Once his fighting spirit ignited, Naruto quickly adapted to the battle's rhythm and joined forces with Gaara to confront Byakuya. Though it was their first time fighting side by side, the two demonstrated remarkable coordination.
Using shadow clones to obscure Byakuya's sight, Gaara seized the opportunity to unleash a wave of sand, attempting to bury Byakuya underground.
Byakuya sensed the shifting sands beneath his feet and saw the sandstorm closing in, but he didn't dodge. He allowed the sand to consume him, vanishing along with his chakra, dragged deep beneath the earth.
Even after witnessing Byakuya swallowed by the sand, Naruto's brow remained tightly furrowed. He turned to Gaara with a wary gaze and warned, "Gaara, there's no way Byakuya-sama could be defeated this easily."
Gaara gave a slight nod, maintaining full alert as he tried to sense the situation underground. His strength had grown significantly over the past three years, enough to be considered Kage-level, but Byakuya clearly surpassed that standard, he was on a whole different tier.
All the jinchūriki could hope for in this desperate struggle was to escape from Byakuya's grasp. As for defeating him… they themselves felt the chances were close to none.
A dozen seconds later, Byakuya emerged from the ground using the technique Mayfly. With both Paper Release and Mayfly in his arsenal, it was naturally impossible to be buried by something as simple as sand.
He had deliberately refrained from resisting, not only to entertain himself but also to test Naruto and Gaara's limits. After all, their entire growth path had been orchestrated by him from the shadows.
Returning to the surface, Byakuya looked at their guarded expressions and said calmly, "So this is the extent of your abilities? Where's your full Tailed Beast Mode and Sage Mode? If that's all you've got, then you might as well accept the extraction of your Tailed Beasts."
Naruto and Gaara's faces changed drastically. They suddenly realized that Byakuya had completely grasped their abilities, while they knew nothing of his.
How could they win against such a one-sided gap in intelligence and power?
As Naruto and Gaara hesitated, Killer Bee had already completed his transformation. Controlling the massive body of Gyūki, he formed a Tailed Beast Ball the size of a car and hurled it at Byakuya.
Sensing the surge of energy from the side, Byakuya stepped back and raised his hand toward the incoming sphere.
Suddenly, a red-haired figure appeared at his side, mimicking the gesture and shouted, "Shinra Tensei!"
In the next moment, an overwhelming repulsive force burst from the red-haired figure's palm, deflecting the Tailed Beast Ball.
It hurtled across the cavern and exploded on the far end, shaking the entire space and dislodging dust from the ceiling.
Byakuya retracted his smile and looked at Killer Bee, saying, "Eight-Tails' Killer Bee, ambushing someone isn't very honorable. I thought you'd prefer a head-on fight."
Since his surprise attack failed, Killer Bee boldly stepped out from the shadows and retorted, "I wasn't sneaking around, you're the one who ignored me. Naturally, that comes at a price."
Then, he glanced at the red-haired figure and said, "This ninja is clearly your comrade. You actually attacked your own ally!"
Byakuya shrugged and replied helplessly, "He refused to go along with the Moon's Eye Plan. Since he wouldn't help seal the Tailed Beasts into the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, I had no choice but to turn him into a living puppet and make him cooperate."
Upon hearing this, Gaara immediately recalled Sasori's human puppets. He'd always thought Sasori was the greatest puppet master alive, but now he realized Byakuya had gone even further, creating puppets from still-living shinobi. The concept was almost too absurd to believe.
Naruto, recognizing the red hair, realized this was one of his own kin. But Byakuya was also from the Uzumaki Clan. Was the Moon's Eye Plan truly so important that he'd sacrifice his comrades and even his own people?
Seeing the shift in their expressions, Byakuya continued, "I'm not interested in dredging up the past. Since you three are the ones who started using large-scale jutsu, don't blame me for going all out."
Before he even finished speaking, Byakuya had completed a set of hand seals. Several Wood Clones emerged from his body, surrounding the three jinchūriki.
Each clone began performing the Wood Human Technique. Massive wooden giants, over ten meters tall, erupted inside the cavern and charged at Naruto and the others.
