Chapter 882 : A Critical Dilemma!

‘How did Akuro enter here?’ Yugito wondered in disbelief as Akuro's figure appeared inside her inner world!

Akuro's eyes snapped open. The world around him dissolved into a bleak expanse of swirling shadows and flickering blue flames. A few dozen meters ahead of him, the imposing form of Matatabi writhed in fury as she was restrained by a seal on her forehead.

Akuro scanned Yugito's inner world and observed, ‘Hmm, Matatabi isn't heavily restrained. However, she isn't entirely free either. There's a barrier in place dividing Yugito's inner world into two parts. Yugito and Matatabi are on the opposite sides. This shows they still don't trust her completely. I suppose Yugito isn't a perfect Jinchuriki after all, though it'll be just a matter of time after today's incident.’

Matatabi's chakra flared as soon as she noticed Akuro's tiny figure. She shouted, “You're the one who put this seal on my forehead! I'd rather die than let another human humiliate me any further!”

The seal on her forehead started dissipating due to her immense chakra. However, Akuro wasn't bothered. He knew that seal couldn't hold Matatabi back anyway. He flickered, moving through the barrier and appearing in front of Matatabi's forehead and asked, “A human? I'm hurt. Has it been so long that you don't remember our last encounter, little kitten? Besides, how can anything I do compare with the humiliation of being imprisoned here?”

Akuro's words infuriated Matatabi further. Unfortunately, she had bigger concerns at that moment. Akuro clenched his right palm, almost making it into a claw covered with immense Lightning chakra. The moment the seal on her forehead disappeared, Akuro jabbed his fingers into Matatabi's forehead, grabbing her something in the process, and retreated back to the other side of the barrier!

Yugito, who was still confused about what was happening, was shocked even further as she noticed Akuro pulling Matatabi's chakra from her massive body! A part of her chakra now extended from her forehead to Akuro's palm.

Yugito hought in disbelief, ‘Is he trying to strip Matatabi's chakra away from her? Can something like this even be done?’

Since Kumogakure had a perfect Jinchuriki, they were well aware of how to use the Tailed Beasts. Bee and Gyuki cooperated with each other perfectly, forming a deadly combo and making Bee one of the deadliest ninjas alive. Yet, Kumogakure had never considered the possibility of chakra being stripped from the tailed beast in such a manner.

Yugito Immediately analyzed, ‘Is he planning to do something like the Gold and Silver brothers? No, they just got lucky with the Nine Tails. He's forcefully stripping Matatabi's chakra away. I'd like to see if this is possible, but I can't let him do as he pleases!’

Yugito didn't immediately make a move, instead waiting for what was inevitable. As she predicted, Matatabi's chakra flared once again, her rage and bloodlust filling Yugito's inner world! She roared, “Do you think I will let you steal my chakra???”

Akuro looked back at Matatabi and thought, ‘I pulled out around 4% of her chakra in one go. Unfortunately, the easy part is over. Time to see how I perform in a tug-of-war against a Tailed Beast in a hostile territory…’

In an instant, his chakra flared as well and he pulled Matatabi's chakra towards himself. For a moment, the two were evenly matched. Unfortunately, Matatabi immediately gained an upper hand. As powerful as Fujin had become, he couldn't compete against a Tailed Beast in a head-on battle. To make matters worse, she wasn't his only opponent.

‘Lightning Release: False Darkness jutsu’
With Akuro distracted by Matatabi, Yugito sneakily attacked him with a powerful Lightning jutsu. To her surprise, Akuro didn't even react to her jutsu, letting his body bear the entire brunt of the attack. Yugito's powerful Lightning jutsu failed to even distract Akuro!

Akuro made the confrontation hand seal with his left hand while saying, “Without her support, you're weaker than any of your teammates. Don't bother making life more difficult for you…”
‘Lighting Release: Nine Seals Lightning Imprisonment jutsu’

Suddenly, a nine-sided cage appeared around Matatabi, trapping her inside. The sudden change caught both the Tailed Beast and her host by surprise and they wondered, ‘When did he lay a lightning trap here?’

