Konoha: Starting with Sage Mode

Several hours later, thanks to the efforts of many members of the sealing team, the huge and complex sealing array was finally completed.

Kirito, who had been continuously penetrating the sealing array with sealing techniques, decisively told everyone to step back. Then, he struck the sealing array beneath him with a palm, injecting a massive amount of chakra into it. The massive sealing array was immediately activated, emitting a dazzling light.

At the same time, the space around the sealing array began to distort, and a distorted spacetime black hole gradually appeared in the sky.

Upon seeing this, the members of the sealing team surrounding the sealing array all showed excited expressions, and some of them began to cheer with joy:

"Looks like we succeeded this time."

"Yes, a spacetime black hole has appeared. As long as it can be maintained, a stable spacetime channel can be established."

"I wonder if Kirito-sama is building a time-space portal to that place. I'm really looking forward to it."

……

Kushina Uzumaki, the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, listened to the words of the other sealing team members around her, but her face did not show much joy.

Although her sealing technique is not as good as Kirito's, she has been under Kirito's guidance for many years and has excellent talent. However, in Konoha now, her sealing technique is probably second only to Kirito.

Therefore, she had already keenly sensed that the sealing array was malfunctioning.

For example, the black pillars in the sealing array that bear the pressure of the sealing array have sealing spells flashing at a very fast frequency, which means that they are under tremendous pressure.

Furthermore, as the key figure in the formation, Kirito clearly sensed that the chakra he released exceeded the amount of a tailed beast.

Even so, the sealing array was still unable to complete the opening of the entire spacetime passage.

If this continues, she is worried that Kirito may not be able to maintain his strength. He might have his chakra drained by the sealing array, putting him in danger.

"Kirito-nii-san, I don't know what you're doing, but please be careful. Please, don't push yourself."

Kushina Uzumaki prayed silently in her heart.

“Little girl, if you’re worried that he doesn’t have enough chakra, I can lend him some. Shukaku’s chakra is pitifully little, not enough to support him in maintaining this terrifying spacetime array for a long time.”

A voice that exuded intense allure suddenly surfaced in Kushina's mind.

Upon hearing this voice, Kushina immediately became alert, closed her eyes, clapped her hands together, and activated a sealing technique using chakra to solidify her internal energy.

Inside Kushina's body, in a dark and water-filled mysterious space, the Nine-Tails, bound by several golden chakra chains, roared in resentment, "Little girl, I was just trying to help you. Quickly untie your chains!"

Unfortunately, no matter how furiously Kurama roared, the golden chakra chains binding it tightened even more, almost cutting into its body, causing it immense pain.

"Hmph, Nine-Tails, don't try to influence me with such childish tricks. I won't give you the chance to cause trouble at this time."

Kushina suddenly appeared in the sky above the mysterious space, staring coldly at the Nine-Tails in front of her.

Even though she had tightly bound the Nine-Tails with the Adamantine Lock, a deep sense of vigilance still lingered in her eyes.

She had a deep understanding of how terrifying the Nine-Tails' power was ever since she became its jinchūriki.

If you think you can seal the Nine-Tails using the Adamantine Sealing Technique, which is extremely effective against tailed beasts, then you are sorely mistaken.

The Nine-Tails is like a chakra aggregate with unlimited growth potential. Its chakra has been increasing at an unreasonable rate, forcing it to constantly strengthen the seal within its body.

Even though she was always wary of the Nine-Tails, she still almost had her seal broken by this cunning creature several times.

Fortunately, Kirito always kept a shadow clone by her side to help her resist the Nine-Tails breaking the seal, thus preventing that despicable guy from succeeding.

"Kushina, you pathetic creature, you're nothing but a tool for Konoha to control me. You don't even have basic freedom. I know what you're thinking. You like this brat named Kirito Tohsaka, don't you? But you're just a tool without freedom. You want to marry Kirito? Dream on! He'll definitely marry that female ninja named Chizuru Uchiha in the future. After all, she's his true childhood friend and lover. Hahaha~"

When Kurama saw Kushina appear, it mercilessly exposed the most painful part of Kushina's heart.

