DID ARTHUR HEAR CORRECTLY? These beasts were quite the prideful and territorial kind, much like the animals and certain devils on earth.
Arthur most certainly did not want to challenge this beast to a fight right now. He had already fought the Four-Tails, and that battle was quite taxing. Plus, his chakra reserves would only get him so far till he had to rely on his Sage Mode or the Blade of Chaos again.
He was tired, and the last thing he needed was to pick a fight with a creature that clearly wasn't in the mood.
A thought crossed his mind: Why not use the Evil Illusion Flattery technique like he did with the Six-Tails? It could be a way to defuse the situation without violence.
But he quickly dismissed it. It wouldn't have made sense.
From what little he remembered, the Five-Tails originally said that it had kept a promise. That meant there was some kind of bond or agreement between them. Otherwise, the beast wouldn't have been acting so stubborn to persuasion right now.
The beast would eventually take Arthur's silence as a sign that he had given up or at least was no longer interested. So it slowly turned and began to walk away.
He was about to follow it until an unusual feeling prickled at his senses. Someone was approaching. Not just one, but seven individuals were headed toward his position. And one of them, one of them looked familiar.
By the way this group was moving, it was directly toward the Five-Tails. As such, Arthur instinctively rose higher into the air and carefully concealed himself via smoke.
Why so covert? Because one of the approaching figures was Fujin Suzuki. Having extracted the memories from the ancestors of the Uchiha, Arthur knew exactly what Fujin looked like.
The group eventually closed in on the beast. Fujin and his team didn't bother with greetings or introductions. They attacked immediately, aiming straight for the creature.
"Wind style: pressure damage!"
Fujin cocked his head back, causing a tornado-like mass of compressed wind to gather rapidly before spiraling into a dense, swirling vortex. The technique then burst forth with tremendous force, striking the beast mid-run.
The creature cried out in pain and staggered, falling to its side!
Arthur watched as the wind pressures intensified. The force was so powerful that even his smoke form was threatened. He was forced to shift into his physical form to maintain control.
Now when the Five-Tails recovered, it was very angry. It thought it was Arthur who had attacked it but soon discovered that it was a group of unidentifiable warriors. As such, it charged at them, burning with rage.
"Get ready!" Fujin commanded.
His team and him scattered just in time to dodge the charging creature. But when the Five-Tails saw that its attack had been avoided, it roared into the sky, creating a thick steam to shroud the area.
Fujin wasted no time using his wind chakra to blow away the steam and clear the field. The Five-Tails responded instantly by unleashing a burst of chakra that erupted in a boiling cloud. The technique hit one of the men, causing him to cry out in pain as his skin was burnt to the bone.
Then the Five-Tails began another charge. Fujin quickly pulled out a sword, radiating with chakra. Head aimed straight at him, the two clashed. Fujin gritted his teeth as he was pushed straight into the sky.
Arthur found it interesting that the weapon had not broken under the pressures of a Tailed Beast.
Whilst in the air, the Five-Tails roared at Fujin. Then, without warning, it cocked its head back and unleashed a Tailed Beast Ball!
"Cover!" Fujin shouted.
From below, a member threw a wind barrier to deflect the bomb. It exploded in a deafening roar as fire and chakra swirled everywhere.
Able to land, Fujin and his team charged in with their chakra-enhanced weapons. They scattered around as the beast stomped haphazardly on the ground. Yet its attempts failed because of their quickness. And once they got close enough, they each began slashing left and right at its hind legs.
"Argh!" it screamed.
Steam billowed from its nostrils. It reared its head, ready to unleash a technique. But Fujin swung his weapon, creating a linear wind blast that made the beast stumble.
"Give it no chance to recover!" he shouted.
The team, along with Fujin, then unleashed bursts of fire, lightning, wind, and water to add to the chaos. The beast, overwhelmed, cried out in confusion and distress. Its movements became sluggish, and it seemed to weaken under the assault.
Then, one of Fujin's men spat dust from his mouth, a peculiar technique that seemingly sapped its strength. Arthur understood straightaway that this dust was in fact pollen, and it was putting the beast to sleep.
As he suspected, the creature's eyelids fluttered, and its eyes began to close to signal that it was losing consciousness. In a coordinated effort, Fujin's team threw multiple ropes to securely bind the beast. It was a swift, efficient process, demonstrating their teamwork and understanding of dealing with such creatures.
Arthur observed in silence, impressed by how quickly they managed to subdue the beast without killing it.
When all was said and done, someone praised, "Good work, Fujin. We hath captured the beast intact!"
"It was a team effort," Fujin replied.
Arthur took the moment to process what he had just witnessed. They had taken down an entire Tailed Beast within moments, and they had done it without killing the massive creature. Surely there had to have been a purpose behind all of this.
Just as Arthur considered that thought, Fujin performed the summoning technique to call forth a makeshift dolly. The group then lifted the unconscious beast onto the dolly. It was clear they weren't just skilled in ninjutsu; they also had innate physical strength thanks to their chakra.
