Although the Six-Tails looked extremely bulky, it was anything but slow.
After its previous blast of acid missed, it immediately raised all six tails high into the air and slammed them down against the ground!
Bang! Bang! …Bang!
Six consecutive impacts struck the earth.
The ground groaned under the unbearable force as cracks spread outward in every direction. Enormous clouds of dust billowed into the air while thunderous explosions continued without pause, making it feel as though the mountains themselves were shaking.
Many Konoha and Kirigakure ninja still fighting nearby lost their footing and fell to the ground.
Then,
the Six-Tails raised its head.
On its nearly featureless face, a mass of purple-black light began gathering where its mouth should be.
At first, the sphere was only the size of a fist.
But it rapidly expanded, soon becoming a massive black orb more than three meters in diameter, radiating a suffocating pressure that made everyone's hearts tighten.
"Puh—"
With a low roar,
the newly formed Tailed Beast Bomb was violently launched toward Yuu!
Its speed was astonishing!
Boom!!!!
A tremendous explosion shook the battlefield!
Under everyone's gaze, a dim pillar of light rose through the black night, radiating indescribable heat and brilliance.
Everything along its path was crushed apart with overwhelming force.
Rocks and trees collapsed like toy blocks, shattered, and exploded into countless fragments of earth and stone that flew into the sky!
"…Haa."
Several hundred meters away,
Yuu finally stabilized himself and exhaled slowly.
His short white hair whipped wildly in the powerful wind, and his expression became extremely solemn.
A Tailed Beast Bomb required time to form.
But once fired, that was another story entirely.
The shot just now had clearly exceeded the speed of sound, crossing several hundred meters in an instant.
An ordinary ninja wouldn't even have time to dodge.
Yuu had used the Substitution Technique four times consecutively, crossing a total distance of three hundred and twenty meters in an instant.
Only then had he escaped the center of the blast.
Yet even from this distance, he could still feel the aftershock and the scorching wave of heat rushing toward him.
Power on the level of a natural disaster truly deserved its reputation.
Seeing the Six-Tails turn its head toward him again, apparently preparing to fire another one,
Yuu bit his index finger and slapped his hand against the ground.
"Summoning Technique!"
Smoke erupted.
The Three Kamaitachi Brothers appeared—
along with one additional figure.
The moment the three brothers appeared, they looked around and immediately started chattering.
"Huh? Little Mikami! Long time no see! So who are we fighting this time? Which ninja village is—holy shit! The Six-Tails?!"
The instant they saw Saiken in the distance,
all three brothers' fur stood on end.
They leapt several meters backward in one motion, putting Yuu directly in front of themselves while their teeth chattered.
"Hey! Little Mikami! Are you serious?!
"You summoned us to fight that thing?!"
Mm…
The gap between ordinary summoned beasts and tailed beasts really was rather large.
Even top-tier summons with fearless personalities like Gamabunta and Manda would feel apprehensive in front of a tailed beast.
The Kamaitachi clan, whose foundations were far weaker than those of the Three Great Sage Regions, naturally had even more reason to be afraid.
Fukasaku, Shima, the White Snake Sage, and Great Toad Sage were exceptions.
Those beings no longer traveled the world merely as ordinary summons.
They were closer to the leaders of their respective species.
Even then, their true combat strength was difficult to judge, and they were probably still inferior to tailed beasts.
The Three Kamaitachi Brothers had at least given Yuu enough face not to immediately cancel the summoning and run home after realizing why they had been called.
However…
the final Kamaitachi among them—
Kazekirimaru, the "number-one expert of the Kamaitachi clan," whom Yuu had only recently become capable of summoning—
stood upright on the ground, looking eager to fight.
"Don't worry. It's only the Six-Tails, not the Eight-Tails or Nine-Tails.
"Just stay close to me and support me with Wind Release.
"…And Kazekirimaru, don't underestimate Kirigakure's tailed beast."
Yuu offered a few words of reassurance.
They did absolutely nothing to calm the Three Kamaitachi Brothers.
But…
"We're going!"
Before his words had even finished,
Yuu stamped the ground and charged forward.
At the same time, flames surged around his body once again.
Their color shifted from red—
to white—
then finally blue.
Within only a few breaths, the temperature had already surpassed two thousand degrees.
Then—
"Ninja Art: Twin Dragons Turning Destruction!!!"
Against a tailed beast, ordinary ninjutsu had little meaning.
So Yuu opened with one of his ultimate techniques.
The Three Kamaitachi Brothers and Kazekirimaru had already filled their lungs with air.
At the same moment Yuu unleashed his Fire Release, they opened their mouths and released all the wind stored in their chests at once—
"Wind Release: Thousand-Faced Wind!"
