Chapter 39: The Jinchuriki's Might
"Brat, you talk too much!"
Hearing Uchiha Naoki praise Yugito and the others, a new, cold voice cut through the air. The speaker was a kunoichi with long, straight, tea-colored hair tied into a waist-length braid. Her aura was terrifying—far stronger than any of the three who had just fought.
"So scary!" Naoki pouted, feigning terror and raising his hands in mock surrender. "I give up, okay? A powerhouse like you really makes a person feel helpless."
"You think... I'd believe that?" the tea-haired kunoichi snorted coldly and immediately launched her attack. "I will not allow you to interfere with our mission to secure that secret technique!"
Naoki nimbly dodged, landing neatly in front of the now-exposed Scarlet Sand Scorpion.
"Brother Sasori, it seems I'll have to trouble you to wait for me a little while," Naoki said, looking somewhat helplessly at the kunoichi who had landed ahead of him. "After all, this one is different from your average ninja. She'll be quite difficult for me to handle."
Hearing this, the Scarlet Sand Scorpion turned his gaze to the brown-haired kunoichi, his eyes narrowing in assessment. "This chakra presence... A Jinchuriki?"
Correct. The tea-haired kunoichi was none other than the Two-Tails Jinchuriki of Kumogakure: Yugito Nii.
"I see," Sasori replied calmly. "I will wait here. It will give me time to repair Hiruko and deal with these three fine puppet materials." He was not a man who enjoyed waiting, but for someone he acknowledged, he could make an exception.
"Thank you," Naoki said with a grin. Then he looked back at Yugito, all previous mockery gone from his expression, replaced by pure seriousness. "This is my first time facing a Jinchuriki. Allow me to experience your strength for myself."
Jinchuriki were considered strategic weapons by the Five Great Shinobi Villages, capable of single-handedly turning the tide of battle. Their power was undeniable. How could he not be eager to test himself against one?
"Yugito, hold on!" the Jinchuriki called out to her comrade. "I'll come back to support you as soon as I finish this one! The Scarlet Sand Scorpion is more than just his puppet. Do not engage him directly!"
With that, she transformed into a blur, closing the distance to Uchiha Naoki in an instant. Sharp claws emerged from her hands, tearing through the air with ferocious speed and pressure, a force that could make anyone despair.
"Already borrowing the Tailed Beast's power from the start?" Naoki's heart stirred with anticipation. Determined to test the might of a Jinchuriki head-on, his arm instantly glowed with intense heat and was sheathed in molten rock as he met her blow with a punch of his own.
"Hmph, fool!" Seeing Naoki choose a direct confrontation, Yugito Nii sneered. "If you have a death wish, I'll oblige you!" Unless it was the Raikage, whose entire style was built on overwhelming physical power, anyone who tried to match a Jinchuriki's brute force was simply courting death. The Uchiha boy before her clearly possessed no such capability.
BOOM!
The earth trembled violently from the impact, and a scorching shockwave erupted.
But Yugito's eyes widened in sheer disbelief. She stared at Uchiha Naoki, who had blocked her blow without flinching. "You... you took my punch head-on?!"
Her strikes carried enough force to easily split the ground for meters. Yet this Uchiha boy had handled it so effortlessly? How could someone so young possess such terrifying power?
She leaped back, staring at Naoki. "Have you learned the Sannin Tsunade's secret art, the Strength of a Hundred Technique?"
It was the only explanation she could conceive.
Not far away, Karui was equally stunned. She swallowed hard, looking at Uchiha Naoki as if he were a monster. "What is this guy? He actually traded blows with Lady Yugito?!" That was a Jinchuriki, a blow amplified by Tailed Beast power! Outside of the Raikage himself, who in the world could match a Jinchuriki in raw strength? Even if it was the Strength of a Hundred, for someone his age to have mastered it to such a degree was monstrous.
"Is this... the power of a Jinchuriki?" Uchiha Naoki shook his slightly numb arm, his eyes burning with intensity. "It's true, against ninety-nine percent of shinobi, it represents a crushing advantage." He then shook his head, a flicker of disappointment in his eyes. "But... it's not quite as overwhelming as I imagined. Is this all a famed Jinchuriki is capable of?"
It was a blatant provocation.
"You arrogant brat!!" Yugito Nii's expression darkened instantly. "Since that's the case, I'll give you the surprise of your life. I'll make you understand the true terror of a Tailed Beast's power!"
BOOM!
Her aura exploded, becoming several times more violent. A palpable wave of power radiated from her, cracking the earth at her feet. She dropped into a low, bestial stance, blue chakra patterns swirling to the surface of her skin. Her hair stood completely on end, and her eyes lost all color, becoming horrifically blank. She looked like a humanoid cat-demon—bizarre and deeply dangerous.
"Partial Tailed Beast Transformation?" Though he voiced disappointment, Uchiha Naoki's internal vigilance skyrocketed. His two tomoe spun to life, and he layered his Kenbunshoku Haki over his perception.
SWOOSH!
In an instant, Yugito vanished! Even his two-tomoe Sharingan couldn't track her movement. All he could perceive was a sudden, piercing wind and an overwhelming sense of crisis. His Observation Haki only just managed to capture her approximate location.
"Her speed receives a massive boost in this state? Combined with her natural aptitude for it, her movements become truly unpredictable." A grin touched his lips. "This is getting exciting."
In the next moment, sharp cat-like claws ruthlessly tore through his torso. The very air seemed to scream, leaving visible claw-shaped shockwaves in their wake.
"Is it over?" Karui wondered, shocked and uncertain.
This was what Yugito herself wanted to know. "This guy... could he really be finished so easily?" After her successful strike, she didn't press the attack but retreated to analyze. It had been too easy. Even with her enhanced power, given the strength Uchiha Naoki had just displayed, it felt unreal that he would fall so quickly.
"What a swift and ruthless blow," came the voice of the Uchiha Naoki whose body had been torn apart. Lava flowed from the grievous wounds, sealing them shut. His entire body radiated intense heat, like a deity of fire. "But not quite enough."
"Lava Release?!" Yugito stared, startled, but then frowned in deeper confusion. "No, that's not right. Lava Release doesn't allow the user to assimilate their body with the element! And he's not the Four-Tails' Jinchuriki!" She was aware that the Four-Tails' host possessed the Kekkei Genkai of Lava Release. But not even the Four-Tails could transform its host's body into living lava the way this Uchiha boy just had.