Shisui lay completely covered by Katsuyu, his condition uncertain, hovering somewhere between life and death.
Not far away stood Tsunade. Her eyes remained tightly shut as she continuously maintained the Katsuyu: Immense Network Healing Technique, sending an endless stream of chakra through Katsuyu to every wounded shinobi across the battlefield.
Standing at the very front, Fugaku formed hand seals one after another. Enormous fireballs continuously blasted toward the Eight Tails, yet before the colossal beast, those blazing flames could do little more than delay it for a brief moment.
The Hyuga clan had all activated their Byakugan, desperately searching for a weakness in the Eight Tails' gigantic body.
But it was simply too massive.
Every sweep of one of its tails gouged enormous trenches across the battlefield.
"Kiyohara!"
Someone spotted him.
"Kiyohara is back!"
"Commander Kiyohara!"
Cheers immediately erupted from the Konoha shinobi.
Kiyohara simply nodded.
"Lightning Release: Great Serpent Lightning."
After swallowing several soldier pills, he quickly formed hand seals once again, forcing his exhausted body to continue extracting chakra from every cell.
In an instant, an enormous serpent materialized beside him.
Its entire body was wrapped in dazzling bolts of lightning.
Opening its gigantic jaws, the thunder serpent lunged forward and viciously bit into the Eight Tails.
"ROOOOOAAARRR!"
The Eight Tails released a painful howl.
Dark crimson Tailed Beast chakra violently clashed against brilliant blue lightning, detonating visible shockwaves that spread across the battlefield.
Trees standing too close were instantly scorched into charcoal by the residual force alone.
"Kiyohara!"
A sharp feminine voice rang out from the side.
Tsunade shot high into the sky.
Although her eyes remained closed, she relied entirely upon her sensory abilities to locate the Eight Tails. She raised one leg high above her head, the fabric of her cropped pants stretching tightly and outlining the powerful curves of her thighs.
"Heavenly Foot of Pain!"
BOOM!
The mountain-shattering kick crashed squarely into the Eight Tails' back.
The overwhelming impact shook even the gigantic beast's body.
The earth beneath its feet cracked and collapsed as countless rocks were blasted into the air.
"Now!"
Uchiha Tekka and several other Uchiha simultaneously formed hand seals.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"
Several blazing fireballs roared toward the beast.
At the same moment, the Hyuga clan attacked together.
"Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm!"
Led by Hyuga Hizashi, more than a dozen concentrated chakra shockwaves slammed into the Eight Tails.
Aburame Shibi's parasitic insects transformed into a black tide, crawling across the beast's wounds and greedily devouring the Tailed Beast chakra leaking from them.
Nearby, Kakashi's right hand gradually began to shine.
Blue chakra rapidly condensed in his palm.
But unlike Chidori's blinding lightning, this time it condensed into an even more focused beam of light.
Lightning Release: Chidori Sharp Spear!
This was a technique he had learned from Kiyohara, transforming Chidori into a spear of lightning capable of extending tremendous distances.
"Haa!"
Kakashi thrust it forward.
The blue spear instantly extended dozens of meters before piercing into the Eight Tails.
"Damn it!"
Inside the Eight Tails, Killer B frowned deeply.
He glanced toward the battlefield and discovered that many Kumogakure shinobi positioned farther away had already been thrown into chaos by Konoha's sudden counterattack.
Just then...
A figure suddenly appeared directly before him.
Those scarlet Sharingan eyes were right in front of his face.
Three tomoe slowly revolved, as though attempting to draw his very soul into them.
!!
Every warning bell inside Killer B exploded.
Sharingan!
At the final possible moment, he forcefully shut his eyes.
At the same time, he mobilized the Eight Tails' chakra into his spiritual world, violently dispersing the ocular power that had already begun invading his mind.
"B! That was close!"
Gyuki's voice thundered inside him.
"If you had been one second slower, we would have lost this fight. That kid's genjutsu is terrifying!"
