"Dammit, what on earth is happening?"
Kazuma, who had rushed out from the Daimyo's palace, looked at the towering Nine-Tails' Chakra in the distance, grinding his teeth in fury.
'Of all times, why did this have to happen just when the Daimyo's second son was ascending to power?'
Just hours ago, he had received reports that everything was normal, yet now someone had detonated a dirty bomb right in his own backyard!
So, he immediately gathered his three subordinates, summoned the wandering monk who advised him, and mobilized the hundreds of Rogue Ninjas beneath the temple, all heading towards the source of the Nine-Tails' Chakra.
"What is this...?"
When Kazuma and his men reached the outskirts of the Flower District, a scene of apocalypse entered their sight.
The once opulent and bustling streets were now nothing but ruins. The ground, littered with building debris, was scarred everywhere. Flames spread, and vines spread.
On this earth intertwined with crimson and emerald-green, two scarlet beast-like shadows flashed rapidly. Every collision erupted into tremendous storms, making the earth tremble.
"This Chakra is... the Nine-Tails!"
Kazuma's Adam's apple bobbed up and down, then he revealed a ferocious smile.
'It seemed my weapon, after being taken by Konoha's Ninjas, had finally matured. It wasn't a waste of all the effort I spent retrieving it from the ruins of Fire Temple and tormenting it to destroy its heart!'
Thinking this, Kazuma pulled out talismans covered in incantations from his pocket. "It's too wasteful to cause such a rampage within the capital now. I'll send you to Konoha first, then you can display your talents!"
Just as Kazuma was about to throw the talismans at the swiftly running Nine-Tails, the earth churned. Countless vines, infused with immense chakra, grew and intertwined, finally transforming into a vast forest.
In an instant, dragons and serpents rose from the land!
Caught off guard, Kazuma and the other Ninjas were scattered by the suddenly appearing forest.
In this ruin that had suddenly become overgrown with grass, filled with birdsong and fragrant flowers, the tree roots and vines of the forest firmly bound them. The plundering trait inherited from the God Tree efficiently extracted their Chakra.
Kazuma was stunned. The wandering monk who had been following him quietly faded, taking advantage of the chaos to head straight for the Daimyo's palace.
"Wood Release? How can it be Wood Release?!" Kazuma's eyes gradually turned bloodshot.
A plan painstakingly cultivated for fifteen years, even sacrificing his own son as a sacrificial vessel to create a pseudo-Nine-Tails.
Just when he was about to send this bomb to Konoha to destroy that eyesore of a state within a state...
It was as if heaven played a huge joke on him, allowing the First Hokage's Ninjutsu, which had subdued the Nine-Tails, to reappear in the world.
Fifteen years of endurance, planning, and effort vanished in an instant, and he himself became a complete clown.
"No! I still have my subordinates and that technique! There's still hope! Everything can still be salvaged!"
Malice and resentment flourished. Kazuma struggled, cutting away the vines around his body, preparing to release the soil he had stolen from beneath Fire Temple's ruins to activate the ultimate Earth Release resurrection secret technique… Earth Release Resurrection Technique: Corpse Soil!
Unfortunately, before his hand seals were complete, a highly condensed purple Chakra Sphere descended from the sky, directly placed before him.
"Dammit..." Kazuma didn't even have time to leave last words.
The Chakra Sphere before him blossomed with intense light, like a burning sun releasing its flames.
Boom!
Extreme light and heat devoured everything. Flames from the explosion shot skyward. The expanding destruction pushed the barrier surrounding the Land of Fire's capital to its limit, shattering it completely.
Below, sensing the disappearance of Kazuma's and the others' lives with Observation Haki, Sakura hummed lightly in a good mood.
"Now then, I can let loose a bit more!"
The girl's emerald-green eyes turned towards the two rampaging beasts in the distance. She pressed her palms together.
Countless intertwined vines extended from the smoke and dust. Twisted branches piled haphazardly upon each other, layer upon layer, building up hundreds of meters in height.
