"Wouldn't something like the Four Symbols Seal work?" Hagoromo suggested. "I should still be able to use it."
Chakra, after all, was like toothpaste—you could always squeeze a little more out.
Of course, if he really tried to use the Four Symbols Seal, Hagoromo would have to squeeze himself dry. He was already out of chakra, and a sealing jutsu of that level would drain him into a husk without effort.
"You think sealing a tailed beast is that simple?" Kushina shot him a sideways look.
Hagoromo froze.
Alright—he had been thinking exactly that.
In his mind, creating a jinchūriki was basically like putting an elephant in a refrigerator:
Step one, grab a random Konoha shinobi.
Step two, cast the Four Symbols Seal.
Step three, voilà—a brand-new jinchūriki.
Reality, however, was far harsher.
Choosing a jinchūriki was an extremely complex process. Ordinary shinobi simply could not withstand the overwhelming chakra of a tailed beast. This wasn't something you could do by dragging in just anyone.
Hagoromo immediately understood.
By his own estimation, he personally had about a fifty percent chance of surviving becoming a jinchūriki—
And then, three seconds later, he abandoned the idea entirely.
First: using his own body as a cage to stuff something that big inside would hurt like hell.
Second: people deserved some personal privacy.
Third: sealing a tailed beast was irreversible. Once a jinchūriki, always a jinchūriki. Want a refund? Sorry—no returns, no warranty.
It had to be said—this was an extremely wise decision.
Hagoromo didn't fully understand Naruto lore at this point; he'd once assumed Gaara's dark circles were just an art-style choice. In truth, it was a very serious issue.
The real problem was—
Shukaku never shut up.
Yes. The fearsome, awe-inspiring One-Tail(Ichibi) was a nonstop chatterbox. Sleeping peacefully with that thing inside you was basically impossible.
Anyway—sealing Shukaku this way was a dead end.
What about using the Reaper Death Seal to kill it?
That idea had merit—but the problem was location. This was a densely packed battlefield. One mistake, and they'd wipe out their own people.
Shukaku was extremely hard to deal with. Otherwise, Kushina wouldn't still be restraining it instead of acting decisively.
"Kushina-sensei," Hagoromo said, "if you don't have a solution… I have a solution that barely counts as one."
For some reason, Kushina felt like she might be hearing things. Her student's tone sounded oddly… questionable.
"…What solution?" she asked anyway.
Hagoromo didn't answer. Instead, he reached into his ninja pouch.
As far as archaeology could tell, there were no coins in the shinobi world.
So what he pulled out was a handful of steel spheres.
Yes.
He was about to give Shukaku a few shots—literally.
And those shots had a name:
Railgun.
A certain esper used standardized arcade coins, but Hagoromo didn't have that luxury. For portability, he'd chosen steel balls of similar mass.
Shukaku was immobilized by Kushina's Adamantine Sealing Chains. At a distance of fifty meters, firing on such a massive stationary target didn't require aiming at all.
"I've never tried full-power discharge before," Hagoromo said calmly.
As he spoke, he snapped his fingers softly with his left hand.
That sound acted as a trigger—unlocking a restraint deep within his mind.
"Please enjoy the next performance," he murmured.
"It's called How to Properly Shell a Tailed Beast."
He drew in a deep breath and held it.
In an instant, chaotic arcs of lightning erupted across his body. Within moments, it was as though he were encased inside a sphere of thunder.
Then Hagoromo extended one arm straight forward.
The lightning intensified.
Metal objects on the ground began to rise, defying gravity as repulsive force surged upward. Energy flowed along his arm, gathering in his palm until it shone with blinding brilliance.
"Stop him! Now!" someone screamed.
Because Hagoromo had spent too long talking, a second wave of Sand shinobi had already closed in. They didn't know what he was about to do—but they had seen what he was capable of.
And now he was aiming at the tailed beast.
Instinctively, they sensed disaster.
They charged.
Too late.
BOOM!
The deafening explosion felt like it tore through everyone's eardrums.
Only afterward did people notice the orange-yellow beam of light that pierced the night sky.
When the thunder faded—
Shukaku's roar had stopped.
With malicious satisfaction, Hagoromo's first shot blew Shukaku's head apart. The beast had been screaming all night; Hagoromo had had enough.
For a moment—
The world fell silent.
Both sides of the battlefield froze, staring at Shukaku's position in disbelief.
Sand shinobi rubbed their eyes one after another.
They hadn't imagined it, right?
Shukaku… got its head blown off?
What was this—target practice?
A tailed beast getting headshotted?!
And it wasn't over.
BOOM!
Right arm.
BOOM!
Left arm.
BOOM!
Left side of the torso.
BOOM!
Tail.
BOOM!
Abdomen.
BOOM!
Left leg.
BOOM!
Right leg.
The thunderous detonations came rhythmically—like a metronome of war, like a funeral march for Sunagakure.
When the final beat fell, Shukaku collapsed into a mountain of sand.
The scene was so unreal that no one blinked.
For nearly a full minute of continuous bombardment, no one dared interrupt him. Even shinobi who had been charging stopped midway, staring blankly.
Someone, anyone—
Could explain what was wrong with this world?
A tailed beast was supposed to devastate battlefields.
So why did it look like popcorn, bursting apart on demand?
But—
Had Hagoromo killed Shukaku?
Of course not.
A chakra monster like that wouldn't die from a few shots.
With Shukaku no longer bound, Kushina withdrew her Adamantine Sealing Chains. Without Uzumaki chakra restraining it, the sand on the ground immediately began to reform Shukaku's body.
By now, Konoha's frontline forces had largely returned as reinforcements.
One of Shukaku's severed arms—blown away by the Railgun—landed right beside Granny Chiyo.
And here, experience showed its value.
In the unnatural silence of the battlefield, Chiyo's voice cut through the air, delivering two commands to the Sand shinobi:
"Recover Shukaku."
Then—
"Eliminate the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki!"
Her words were spoken through clenched teeth.
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