Even Gyuki regarded Kiyohara with tremendous caution.
Cold sweat dripped down Killer B's forehead.
He knew Gyuki was telling the truth.
"Yo... I almost got killed, fool, you bastard!"
Grinding his teeth, Killer B took a deep breath and forcibly suppressed the lingering fear in his heart.
"My turn now!"
The Eight Tails opened its enormous mouth.
Deep within its throat, large quantities of pitch-black liquid surged outward.
This was ink created entirely from the Eight Tails' chakra.
Within moments, the entire battlefield was submerged beneath an endless black sea.
"Sealing Technique: Octopus Hold!"
Killer B's voice echoed throughout the ocean of ink.
This sealing technique could only be used while fully transformed into the Tailed Beast.
The ink rapidly transformed into countless humanoid figures that charged toward the surrounding Konoha shinobi.
Anyone caught by them would be completely stained black within three seconds...
And then sealed.
"Fall back!"
Tsunade's voice pierced through the sea of ink.
"Don't get close to that ink!"
Her eyes remained closed while she quickly formed hand seals.
The gigantic Katsuyu immediately split into numerous smaller bodies, throwing themselves in front of the shinobi who were unable to retreat in time.
The ink struck Katsuyu's soft body, producing loud sizzling sounds of corrosion.
But Katsuyu successfully blocked the attack.
Standing at the edge of the ink sea, Kiyohara calmly observed the black ocean before him.
Then he turned toward Rin.
"Rin. Use Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique with me."
Rin paused for a brief moment before firmly nodding.
"Okay!"
The two simultaneously took deep breaths, their chests swelling with air.
Rin fully released the Three Tails' power, drawing upon every bit of its immense Tailed Beast chakra without reservation.
"Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique!"
BOOM!
Two gigantic torrents erupted from their mouths.
The enormous streams merged together high in the air before transforming into a heaven-reaching tsunami.
The overwhelming wave surged forward with unstoppable force, crashing directly into the sea of ink.
The moment water collided with ink, the black liquid was rapidly diluted and swept away.
The humanoid ink constructs were torn apart beneath the violent current.
Within only a few breaths...
The black ocean that had engulfed the battlefield disappeared completely.
Only soaked earth and scattered remnants of diluted ink remained behind.
Kiyohara did not stop.
His hands immediately formed another sequence of seals.
Chakra surged through his body once more.
Finally, he completed the Tiger seal.
"Sage Art: Great Fire Dragon Technique!"
Empowered by Ryuchi Cave's Snake Sage Mode, the technique's destructive power rose to an entirely new level.
Eight enormous fire dragons erupted before him with deafening roars.
Each dragon stretched dozens of meters long.
Their scales were composed entirely of Fire Release chakra.
Within each dragon's eyes burned dazzling white flames.
They spiraled through the sky, intertwining with one another before ultimately forming an enormous burning tornado that plunged straight toward the Eight Tails.
The Eight Tails raised its tails to block.
Sizzle!
Its thick hide instantly charred black beneath the inferno.
Dark crimson Tailed Beast chakra sprayed from the wounds like streams of blood.
Killer B cried out in agony.
Before he could even catch his breath...
A figure had already appeared directly in front of him.
Bang!
Kiyohara threw a punch.
The gigantic Eight Tails flew backward like a kite whose string had snapped.
Its massive body carved a trench over one hundred meters long through the earth before smashing apart several giant boulders and finally coming to a halt.
"It's not over yet."
Kiyohara instantly appeared above the Eight Tails once more.
Both of his hands seized one of the beast's tails.
Then...
He began swinging the colossal monster from side to side.
The gigantic Eight Tails was treated like nothing more than a toy in Kiyohara's hands, repeatedly hurled through the air before being smashed violently into the ground.
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
Every impact caused the earth to quake violently.
Shattered rocks flew everywhere.
Dust filled the sky.
The shinobi who had still been fighting moments earlier all unconsciously stopped.
