The sandstorm dispersed. Shukaku revealed its true form.
It was a massive creature resembling a tanuki, its entire body covered in curse mark patterns, constructed from compacted earth and sand like a living colossus shaped from the desert floor itself.
Exactly as Yuji remembered it.
The only thing that struck him immediately upon seeing it in person was the sheer scale. Standing beneath it, he felt like an ant beneath a mountain.
Being able to see sunlight again appeared to have Shukaku in a state of considerable excitement. It did not damage Bunpuku's remains. It simply used a pair of pupils that, relative to its enormous body, were roughly the size of beans, to look downward and fix its gaze on the small patch of ground where Yuji stood.
"You actually think you can seal me back into that clay pot. The arrogance."
Shukaku directed this at Yuji.
The words had barely left its mouth before it raised a massive fist and drove it downward in a sudden crushing blow directly toward Yuji's position.
In an instant, golden sand surged like ocean waves. The ground shook violently. In the distance, Mei and the others immediately pulled back and took up ready positions.
But no one moved to intervene. They were waiting for the Fourth Kazekage's signal.
Yuji had told them beforehand. Do not act early.
The strike appeared overwhelming but Shukaku clearly missed. Almost immediately it opened its mouth and launched a continuous barrage of enormous sand bullets, hammering several locations across the ground in sequence. Then in its final strike, it suddenly spun and whipped its tail downward, raising a curtain of sand that blotted out the sky.
The sheer force and presence of this display left the Sand Village ninja and the assembled monks pale with genuine fear.
Some of them even began to doubt whether they would actually be able to seal this Tailed Beast at all.
Swoosh.
In the blink of an eye, Yuji appeared in front of their group with Bunpuku's remains in hand, having materialized from nowhere.
He was wearing his Kazekage robes with the Yin Seal released, the black pattern markings visible on his forehead. His expression was entirely composed.
"Lord Kazekage," the sealing division squad leader said, concern visible in his eyes.
"Everything is fine," Yuji reassured him briefly.
Then he simply vanished into empty air.
A second later he appeared directly in front of Shukaku's face, at a height of fifty meters. More precisely, he was standing on the tip of the beast's nose.
"What?"
This startled the Tailed Beast considerably.
Because the human standing before it had moved at a speed it had simply not been able to register at all.
"Genuinely impressive. From a raw destructive standpoint alone, already beyond imagination from a ninja's perspective." Yuji could feel the wild and violent energy radiating from the Tailed Beast in front of him and smiled quietly.
Not only the destructive power, but the sensory and detection capabilities as well. Everything about it far exceeded the scope of any ordinary ninja.
What Yuji had used to evade Shukaku's attacks was nothing more than a conventional Body Flicker Technique powered by a physical energy burst. In terms of raw speed, even if Shukaku could detect him, locking onto him and successfully landing a strike was quite difficult.
But the several attacks Shukaku had launched were striking in both speed and force.
This demonstrated that its reaction time was also substantial.
The number of tails a Tailed Beast possessed carried no practical meaning regarding its strength relative to the others.
Shukaku might be the One-Tail, but that did not mean it was the weakest of the nine. On the contrary, at least from Yuji's perspective, Shukaku's combat strength placed it solidly in the middle to upper range among the Tailed Beasts. Its mastery of Wind Release, Sand techniques, and Sealing Jutsu meant that given favorable terrain, it would display an even higher level of combat power.
Boom.
Yuji had barely finished his assessment when an enormous blast of air pressure surged toward him and Shukaku drove a massive claw suddenly upward against its own nose with a thundering impact.
And still it could not hit Yuji.
When it raised its head again to search for the human, Shukaku found only empty air in front of it, and then a spreading network of blood-red thorned spines materialized in that emptiness, shooting toward it from multiple angles like innumerable long lances aiming to pierce its body.
Shukaku pulled its limbs inward slightly, condensing itself into an enormous sphere resembling a giant sand ball. Yuji's Blood Release attack struck its body, punching through the outer layer of sand, but failed to produce any meaningful actual damage.
