253 Naruto: Snatching the Mangekyō

Hikari was struggling immensely, her body trembling as she attempted to pull the chakra from Nagato's body. However, the chakra continuously retracted, resisting extraction. Hikari herself was barely able to stay on her feet, nearly being dragged toward Nagato by the force.

Seeing this, Tsunade, Fugaku, and Shisui immediately stepped forward.

They extended their hands, forming large chakra arms of the same blue-white hue, gripping tightly onto the Ten-Tails' chakra that Hikari was pulling from Nagato.

With their combined strength, they managed to slowly extract the chakra from Nagato's body bit by bit.

However, the process was painfully slow. The chakra was resisting fiercely, and even with four of them working together, the extraction remained an arduous task.

Meanwhile, on the battlefield, the fight between Uchiha Akira and Jigen continued.

Jigen had already pushed Akira to the brink.

'No, I have to get out of here. If this continues, I'll definitely be killed by this guy!'

With that thought, Jigen activated his ability, Daikokuten!

Boom!

Black cubes descended rapidly, forcing Akira to activate his intangibility.

Even as he phased through the attacks, Akira's advance didn't slow—he continued charging straight toward Jigen!

At the same time, Jigen, realizing that Akira was unable to attack in his intangible state, made a swift decision. He fully unleashed his long-range space-time teleportation ability.

As Jigen's will shifted, multiple black rods shot forward, and at the same time, a deep, swirling void manifested, threatening to swallow him.

At that moment, Akira arrived.

Three streaks of blue lightning surged forward, his body passing through the black rods without hesitation, black lightning bursting from his hands.

Seeing this, Jigen steeled himself and recklessly overused his space-time abilities!

With a flicker of thought, three pitch-black vortexes abruptly appeared, instantly swallowing Akira.

The speed was so great that even Akira, for a fraction of a second, failed to react.

As Akira disappeared, the battlefield suddenly lost all traces of his chakra.

Tobirama Senju appeared beside Tsunade and the others, his expression grave.

"This is bad. The Fifth Hokage was just swallowed by that man's space-time portal. We have no idea where he's been transported."

Tsunade, still focusing on extracting the Ten-Tails, reassured him,

"Don't worry. The Fifth's Mangekyō Sharingan has space-time abilities too. If he wants to leave, no one can stop him."

Tobirama shook his head, unconvinced.

"I once had space-time ninjutsu as well, yet I still fell in battle, didn't I? Every jutsu has a weakness—there's no such thing as an absolute ability."

"That's just because you were old back then, and your body had declined! If not, who could have ever touched you with your Flying Thunder God Technique?" Tsunade countered.

"You…" Tobirama sighed, shaking his head helplessly. His granddaughter had grown up and had her own beliefs—there was no persuading her now.

At this moment, Fugaku spoke up. "Don't worry, Lord Second. The Fifth possesses both inhuman stamina and strength. As long as he isn't instantly killed, he'll be fine."

"I hope so," Tobirama muttered. "Without a powerful Hokage overseeing Konoha, I can't help but feel uneasy."

With that, he resumed his sensory duties, refraining from further interruption so the others could focus on extracting the Ten-Tails.

...

Meanwhile, somewhere in the Land of Fire.

Madara turned toward Black Zetsu, his voice heavy. "What's the situation over there?"

Black Zetsu was in constant communication with the White Zetsu.

Hearing Madara's question, a sly smile crept across Black Zetsu's dark face.

"Madara-sama, it seems our opportunity has arrived."

"Oh?" A faint grin appeared on Madara's cracked face. "What happened?"

Originally, Madara had resigned himself to coming up with another plan. He was still monitoring the battlefield, but only out of a faint hope that something would shift in his favor.

Just dealing with Uchiha Fugaku and Uchiha Shisui, even in his Edo Tensei state, was already challenging enough. Not to mention Tsunade, Uchiha Hikari, and the strongest among them—Uchiha Akira.

With so many formidable opponents, he hadn't dared to make a move.

But now, Black Zetsu claimed they had an opportunity.

Black Zetsu spoke with excitement. "Madara-sama, the Fifth Hokage of Konoha has chased after a mysterious space-time portal and left the battlefield. Meanwhile, Hikari, Tsunade, Fugaku, and Shisui are focused on extracting the Ten-Tails from Nagato. The only one guarding the battlefield is Tobirama Senju!"

Madara's grin widened. "So it seems our opportunity truly has arrived."

"How fast is their extraction?" he asked.

"Very slow. It will take time," Black Zetsu replied.

"Perfect." Madara nodded, then turned to Black Zetsu and White Zetsu. "Head over there immediately. Black Zetsu, find an opportunity to retrieve the Rinnegan."

"I understand." Black Zetsu responded.

"Zetsu!" Madara turned toward the idly crouching White Zetsu clone. "Once you arrive, summon me at the right moment!"

"Got it," Zetsu replied halfheartedly, distracted by his thoughts on bodily functions.

Annoyed but unwilling to argue, Black Zetsu and Zetsu swiftly vanished, traveling rapidly toward the battlefield using organic pathways like plant roots and underground water streams.

...

Back on the battlefield.

Time passed, and the extraction continued.

Uchiha Hikari and the others kept pouring their strength into pulling the Ten-Tails from Nagato's body. Bit by bit, the massive beast was being wrenched free.

At first, what emerged was pure blue-white chakra. But as more was pulled out, the distinct form of the Ten-Tails began to materialize, its enormous body emerging from Nagato.

However, as more of the beast was extracted, the distance between Nagato and the four of them grew wider.

The Ten-Tails was simply too massive, and Nagato's pull remained strong, constantly resisting their efforts. It was a relentless struggle.

The slightest lapse in concentration would allow the Ten-Tails to be pulled back into Nagato's body.

Even with all four of them working together, they could only barely maintain the upper hand in this tug-of-war. For now, brute force alone wasn't enough to fully extract the Ten-Tails all at once.

Instead, they could only pull it out gradually, inch by inch.

"The Ten-Tails is even bigger than I expected," Tobirama muttered in astonishment, watching as more of the beast was revealed.

He had already imagined it being massive, but now that he saw its true form being unveiled bit by bit, he was truly stunned.

Its sheer size far surpassed that of any of the other nine Tailed Beasts!

...

T/N: Hi. Since I now have more paid members than before, I've decided to reduce the membership price slightly. Initially, I only planned to change the price, but after thinking it over, I realized it's important to announce this first. I'll be lowering the price by about 10% in the next few days, but the new rates will take effect in about a month or so. I wanted to give everyone a heads-up because Patreon will send out an email update, and I just want to clarify that this is a price decrease, not an increase.