These Wood Release constructs weren't just physically powerful. They could also absorb chakra. Even when damaged by Rasenshuriken, they quickly regenerated.
Seeing both Gaara and Killer Bee locked in battle, Naruto made a firm decision and shouted, "Gaara, Uncle Bee! Hold them off for me. I need to enter Kurama Mode!"
"Kurama Mode?" Gaara and Killer Bee were both puzzled.
Naruto quickly explained, "It's the Sage Mode from Mount Myōboku, but Kurama helps me refine the senjutsu chakra. That's why it's called Kurama Mode."
Realization dawned on them, and they began doing their part to buy time.
Meanwhile, inside their own mental spaces, Gaara and Bee turned on their respective Tailed Beasts, pressing them, "Don't you have a One-Tail Mode? An Eight-Tails Mode? This is no time to be holding back!"
Shukaku and Gyūki both looked utterly wronged.
Refining natural energy and sharing chakra were unique traits of Kurama; that's precisely why, even without controlling any other Tailed Beasts, Kurama was still the strongest of them all.
When the Sage of Six Paths created the Tailed Beasts, he had clearly shown a heavy bias toward the Nine-Tails.
With a new plan to buy time for Naruto to enter Sage Mode, Gaara and Killer Bee resumed their fight against the wooden giants.
Gaara's techniques weren't very effective against Wood Release constructs, but Killer Bee was a different story.
As one of the rare few perfect jinchūriki, Killer Bee's strength was extraordinary, surpassing even the Fourth Raikage in some respects, and was considered Kumogakure's strongest shinobi.
Encasing himself in a hardened chakra cloak, Killer Bee infused it with Lightning Release and unleashed his Lariat technique.
This was a taijutsu secret known only to him and the Fourth Raikage. When used in tandem, no shinobi in the world could block it. And now, with the Tailed Beast Cloak, he could still bring out most of that power.
Transformed into a crimson beast, Killer Bee charged at the wooden giants.
Under the crushing impact, the wooden giants crumbled; even with their defenses, they couldn't withstand the blow. And because the damage was too severe, they couldn't regenerate either.
After wiping out several of the wooden constructs, Killer Bee finally stopped, his sunglasses-covered eyes fixed dead-on at Byakuya in the distance.
Destroying the wood giants was one thing, but after all this time fighting with Naruto and Gaara, they hadn't even managed to scratch Byakuya.
For someone with the title "Killer Bee," it was an unbearable humiliation.
Fueled by that thought, Killer Bee gathered his chakra once more, returned to complete Tailed Beast Mode, and began roaring as he fired multiple Tailed Beast Balls.
Each of these was about the size of a single person, but their destructive power far exceeded most ninjutsu.
Byakuya still made no move to dodge. With an appreciative gaze fixed on Killer Bee, his figure was soon blocked by creeping vines, forming a wooden wall that completely neutralized all the Tailed Beast Bombs.
Once the explosions subsided, Byakuya appeared before Killer Bee, smiling as he spoke, "Wood Release is the absolute counter to Tailed Beasts. No matter how strong you are, you can't win against Wood Release."
"Back then, Hashirama Senju used Wood Release to subdue all nine Tailed Beasts and distributed them to the Five Great Shinobi Villages, which only led to endless wars. This time, I will correct Hashirama's mistake by gathering the Tailed Beasts into the hands of someone worthy. And that someone is me."
"That's not true… Hashirama's true intention was peace…"
Killer Bee gasped for breath as he spoke. His voice sounded strange, unclear whether it was Killer Bee or the Gyūki speaking.
Byakuya furrowed his brow and said, "Gyūki, are you speaking on behalf of Hashirama? He's the one who sealed you into jinchūriki in the first place."
"And without the Matabi and Gyūki, would Kumogakure have dared to declare war on Konoha?"
Killer Bee shook his head and replied, "Even without us Tailed Beasts, the Five Great Villages would still wage war. In my thousand years in the shinobi world, I've seen it too many times."
Byakuya gave him a look of approval and said, "As expected of the most seasoned of the Tailed Beasts, your insight into this world of shinobi is impressive. But that changes nothing about what's to come."