Every single one of them stared at the unbelievable scene with mouths hanging open.
"Th... that's..."
Uchiha Tekka stood frozen, unable to finish his sentence.
Far away, beneath Katsuyu's protective body, Shisui looked toward Kiyohara through the soft green glow of medical ninjutsu.
"Kiyohara..."
His heart filled with admiration.
Kiyohara had only just defeated the Two Tails' jinchuriki...
Yet now he had immediately returned to battle the Eight Tails.
That level of strength...
Shisui gritted his teeth.
He attempted once again to awaken his Mangekyo Sharingan.
Chakra surged violently.
The three tomoe within his eyes began rotating faster, intertwining as they transformed.
But the very next second...
An overwhelming wave of dizziness struck his mind like a giant hammer.
Everything before his eyes gradually became blurry.
It felt as though he were looking through frosted glass.
He clearly sensed it.
His eyesight...
Had worsened.
Even if only by the slightest amount.
It had undoubtedly declined.
"So this..."
"...is the price of the Mangekyo..."
Shisui slowly frowned.
"Shisui!"
Tekka's voice came from nearby as he hurried over.
"Are you alright?"
Shisui slowly raised a hand and gently touched the area around his eyes.
His fingertips touched something warm.
Blood.
Bloody tears.
"I'm... fine..."
Shisui slowly shook his head, his voice weak and exhausted.
"Don't worry about me... Hurry... hurry and help Kiyohara..."
Tekka looked at him, then turned his gaze toward the distant figure who was mercilessly beating the Eight Tails. Clenching his teeth, he finally nodded.
"I understand. Recover your strength first."
Turning around, he waved toward the other members of the Uchiha clan.
"Everyone! Help Kiyohara!"
Fire Release.
Shuriken.
Every kind of ninjutsu.
Countless attacks poured toward the Eight Tails like an endless storm.
Yet before the enormous Tailed Beast, those attacks seemed pitifully insignificant.
There was only one person truly fighting it.
Kiyohara.
He released his grip.
The gigantic Eight Tails crashed heavily onto the ground, smashing a massive crater into the battlefield.
Then Kiyohara soared into the sky.
His hands rapidly formed seals.
"Shadow Clone Technique!"
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
A succession of white smoke exploded around him.
Twenty figures appeared beside him.
Twenty Kiyoharas.
Forty scarlet Sharingan eyes.
All twenty clones simultaneously raised their right hands.
Above each palm, black light slowly condensed.
"Sage Art Yin Release: Rasenshuriken!"
Twenty black spheres formed at the same time.
Each sphere was as black as ink, with only a faint white ring outlining its edge.
Then...
Twenty black suns descended simultaneously.
Rumbleeeee!!!
One mushroom cloud after another erupted into the sky.
Under Kiyohara's precise control, each explosion landed directly upon the Eight Tails' head in succession, while overwhelming shockwaves spread across the battlefield again and again.
"Defensive positions!"
A shinobi shouted loudly.
"Earth Release: Earth Style Wall!"
Massive earthen walls rose from the ground one after another, shielding the Konoha forces.
The Hyuga clan activated their Gentle Fist stances, releasing chakra before themselves to create defensive barriers.
Katsuyu wrapped her own body around the injured who had no time to escape.
Even the Kumogakure shinobi hastily performed defensive techniques to protect themselves from the terrifying shockwaves.
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
The shockwaves slammed into the earth walls, causing them to shake violently.
Countless cracks spread across their surfaces.
But...
The walls ultimately held.
When the smoke and dust finally cleared...
The Eight Tails' body had become utterly battered.
The mountain-like Tailed Beast was now covered in charred wounds.
Dark crimson Tailed Beast chakra continuously leaked from those injuries while simultaneously attempting to regenerate the damaged body.
Inside the Tailed Beast, Killer B lay there, gasping heavily for air.
"For rain..."
"...doesn't this feel a little too heavy...?"
