Whoosh—whoosh—whoosh!
The spiraling flames were ferocious. Bugs scorched black and dropped out of the air one after another… but even more of them didn't die.
Some of them actually flew right through the fire, still diving straight for Obito's head. Obito went pale and immediately phased into intangibility, barely avoiding disaster.
When he looked up again and saw the swarm still packed thick like a living storm, Obito's whole body went numb.
"Damn it! They're just bugs—why are they this hard to deal with?!"
Cursing, Obito simply had the Ten-Tails lift its head, preparing to fire energy waves to counter Naruto and Sasuke's pressure.
But armored Sasuke widened his Mangekyō and instantly formed dozens of black-flame arrows, slamming them into the Ten-Tails' head. The Ten-Tails shrieked like it was being skinned alive.
It frantically tried to scrape the flames off with both hands—only for the fire to spread and ignite its hands too.
Now it was pure rage and agony. It screamed and thrashed so hard its head slammed into the ground, but it still couldn't rub off the black flames. It was so frantic it nearly started rolling around.
Madara, in the middle of his intense fight with Natsuki, didn't understand what was happening. He shouted immediately, "Obito, what's going on?!"
Obito stammered, "N-nothing! It's just—just a little annoying. Bugs, Amaterasu… it's easy to handle!"
That did not sound easy.
Madara stole a glance back and saw the Ten-Tails' head nearly submerged under an ocean of insects. Obito was caught inside the swarm, while Kabuto and Orochimaru had clearly fled—nowhere to be seen.
Looking closer, he also saw black flames licking over the Ten-Tails' head—obviously Amaterasu.
"This brat… I step away for a moment and he's getting bullied like this…"
"Getting distracted in the middle of a fight—are you looking down on me that much?"
Natsuki cut him off. A Ranton (Storm Release) laser punched straight through Madara's chest—but Madara's expression didn't change as he flipped backward. It was obvious the Ten-Tails' condition had him rattled; he didn't have the patience to keep tangling with Natsuki.
But Natsuki wasn't about to let him go.
The hardest opponent here was Madara. If Natsuki kept him pinned, everyone else's battles became dramatically easier.
And that was exactly what was happening right now.
Without Madara controlling the overall field, Obito couldn't withstand the allied side's concentrated assault. With the Ten-Tails screaming like that, it was no wonder Madara was getting anxious.
Natsuki intended to exploit that—lock Madara down until he had no room to breathe.
"Ranton: Ōji Senpō! Dadadadadada!"
He used Storm Release like a rapid-fire barrage, copying Vegeta's style from Dragon Ball, hammering Madara with continuous blasts until Madara was forced to activate a repulsion barrier.
And with Natsuki in Sennin Mōdo (Sage Mode), Storm Release was on another level.
Even the repulsion barrier began to crack under the relentless impacts, forcing Madara to pour in more power.
But the more he reinforced the barrier, the less time he had to help Obito. All he could do was listen to the Ten-Tails' screams and feel the creature under his feet twisting like it wanted to roll in agony—while he ground his teeth in frustration.
Worse, Natsuki would "miss" on purpose sometimes. Several lasers drilled into the Ten-Tails' back instead, making it howl again.
Madara couldn't take it. "Hey! Aim properly, Natsuki! Are you doing that on purpose or are you just sloppy?!"
"Oh," Natsuki replied calmly. "I'm purposely being sloppy."
And he kept up the "Prince" barrage. It was effective—both a drain and a delay.
And because he kept "missing" in the exact same spot, even with the Ten-Tails' hide and resilience, the repeated hits carved out several ugly, jagged wounds.
Madara finally snapped. He activated his Complete Body Susanoo (Armored Avatar), charged through the repulsion barrier, and came straight for Natsuki.
Natsuki stopped firing and simply stood there.
Compared to the Complete Susanoo, he was like an ant. But he showed no fear at all—he just tilted his head up and stared at Madara.
"Natsuki," Madara growled, "you've pissed me off. Shine!" (Die!)
Slash—
The Susanoo's great blade came down. Natsuki didn't move, as if he'd been frightened stiff.
But in the next instant, he vanished.
The blade cleaved straight into the Ten-Tails' back, tearing open an even more horrific wound.
The Ten-Tails erupted into a scream that sounded like its soul was being ripped apart. Honestly, ever since it transformed from the Gedō Mazō (Demonic Statue of the Outer Path) into the Ten-Tails, it had basically been screaming nonstop. These monsters were fighting on its back like it was a training ground—of course it hurt.
Obito shouted over the chaos, "Hey! Madara! What the hell are you doing?! Are you trying to kill the Ten-Tails?!"
Madara's expression tightened with regret. He'd been baited. He'd gotten heated and reflexively used the Complete Susanoo to kill Natsuki—and forgot where they were. On the Ten-Tails' back, the bigger the attack, the more the Ten-Tails suffered.
No wonder that little bastard was so fearless.
No wonder he insisted on fighting on the Ten-Tails' back.
He'd planned this from the start.
Madara scowled and canceled the Susanoo, keeping his guard up against Natsuki.
But Natsuki had already used Storm Release movement to flash above Obito's head, slamming three vortex spheres down at once.
Obito jumped in shock and instantly used Shinra Tensei (Almighty Push), blasting the spiraling water spheres away. He hadn't even finished exhaling when he saw Natsuki already set in a Kamehameha stance—an electromagnetic cannon shot about to fire straight down.
"Crap…"
Obito's mind went blank.
He could phase through it himself, sure—but the Ten-Tails was beneath him. If that electromagnetic cannon hit, the Ten-Tails' head would take the punishment.
And Obito knew exactly how terrifying that cannon was. Madara himself had said it: Natsuki's shot had blown off one of the Gedō Mazō's legs.
Now Natsuki was in Sage Mode.
The cannon would be even stronger.
He couldn't dodge.
And he had to stop it.
Obito grit his teeth and opened his Mangekyō, preparing to catch the electromagnetic cannon inside the Kamui dimension.
"You idiot—do you think Natsuki will just wait for you to catch it?!" Madara snapped.
And sure enough, Natsuki's aim shifted instantly. The electromagnetic cannon didn't go for Obito at all—it roared toward the Ten-Tails' arm instead.
He changed targets the moment he saw Obito trying to tank it?!
The next instant—
Boom!
The electromagnetic cannon slammed into the Ten-Tails' left arm—its left foreleg—and the violent energy tore the limb clean off on the spot.
The Ten-Tails screamed again. The black flames still hadn't been cleared. The swarm was still chewing at it. And now it had lost an arm.
Disaster after disaster.
Those two Rinnegan users were doing it no favors at all—just letting it suffer through one nightmare after another.
Obito was completely numb. "Madara! Why didn't you stop him?!"
Madara's Rinnegan almost looked like Hyūga Byakugan (White Eye) from how hard he was glaring. "I was that far away—how was I supposed to stop it? Natsuki's fast, and he's deliberately avoiding both of us. You can't block that, all right?!"
Madara sounded genuinely irritated.
He already knew Natsuki was troublesome.
He hadn't expected him to be this troublesome.
(End of Chapter)
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