"Ha ha ha! I possess absolute defense! Even if you have some ability, thinking you can capture me is a complete delusion! I will never be sealed by the likes of you again!"
Shukaku let out an arrogant, wild laugh.
Its absolute defense was genuinely formidable. Yuji had channeled enormous chakra into both palms and released a blood blade dozens of meters long that cut through the air like a red laser, sweeping directly across Shukaku's body.
The blade dug into the outer sand layer to a meaningful depth before simply detonating on contact, which was enough to demonstrate just how extraordinary the physical hardness of that body was.
This was one of Shukaku's fundamental capabilities. The unique property of this particular Tailed Beast's chakra.
Shukaku opened its mouth again, aimed at Yuji's position, and compressed the chakra building in its abdomen before releasing it all at once.
A Wind Release vacuum strike.
This was a high-level technique fused with Tailed Beast chakra characteristics, and the chakra expenditure involved was staggering even by Tailed Beast standards. In a single moment, a pit several hundred meters across was blasted into the desert floor. Shukaku had recognized that Yuji's speed was extraordinary and his movements were uncannily unpredictable, so to prevent missing again it had used an attack with a wide enough area of effect to compensate.
The violent sandstorm surged skyward again. Shukaku's pair of small yellow eyes scanned the ground methodically, moving back and forth in search of Yuji's position.
"You talk very boldly and seem quite confident in yourself. But why do I get the feeling you are actually somewhat afraid of me?"
Suddenly, Shukaku registered that infuriating presence again.
Its Wind Release had still not managed to damage this human.
And now the man was standing on top of its head.
Yuji extended one hand forward, blood dripping continuously from his palm, accumulating on top of Shukaku's head.
Then he formed a seal with the other hand.
Enormous chakra erupted outward.
From the distance where Mei and the others were watching, they saw what appeared to be a cascade of blood pouring from Shukaku's head like a waterfall, flooding across the Tailed Beast's entire body in an instant.
Unlike his previous Blood Release techniques, this particular application had clearly been fused with Water Release properties, producing a liquid form rather than hardened spines or lances. Because it remained fluid, the blood appeared to create some kind of reaction with Shukaku's sand-based body, and while it did not penetrate into the interior, it wrapped around the Tailed Beast like an enormous crimson coat, enveloping the creature completely.
At the same time, it caused Shukaku's movements and reactions to become dramatically sluggish.
Then Yuji suddenly crouched and drove both palms onto the top of Shukaku's head.
Sealing script patterns spread outward in an instant with him as the center point, following the blood across the Tailed Beast's entire body.
This was a Sealing Jutsu Yuji had developed by combining his Blood Release abilities with sealing principles.
Strictly speaking, it had not been created by him alone. It had been developed with Bunpuku's direct assistance.
Which only demonstrated once more how extraordinary Bunpuku's mastery of sealing arts had truly been.
The blood continued spreading outward along the exterior surface like a red cloth bag closing in to contain everything within it, covered entirely with black sealing script patterns.
As the blood exerted gradual pressure and constriction, Shukaku's body appeared to begin compressing and changing.
"You bastard!"
Shukaku cursed.
It had genuinely been wary of Yuji.
Because while still sealed within Bunpuku's body, it had been able to feel Yuji's sealing ability advancing at a startling pace. Even the old monk Bunpuku himself had spoken of Yuji's talent with something approaching fearful admiration.
Shukaku understood clearly just how strong this Kazekage's sealing arts had become.
As it struggled against the constriction, Shukaku's eyes fell on the Sand Village contingent standing in the distance. Its mouth opened.
Wild chakra energy began erupting outward in an instant.
In front of the Tailed Beast, a sphere of black energy was gathering rapidly.
Both Yin and Yang chakra compressed to their limits.
A Tailed Beast Ball.
Seeing this, Mei and the others felt as though they had fallen into frozen water.
"Settle down."
But the Tailed Beast Ball never fired. The chakra energy simply dissipated.
Because Yuji had used his eye technique to forcibly suppress Shukaku's consciousness and neutralize this enormous threat before it could be released.
...
Bonus @200 PS
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