At the very next moment, Matatabi was bombarded by Lightning strikes from all sides! Her body was continuously tortured by the Lightning strikes which were launched endlessly from the lightning cage! The barrage caused Matatabi to lose her focus, allowing Akuro to get an upper hand. In a few seconds, he wrestled 12% of Matatabi's chakra out of her body!

Matatabi finally got a hold of herself. Blue flames rose from her body, bombarding the lightning cage. At the same time, she pulled her chakra back into her body. This time, she no longer had a clear advantage. Though she was taking her chakra back, it was at a very slow pace.

Yugito analyzed, ‘She can't fight effectively due to that Lightning torture… I need to distract him!’

Since a sneak attack failed to harm her opponent, Yugito concentrated her chakra and prepared a massive supercharged jutsu. Her idea was simple. She wanted to break Akuro's control over the situation and give Matatabi a decisive opening.

Akuro sensed her chakra build up and pointed his left hand towards her. Lightning concentrated around his index finger. Before Yugito could complete her jutsu, Akuro shot a powerful lightning ray. She couldn't even react as the lightning ray pierced through her chest, while tormenting her with lightning shocks from inside her body! She collapsed without putting up any resistance.

However, her actions weren't unfruitful. Yugito's little distraction had given Matatabi the opening she needed. In that short window, she took back 4% of her chakra, leaving only 8% outside her body and still being pulled by Akuro.

Yet, Akuro was still unfazed. He made the confrontation seal with his left hand again, forcing Matatabi to raise her guard. At the next second, the lightning bombardment intensified, making Matatabi's job much more difficult. Akuro and Matatabi were evenly matched once again. But, that was just a distraction. Akuro's real move used the cover of the Lightning to sneak up on Matatabi.

Before she could realized what was happening, several chains slithered stealthily towards Matatabi, wrapping around her massive frame like serpents constricting their prey. In an instant, they tightened with an unyielding grip, locking her limbs and suppressing her chakra, forcing her to the ground despite her struggles. To make matters worse, the chains conducted lightning, damaging her body even further!

Akuro used the situation to pull additional 6% of Matatabi's chakra from her body, raising the total to 14% before Matatabi could control the situation again. Unfortunately for her, her misery was still far from over. New seals appeared on her body, making it increasingly difficult for her to pull her chakra back. Akuro continued extracting more chakra out of Matatabi. In little time, he extracted a quarter of Matatabi's chakra!

Though Matatabi was still resisting, she was more focused on analyzing why she was under such a disadvantage. She finally realized, ‘It's my seal! He's using the seal used to keep me inside Yugito! That is why he could spontaneously create seals to restrict me. If this continues, I can't win…’

Her eyes moved towards Yugito's body. The place they were in wasn't the real world. Instead, it was Yugito's inner world. Though Matatabi's real body was trapped here, Fujin and Yugito's real bodies weren't here. They were still in the real world. As such, Fujin couldn't truly kill Yugito here.

Matatabi shouted, “Yugito, remove this barrier! As long as the barrier exists, my strength will remain suppressed and I can't fight at my full strength! The only way we can resist is by fighting at our full strength!”

Yugito's eyes opened on hearing Matatabi's screams. Confusion filled her eyes as she wondered what she should do. On one hand, Akuro was overbearing. Not only had he defeated their squad, but he was also suppressing and trying to steal Matatabi's chakra.
On the other hand, she didn't entirely trust Matatabi yet. If she removed the barrier, there was a high chance that Matatabi would kill her and break free after defeating Akuro. Matatabi might also kill Darui, Samui and C to take revenge for her decades long imprisonment.
As a result, neither option was tempting for Yugito. On the contrary, both posed grave danger to Yugito, putting her into a tricky dilemma.