Ryoma couldn't help but smile as he looked up at the enormous tanuki towering before him, its body like a living mountain of sand.
"What a fat raccoon," he said casually.
At that, Shukaku — the One-Tail — froze in disbelief, before roaring furiously, "Konoha ninja! What did you just say?! How dare you insult the great Shukaku!"
"'Great'? You're just a tailed beast," Ryoma replied calmly.
Nearby, Sakumo Hatake and Minato Namikaze tensed immediately. The oppressive chakra radiating from Shukaku pressed heavily on them, making it difficult even to breathe.
"Lord Hokage…" Minato whispered uneasily.
They turned to glance behind them, searching for a possible retreat. If Ryoma fell to the One-Tail, they needed to at least ensure a way to escape. But Sand Village was already surrounded — there was nowhere left to run.
Ryoma only smiled. "Sakumo, Minato, relax. I'm here. Everything's fine."
Even though both men knew how powerful Ryoma was, they couldn't help but worry. Facing a tailed beast was no small thing — and what if he ran out of chakra?
But Ryoma's calm expression never wavered.
Shukaku snarled, his eyes narrowing. "Hmph! I can smell that foul scent on you, Konoha ninja — the same as that man! I'll kill you!"
The beast could never forget the wooden chakra he sensed. Long ago, that same energy belonged to the man who had captured all nine of the tailed beasts — Hashirama Senju.
Shukaku had never forgiven him for treating them as weapons to be traded among the villages. Even if his current life in Sunagakure wasn't unbearable, his hatred for that man — and for anyone with his power — still burned fiercely.
And now, Ryoma carried that same aura.
"Tailed Beast Ball!"
A sphere of black and purple chakra condensed in Shukaku's maw, radiating destruction. In an instant, it launched — a beam of annihilation that could erase the entire Sand Village from the map.
But Ryoma raised a hand.
"Wood Release: Ranking Technique!"
A thunderous boom split the air.
A massive wooden shield, carved into a grimacing fang-faced mask, rose from the earth, intercepting the blast. The explosion tore through the dunes, but the shield held fast.
Shukaku's eyes widened. That shape… that chakra…
"It's the same! The exact same as him!" he howled, trembling.
Ryoma's voice remained steady.
"If that's how it is, then I won't hold back. Wood Release — Wood Human Technique!"
The ground rumbled violently as an enormous wooden giant erupted from the sand, towering over Shukaku with hundreds of branch-like arms fanning out behind it.
Rasa, the Fourth Kazekage, could only stare in disbelief. Chiyo and Ebizō's eyes went wide as their minds flashed back decades.
That colossal form — it was unmistakable.
The First Hokage, Hashirama Senju.
"Oh my god…" Chiyo whispered. "It's the same power."
They had heard rumors — that Ryoma possessed the bloodline of the Senju, a descendant of the First Hokage himself. His rise to becoming the Fourth Hokage had been meteoric, backed by terrifying military achievements… and perhaps, the blood of the man who once unified the world.
Now, seeing that giant wooden figure in person, both elders felt their hearts sink.
They remembered the dread that once fell upon every village when Hashirama entered the battlefield.
If not for the battle at the Valley of the End, which left Hashirama gravely wounded, the entire shinobi world might have already fallen under his rule.
And now… this boy carried that same overwhelming presence.
Even Shukaku was struck dumb. That wooden giant — it was the same one that had captured him all those years ago.
Rasa stood frozen, his mouth slightly open. "That thing… it's over a hundred meters tall…"
Before Shukaku could react, the wooden giant's arm shot forward, a hand large enough to blot out the sun.
"Crawl," Ryoma commanded.
The giant palm slammed down with earth-shaking force. Shukaku's body trembled as raw fear surged through him — even a tailed beast's instincts screamed danger.
The shockwave silenced the entire desert.
Chiyo, Ebizō, and Rasa could only stand frozen, hearts hammering, unable to move.
"TAILED BEAST BALL—!" Shukaku roared again, gathering chakra desperately.
But before he could fire, the wooden giant's hand closed like a mountain around him. The Tailed Beast Ball detonated in its grasp, tearing apart one of the giant's fingers — yet the other hand came down instantly, pinning Shukaku into the sand.
"N–No!" the One-Tail shrieked as the shadow of the enormous palm fell over him.
