Chapter 120: That Kinda Hurt
Ignoring Kurama's manic howling, Ryū dodged a quick-fire Tailed Beast Bomb—and watched it vanish into thin air a beat after it passed him.
The only person who could make a Tailed Beast Bomb disappear was Namikaze Minato.
Strongest of the nine Tailed Beasts, sure, but the Nine-Tails' attack patterns are pretty one-dimensional. Apart from the Tailed Beast Bomb—which is legitimately scary—it's basically just brute-force melee. And this fox has a LOT of health.
Smoke and debris still choked the air, but his Observation Haki painted the Nine-Tails' position in vivid detail regardless.
The Nine-Tails' real advantages were its absurd chakra reserves, its borderline-infinite HP bar, and its raw physical power. But it had a glaring weakness:
Attack speed. Slow.
That was why Minato and Hiruzen—the two primary combatants—were both essentially unscathed. The Nine-Tails simply couldn't hit them.
All that strength meant nothing if you couldn't connect.
Probably a consequence of the fox's sheer size. And the gap was obvious—obvious enough for Ryū to exploit ruthlessly.
My favorite kind of opponent in any game: high ATK, high DEF, garbage attack speed.
Ryū muttered the assessment like a raid-boss analysis, eyeing the colossal fox the way he'd eye a very large, very squishy punching bag.
* * *
When the two clashed again, Kurama had learned its lesson. The first thing it did was shield its face with both massive forepaws.
A heartbeat later, an apocalyptic impact slammed into its abdomen instead.
Kurama's expression contorted. The soft belly—made of condensed chakra "flesh"—rippled outward from the point of impact like the surface of a lake swallowing a boulder. Wave after wave of fat-and-chakra wobbled across its midsection.
Nausea hit Kurama like a freight train. But it hadn't eaten anything, so there was nothing to throw up.
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
Hit after hit after hit. Kurama's stance grew progressively more unsteady.
How? How does a human this small have power on par with a Tailed Beast?!
If not for its obscene HP pool, it would have been beaten half to death by now. The Nine-Tails' health bar really was in a class of its own.
Kurama had lost count of the blows. Even when all those shinobi had been dogpiling it earlier, it hadn't looked this pathetic. Against this one human, it couldn't find a single opening to counterattack.
This damn human is just like that bastard Minato—too fast to see, hitting me over and over. But he's WORSE than Minato. Minato's attacks were basically bug bites. This one actually hurts.
It feels like… being worked over by Hashirama's Sage Art: Gracious Deity Gates all over again.
Ancient memories surged up, and Kurama's expression curdled further.
I already got humiliated once. Am I really doing this again?
I don't even know why this human is so—
THE BASTARD HIT MY FACE AGAIN!!
I don't know why this human has this kind of power, but if I can just land ONE hit—with his pathetically fragile human body, he can't possibly—OW! MY TEETH!!
* * *
"Is this… is this humanly possible? Who IS that? He's beating the Nine-Tails senseless with nothing but his fists!"
A sealing-specialist jōnin stared with his jaw hanging open. He wasn't alone—every shinobi present wore the same expression of total incredulity.
Minutes ago, it had taken their entire combined force to barely keep the Nine-Tails pinned. Now, some unknown figure had appeared out of nowhere and was single-handedly pummeling the beast into helplessness.
They'd even seen the Nine-Tails get launched into the air. Not very high—the thing weighed an unimaginable amount—but launched nonetheless.
* * *
"Hey, Minato-boy… am I redundant here?"
Gamabunta—the chief toad, summoned by Minato—wore an expression of pure astonishment on his massive amphibian face. "That man is definitely stronger than you. If Konoha had someone like this, why didn't you bring him out sooner?"
Minato coughed: "He's… not a shinobi. And he's definitely not faster than me. So strictly speaking, our overall combat strength should be… roughly comparable."
"No man brags about being fast," Gamabunta muttered, side-eyeing him.
Minato: "…"
But the observation was undeniable: the battlefield now belonged to Ryū and the Nine-Tails. Everyone else had been rendered irrelevant. There was simply no opening to contribute.
And contributing was pointless anyway—unless you could actually hurt the Nine-Tails. For most of them, their attacks were mosquito bites.
* * *
Kurama had lost track of how many punches and kicks it had absorbed. It was starting to suspect that this human was deliberately holding back—toying with it.
His first kick felt way stronger than everything after. Is he… playing with me?!
Not only did this human beat me—he's mocking me! Does he think I'm actually a fox?!
Kurama ground its teeth, enduring hit after hit, waiting for an opening.
Then—there. Its eyes lit up.
It absorbed one punch deliberately, and its forepaw swung with everything it had.
This strike was the real thing. Full power. The kind of blow that would make even another Tailed Beast hurt for days.
* * *
"Iron Body… Armament: Full-Body Hardening!"
A human-shaped silhouette rocketed backward like a cannonball fired in reverse.
It punched through one building. Then another. Then a third. Nobody could count how many structures collapsed in the figure's wake before the trajectory finally arrested.
Kurama, for its part, didn't know that Ryū had preemptively activated Iron Body layered with full-body Armament Haki the instant before impact. All the fox knew was that the insufferable human had—at long last—been sent flying.
Did I… actually hit him?
Kurama's expression went blank.
That annoying fly got swatted? Really?
That felt… too easy?
He should have been able to dodge that. Why didn't he?
Is he suicidal?!
* * *
Several hundred meters from the Nine-Tails, buried under a pile of structural debris, Ryū shoved the wreckage off himself and rolled his neck.
He'd taken that hit on purpose. It had been a calculated decision—after careful observation and rapid mental math, he'd chosen to eat one full-power strike.
Everything hurts. But taking that hit told me exactly what I needed to know—where my limits actually are.
Ryū smoothed the furrow from his brow and looked toward the Nine-Tails in the distance.
☆☆☆
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