to me." His gaze swept over the people behind Kakuto, the amusement in his eyes freezing into something cold. "But you have baggage. I don't."
A tiger with its cubs vulnerable. No matter how fierce, it could be outmatched by a lone lion. Kakuto would always be distracted, always guarding against an attack on those behind her.
The blunt assessment made Naruto and the others pale.
Naruto's fists clenched so tight the metallic taste of blood filled his mouth. More than hatred for Hanataki, he was consumed by self-loathing for his own helplessness.
He'd vowed as a child to be Kakuto-nee's shield. To protect her.
The cruel truth stared back: he was the burden. He had always been the burden. The one flaw, the one stain, on someone so bright and pure.
Naruto's vision blurred, his eyes burning.
Minato, the Yellow Flash, the team's ultimate safeguard, was being called dead weight. And he had no retort.
Minato's mind was mature enough to accept reality. Despite the bitter frustration, he focused on analysis. That's why he noticed the change in Naruto first.
Naruto began to tremble. The brilliant blue of his irises was being swallowed by a sinister, slitted crimson. Sharp canines elongated, glinting. A red, spiraling chakra began to seep from his skin.
"Nine-Tails chakra?"
As Kushina's partner, Minato recognized it instantly. The potential consequence—the host being overtaken—turned his expression grave.
From a distance, Hanataki watched Naruto's transformation, and his smile widened. He goaded, "Even with the Nine-Tails, you're still trash. A burden. A leech. The day will come when everyone you care for dies for you. Then you'll understand how utterly useless your existence is."
Minato's heart dropped. From his interactions with Naruto, he'd already pieced together a likely, tragic future for himself and Kushina. This enemy's words were striking directly at the boy's deepest fear.
It happened in the next second.
Crimson chakra erupted.
The underground palace flooded with the malevolent, bloody aura. An ominous pressure spread.
Slitted red pupils replaced Naruto's own. A bestial growl rumbled in his throat. He dropped to all fours as tails of chakra lashed out from his back—one, two, three, four, five.
Inside the seal, the boy's raging emotions influenced the Nine-Tails. The beast unconsciously poured more and more of its power outward.
A red blur shot past Kakuto.
Naruto, cloaked in the five-tailed shroud, lunged at Hanataki like a feral beast.
"Since you're delivering it to me, I'll take the Nine-Tails," Hanataki said calmly, not moving. A golden glow coalesced in his palm.
"Naruto!" Minato's panic was raw on his face. Flying Thunder God kunai shot through the air, only to be deflected by an invisible force before they could reach Hanataki.
Naruto's chakra-formed claws were already sweeping for the enemy's throat.
"Right… here," Hanataki murmured, a triumphant smile gracing his lips as the cloaked boy closed in. "Uzumaki Naruto."
The Nine-Tails. Obtained without effort.
The golden sphere in his hand reached for Naruto, instantly beginning to siphon the red chakra away. The shroud and the five tails flickered, fading rapidly as the energy was drained.
But when the drain reached about a third of the way, Hanataki froze.
The golden light in his hand sputtered and dissipated into the air.
His entire arm began to tremble, faintly.
Minato seized the opening. In a flash of yellow, he retrieved the dazed, weakening Naruto, placing him safely behind Kakuto.
"Cough!"
Hanataki's face changed. He couldn't suppress it—blood surged up his throat and sprayed from his mouth. He stared at his own blood-smeared hand, a look of profound confusion in his eyes.
What?
How? Who could have injured him?
Not an external wound. A poison.
He coughed again, more blood seeping between his fingers.
Minato watched it all, and his eyes immediately snapped to Kakuto, who stood unwavering before them.
She didn't look surprised. Not at all.
She had done it. Minato was certain. But how? And when?
"It was that first strike," Hanataki said, his voice hollow. A deathly gloom seemed to settle over him. Not the agony of a dying man, but something thicker, heavier—a profound, deep-seated sorrow.
Minato's mind connected the dots instantly. This man… who had asked him if he knew his sister.
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