BOOM.
The ground quaked like an earthquake.
When the dust settled, Shukaku was buried — crushed beneath the wooden giant's hand like a beast under the Five-Finger Mountain.
Complete suppression.
For the people of Sunagakure, the One-Tail was their greatest weapon — a source of power and deterrence. And yet, that weapon now looked like a child's toy beneath the might of the Fourth Hokage.
"Let me go, brat!" Shukaku howled, his voice muffled under the weight.
Ryoma crouched slightly, eyeing the tanuki curiously. "Huh. You've got a higher IQ than the Two-Tails, don't you? So… does that mean the more tails, the smarter you are?"
"You— you idiot! More tails doesn't mean smarter! I'm the great and wise Lord Shukaku!" the One-Tail snapped.
Ryoma's smile widened. "Oh really?"
BAM.
His fist slammed into Shukaku's face, embedding the beast's head deeper into the sand.
"You talk too much," Ryoma said flatly.
BAM. BAM. BAM.
Three more blows followed, each one shaking the dunes.
When he finally stopped, Shukaku was silent — half-buried, trembling.
"I was wrong, big brother," the beast whimpered weakly. "I'm a tanuki, not a dog…"
"Whatever you are," Ryoma said, dusting his hands off, "you'll behave from now on."
The battlefield fell utterly silent.
Even Sakumo and Minato, who had fought alongside legends, could only stare in awe.
A tailed beast — subdued like an animal — in mere minutes.
Their earlier doubts vanished completely. Ryoma's strength was beyond anything they could have imagined.
Around them, the Sand ninja were frozen in shock.
"H-he actually subdued the One-Tail…" one of them whispered.
"Impossible… he's a monster…"
"Elder Chiyo, Elder Ebizō, what do we do now?" a trembling jonin asked.
Chiyo let out a long, bitter sigh. "There's nothing we can do. Even Shukaku couldn't stand against him. If we fought… it would be suicide."
Ryoma ignored their murmurs. Forming a hand seal, he pressed his palm forward.
"Wood Release: Binding Seal."
A glowing character — "Seal" — appeared on his hand. A wooden cuboid formed around the One-Tail, chakra threads etching sealing runes into its surface. Shukaku's eyes rolled back as his consciousness faded.
The desert grew still again.
Chiyo stepped forward, her voice trembling but steady.
"Fourth Hokage… what is it you intend to do?"
Ryoma looked up at Chiyo, his expression calm and unreadable.
"As I said," he repeated evenly, "your Sunagakure will now submit to Konohagakure."
Chiyo's wrinkled face tightened.
"Fourth Hokage, that's impossible," she replied gravely. "Even if Sunagakure agreed, the Land of Wind would never allow it. This isn't just between two villages — it's a matter between two great nations."
Ryoma smiled faintly and didn't bother arguing. He formed a sequence of seals instead. A wave of chakra rippled outward as a sealing formula appeared beneath the trapped One-Tail.
Within seconds, most of Shukaku's chakra was ripped away and sealed into a summoning beast.
"This is…" Chiyo's eyes widened. "A sealing technique of the Uzumaki Clan!"
Indeed — it was the lost Forbidden Art of the Uzumaki, once created by Uzumaki Ashina himself: the Tailed Beast Summoning Seal.
"No—!"
Shukaku's voice tore through the air, filled with rage and terror. But the seal completed before he could resist. His enormous body vanished, his roar fading into silence.
Only a fragment of his chakra remained, returning to the old monk who had once been his jinchūriki.
Chiyo trembled.
"Fourth Hokage… what are you planning?"
Ryoma glanced at her with an almost bored look.
"Nothing much. I've simply sealed your One-Tail. Don't worry — I left a portion of its chakra inside the monk. He'll live."
Then he turned his gaze on the assembled Sand ninja.
"Now then," he said softly, his tone as sharp as a blade.
"Do you want to die… or surrender?"
The battlefield fell deathly silent.
Tens of thousands of Sand shinobi stood frozen, their morale shattered. They all knew — before this man, they were helpless. Numbers meant nothing. They were weeds before a storm, cut down the moment he willed it.
Some even began to consider fleeing.
Chiyo and Ebizō exchanged a look; even the proud elders of the Sand had lost the strength to resist. Ryoma's casual sealing of Shukaku had shattered their will completely.