Upon hearing Kurama's words, Kushina's expression instantly turned extremely ugly, and she angrily cursed:

"Shut up, you stinky fox. You say I'm pitiful, but aren't you pitiful too? At least I have many good friends in Konoha, but you don't even have a single friend. You can only stay inside my body and it's difficult for you to even move."

Also, Chizuru Uchiha is not Kirito's childhood friend. I am the one who grew up with him in the Senju clan area.

"Besides, Kirito is a Jinchūriki now. If I can become a perfect Jinchūriki like him in the future, I'm sure I can live as freely as Kirito and my teacher, doing whatever I want."

The Nine-Tails' life experience far surpassed Kushina's, and Kushina's words were utterly unmoving. Instead, Kushina's current exasperated state confirmed to it that she had touched a nerve, and it laughed loudly:

"Hahaha~, I hit a nerve, didn't I? Little girl, you think you can control me? Do you think you're that wretched brat Kirito? With your abilities, it would take me many years to control you. By then, that kid will be living happily ever after with Uchiha Chizuru. You won't have a chance."

"Shut up, you filthy fox."

Kushina was once again hit where it hurt, and became even angrier. She decisively continued to strengthen the sealing technique to teach Kurama a lesson.

In an instant, the golden chakra chains binding Kurama tightened, but Kurama seemed to forget the pain of being bound and continued to provoke Kushina with words, making her increasingly angry.

Kushina wasn't stupid; she quickly realized Kurama's scheme.

However, she was still furious because what the Nine-Tails said was really too nasty.

What are you saying, the most honest truth?

Why should that Uchiha woman be guaranteed to marry Kirito in the future?

She should be the one who marries Kirito.

She was the one who arrived first.

"Damn Nine-Tails, I'll teach you a lesson this time so you won't be able to speak for months."

Kushina said angrily, then manipulated a golden chakra chain to tightly wrap around Kurama's mouth, preventing it from uttering a single word for the time being.

However, the pitiful look in Nine-Tails' seemingly expressive eyes, looking down on a defeated dog, still deeply pierced her heart, making her want to gouge out that stinking fox's eyes.

Meanwhile, in reality, the terrifying Nine-Tails' chakra was leaking out of Kushina's body. She had finally fallen into the Nine-Tails' trap. Her anger caused a vulnerability in her mind, which the Nine-Tails then exploited to leak its own chakra.

The terrifying Nine-Tails chakra had just emerged from Kushina's body when it quickly formed a giant fox head with a pair of bloodthirsty eyes—a chakra clone of the Nine-Tails.

"Go to hell, Kirito Tohsaka."

As soon as the Nine-Tails' chakra clone successfully condensed, it angrily charged towards Kirito at the center of the sealing array.

It had been waiting for this opportunity for a long time. After learning from Kushina's dark side that Kirito Tohsaka was building a complex sealing technique array and had failed many times, it began to secretly plan this moment.

It hated Kirito Tohsaka, the Konoha ninja, even more than Mito Uzumaki, because this guy kept teaching Kushina sealing techniques, causing Kushina's sealing techniques to improve rapidly, and repeatedly preventing it from leaving Kushina.

Furthermore, Kirito Tohsaka's sealing techniques are no less powerful than Mito Uzumaki's. As long as this despicable human is in Konoha, it's a pipe dream for him to spit out Kushina Uzumaki's body. Even if he manages to escape, he will be captured and taken back.

Therefore, it must find a way to kill Kirito Tohsaka.

Now is the perfect opportunity. This despicable human is willing to risk his life to research an extremely dangerous sealing array, using himself as the array's core and the power source to maintain it.

The sealing array is currently at its most critical moment. If it acts now, it will surely inflict severe damage on Kirito Tohsaka, and may even cause the sealing array to explode, allowing the distorted spacetime black hole above to devour Kirito.

"Stop, you beast!"

"Kushina, wake up quickly."

"Stop it quickly! We can't let it hurt Kirito-sama!"

……

As the Nine-Tails launched its sneak attack, the other sealing squad ninjas present shouted, and several of them, who had mastered the modified Adamantine Sealing Technique, made their move.