"Wind Release: Drilling Air Bullet!!"
In an instant,
the flames around Yuu erupted brilliantly.
Two majestic, serpentine dragons manifested out of thin air.
Their blue-white flames illuminated half the night sky.
Then the combined wind released by the Kamaitachi poured into the dragons like additional fuel.
Their already enormous bodies expanded violently under the infusion of wind.
In the blink of an eye, they grew to more than twenty meters long.
In sheer size, they no longer looked inferior to the Six-Tails itself.
Their dragon roars were deafening!
"Go!"
Yuu urged them forward with a thought.
The two enormous flame dragons twisted around one another and tore through the air, roaring toward the Six-Tails.
Wherever they passed, the ground cracked and curled under the extreme heat.
Grass and trees turned to ash instantly—
so quickly that the process of burning couldn't even be seen.
The Six-Tails opened its mouth and once again released a massive stream of acid.
Like an upside-down waterfall, the corrosive liquid surged toward the fire dragons.
The moment acid and flame collided—
Hiss! Hiss! Hiss!
Violent sounds erupted.
Part of the fire dragons' heads was dissolved and destroyed, their enormous horns disappearing.
However, the bodies behind them continued forward without slowing.
With overwhelming momentum, they smashed through the acid barrier and slammed directly into the center of the Six-Tails' body!
Boom—!!!
The earth shook violently!
Blazing blue-white fire erupted into an enormous lotus of flame, slowly blooming as it completely engulfed the Six-Tails!
A muddy shock wave expanded outward in circular layers.
Smoke and dust surged into the sky.
Countless shattered rocks and broken tree trunks were thrown high into the air.
At that moment,
every ninja on the battlefield was forced to lower their body and narrow their eyes.
They raised their arms or weapons to shield themselves from the scorching wind and sand blasting toward them from both front and behind.
The burning pain was almost unbearable.
Atop the walls of Shakuka Town,
a Konoha ninja forced his eyes open slightly and stared toward the distant lotus of fire.
"D-Did it work?"
"Did Captain Yuu kill that monster?!"
Several younger chūnin who didn't understand the true power of tailed beasts couldn't help showing joy.
But more experienced people like Gekkō Shigure were far less optimistic.
They stared solemnly at the cloud of smoke and dust that had yet to dissipate.
Yuu wore the same solemn expression.
"Even Twin Dragons Turning Destruction enhanced by the Kamaitachi can't seriously injure it…"
"As expected of a tailed beast.
"If I really want to hurt it, I'll probably need Three Dragons Turning Destruction…"
In theory, Yuu could already use Three Dragons Turning Destruction.
The Dragon Flame Release Song Technique he had previously obtained from Uchiha Fugaku had successfully become a skin for Phoenix Sage Fire, completing the third piece necessary for the X Dragons Turning Destruction series.
But…
he wanted to try something else first.
At that moment, Taromaru of the Three Kamaitachi Brothers suddenly started shouting, apparently sensing something.
Then a deep roar came from within the smoke.
The enormous body of the Six-Tails gradually emerged as the dust slowly dispersed.
Its current appearance could certainly be called miserable.
A huge section of its chest was missing, as though something had taken a bite out of it.
Its blue-gray skin had been charred black and curled outward.
The mucus covering its body had almost completely evaporated, leaving it wrinkled and severely dehydrated.
However…
as the Six-Tails opened its mouth and inhaled,
an enormous amount of chakra surged from within its body.
Its wounds began repairing themselves at a visible speed.
In only a few breaths, it already looked almost identical to before.
"MOOOO—!!!"
The Six-Tails raised its head and roared.
It turned toward Yuu again.
Another purple-black sphere began gathering inside its mouth—
and this one was even larger than the previous shot.
Yuu estimated that this time it might be difficult to dodge.
So he immediately bit his finger, formed several seals with both hands covered in blood, and slammed them against the ground at the same instant the Six-Tails fired its Tailed Beast Bomb.
"Summoning Technique: Triple Rashōmon!"
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Three enormous demonic gates erupted from the ground.
They stood ominously between Yuu and the Six-Tails.
The terrifying demon faces carved into their surfaces gleamed coldly beneath the moonlight.
Yuu had obtained this technique from Sarutobi Hiruzen when his shadow clone returned to Konoha earlier.
In the original story, Orochimaru had used the same technique to block a Tailed Beast Bomb from Four-Tails Naruto.
It hadn't held.
However, Yuu was facing the Six-Tails, not the Nine-Tails.
Its attack power should theoretically be somewhat lower.
And even if the gates still couldn't stop the attack entirely, the buffering effect of Triple Rashōmon would make the remaining blast far less threatening.
