The sudden appearance of chains that wrap around Kurama is surprising Zoro. He was too focused on the fight and didn't realize someone was coming closer.
Of course, he now knew whose chains those were. He looked at the red-haired woman standing quite far from him. Kurama looks especially angry at the woman.
"DAMN YOU, KUSHINA!"
The chains are stopping Kurama's movement completely. It makes Zoro think that if he is the one bound by those chains, then he also won't be able to move at all.
'I was struggling against the fox and barely matched his power. But those chains are stopping him easily. There must be a lot more powerful jutsu and ninjas that can do similar things. I still have a long way to go.'
Suddenly, more chains form a giant dome barrier that seals the entire place.
"Why are you sealing this place?"
Zoro decides to approach Kushina because he is not being thrown out of the barrier. So he assumes she is fine with him here.
"It is to prevent him from escaping and stopping outsiders from getting in."
"You don't look so good. Will you be fine?"
Kushina's appearance looks really bad as if she is terminally ill. Well, Zoro knows that it's because Kurama was taken out of her body, but he acts like he doesn't know.
"Don't worry, I can hold out for a while."
Other Jinchuuriki will die immediately when their Tailed Beasts get taken out of their bodies. But her life force as an Uzumaki is so strong that she can even fight even after Kurama was taken out of her body.
"But who are you? I never know we have someone as strong as you here."
"Uh, well, I'm not from this village. I'm just a wandering bounty hunter from the Land of Iron. That damn fox was crushing me when I was sleeping soundly, so I tried to beat him up."
Kushina is quite dumbfounded by that answer and so is the new person that suddenly appears beside her.
Zoro suddenly gets into a fighting stance while glaring at Minato.
"Wait! Don't worry, he is my husband."
Zoro relaxes again. Of course, he knows it's Minato and just acts as if he was wary because Minato suddenly appears.
"Alright, so, I can leave this to you, right?"
"Yes, thank you for holding the 9 Tails off."
"Hmm, no problem. But I want some compensation from the village. I almost died when that grumpy fox fell on me, you know."
Minato and Kushina don't even see that many injuries on Zoro's body despite being 'almost died'. But it's true that it was the village's mistake for letting Kurama get taken and summoned in the village to attack people.
"So, what will you do with the fox?"
Seeing Minato here means that Obito has been defeated and run away. Zoro can't get out of here for now, so he plays along with them.
"We will need to seal him in a new Jinchuuriki."
Kurama is obviously furious when he hears that he will get sealed again. He tries to break free but the chains are very strong.
"So one of you will take him?"
"That's....."
They seem reluctant to tell an outsider about it.
"Hmm, well, I can get out if you want. But I have a question before that. Why does that woman have that fox's chakra? I can sense the fox's chakra in your body although it's not much."
"Y-you can sense chakra?"
"Yeah, to some extent."
"... Actually, I was the jinchuuriki of 9 Tails. An enemy suddenly attacked when I gave birth and took out the 9 Tails out of my body."
"Huh? I thought jinchuuriki would die if the Tailed Beasts were taken out of their body."
"It's because I'm an Uzumaki who has a very powerful life force. But I won't hold for too long."
"Oh, that means you will just put the fox back into your body, right?"
"T-that's...."
"She is now too weak to do that and we don't know if returning the 9 Tails back into her body can save her."
"Then just try. If the options are either death or life, then just try to be alive. Ah! Why don't you just seal a part of the angry fox's chakra in your body and the rest in someone else if your body has gotten too weak to hold that fox's full power? I heard there were 2 people from Kumo who have had this fox's chakra in the past, right? That means it's possible to just extract a part of his chakra. Maybe 50:50. If it works, then you will be saved and if not, then you will still have a jinchuuriki from putting the other part in someone else."
Minato and Kushina think that it's certainly possible. But they are still confused about something.
"Why are you so concerned about this? You are not even someone from this village."
".... I just hate seeing parents giving up on life and want to leave their child to live alone. You said you gave birth when the enemy attacked, right? That means if you die then your child won't live with a mother."
Minato and Kushina can feel the sadness from Zoro's voice and expression. They can guess that he must be an orphan, that's why he can say those things.
"Minato, please bring Naruto here."
"Kushina, are you.....?"
