"Is that the Ten-Tails' true form? Why does it look like a giant bug?" Hashirama asked.
"It's a very dangerous bug," Natsuki emphasized. Then he added, "And it's still not the final form. It hasn't absorbed five more tailed beasts yet, so its energy is insufficient. But even with four tailed beasts absorbed, it's already strong enough that ordinary shinobi can't do a thing to it. If the Allied Shinobi Forces try to face it head-on, they'll only suffer horrific casualties."
To ordinary people, tailed beasts were disasters.
Every time a jinchūriki lost control, it became a catastrophe.
And yet this was humanity's own doing. Everything was fine, but they just had to create jinchūriki. Then when things went wrong, they blamed the jinchūriki instead. And the tailed beasts were living their lives, only to be sealed up without warning—if it were him, he'd go berserk too.
As that thought crossed his mind, Natsuki suddenly increased his output and drove a punch straight into Hashirama's face, finally venting a bit of that anger.
Hashirama covered his cheek, startled. "You seem… angry?"
"Yeah. I'm extremely angry!" Natsuki snapped. "First Hokage, do you even know that the nine tailed beasts were originally split off from the Ten-Tails by the Sage of Six Paths? He taught them to protect the shinobi world. But because humans fought constantly, the tailed beasts absorbed that resentment and 'darkened.' And the worst thing is—you were the first to start capturing and sealing tailed beasts. That made them hate humans even more, and people started treating them like calamities. In the end, you bear responsibility that can't be waved away!"
"Huh? That… happened?!" Hashirama went blank. He truly hadn't expected that he could have done something so terrible.
Back then, distributing the tailed beasts had been meant to balance the villages' power so war would not break out so easily.
Instead, jinchūriki became each village's ultimate weapon. Whenever war erupted, sending out a jinchūriki meant mass slaughter—completely contrary to Hashirama's original intention.
And most importantly, as Natsuki said, forcibly capturing and sealing the tailed beasts planted enormous hatred in them—especially the Nine-Tails, which had become completely "blackened."
All it took was Hashirama saying, Nine-Tails, you're too dangerous.
And then the Nine-Tails was sealed by force.
What did it even do?
It was living its own life, got forcibly controlled by Madara to fight, lost, then got captured and sealed into a human body and treated like a giant battery.
The other tailed beasts suffered the same fate.
Thinking about it now, the tailed beasts were pitiful. And because jinchūriki existed, the shinobi world's wars became even more horrific than the chaotic Warring States era.
And all of it stemmed from Hashirama and Madara.
Hashirama scratched his head. "Well… I didn't know all that. Back then I thought tailed beasts were too dangerous, so I captured them, then distributed them to balance village power so everyone would check each other and wars wouldn't happen. I didn't think that far… hahaha!"
And you have the nerve to laugh?
Natsuki couldn't be bothered to lecture him further. He simply threw a Whirlpool Boil Bomb straight at him to "enjoy."
Hashirama clapped his hands and formed a Wood Release barrier, easily blocking the Whirlpool Boil Bomb with no visible strain.
Natsuki immediately flung several Water Circle Slashes, shaving Hashirama's forest flat in a straight line. Even the sturdy barrier was cut open, forcing Hashirama to dodge.
"Haha! That's a good technique. What's it called?" Hashirama still had the leisure to ask.
Natsuki didn't answer. He threw even more Water Circle Slashes—then used chakra threads to control them, sending the blades in from multiple directions until even Hashirama found it difficult to evade cleanly.
The next instant—
Slash!
Hashirama's wrist was cut off.
Natsuki's relentless barrage finally made Hashirama pay.
And he used the opening to flick out a chakra thread, yank the severed hand to himself, and swiftly inscribe a Hiraishin (Flying Thunder God) formula on the back of it—then tossed the hand back.
When Hashirama regenerated, he lowered his gaze to the formula on his hand and smiled with satisfaction. "Nicely done!"
"Thanks for the compliment. Appreciated!" Natsuki shot back.
Natsuki clapped his hands and entered Sage Mode. The Whirlpool Boil Bomb he'd gathered in his palm was instantly sent via Hiraishin straight to Hashirama's face—and detonated at point-blank range.
This time, Hashirama only managed to form an incomplete Wood Release barrier before he was swallowed whole by the terrifying vortex.
Natsuki didn't dare waste time. He immediately summoned a coffin, then created a shadow clone to shoulder it and charge with him toward the blast center.
He had to seal Hashirama while he was still in pieces—he couldn't wait for full regeneration.
Under the heat, Natsuki's skin blistered, though a chakra shroud let him endure.
And he did see it—Hashirama's shattered body was already gathering itself back together. If he waited even a little longer, Hashirama would be fully restored again.
Seeing Natsuki arrive with the coffin, Hashirama's eyes lit up. "Quick! Seal me! Hurry!"
"Obviously. Fūinjutsu: Mafūba (Demon Sealing Wave)!"
Spiraling chakra surged out, wrapped the nearly-regenerated Hashirama, and stuffed him into the coffin. The lid slammed shut with a heavy bang.
Natsuki immediately slapped more than a dozen sealing tags onto it, covering the entire coffin.
"Hmph. Finally. Let's see who's going to free you now—"
Boom!
A beam of energy shot in—by sheer bad luck, it struck the coffin dead-on, detonating a violent explosion that even blew Natsuki off his feet.
Natsuki glanced toward the origin of the beam and saw the Ten-Tails' single eye in the distance, glowing red.
The Ten-Tails was firing energy beams indiscriminately. One sweep killed who-knew-how-many shinobi, and the resulting explosions caused waves of additional casualties.
"Damn it! It just happened to hit the coffin by accident! Why was it that accurate?!" Natsuki cursed, but his eyes swept across the Allied formation. Even without a finalized count, the devastation was obvious.
As expected—against a monster like that, ordinary people were nothing but fodder. Even standing far away to watch could get you killed by the blast radius of a single stray energy shot.
Natsuki flipped and landed steadily. He'd been caught in the explosion, but he wasn't seriously hurt.
Behind him, Hashirama's body—blown apart—regenerated rapidly, looking utterly confused. "Natsuki! Weren't you sealing me? Why am I out again?"
Natsuki felt exhausted to the bone. "You were sealed. But the instant I shut the lid, the Ten-Tails' blast blew the coffin apart."
"…Ah." Hashirama seemed to understand Natsuki's mood, even if he couldn't find words for it.
Like spending an entire afternoon baking a perfect cake—only for a bratty kid to fling it onto the floor.
That kind of misery was painfully relatable.
(End of Chapter)
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