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Boom!
With a single stomp, Hayato's foot caved the earth in, leaving behind a crater. Blood immediately seeped up from the pit—one of the Iwa-nin had tried to hide underground with an Earth Release, only to be crushed to death under his heel.
"RAAAHHH!!!"
Hayato roared at the empty battlefield around him. Not a single soul remained alive. For miles in every direction, the only thing left was silence and corpses.
Every last ambusher from Iwagakure was dead—except for the one who had slipped away earlier, Ōnoki. Aside from him, Hayato had wiped them all out.
A while later, the bloodlust faded and Hayato's consciousness slowly returned. His body shrank back to normal, but he was left completely naked, everything dangling around in plain view—far from a decent look.
Luckily, after rummaging around, he managed to recover the bundle he'd dropped earlier. Inside was a spare set of clothes. He pulled them on in a hurry, finally putting an end to the embarrassing problem.
"Iwa's little ambush, huh? Too bad the Tsuchikage slipped away," Hayato muttered to himself. "Still, after seeing my trump card firsthand, maybe he'll think twice about continuing this war. Otherwise…" His words trailed off, voice low and cold, as he turned and marched deeper into the Land of Earth.
Until Iwagakure admitted defeat, Hayato wasn't about to stop moving forward.
Meanwhile, Ōnoki had already limped back to camp. His body was wrapped in fresh bandages, his expression twisted with fury and humiliation. He'd personally led a team of elite shinobi to ambush Hayato—only to see his entire force slaughtered. If he hadn't escaped when he did, even he might have been left behind in pieces. For the proud Tsuchikage, that kind of loss cut deep. His hands clenched in rage as he barked,
"Send for Rōshi. Now!"
"B-but, Lord Tsuchikage…" one of the shinobi hesitated, his face paling. Rōshi wasn't just any fighter—he was the jinchūriki of the Four-Tails, Son Gokū. Tailed Beasts were unimaginably powerful, walking natural disasters. Normally, they were the very last resort. Even in the Second Great Ninja War, as brutal as it had been, the villages hadn't unleashed their jinchūriki.
Ōnoki slammed his palm down on the table. "No buts! Summon him immediately!"
A flash of pain twisted his face the moment his injured hand hit the wood. His knuckles went pale, then purple, veins bulging across his forehead. He grit his teeth and forced himself not to show weakness.
"Y-yes, Lord Tsuchikage!"
Orders flew out across camp. Iwa was preparing to send a jinchūriki into the field.
Hayato, of course, had no idea what was brewing behind enemy lines. And even if he did, it wouldn't have fazed him. Tailed Beasts were terrifying, sure—living weapons of mass destruction, no different from a nuclear deterrent. But Hayato had already faced down the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path and lived to tell the tale. Compared to that, even a tailed beast wasn't enough to shake him.
When Rōshi finally arrived, Ōnoki wasted no time. This time, vengeance would be carried out properly. To make absolutely sure, he didn't just bring the jinchūriki—he also brought along an entire sealing squad, specialists in fūinjutsu. They were the very same group who had originally bound Son Gokū inside Rōshi's body.
But in doing so, Ōnoki was making the same mistake the Third Kazekage once had—treating Hayato as if he were nothing more than another Tailed Beast.
Yes, Tailed Beasts were powerful. They had near-infinite chakra, they could regenerate endlessly, and they couldn't truly be killed. The only way to neutralize them was to seal them. That was why every village that obtained a Tailed Beast immediately focused on sealing techniques, crafting methods to bind those monsters.
But Hayato wasn't a Tailed Beast. He wasn't a creature made of pure chakra. And when they tried to fight him as though he were one… the outcome would be very, very different.
The Third Kazekage had learned that lesson the hard way.
Ōnoki led Roshi, the Four-Tails' Jinchūriki, along with the sealing squad straight toward where Hayato was. It wasn't hard to find him—mainly because Hayato hadn't bothered to hide his movements in the first place.
When Hayato spotted Ōnoki stepping out in front of him, his gaze drifted past him, sweeping over the Iwa-nin gathered there before settling on Roshi.
"The Four-Tails' Jinchūriki… huh? Guess that means a fight's inevitable."
Ōnoki let out a sharp snort. "Hayato, I'll admit, your secret techniques are impressive. But if you think you can take on the entire Hidden Stone by yourself, you'd better wake up from that ridiculous fantasy."
A mocking grin tugged at Hayato's lips, amusement flashing in his eyes. He found the idea laughable—did Ōnoki really believe that a tailed beast was enough to tip the scales against him?
"…Ōnoki, this is the guy who had you running with your tail between your legs? Doesn't look that scary to me," Roshi said, tilting his head, curiosity plain on his face.
"Shut it! Take this seriously!" Ōnoki snapped, almost shaking with fury at Roshi's casual words. "This man's secret techniques are every bit as dangerous as your tailed beast. So don't hold back—unleash it right from the start!"
"Yeah, yeah, I got it," Roshi replied with a nod, though his eyes never left Hayato, studying him closely.
Meanwhile, Hayato calmly slipped the bundle off his back, setting it down with deliberate care.
His actions drew puzzled looks from the Iwa-nin. None of them could figure out why he'd take the time to do something like that before a battle. But Hayato wasn't about to offer an explanation. He took a deep breath, cold light flashing in his eyes—then in a blink, his foot pushed off the ground, and with a sharp whoosh, he was already charging straight at them.
Hayato knew perfectly well that, no matter what, if things got dire he always had one final trump card—transforming into the Hulk. With that power, he could crush his enemies or, at the very least, survive.
But that didn't mean he wanted to rely on it.
He refused to make the Hulk his first option. He needed to sharpen his strength as a human, to fight and endure battles in his normal form. If he transformed at the slightest danger, he'd never grow.
And more importantly—he didn't want to risk hurting Konan. Unless there was absolutely no other choice, Hayato had no intention of becoming the Hulk. Twice already he'd gotten lucky, managing to protect her even in that monstrous state. But what if luck ran out next time?
The thought of leaving her with a lifetime of regret was something he couldn't stomach.
That's why he kept pushing himself, honing his abilities, determined to handle threats while staying in his human form. Only then could he truly protect Konan.
"....."