Unfortunately, their sealing techniques were far inferior to Kirito's, and they couldn't activate them instantly. They needed to spend some time forming hand seals to successfully activate them. By the time they successfully activated them, the Nine-Tails' attack had already reached Kirito.

It's too late.

But the next moment, something unexpected happened to Kurama and many of the sealing team members.

The giant fox head had successfully struck Kirito, but it failed to cause him any harm, or even break the sealing array. Instead, its massive chakra rapidly entered the sealing array below, injecting a new power source into it.

With the support of a large portion of Kurama's chakra, Kirito's pressure was greatly reduced, and the spacetime black hole above the sealing array grew larger and larger, gradually stabilizing.

"Impossible, what the hell did that damn guy do?"

Meanwhile, within Kushina's mental space, the Nine-Tails, which had temporarily clouded Kushina's mind, roared angrily.

It was somewhat unable to accept that its long-prepared plan had failed and that it had been used, which gave it a sense of humiliation, as if its intelligence had been completely suppressed.

Kurama decisively increased its chakra output, intending to transform Kushina into a tailed beast in order to break the sealing array and make things difficult for Kirito.

Since we can't kill this despicable human, let's just let his scheme fail as well.

However, just as it was about to do something, it discovered that its chakra was imprisoned and it could not use it freely as before.

"Haha, I knew Kirito-sama would be alright."

"Everyone, let's put in more effort and stop the Nine-Tailed Fox from causing trouble here."

"Nine-Tails, even if Kirito-sama can't make a move for the time being, don't even think about continuing to cause trouble. Don't underestimate the other Konoha ninjas."

……

In reality, a group of ninjas who used a modified version of the Adamantine Sealing Technique teamed up to bind Kushina with blue chakra chains, and said smugly.

Bound by blue chakra chains imbued with sealing power, the Nine-Tails chakra leaking from Kushina's body gradually disappeared.

"Damn it, damn it, even these ants dare to humiliate me like this."

The Nine-Tails roared angrily in Kushina's mental space, but in the end, it could only watch helplessly as Kushina regained consciousness, and its plan to escape failed once again.

Meanwhile, in the underground laboratory of the Konoha Orphanage, the real Kirito was using his Byakugan to observe the situation in the underground space where the sealing array was located.

Through his Byakugan, he used some secret technique to see the Nine-Tails' angry and unwilling expression in Kushina's mind space, and sneered, "This stinky fox is really persistent. Luckily, I secretly added a sealing technique called Tsuchikōdō Mu to the sealing array, which can absorb chakra, otherwise it might have really succeeded."

Then, he looked at the spacetime black hole that was gradually taking shape above the spacetime magic array, a hint of anticipation in his eyes.

The spacetime magic circle left behind by Hamura Otsutsuki was more complex than Kirito had imagined. Although he had successfully deciphered many of the key sealing techniques and had mastered the sealing magic circle, he encountered a setback when he tried to recreate it.

The reason is simple: the materials used to create this spacetime array are more difficult to obtain than imagined. He has already tried dozens of precious materials that can withstand the power of space to create this spacetime array, but without exception, they all fail at the last step.

Now it's his second attempt. This time, he successfully added materials mixed with black rods to the sealing array to enhance its resilience.

As it stands, as long as he has enough chakra to support the operation of the spacetime array, the opening of this spacetime portal will be successful.

Chapter 320: Betrayal

"Bang bang bang~"

A series of explosions occurred, the sealing array that was in operation suddenly stopped, and the spacetime black hole in the sky also distorted again, became unstable, and eventually disappeared.

The experiment failed again.

Kirito, the flesh puppet at the center of the sealing array, opened his eyes. He looked at the pillars that were used to maintain the operation of the sealing array and sighed, "The materials are still not good enough."

The new material he created by mixing black rod matter with spacetime materials is currently the best carrier he can use to maintain the spacetime array, but even so, it is still unable to maintain the operation of the spacetime array for a long time.

"What exactly did Ōtsutsuki Hamura use to successfully open the space-time portal?"

Kirito couldn't help but recall the process by which the White Snake Sage used his special ability to recreate the time-space portal that Hamura Otsutsuki had successfully opened.