A massive wooden hand reached out from within. A giant wooden humanoid, a winding wooden dragon coiled around its body, slowly straightened its form, becoming a landmark visible throughout the entire capital.
[Wood Release: Wood Human Technique!]
"Now then, let's have a grand rampage! It's about time for this decaying Daimyo System to perish!"
Standing atop the Wood Human's head, the girl cast down a cold gaze. Fierce Haki rose intensely.
Dark lightning, carrying the will of a conqueror, proclaimed the order she desired, before finally crashing fiercely towards the two beasts rampaging wildly in the city.
"Roar—!"
Instinctively sensing danger, the two monsters dominated by madness roared and turned back.
Their white-glowing eyes rotated, locking onto Sakura standing atop the Wood Human's head.
Under pressure, the two Tailed Beasts with the same source of Chakra actually chose to cooperate. Simultaneously opening their giant mouths towards Sakura, they mixed Yang and Yin Release Chakra in proportion, compressing shape transformation to the extreme.
A Tailed Beast Bomb flowing with crimson Chakra shot forth. The sphere radiated intense brilliance capable of melting steel.
"Oh? Looks like they're not completely mindless beasts. They still have the intelligence to cooperate!"
Sakura laughed heartily, raising her hand. The Wood Human beneath her mimicked her action.
The wooden dragon coiled around the Wood Human's shoulder slithered, moving along its broad arm to its hand.
Wood Release: Hotei Technique!
The massive Wood Human directly grabbed the Tailed Beast Bomb with its hand. Wrapped in Wood Release Chakra, it clenched it in its palm and hurled it back at the two Tailed Beasts.
Unwilling, the beasts were pressed into the ground by the Wood Human's large hand. Then, searing light erupted from the Tailed Beast Bomb. Accompanied by the roar of the trembling earth, it transformed into a pillar of radiant light connecting heaven and earth.
Boom!!!
Terrifying flames rose from the explosion. Horrific high temperatures spread, forming distorted walls of fire that gnawed away at the Land of Fire's capital inch by inch, turning this millennia-old city into scorched earth.
"Roar!"
Having suffered immense damage, the Tailed Beast Cloaks on both Naruto and the black-haired boy showed signs of dispersing. Under the control of the Nine-Tails sealed within, the Tailed Beast that Naruto had become opened its mouth, biting into the Tailed Beast that the black-haired boy had become, voraciously chewing and devouring his Chakra.
Immediately after, more burning light erupted from its body. Building upon the Tailed Beast Cloak, a skeletal structure belonging to the Nine-Tails began to grow.
The black-haired boy, drained of Tailed Beast's Chakra, fell to the ground. Naruto, now growing a fifth tail, had chakra swirling around him like blades, slicing through the Wood Human's giant hand.
The freed beast of madness, with a nearly contorted speed, climbed up the Wood Human's arm, targeting Sakura atop its head with clear intent.
"Hmph, smart beast!"
Sakura stamped her foot on the Wood Human's head. Chakra swirling, the Wood Human's surface produced dozens of hands from the Hotei Technique, grabbing at it.
The running Tailed Beast swung its claws. Wind blades produced by Tailed Beast Chakra sliced through these arms, opening a path between Sakura and itself.
The Tailed Beast, emitting a deep, low growl, leaped high into the air. Mid-air, it condensed a small, high-density Tailed Beast Bomb, split its giant maw to swallow it, causing its abdomen to swell.
"Oh? You can play it this way too?"
Sakura formed the Ram seal with her fingers. Using the wood beneath her feet, she created a wooden shield shaped like fanged demon faces, wrapping around her.
[Wood Release: Hobi Technique!]
The Tailed Beast in the sky compressed its Chakra to the extreme, aiming shakily at the ground below, then opened its mouth to spew flames.
As the blazing pillar of light fell towards the earth like a meteor, chakra mixed with death and destruction from the Tailed Beast spread across the entire sky.
In the suburbs outside the capital, Asuma, Kakashi, and the Haruno couple, having evacuated here, looked up with concern towards the direction of the explosion.
"Sakura..."