On the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Grass, within a gargantuan subterranean expanse, a violent explosion of white smoke heralded the arrival of a screaming, agonizing mass of evil, icy chakra.
As the smoke dissipated, Kurama finally regained his bearings. His environment had shifted completely; the lethal crisis of Saiki's blade was gone.
But before the Nine-Tails could even feel a spark of relief, he turned his head and saw the Gedo Mazo—the colossal, hollow shell of the Ten-Tails, towering far above him. His feral, violet pupils contracted sharply, flickering with a primal, absolute terror.
The nine Tailed Beasts were all fragments of chakra manufactured from the body of the Ten-Tails. Their greatest fear was being assimilated back into that husk. As sentient beings with intellects rivaling or exceeding humans, the loss of their individual ego was a fate worse than death.
"Nine-Tails!" At that moment, a voice rang out—ancient, weathered, yet saturated with a domineering weight that made Kurama's very soul turn cold.
Following the sound, Kurama looked down and finally spotted the source.
An old man stood by his heel, draped in a voluminous grey robe. His hair was as white and dry as dead grass, and his frame was as withered as a piece of rotting timber. A thick, pulsating tube extended from the back of his head, connecting him directly to the Gedo Mazo.
The figure was stooped and frail, covered in wrinkles as if a stiff breeze might knock him over. But as he lifted his head, parting his hair to reveal a single eye, Kurama saw the three black tomoe spinning within a blood-red iris.
He looked like a corpse waiting to be buried, yet a tyrannical, razor-sharp, and icy chakra erupted from his presence. The sheer weight of the old man's aura actually suppressed Kurama, the "Calamity of the World."
That familiar chakra... that freezing, indifferent stare... that god-like arrogance that looked down upon all living things as mere livestock.
"Uchiha... MADARA!" Kurama let out a low, guttural roar, his voice thick with bone-deep hatred and a suppressed tremor of fright.
He recognized that eye. Even if it wasn't the Mangekyo he remembered, that haughty, freezing gaze was unmistakable.
Under the influence of that absolute, frigid chakra, Kurama's spirit began to shiver reflexively.
This was the man who, decades ago, had used those eyes to forcibly enslave him, turning him into a mere plaything to be batted around by Hashirama Senju.
The humiliation and powerlessness of that era were burned into his genetic memory like a branding iron.
"Hmph. Beast. Do you actually dare to address your master by his name?" Madara's voice was raspy and cold, carrying an unquestionable authority.
He slowly raised a withered arm. The movement was deceptively sluggish, but it carried an invisible, crushing pressure that made Kurama's massive frame tense. The fox's gargantuan beast-eyes locked onto the tiny, yet infinitely dangerous figure below.
"It seems decades of freedom have allowed you to forget your place... and your fear."
Kurama's chakra boiled in response. Crimson, blood-like energy steamed from his fur as his nine tails whipped frantically through the cavern, creating a localized hurricane of malice.
The days of being an Uchiha slave were agonizing, and he held a primal fear of the man, but Kurama's intelligence was a known quantity. He wasn't just a mindless beast.
With a single glance, he analyzed the situation. He had been summoned. He didn't know why or how Madara was still alive after the legendary battle at the Valley of the End, but he saw his chance.
"ROAR—!!!"
With a deafening howl, Kurama raised a massive paw. He intended to strike while the old man looked weak and emaciated, smashing him into paste before he could use the Gedo Mazo to suppress him.
However, facing a strike capable of leveling mountains, the corners of Madara's wrinkled mouth curled into a microscopic, contemptuous sneer.
His withered right hand merely formed the 'Tiger' seal. Suddenly, Kurama felt the time and space around him solidify. His descending paw froze in mid-air, unable to move a single inch forward. Only the resulting gale from the stopped momentum whipped Madara's grass-like hair and tattered robes.