Kiyohara remained expressionless as he looked down upon the Eight Tails.
If Gyuki's chakra had not desperately protected Killer B, Kumogakure's "Killer Bee" would already be dead.
In the shinobi world...
Raw power determined everything.
No matter how sophisticated an ability was, without sufficient power supporting it, it remained nothing more than a castle built in the air.
Just like Obito's Kamui.
Without the immense reserves provided by Hashirama's cells, he would have gone blind after only a handful of uses, just like Sasuke.
Now, however, Kiyohara's chakra reserves, combined with the terrifying collection of techniques he possessed, allowed him to unleash an absolutely horrifying level of destructive power within an extremely short period.
As long as the Tailed Beast was never given the opportunity to fire a Tailed Beast Bomb...
Its threat could be suppressed to its absolute minimum.
"B! Retreat!"
Gyuki's voice echoed anxiously inside Killer B's mind.
"This guy... this guy is far too dangerous!"
"No..."
Killer B slowly shook his head.
He wiped away the blood flowing from the corner of his mouth, blood that had resulted from the violent impacts damaging his internal organs.
"I can't leave..."
His chakra surged once again.
The Eight Tails opened its massive jaws.
Deep within its throat, an enormous black sphere began condensing.
Tailed Beast Bomb!
Even after being pushed to this state...
He still refused to give up.
Looking down at the Eight Tails as it gathered the Tailed Beast Bomb, a trace of admiration flashed through Kiyohara's eyes.
The vitality of the Tailed Beasts truly was extraordinary.
So...
He slowly raised one hand.
Then pressed downward.
The earth exploded apart.
Two gigantic golden sand hands burst upward from the cracks in the ground, violently slamming into the Eight Tails and pinning the enormous beast firmly against the earth.
At the same time, rivers of golden sand crawled across the Eight Tails' body, gradually carving sealing formulae into its flesh.
"ROOOAAARRR!"
The Eight Tails struggled frantically.
Using the incompletely formed Tailed Beast Bomb, it managed to destroy one of the golden sand hands.
But...
The second one remained firmly in place.
Meanwhile, the sealing patterns continued spreading across its body, steadily suppressing more and more of its chakra.
The Eight Tails opened its mouth wide.
Without waiting for the Tailed Beast Bomb to fully mature, it spat the incomplete sphere directly toward Kiyohara.
Tailed Beast Bomb!
The black sphere screamed through the air.
Kiyohara calmly raised his left hand.
Green Sage Chakra poured from his palm, condensing into an enormous serpent's head.
The giant snake opened its jaws.
It bit directly into the Tailed Beast Bomb.
Then...
With a violent swing of its neck...
The black sphere was flung away like a pebble struck by a bat, soaring toward the distant mountain range.
BOOM!!!
A gigantic mushroom cloud erupted dozens of kilometers away.
The resulting explosion shook the entire battlefield.
Killer B's pupils contracted violently.
He...
He had actually batted away a Tailed Beast Bomb?
How was that even possible?
Before he could process what had just happened...
Kiyohara was already standing before him.
This time...
He moved even faster than before.
"Magnet Release: Magnetic Field Rotation!"
The magnetic force of the earth surged into his body.
His speed...
His strength...
Both climbed to an entirely new level.
His fist pierced straight through the Eight Tails' chakra cloak.
It smashed through the already battered body of the Tailed Beast...
And struck directly into Killer B's abdomen.
Pfft!
Killer B was blasted completely out of the Eight Tails' body.
His figure shot through the air before crashing violently onto the ground.
Blood poured from his mouth, staining the earth beneath him crimson.
He lost consciousness immediately.
"B!"
The Fourth Raikage's furious roar echoed across the battlefield.
He turned toward the place where Killer B had fallen.
His eyes burned with uncontrollable rage.
"Mabui!"
He bellowed.
"Use the Heavenly Transfer Technique immediately! Get Killer B out of here!"
"But... that technique can only transport objects..."