"Now we may bring the beast back," another said, wiping the sweat from his face.
Arthur followed from high above as they began to pull the dolly with deliberate effort. They moved through the terrain like they were transferring a lion to the zoo. The landscape would change upon them crossing the borders into what was definitely the Land of Waterfalls.
After another hour, he spotted a gathering ahead. A congregation, perhaps a settlement or fortified outpost, was waiting at the gates.
When the group approached, the residents inside saw the beast was captured. Cheers erupted from the crowd, creating a celebratory atmosphere. When they entered the middle of the congregation, over a thousand men, women, and children all clapped for Fujin and his team with admiration and loud enthusiasm.
Then Arthur overheard something meaningful: they spoke about their plans to destroy their enemies, the monks. They blamed the monks for their supposed suffering.
Soon, the crowd brought out a large cage made of reinforced metal. They then carefully transferred the beast from the dolly into the cage. Throughout the entire process, the beast remained unconscious, showing no sign of waking.
Once the beast was secured, the crowd gathered around and began to perform a group sealing technique. They channeled chakra collectively, causing an ethereal lock to form around the cage. It glowed with a faint yellow light. Then the lock expanded and sealed itself tightly.
When it was complete, the crowd erupted in cheers once again. Fujin stepped forward and raised his voice to address the gathered crowd.
"In three days," he announced, "we shall attack the other lands. We shall take vengeance for the monks, for slaying our three brethren."
Arthur immediately processed what he'd just heard. Fujin was talking about the three individuals Arthur had slain prior to meeting the Four-Tails. It seems as though Fujin believed that the monks were responsible for their deaths.
This was good for Arthur. His goal was to keep his identity hidden, to avoid becoming a target or being mistaken for an enemy. Revealing himself now, or allowing his name to become known, could bring trouble. And if they thought he was connected to the monks or the beasts, they might retaliate or, worse, hunt him down.
As things finally began to settle, Fujin placed up to eight guards to watch the beast day and night.
"If the seal doth weaken," he ordered, "use the craft I taught thee to strengthen it."
"Aye, sir!" they saluted.
Now Arthur considered his options. Fighting wasn't viable; he didn't know who these characters were. Killing someone of importance could destabilize this world, possibly causing catastrophic consequences. And if he failed to act correctly, he could inadvertently trigger another butterfly effect.
What stopped him from acting now was the promise the Five-Tails had made—something that might be crucial in this moment.
As such, he devised a plan.
Before descending into their congregation, he performed a transformation jutsu. The form he had selected was that of a child he had spotted earlier in the gathered crowd.
Since there were roughly a thousand individuals, it was safe to assume that everyone in this settlement knew each other intimately. If he appeared as a traveler or outsider, he risked immediate detection and questioning; a stranger would stand out quickly, especially if he didn't have the right local mannerisms.
So he moved carefully through the crowd and blended into the throng. His disguise was convincing enough. Just another small child wandering among the congregation.
This territory wasn't organized like a village or a military camp. There were shelters—some of them permanent, others makeshift—scattered in a circular layout with paths between them. The residents moved through them freely.
Most were ordinary, working or training in small groups, while a few stood out by the way others gave them space when they passed. These were the chakra users, and Arthur made note of each one he came across.
By the time the sun had climbed higher in the sky, not once had he approached the Five-Tails. There was no reason to. The beast remained unconscious and sealed in place at the center of the congregation with guards standing around it.
Any attempt to get near it would be both obvious and useless.
Besides, he had already pieced together a fair understanding of how things worked here. And out of all of those things, this was the clearest fact: Fujin was the strongest among them.
Arthur found where his home was built. It was inside of a dojo, and it was the biggest house in the congregation.
Watching from an open window outside, Arthur could sense just how much sharper and heavier Fujin's chakra levels were. If anything, he had to at least be at the level of a Kage.
There didn't seem to be anything special about this character. For a whole hour, he knelt before a wreath on the wall with a picture of his deceased wife. Arthur couldn't relate to this act, and he found the death of his wife quite peculiar.
Either way, Fujin didn't spend much time among the citizens. Yet it was quite evident that they relied on his strength. No surprise since he was the current head. And based on how this house was structured, it seemed as though he was also a hunter.
Arthur tried to learn what he could about the others, especially those who might pose a threat or have rare abilities. But so far, no one has matched Fujin's level.
In the next hour, Arthur watched sparring sessions and training routines and paid attention to the way people spoke and carried themselves. There were some decent fighters here and a few with solid chakra control, but nothing he couldn't handle if it came to it.
He kept an eye out for signs of Kekkei Genkai—unique bloodline traits passed through certain clans. But there were no obvious ones. No elemental combinations or special transformations. No one called themselves by names like Uchiha or Hyūga. That made things hard since, without surnames, there was no easy way to trace who came from which lineage.
If anyone here had a hidden Kekkei Genkai, they weren't showing it openly.
Still, Arthur wasn't in a rush. He decided to wait. This place operated on its own rhythm, and any move too early might put him at a disadvantage.