Unlike Saiki, who was a "fast-tracked" powerhouse, the peak Madara Uchiha had been a master of all disciplines. Saiki might match or exceed him in raw chakra transformation and speed, but in the art of Fuinjutsu and control, Saiki was a babe in the woods compared to the Ghost of the Uchiha.
After capturing the Nine-Tails years ago, Madara had "cared" for the fox's body inside and out. He had left countless curse marks and sealing runes throughout the beast's system to ensure easy control. Kurama had long ago been "molded" into the exact shape Madara desired.
Kurama's hideous beast-eyes bulged as if they were about to pop. Veins throbbed in the whites of his eyes, yet he couldn't move. He couldn't even manage a whimper. His body had quite literally become Madara's property.
Compared to the fox's berserk struggle, Madara remained calm. However, a slight furrow appeared in his brow as he looked at Kurama's chest. The wound Saiki had delivered—a clean puncture through the torso—had not healed.
For a Tailed Beast, healing a wound of that magnitude should have taken seconds. Even if the head were blown off, they could reform nearly instantly.
Madara saw the white energy clinging to the edges of the wound, preventing closure. He wove a sign, and a stone pillar rose from the floor, lifting him up to the fox's eye level and the location of the injury.
"Power bordering on Yin-Yang Release? No... it's more complex than that. It carries the characteristics of Senjutsu. Six Paths Sage Chakra? This is getting interesting."
Madara had long ago transplanted his Rinnegan into Nagato. The eye he currently used was a standard three-tomoe Sharingan. Even with his vast knowledge, he could only observe the surface effects of Saiki's unique energy.
The stone pillar descended as Madara noted his control over the fox was wavering. His energy reserves were far too low to maintain the suppression for long.
In his current state, if he weren't tethered to the Gedo Mazo for chakra, the Nine-Tails might actually be able to slap him into meat-paste.
With a final, desperate heave, Kurama finally managed a roar. But as Madara's hands blurred through seals, the tightly shut mouth of the Gedo Mazo behind him suddenly yawned open, letting out a silent, soul-piercing shriek!
Several massive, spectral chains erupted from the statue's maw, lashing around Kurama's neck and torso.
"ROAR! AWOOOO—!!!"
Kurama's roar of rage instantly transformed into a whimper of terror. His colossal body writhed and thrashed, desperate to break the lethal bind.
His thick claws tore at the floor, shredding solid bedrock like tofu. A rain of debris filled the cavern as the entire space shook under his frantic strength.
Those bloodthirsty beast-eyes were fixed on the approaching abyss of the Gedo Mazo's mouth, radiating an unprecedented, mortal fear.
But the struggle was futile. The chains snapped taut with a screech of phantom metal. An irresistible, absolute force exploded, dragging the mountain-sized Nine-Tails backward into the bottomless maw of the statue.
This was the proof of Madara's legend. Even as a walking corpse on the verge of death, he had sealed the strongest Tailed Beast in a matter of seconds.
Meanwhile, Nagato—possessed of Madara's Rinnegan—would later require ten elite ninja and several days of constant effort just to seal a single beast. This disparity came from the fact that the eyes weren't Nagato's, his sealing techniques were inferior, and his power was fragmented.
Regardless, Uchiha Madara was a god.
Whether Madara was strong or not didn't change Saiki's plan. One day, he would find the old man and beat him senseless.
While Kurama was being swallowed, the atmosphere at the Uchiha shrine remained suffocatingly heavy. Saiki watched Tsunade finish her diagnosis of Kushina, asking desperately, "How is she?"
Tsunade's face was grim. "Your power has stabilized the decline, but it won't hold for long. We need a permanent solution, and we need it now."
She paused, then let out a furious, hissed curse. "Those Uchiha bastards... they used a sedative so potent it's practically a neurotoxin. If we don't wake her soon, her brain will die before her soul does. Even if she survives the extraction, she'll never wake up."
Saiki's expression, already dark, turned positively abyssal.