Mabui instinctively wanted to object.
The technique was never meant for living people.
The human body would normally be torn apart by the tremendous speed.
But...
The situation had already become this desperate.
There was no other choice.
Her hands immediately began forming seals.
She knew...
This was their final opportunity.
As long as Killer B could escape...
There was still hope.
"Openly discussing your plans right in front of me..."
A calm voice suddenly whispered beside her ear.
"Don't you think that's a little inappropriate?"
Mabui's entire body instantly froze.
She slowly turned her head.
At some point...
Kiyohara had already appeared behind her.
Those scarlet Sharingan eyes stared directly into hers.
Then...
One hand wrapped around her neck.
"Ugh!"
A muffled groan escaped her lips.
Before she could even struggle...
She felt every bit of chakra inside her body become completely sealed.
"Mabui!"
The Fourth Raikage roared with earth-shaking fury.
His entire body transformed into a bolt of lightning, charging toward Kiyohara with terrifying speed.
Blue lightning danced wildly across his body.
Every strand of hair stood upright.
"Lariat!"
He leaped high into the air, extending his right arm horizontally as he slashed toward Kiyohara.
At that exact instant...
A streak of golden light appeared before him.
Namikaze Minato.
Without hesitation, Minato thrust a Rasengan forward.
The Raikage's Lariat collided directly against the rotating sphere of chakra.
The two attacks met in a violent deadlock.
At that very moment...
Hyuga Hizashi appeared from the Raikage's blind side.
"Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm!"
The concentrated chakra shockwave slammed heavily into the Raikage's flank, knocking his body slightly off balance.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"
Uchiha Fugaku instantly seized the opening.
A gigantic fireball roared toward the Raikage.
"Chakra Enhanced Strength!"
Tsunade rushed upward from below.
Her right fist shot upward before smashing heavily into the Raikage's leg.
Crack.
The sound of bone fracturing echoed clearly across the battlefield.
The Fourth Raikage let out a muffled grunt.
Grinding his teeth, he converted every remaining ounce of chakra inside his body into Lightning Release chakra.
Blue lightning erupted outward, completely enveloping him.
With a powerful leap, he attempted to escape the encirclement.
Unfortunately...
The instant his body reached the air...
He saw Kiyohara.
Using instantaneous movement, Kiyohara had already arrived above him.
Those scarlet Sharingan stared directly into the Fourth Raikage's eyes.
The Fourth Raikage wanted to close them.
But...
He was too late.
The three tomoe slowly rotated within his vision.
Faster.
Faster.
Deeper.
Sharingan.
The Fourth Raikage's body froze in midair for only a single instant.
For Kiyohara...
That single instant was already enough.
His fist had already arrived.
BOOOM!
The Fourth Raikage plummeted like a falling meteor.
He slammed violently into the ground.
The earth exploded apart.
Rocks flew in every direction.
A gigantic crater dozens of meters wide instantly formed beneath him.
He lay at the bottom of the crater.
No one knew how many bones throughout his body had shattered.
Blood continuously flowed from the corners of his mouth and from countless wounds covering his body.
'It's over.'
Kiyohara silently thought to himself.
He landed at the edge of the crater and looked down at the man who had once been the overwhelmingly dominant Fourth Raikage.
Then...
He slowly raised his head.
His gaze swept across the Cloud shinobi who were still fighting throughout the battlefield.
"Your Raikage has been captured!"
His voice, amplified by chakra, spread throughout the battlefield in every direction.
"The Eight Tails' jinchuriki and the Two Tails' jinchuriki have also been captured!"
"Are you still going to continue fighting?!"
The sounds of battle gradually faded.
One after another...
The Kumogakure shinobi slowly stopped fighting and turned toward the enormous crater.
At the bottom of it...
The Fourth Raikage lay motionless in a pool of blood.
In the distance...
Killer B lay collapsed amidst the dust, his body equally ravaged by severe injuries.
(End of Chapter)