Byakuya smiled, "I know none of you have gone all out yet. But what if I use the Wood Dragon Technique and the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path? How would jinchūriki like you to deal with that? Your chakra is nothing more than sustenance for me."
His words were cut off by the whirling sound of Naruto's Sage Art: Wind Style – Rasenshuriken.
Empowered by senjutsu chakra, the Rasenshuriken's power was nearly equal to a Tailed Beast Bomb, and its maneuverability was far superior.
Feeling the breeze sweep past his face, Byakuya's expression finally shifted.
He used the Body Flicker Technique to evade, but even so, he was still within the jutsu's blast radius and was struck head-on.
Rising from the ground and brushing the dust from his coat, Byakuya looked at Naruto and said, "So this is what you call the Nine-Tails Mode? Your strength even surpasses those Five Kage weaklings. If you train for a few more years, you might actually threaten my plans. Unfortunately, the Nine-Tails himself was already defeated by me. What hope do you have of winning?"
"You're full of it! Let's settle this with our fists!"
Naruto glared at Byakuya. With Nine-Tails Mode activated, he could feel power endlessly flowing through him, power he believed could defeat Byakuya.
In the blink of an eye, Naruto vanished and reappeared in front of Byakuya with a punch ready. But Byakuya caught Naruto's fist, and a similar energy radiated from his body.
"That's Sage Mode? You can use it too?"
While throwing Naruto over his shoulder, Byakuya stood up and said, "Before I took out Jiraiya, he and I went to Mount Myōboku together. I learned Sage Mode in just a few hours."
"You learned Sage Mode in a few hours?!"
Naruto was shocked at the first part of the sentence, but his face darkened at the second, "Wait… did you just say you killed Pervy Sage?"
As a shinobi of Konoha, Naruto never felt a strong sense of belonging to the village. The villagers had brought him nothing but pain and hypocrisy. But he never cared about their opinions. He believed in the Will of Fire. Once he proved his strength, he thought their voices would fade, and they would recognize him as Hokage.
Jiraiya, however, was different. Jiraiya had truly cared for him. After Grandpa Black Zetsu mysteriously vanished, Jiraiya was one of the few people Naruto still depended on. Now, the man before him, Byakuya-sama, Byakuya-senpai, had killed Jiraiya! Naruto could no longer contain the fury within; his chakra began to rage wildly.
In an instant, he entered full Tailed Beast Transformation and slammed Byakuya into the ground before he could even speak.
Naruto's claws and tails lashed the ground relentlessly for minutes before he finally calmed down. Lifting his head, he looked at Byakuya standing on the ceiling, ready to attack again.
"It was just a little joke. No need to get so worked up, was there?"
Byakuya dropped from the ceiling, his body now cloaked in a projection of Susanoo. Unlike others', his Susanoo pulsed with Sage chakra.
The next instant, Byakuya's Susanoo moved with a speed no ordinary Susanoo could match. The Susanoo blade pierced right through the Nine-Tails' body. Vines burst from the ground, completely restraining and absorbing the beast.
In just over ten seconds, Naruto was left with only his original body.
Byakuya pinned him in place with a black receiver, then turned to Gaara and Killer Bee with a smirk, "The Nine-Tails has been recovered. Now all that's left is the One-Tail and the Eight-Tails. The One-Tail should be easier. Let's start with you."
Having locked onto Gaara, Byakuya appeared behind him.
Gaara immediately summoned his sand in a desperate Absolute Defense, but before Byakuya, it was utterly ineffective; the sand wall was pierced effortlessly.
Casually tossing a few black receivers to restrict Gaara's movements, Byakuya turned his gaze to Killer Bee without even glancing back.
Killer Bee stood frozen, unsure of what to do.
Inside him, the Gyūki shouted, "Killer Bee, run! If you get caught too, the Ten-Tails will be truly revived, and the shinobi world will be destroyed!"
Snapping back to reality, Killer Bee took one last look at Naruto and Gaara before gritting his teeth and fleeing. However, he didn't get far; Byakuya quickly caught up.