"If it's someone who will have enough power to hold the 9 Tails' chakra, then I'm sure Naruto can do it even if he's not a pure blood Uzumaki. We don't have enough time to choose another Uzumaki. Naruto still has Uzumaki blood in him, he is my son, after all, so it will be fine. We can seal half of the chakra in me and half in Naruto. Master Jiraiya isn't here, so maybe we can ask for the 3rd's help."
Minato quickly nods before disappearing using his jutsu.
"Then I will take my leave."
"Wait! Please stay here to help. I don't know what will happen when we try to seal the 9 Tails. So please help us to suppress it if something happens. Of course, we will compensate you."
"Oh? Alright then. I can't say no to money."
Soon, Minato returns with the baby Naruto and the 3rd Hokage. The old 3rd Hokage is looking at Zoro confusedly, so Minato gives a brief explanation.
"I accept hush money, so don't worry."
They don't know what to say but they quickly ignore this matter because they need to seal Kurama quickly.
Zoro sees them write a very complicated seal on the ground. He doesn't understand them at all, so he stops looking because he feels like his brain is about to malfunction just by looking.
'So it's really possible to separate Kurama's chakra without using that 'Death God' or somsthing technique that killed its user.'
"Boy, can you watch over the 9 Tails? It will take a while for us to finish and Kushina's jutsu is getting weaker."
"Sure."
Zoro looks at Kurama before charging forward and jumps above Kurama's head. He coats his sword with Haki before swinging them at Kurama's head from above.
"Santoryu: 1080 Pound Ho!" (3 Sword Style: 1080 Pound Phoenix!"
A massive energy blade cannon shoots out of the blade and hits Kurama's head from above. It pushed Kurama's head very strongly to the ground and it makes a very strong impact.
Minato and Hiruzen are shocked because they haven't seen Zoro's attacks while Kushina has seen it a few times before.
Kurama now lies flat on the ground and Zoro stands in front of his eyes.
"Sorry about this, foxie. But they are paying me. Maybe I'll help you if you can pay me higher than them."
"You damn brat!"
Zoro stomps his haki-coated right foot on Kurama and it shuts the fox's mouth again.
"Let's fight again in the future when I get stronger."
Kurama frowns because he feels like Zoro is mocking him. But he can't feel any malicious intent or even anything bad from Zoro. He can can even sense respect from Zoro, which never happened before.
Also, when Zoro said to fight again in the future, Kurama can feel that it's not a sarcasm that Zoro said because he will be sealed and will never get out. Kurama can feel that Zoro truly believes they can fight again in the future.
Meanwhile, the seal is finally finished. Kushina steps on the seal and Naruto is placed beside her. They are ready to seal Kurama on both Kushina and Naruto.
"Minato, let me do it."
"But, 3rd Master."
"It's fine. Biwako has done her duty, so I will do mine. Boy! Get out of there if you don't want to be sealed too."
Zoro jumps towards Minato when Hiruzen makes some complicated hand seals. Kushina has tightened the chains after Zoro slammed Kurama to the ground, so the fox now can't get up at all.
Hiruzen finishes his hand seals and then suddenly chains of black words come out of the seal beneath Kushina and Naruto. They move toward Kurama and wrap his body.
Zoro's eyes widen when he sees a phantom of Kurama made out of chakra coming out of the fox. It makes Kurama lose a lot of muscles as if he has been starving for months.
The chains of black words then pull that chakra toward Kushina. It enters Kushina's body and Minato quickly puts a seal on her stomach to make sure the chakra won't escape.
"DAMMIT! I WON'T ACCEPT THIS!"
Kurama who has lost almost half of his chakra is shouting angrily. A lot of his chakra is being sealed in Kushina, that means he will get sealed in the baby Naruto.
"YOU WANT TO SEAL ME IN THAT WEAK BABY? DAMMIT! YOU UNDERESTIMATED ME TOO MUCH."
Just like in the series, Kurama tries to stab Naruto using his sharp claw. Minato and Kushina jump forward to block it just like in the series.
However, unlike the original story, the sharp claw doesn't pierce through them. Zoro is blocking that claw with his haki-covered hands.
"Bad fox. You shouldn't kill a baby."
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Chapter 59. Zoro vs Kakashi
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