Chapter 215: The Hollow Dog Cannon's Roar
The world within Ren's temporal field was a study in absolute dominion. The air itself grew thick as syrup, and the frantic, bestial chakra of the Six-Tails seemed to congeal into a sluggish, crimson haze. Naruto, a moment ago a blur of feral speed, was now trapped in amber, his killing intent frozen mid-leap. His clawed fist, sheathed in the volatile Tailed Beast cloak, inched forward with agonizing slowness, a fly caught in the web of the Mangekyō Sharingan.
A cold, mocking sneer twisted Ren's lips. "Pathetic."
With a thought, chakra spiraled into his palm with a familiar, high-pitched whirr. The Rasengan materialized in an instant, a perfect sphere of chaotic energy. He didn't lunge; he simply pressed it forward, meeting the snail-paced advance of the beast. The moment the spinning sphere made contact with the chakra cloak, Ren released his hold on the time domain.
BOOM!
The world snapped back to full speed with a violent lurch. The force of the Rasengan's impact, combined with Naruto's own aborted momentum, erupted outwards. The technique didn't tear through the Tailed Beast cloak—its defensive properties were too potent for that—but the concussive force was immense. A cloud of blue smoke and shattered chakra hissed from the point of contact, and Naruto was hurled backward like a discarded ragdoll. He sailed through the air before crashing into the face of a distant cliffside with a sickening crunch of rock, his body buried under an avalanche of stone and debris.
"The defense is impressive, I'll grant him that," Ren mused, his Sharingan never wavering from the rubble pile. "A direct Rasengan and the cloak holds. But this is only the beginning." He knew better than to believe the fight was over. The silence was a prelude, the calm before a storm of incalculable fury.
His instincts were proven correct a moment later.
KABOOM!
The mountain of rubble exploded outwards, not from a physical push, but from a raw, uncontrolled detonation of chakra. Stones were vaporized into dust as the Six-Tails form re-emerged, its roar no longer one of simple rage, but of a primordial entity asserting its power. This time, it did not charge.
Instead, it crouched, its form shuddering violently. With a guttural scream that tore at the very air, countless orbs of chakra—some a bloody scarlet, others a malevolent light blue—began to bleed from its body. They swarmed around it like angry hornets before converging in front of its gaping maw. The chakra condensed, compressed, and darkened, swirling into a sphere of pure, annihilating energy. A Tailed Beast Bomb.
***
The battle had long since carried them beyond Konoha's shattered walls, but the shockwaves of their conflict reverberated through the village's very bones. The ground trembled with each impact, and the sky was lit by unnatural flares of red and blue. From a distance, the Konoha shinobi watched, their faces etched with a mixture of horror and awe.
"We... we understood Uchiha Ren's power," one jounin stammered, "but for Naruto to be fighting on this level... It's unthinkable."
A small, glistening form appeared on a nearby post, its voice calm and melodic despite the chaos. "Please, everyone, you must stay back." It was a miniature katsuyu, a piece of the Slug Sannin herself. "This is the power of the Nine-Tails within Naruto-kun. My main body is with him, so I can relay the situation. He has lost control."
"Lost control? But Yamato was supposed to suppress this!" Shikaku Nara's mind, even in crisis, raced through the variables. "And Kakashi's pendant?"
"The pendant was shattered by Uchiha Ren," katsuyu explained, her tone somber. "With its seal broken and Yamato-san's Wood Release no longer there to calm the beast, Naruto-kun's mind has been completely overwhelmed by the Kyuubi's hatred. To approach now is to invite death. Yamato-san has already... fallen."
A grim silence fell over the group. The name went unspoken, but the finality of it hung heavy in the air.
"Damn it!" Shikaku cursed, his strategic mind already mapping out the grim reality. "One Uchiha was a catastrophe. Now we have a second monster to contend with. If this continues, Naruto will fully transform into the Nine-Tails! Everyone, evacuate immediately! Clear the blast radius!"
"Wait! What about Naruto?" Shikamaru's voice cut through the order, sharp with desperation. He stepped forward, his hands clenched into fists. "Are we just going to stand by and watch him be consumed? He's our comrade!"
Shikaku's face was a mask of pained resolve. "That is no longer just Naruto, Shikamaru. That is a force of nature. We cannot intervene in a battle of this magnitude. To get close is to die for absolutely no gain. We retreat, we survive, and then we find a way to salvage this. That is the only logical path!"
Shikamaru's shoulders slumped, the sheer, frustrating weight of the truth pressing down on him. "Damn it... This is so... troublesome." He looked toward the distant, swirling maelstrom of red chakra, his heart aching for his friend, but his mind conceding to his father's cold, brutal logic.
***
Back in the heart of the storm, Ren watched Naruto complete the Tailed Beast Bomb with a sense of grim appreciation. The dark sphere pulsed with enough power to erase a mountain from existence. Instead of interrupting, he had allowed the process to unfold.
"The Kyuubi's power is truly a marvel," Ren murmured to himself, a spark of genuine excitement igniting within him. "For a mere Jinchuriki, even at six tails, to wield this... it's intoxicating. I haven't been pushed to a real fight in so long. Very well, Naruto. Show me everything you have. Let us see if you can grant me the battle I crave."
His hands moved in a blur, a testament to his flawless mastery. He drew a single drop of blood with his thumb, smearing it across the blade of the Meteor Sword before slamming his palm onto the cracked earth.
"Summoning Jutsu: Triple Rashomon!"
The ground roared and split as three colossal gates, each adorned with a hideous, leering demonic face, erupted from the earth in a line before him. They stood as a mighty, albeit temporary, bulwark against the coming apocalypse. Ren was under no illusion; he knew the legendary power of the Kyuubi's "Hollow Dog Cannon." Three Rashomon gates might not be enough to stop it, but they would buy him the crucial second he needed.
On the opposite side, the Six-Tails swelled, its body distorting as it swallowed the Tailed Beast Bomb whole. Its maw gaped open, and the world seemed to hold its breath.
A beam of pure black, outlined in blinding white, lanced forth. It was not fire or light, but the utter negation of both. It did not burn what it touched; it erased it. The very ground beneath it ceased to be, vaporized into a deep, glass-smooth trench that stretched from the beast towards Ren. The air screamed as it was torn apart, and the sheer pressure of the blast wave flattened everything in a wide radius.
The Hollow Dog Cannon struck the first Rashomon. The demonic gate of iron and legend did not shatter—it dissolved, its atoms scattering into nothingness in the blink of an eye. The second gate followed, offering only a moment's more resistance before meeting the same fate.
But that single, purchased moment was all Ren needed. As the third and final gate began to vaporize, his Mangekyō Sharingan blazed, and he was already moving, not to dodge, but to meet annihilation head-on.
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