47: Chapter 47 Awakening and Rebirth, The Storm Named TsunadeThat single, scalding tear was both an end and a beginning.
Naruto Uzumaki calmly withdrew his hand, as if he had only accomplished a trivial task.
The noise of the outside world flooded back into my senses.
The roar of the behemoth, the explosion of ninjutsu, the wails of the wounded.
However, at the heart of all this chaos, something completely changed.
Tsunade slowly raised her head.
All the emptiness, confusion, pain, and self-loathing in those beautiful brown eyes were washed away the moment a single tear slid down their cheeks.
Instead, there was an unprecedented, crystal-clear determination.
Like a diamond that had been sealed away for decades, all the dust has been wiped away, and it shines again with the brilliant and sharp light that it should have.
She stopped trembling.
The physiological fear caused by hemophobia, along with the mental shackles, were completely evaporated by that imaginary sun.
Buzz.
The diamond-shaped purple mark on her forehead, the [Yin Seal], suddenly lit up at this moment, shining brightly.
The immense, suffocating chakra was no longer a chaotic outburst, but rather a torrent of water bursting forth from the seal with a clear will and direction, instantly spreading throughout her entire body.
This is a power that has been dormant for far too long, belonging to the legendary Sannin.
No, it's even stronger than that.
Because at this moment, what drives this force is no longer escapism and numbness, but a reforged, fearless soul.
"This chakra."
Jiraiya, who was locked in combat with Orochimaru, paused abruptly above Gamabunta's head.
He sensed it.
That familiar yet unfamiliar, immense aura.
He was familiar with them because they were his companions.
The feeling of unfamiliarity stemmed from the pure, highly refined killing intent contained within this power, an intensity he had never experienced before in Tsunade.
On the other side, above the head of the giant snake Manda, Orochimaru also stopped his hand seals.
His golden, vertical pupils turned incredulously toward Tsunade.
His senses were more acute than Jiraiya's.
He could clearly discern that this chakra was not only enormous, but also possessed a.new, reborn, and perfectly perfect quality.
It was as if a piece of rusty scrap iron had been reforged in a furnace into a sharp blade capable of cutting through hair.
How is that possible?
He had just used the rope tree and the broken souls of the dead as bait to completely break down her mental defenses.
How could someone who has already sunk into the abyss of despair unleash such astonishing willpower in such a short period of time?
[Ding!You have received 9000 [Surprised and Suspicious] from Orochimaru!]
[Ding!You have received 8500 [Shocking] items from Jiraiya!]
[Ding!You have received 7000 "Puzzling" items from Kabuto!]
Naruto stood aside, calmly receiving this wave of emotional points.
His mind remained calm; he was simply assessing the results of his treatment.
The psychological trauma has been healed.
The scene of sorrow and grief has completely collapsed.
The positive energy derived from the emotions of "relief" and "awakening" is perfectly fused with the chakra accumulated within the Yin Seal, pushing the target's combat power to its theoretical peak.
It was a perfect experiment.
Tsunade did not say anything.
She didn't even look at anyone.
She simply moved her wrist slightly, producing a crisp cracking sound from her bones.
Then.
She stomped her foot suddenly.
boom!
The already cracked stone slab beneath her feet instantly exploded like a spider web, countless fragments of stone were thrown upwards by a tremendous force, and then crushed into dust in mid-air by invisible air pressure.
The next second.
Her figure disappeared from the spot.
That's too fast.
That wasn't a burst of chakra from the Body Flicker Technique, but rather a terrifying speed achieved by pushing physical strength to its absolute limit.
Orochimaru, who was confronting Jiraiya, suddenly narrowed his snake-like eyes.
He only had time to sense a deadly threat locking onto him before his body couldn't react in time.
When Tsunade reappeared, she had already covered a distance of dozens of meters, appearing before him like a ghost.
That well-maintained face was expressionless at the moment, only a cold and murderous aura remained.
She raised her right fist.
The vast amount of chakra released from the Yin Seal converged into a single point without reservation.
That's not a simple accumulation of forces.
That was the ignition of all her pain, sorrow, regret, and despair over the past decades, transforming them into the purest, most destructive rage.
"Super Strength Fist!"
A punch was thrown.
The air seemed to groan in despair, as if it were about to collapse.
This punch didn't even generate any intense wind pressure, because all the power was perfectly contained within the fist, condensed to the extreme.
"Oh no!"
This was the only thought that flashed through Orochimaru's mind.
He hastily raised his arms and crossed them in front of his chest, while simultaneously activating the power of the curse seal in an attempt to defend himself.
However, in the face of this punch, any defense seems pale and laughable.
Bang!
There was no deafening noise when the fist and arm made contact.
There was only one dull, chilling sound, like a giant hammer striking leather.
Orochimaru's arms, already weakened by the curse of the Reaper Death Seal, twisted and broke at an eerie angle in an instant.
Immediately afterwards, that unparalleled force pierced through his defenses and slammed solidly into his chest.
Orochimaru, like a sandbag struck head-on by a battering ram, instantly curled up into a shrimp.
He was sent flying straight away like a cannonball.
Boom!Boom!Boom!
His body traced a horrific parabola through the air, crashing through several distant, already crumbling rocks from the battle, before finally disappearing into the depths.It finally stopped after embedding itself deep into a mountain wall.
puff.
A mouthful of blood mixed with fragments of internal organs gushed out from a depression in the mountain wall, staining a large area of rocks red.
The entire battlefield fell silent.
The battle between Manda and Gamabunta mysteriously stopped at this moment.
Kabuto Yakushi, who was preparing to attack again, froze in place.
All eyes were focused on the blonde woman who was slowly retracting her fist.
And Orochimaru, another of the legendary Sannin, who was punched into the mountainside and whose fate is unknown.
Jiraiya stared in disbelief at the scene.
His mouth was wide enough to fit a toad.
He didn't understand at all.
Just a second ago, Tsunade was a cripple who was trembling with fear of blood and couldn't even stand up straight.
A second later, she unleashed a power even more terrifying than in her prime, punching Orochimaru half to death.
What exactly happened in between?
His gaze unconsciously shifted from Tsunade to the boy who had stood calmly the entire time.
Naruto Uzumaki.
In Jiraiya's mind, countless chaotic clues were rapidly connecting.
Naruto's line, "She's just sick, and I happen to be a doctor," is relevant.
His strange gesture of placing his hand on Tsunade's forehead.
And Tsunade's incredible, transformative change.
An absurd conclusion, one that even he himself could not believe, began to grow wildly in his mind.
Naruto.
He didn't save the battle.
He saved Tsunade's soul.
Amidst the ruins, Kabuto Yakushi flashed to the mountainside, dug the unconscious Orochimaru out of the rocks, and hoisted him onto his shoulder.
Orochimaru awoke for a moment amidst excruciating pain.
In his golden vertical pupils, there was no anger of defeat, nor resentment towards Tsunade.
Only after seeing Naruto's calm face did his insane, morbid greed and fanaticism ignite.
With his last ounce of strength, he gave the order to Kabuto.
"Walk."
Without the slightest hesitation, Kabuto, carrying the heavily injured Orochimaru, vanished into the distance in a few flashes.
Before leaving, Orochimaru's venomous, possessive gaze was fixed on Naruto, his silent mouth movements seeming to declare to the whole world.
"I've reserved your body!"
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