Chiyo's voice quivered as she said, "Lord Fourth Hokage… even if we submitted, the Land of Wind would never allow it."
Ryoma raised a brow.
"You mean your Daimyō?"
"Yes," Chiyo said through clenched teeth.
"This would spark a war between our nations. If you press this further, you'll anger our Daimyō!"
"Anger him?" Ryoma smiled. "Then take me to him."
"What?!" Chiyo's eyes widened. "What are you planning to do?!"
Ryoma's smile deepened, calm and chilling.
"What else? To make your Daimyō submit to Konoha."
"That's madness!" Chiyo shouted, joined by Ebizō and the elders. "If you do this, the Daimyō will never forgive you!"
But Ryoma's gaze silenced them instantly — a single cold glance that froze their words in their throats.
"You have two choices," he said quietly. "Take me to him… or die here."
One of the elder advisors stepped forward, his voice shaking with anger. "You think we'll—"
Before he could finish, the ground beneath him split open. Countless wooden roots erupted upward, twisting around his body.
Swish.
He didn't even have time to scream before he was crushed into nothingness.
The entire crowd recoiled in horror.
The young Hokage before them felt less like a man — and more like a demon in human form.
Ryoma smiled slightly. "I don't have much patience."
From the side, Minato Namikaze watched silently, the corner of his mouth twitching. When did Ryoma become this ruthless? The man before him was nothing like the calm, composed leader he once knew.
In truth, Ryoma was simply adapting — to both his power and his position.
With his current strength, he was the undisputed strongest in the shinobi world. There was no need to hesitate or seek approval.
If they obeyed, they lived.
If not — they died.
That was all.
He treated allies with kindness, like the warmth of spring.
But his enemies? He would crush them with the cold cruelty of winter.
Chiyo lifted a trembling hand, stopping her subordinates before they spoke further. "Enough. We'll take you there."
"Elder Chiyo…" one jōnin began, but she silenced him with a look.
Ryoma smiled faintly.
"Good. Lead the way."
He followed the Sand ninja leading them toward the Land of Wind's capital, with Minato and Sakumo Hatake at his sides. The three moved like shadows across the desert.
As the wind howled over the dunes, Sakumo sighed. "We're really going to meet the Daimyō like this?"
Ryoma smirked. "A Daimyō is just a title. Nothing more."
Both Minato and Sakumo exchanged a look. His words sank deep — and they understood. Power, not titles, ruled the world. And Ryoma had more power than anyone alive.
Their respect for him deepened even further.
Not long after Ryoma's departure, the remaining Sand elders stood in silence.
"It's over," one muttered bitterly.
"The Fourth Hokage's power… no one in the ninja world can stand against him now."
"The only hope," another said grimly, "is for the four great villages to unite."
Chiyo shook her head. "Unite? Have you forgotten how Hashirama Senju founded Konoha? Even then, the other villages couldn't match him."
She looked toward the horizon, voice low. "He defeated the One-Tail with nothing but the Wood Human Technique. He didn't even use Sage Mode… or his full power."
Her words spread a quiet dread among them.
Ebizō's expression darkened.
"With his current strength, even if the four great villages attacked together, the outcome is uncertain. We must think long-term — find his weakness."
He looked toward the distance, where Ryoma had disappeared with his team.
"No man is truly invincible. Even if he is untouchable, those close to him are not. Just like before… the village of Konoha itself may become his greatest weakness."
Meanwhile, Ryoma, Sakumo, and Minato had already reached the Wind Capital — the grand city that housed the Daimyō of the Land of Wind.
Towering walls surrounded it, and the bustling streets were filled with merchants, samurai, and common folk.
As the Sand escort led them toward the gate, they were stopped by a squad of armored guards.
"Halt!" the lead samurai barked.
"State your business, shinobi of Sunagakure!"
Even though the jōnin leading them was high-ranking, the samurai's tone dripped with disdain.
Ryoma's gaze lifted slightly, amusement flickering in his eyes.
The storm was far from over.
To the samurai of the Wind Capital, they were the true, orthodox army.
The shinobi of Sunagakure—mere assassins raised by the Daimyō.
In their eyes, the samurai stood above them in both honor and rank.
Murakami Shinobu spoke in a low, steady tone.
