Chapter 216: The Eighth Tail Emerges
BOOM!
The world dissolved into pure, annihilating light. The third and final Rashomon gate did not just break; it was unmade, its ancient, demonic visage vaporized into motes of dust that were instantly swept away by the torrent of energy that followed. The Hollow Dog Cannon, its power scarcely diminished, continued its relentless path of erasure, carving a glassy, smoldering canyon through the earth as it zeroed in on its target. It was a force of nature, a declaration of oblivion that moved faster than thought.
"Hmph! Come on, then!"
Uchiha Ren stood firm, his expression not of fear, but of cold, analytical focus. He watched the wave of destruction approach, his Mangekyō Sharingan tracing the intricate flow of chakra within the blast. As the heat seared the air and the light threatened to consume his vision, his hands came together in a single, sharp clap.
"Wood Release: Guard of the Great Buddha!"
The earth before him erupted. Not with violence, but with a surge of profound life. A massive, shield-like wooden pillar, wider than a house, rose from the ground. Carved into its center was a serene, yet imposing, grimace—a visage of ancient protection. It radiated a tangible, calming energy, a stark contrast to the chaotic hatred of the Tailed Beast Bomb.
BOOOOM!
The Hollow Dog Cannon struck the grimace shield. The resulting explosion was not a simple impact, but a furious struggle between creation and destruction. A sphere of white-hot energy bloomed at the point of contact, its shockwave flattening the landscape for hundreds of meters in every direction. Trees were uprooted and pulverized, and the very bedrock was scoured away. Yet, when the light faded and the dust began to settle, the wooden shield stood, scorched and smoking, but fundamentally intact. The Wood Release, born from the very power that had subdued the Nine-Tails itself, had held firm.
Crick… Crack.
A fissure appeared down the center of the grimace, and the shield split neatly into two halves, retracting into the earth to reveal Ren standing unharmed within the protective groove, his cloak fluttering in the superheated wind.
"My turn," he declared, his voice cutting through the ringing silence. "Let's see if you can endure what you so freely dish out."
He slammed his palms together once more, channeling a torrent of chakra into the soil beneath his feet. "Wood Release: Advent of a World of Trees!"
The ground beneath the Eight-Tails-cloaked Naruto roared in protest. It was not a mere sprouting of vines, but a violent, organic explosion. Dozens of thick, serpentine tree trunks, each as large as a man, burst forth from the soil. They were impossibly fast and prehensile, lashing out not like plants, but like a legion of wooden pythons with a singular, predatory intent.
Naruto, driven by the beast's feral instincts, leaped back, his chakra claws shredding the first few limbs that sought to ensnare him. But for every one he destroyed, three more took its place. They coiled around his limbs, his torso, his neck, their grip tightening with terrifying strength. He thrashed and roared, a tempest of red chakra, but the forest-born bindings only grew thicker and more resilient, feeding on the chakra he himself was expending. Within seconds, he was completely overwhelmed, dragged down and swallowed by the writhing, living mass of wood until his furious bellows were silenced, buried under a small, tangled mountain of foliage.
"Hmph. Not even the Nine-Tails in its prime could easily escape the confines of this technique," Ren stated, a note of finality in his tone. "Rest within the embrace of the forest."
He turned, his focus shifting back to the distant, vulnerable silhouette of Konoha. But he had taken only a few steps when a familiar, oppressive pressure spiked behind him. He froze, his Sharingan narrowing as he slowly turned back.
A brilliant, malevolent red light pulsed from within the heart of the wooden prison. The chakra that erupted was different—denser, more ancient, and infinitely more furious. The very air grew heavy with its malice.
"Oh?" Ren murmured, a flicker of genuine surprise in his eyes. "To break free from the Advent of a World of Trees? It seems I have indeed been underestimating the depths of your vessel's despair."
As if in direct response to his words, the central mass of the wooden prison exploded outwards. A monstrous head, stripped of fur and skin to reveal raw, pulsating muscle and sinew, thrust itself into the open air. It was a visage of pure hatred, a skull-like fox with eyes of burning sulfur. It unleashed a roar that was a physical force, then vomited a torrent of crimson, chakra-fueled flames, setting the surrounding trees ablaze.
This was no longer the sleek, chakra-cloaked form of before. This was a being of nightmare. The head was followed by the lashing, violent emergence of eight colossal tails, each a whip of solid, scarlet energy that smashed through the remaining wooden bonds with terrifying force. Naruto had ascended to the Eighth Tail.
Though the lower half of his body was still trapped by the tenacious roots of the World of Trees, his struggles were now exponentially more powerful. The wooden bonds groaned and splintered, and it was clear his complete liberation was now only a matter of moments.
***
Deep within the confines of Naruto's mind, the world was a dank, endless sewer. The air was thick with the stench of stagnation and despair. Naruto lay collapsed in the shallow, foul water, his body wracked with phantom pains that mirrored the battle outside.
"It hurts… I don't want this… I don't understand…" he whimpered, clutching his head as foreign memories of rage, hatred, and a centuries-long imprisonment flooded his psyche. "My head… it's so loud… Someone… please…"
A voice, smooth as oil and ancient as stone, slithered from behind the massive, barred seal. "*Destroy it all. Erase everything that causes you pain. Give your heart to me completely. In my power, you will find freedom from this suffering.*"
The voice resonated with the darkness festering inside him. Naruto, his will shattered, looked up. His eyes were empty, reflecting only the malevolent crimson glow from behind the gate. Almost of its own volition, his jacket fell away, revealing the spiral seal on his abdomen. It began to rotate, the center dissolving into a void from which a torrent of black, ink-like hatred poured forth, staining the water around his feet a deep, hopeless black.
"*Come closer…*" the Nine-Tails coaxed.
Naruto obeyed, his movements puppet-like. He walked through the blackened water towards the cage, drawn by the promise of an end to the agony.
"*That's it… Now… tear off the seal!*" the beast commanded, a triumphant grin spreading across its monstrous features.
A tendril of red chakra lifted Naruto up, bringing him level with the paper talisman that was the final lock on the demon's cage. His hand, trembling, reached out. His fingers were inches from the paper, ready to unleash the apocalypse upon the world.
But in that final, fateful moment, a flash of golden light filled the dim space.
A figure moved with impossible speed, a blur of yellow and white. A strong, firm hand closed around Naruto's wrist, stopping him mere centimeters from the seal. The figure then gently, but firmly, pulled Naruto away from the cage, the red chakra tendril dissipating like smoke.
Naruto blinked, the overwhelming haze in his mind receding slightly. He looked up at the man who now stood protectively between him and the fox. The man's back was to him, but the words embroidered in bold, black characters on his white Hokage robe were unmistakable, a title that resonated with every fiber of Naruto's being:
*Fourth Hokage.*
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