On the other side,
the Six-Tails' Tailed Beast Bomb had already fired!
The instant it struck the first Rashōmon—
Boom!
The gate shattered apart, sending stone fragments flying everywhere.
Then came the second gate.
Then the third…
After smashing through two gates, the Tailed Beast Bomb's momentum had already weakened considerably.
By the time it broke through the third,
only a small sphere remained.
Its volume was less than one-third of the original.
Yuu's figure flashed.
He appeared directly in front of the weakened Tailed Beast Bomb.
Both hands gripped Samehada.
He swung the enormous sword with all his strength.
Samehada's broad body split open, revealing a mouth filled with sharp teeth—
and swallowed the shrunken Tailed Beast Bomb whole!
"Burp—"
Samehada let out a loud belch.
Its chakra absorption speed was extremely impressive.
It was comparable to the Preta Path of Pain and several times faster than the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path.
However, its total capacity was relatively limited.
One Tailed Beast Bomb was basically enough to fill it completely.
The spiked blade swelled noticeably, and a purple-black glow appeared across its surface.
"Hey."
Yuu reminded it.
Hearing his voice, Samehada twisted its body somewhat unwillingly.
Its hilt extended and wrapped around Yuu's arm.
Then it began transferring the chakra it had just swallowed into Yuu's body.
At the same time,
Samehada opened its mouth again and spat out a pair of sword handles wrapped in electricity.
Lightning Blades: Kiba.
After defeating Raiga Kurosuki, Yuu had confiscated these swords.
He had originally considered giving them to Kakashi.
After all, Kakashi specialized in Lightning Release and had also practiced swordsmanship.
The Lightning Blades suited him perfectly.
However, for certain reasons, Yuu had never carried out that plan.
Now,
he pulled out both blades and held one in each hand.
Then he poured chakra into them.
Crackle!
Brilliant blue electricity exploded across both swords.
Then, as Yuu suddenly raised the blades high,
the lightning twisted and leapt upward, shooting hundreds of meters into the sky before exploding.
The scattered electricity acted like lightning rods, gradually drawing the surrounding storm clouds together.
Clouds collided.
Blinding lightning flashed within them.
The previously clear night sky rapidly transformed into one threatening wind and rain.
"He's planning to…"
Yagura's pupils contracted.
He vaguely understood what Yuu intended.
He immediately stepped forward.
His body shot out like an arrow as he swung his rod-like weapon and attempted to assassinate Yuu before he could finish!
Buzz—
Without warning, a circular wall of water rose around Yuu.
It blocked Yagura's path.
Then Kazekirimaru transformed into a mass of green wind and swept toward Yagura.
Several sharp claw shadows could vaguely be seen within the gale.
Yagura swung his staff to block.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Dense metallic impacts sounded one after another.
In only a brief moment, man and Kamaitachi exchanged more than ten attacks.
Even the "strongest warrior of the Kamaitachi clan" was far inferior to a tailed beast.
Whether in chakra quantity, body size, or range of abilities, they weren't even on the same level.
However…
against a human opponent, that was a completely different matter.
Yagura was stronger than Kazekirimaru.
But not so overwhelmingly strong that he could defeat him instantly.
Furthermore, Yagura didn't possess Fire Release, which naturally countered Wind Release.
So against Kazekirimaru's rapid and violent attacks, he was actually forced backward repeatedly and couldn't approach Yuu.
That brief delay was enough.
The thunderclouds above had already finished forming.
Heavy black clouds hung low over everyone's heads.
Lightning serpents danced wildly between them, as though the heavens themselves were furious.
Yuu crossed the twin blades above his head and took a deep breath.
Just like before,
azure flames rose around his body.
They wrapped around the two Lightning Blades—
then climbed upward along the faint electrical currents visible in the air, merging with the thunderclouds hundreds of meters above.
Heaven and earth.
Thunder and fire.
Two violent energies churned madly within the clouds.
Finally,
they condensed into the outlines of two enormous Thunder-Fire Swords, each more than fifty meters long.
They seemed to connect heaven and earth as they stood above Yuu's head, radiating terrifying pressure.
"What… what the hell is that…?"
A Kiri ninja stared upward.
The kunai in his hand fell to the ground with a clang.
The Six-Tails also seemed to sense the threat.
It stopped trying to charge forward.
Its six tails moved like arms, gathering around both sides of its head.
At the same time, its enormous mouth opened—
and a third Tailed Beast Bomb rapidly formed within.
"HAAAH—!!!"
The Tailed Beast Bomb—
and the colossal Thunder-Fire Swords—
were launched simultaneously!