"This is the Fourth Hokage of Konohagakure from the Land of Fire. He seeks an audience with the Daimyō of the Land of Wind."
"The Fourth Hokage…?" one of the samurai muttered, his eyes narrowing as he studied the young man before him.
Seeing how young Ryoma looked, the samurai sneered.
"Where are your official papers?"
"He was appointed temporarily," Murakami explained. "He came on urgent business and did not bring them."
The samurai scoffed.
"Without papers? What nonsense! Do you think our Daimyō entertains every stray shinobi who shows up at the gates?"
The moment the insult left his lips, Hatake Sakumo, standing behind Ryoma, moved.
In a flash, a kunai was pressed against the samurai's throat.
"Kneel," Sakumo said coldly. "And apologize to the Hokage-sama."
The samurai froze, eyes wide with terror.
At once, hundreds of samurai surged forward.
From atop the city walls, thousands more appeared, bows drawn and arrows aimed directly at Ryoma and his men.
The surrounding merchants and civilians screamed and scattered in panic.
Even Murakami Shinobu, who had been leading them, went pale. His voice trembled.
"F-Fourth Hokage-sama, please—don't make a scene!"
The samurai commander stepped forward, arrogance written across his face.
"Drop your weapons and surrender! Resist, and you'll be cut down where you stand!"
Sakumo ignored him completely. He turned to Ryoma, awaiting his command.
Ryoma's eyes were calm as still water.
"In that case," he said softly, "kill them."
In a single motion, Sakumo's blade flashed. The samurai before him clutched his throat, eyes wide with disbelief, before collapsing lifelessly.
Gasps rippled through the crowd of warriors.
"Very well!" the commander bellowed. "Attack!"
He charged forward with his long sword raised—
—but in the next instant, a blur of golden light appeared behind him.
Minato Namikaze.
"Rasengan."
The spiraling sphere of chakra slammed into the commander's back, driving him into the ground with a thunderous boom.
With a single strike, the proud samurai leader—one of the Wind Capital's finest, even capable of molding chakra—was utterly defeated.
The onlookers could only gape at the "golden-haired boy" who had felled their champion in one blow.
"Fire!" someone shouted.
From atop the walls, thousands of arrows were loosed at once.
Murakami Shinobu collapsed to his knees, trembling.
"No… no!"
At that moment, Ryoma's expression hardened.
His hands came together in a single seal.
"Sage Art… Wood Release: True Several Thousand Hands!"
In the blink of an eye, he entered Sage Mode, natural energy flooding his body.
The ground trembled violently.
From beneath Ryoma, an enormous Buddha's head began to rise, followed by a titanic, thousand-armed giant that towered over the entire city.
The earth cracked apart. The air itself seemed to shudder.
"Wh—what the hell?!" shouted a Sunagakure shinobi standing behind Ryoma.
He leapt backward instinctively, but not fast enough—one of the colossal Buddha's arms brushed past him, the mere force of it sending him flying and coughing up blood.
Even Minato and Sakumo barely escaped with their high-speed teleportation and Body Flicker techniques.
The samurai commander, who had just struggled back to his feet, fell again, staring upward in sheer horror.
The giant Buddha loomed higher than the city walls, its countless arms stretching into the clouds.
"Wh-what is that thing?!"
All along the walls, the samurai who had drawn their bows froze, their hands trembling.
The arrows slipped from their fingers and clattered to the ground as they gawked up at the colossal wooden deity towering above them.
The tallest tower in the Wind Capital rose about twenty meters high—but the Buddha before them was ten times that, its massive frame blotting out the sky.
Meanwhile, in the Daimyō's palace at the center of the city, the lord of the Land of Wind was enjoying his wine. Two elite samurai stood guard behind him.
Suddenly, the ground shook with a deafening roar.
The Daimyō turned toward the window—and the cup slipped from his hand, shattering against the floor.
"W–What… what is that?!"
His guards rushed forward, only to freeze in disbelief.
Their hair stood on end, a chill running down their spines.
Outside the walls, a gigantic, thousand-armed Buddha loomed over the city, no less than thirty meters tall.
Before that divine figure, the city gates looked no larger than a child's toy fence.
As the giant's hands descended, the gates of the Wind Capital crumbled to dust.
...
TN:
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