"Damn Kurama, you two..."
Shukaku's roar became intermittent amidst the sandstorm kicked up by the Rasenshuriken.
Its sand body needed time to re-form after being dispersed, and this re-forming speed couldn't keep up with Naruto's attack speed.
"That's about enough."
Seeing that Shukaku couldn't recover for the moment, Naruto looked in a certain direction, calculating the distance in his mind.
Just as Shukaku struggled to stand back up, he turned, spreading his hands in front of him.
Yang Chakra and Yin Chakra surged from his palms simultaneously, mixing and compressing between his palms at a precise ratio of eight to two.
A black, high-density sphere emerged from the gray-white intersection, then began to expand. In less than three seconds, a Tailed Beast Ball with a diameter of thirty meters hovered above Naruto's head, the Chakra fluctuations radiating from its edges distorting the surrounding air into ripples.
"What?!"
Shukaku had just pulled its head out of a pile of rubble when it saw a Tailed Beast Ball several times larger than its own head pressed right against its forehead.
It could use the Tailed Beast Ball too, and its own Tailed Beast Ball wasn't small either. But it required at least ten seconds of time from charging to formation, and it couldn't be interrupted during that process.
Yet this brat in front of it only took three seconds from turning around to forming a Tailed Beast Ball rounder than its own, and didn't even need to charge it at close range. This guy isn't a Jinchuriki, he is a Tailed Beast in human skin.
'Have Kurama and his Jinchuriki reached such a level of coordination? No, are they going to kill me?' Shukaku's heart sank.
But just as it was panicking, the Tailed Beast Ball suddenly changed direction, shooting vertically toward the distant sky.
The Tailed Beast Ball pierced through the clouds, exploding into a dazzling white light in the sky.
"What?" Shukaku looked confused.
It had already prepared to take the hit, but the opponent fired into the sky instead. If this wasn't toying with it, what was?
Naruto ignored Shukaku and spread his hands again. Another identical Tailed Beast Ball condensed above his head.
...
Meanwhile, at the Root base buried deep within the mountains of Konoha.
Danzo was leaning on his wooden cane, standing on the high platform of the central command room of the Root, listening to a Root member report the real-time situation of the entire battlefield.
An unnatural blue tint lingered under his eye sockets, and the bandages wrapped around his right eye cast particularly heavy shadows under the dim candlelight.
"Reporting, Danzo-sama, the joint forces of Otogakure and Sunagakure have breached multiple defense nodes on the outer wall of Konoha, and the three-headed snake is conducting destructive diversionary tactics in the direction of the Third and Fifth Districts."
"The Third Hokage has been trapped by Orochimaru himself within the Four Violet Flames Formation on the roof, and outsiders cannot break in."
A Root member knelt on the ground, reporting item by item in a tone devoid of emotion.
"Additionally, the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, Uzumaki Naruto, escaped Anbu surveillance during the chaos at the exam venue and went alone into the forest in the northeast to pursue the Sunagakure Jinchuriki, Gaara. There is currently no exact location for his whereabouts."
"Good." Danzo nodded.
He had waited too long for this moment. Orochimaru had chosen a tricky time to act. Dignitaries from various countries were all inside the exam venue, Hiruzen was trapped in the Four Violet Flames Formation, and Konoha was plunged into its greatest external crisis in decades.
And he, Danzo, would lead the elite of the Root to strike out at this moment, saving Konoha from the depths of misery in front of everyone.
At that time, all of Konoha would realize that without him, Konoha would be finished. Hiruzen was old, Jiraiya was unwilling to take the position, and Tsunade was still drinking away in other lands. Therefore, the only person qualified to become the Fifth Hokage was him, the one who stood up to protect the village at the critical moment.
"Everyone, listen to my orders, assemble and depart immediately. The objective is to repel the joint forces of Otogakure and Sunagakure head-on, protect the safety of the guests from various countries, and keep casualties to a minimum." Danzo slammed his cane onto the ground.
"Yes, Danzo-sama!" The Root members present responded in unison.
They were all elite Root members trained by Danzo himself, and their combat strength was no less than the Hokage's Anbu. Their fighting spirit and team coordination were even superior to the Anbu in some aspects.
Just a split second before Danzo set off with his massive Root entourage, a Tailed Beast Ball tore through the air from the direction of the forest and slammed into the Root base.
Crack!
The protective barrier shattered instantly.
Boom!
The explosion and high-temperature shockwave rolled wildly, swallowing all the Root members in its path.
Walls were shattered and ceilings collapsed. The interior of the Root base transformed in an instant from a quiet place into a living hell.
Danzo was shielded by several quick-reacting Root guards, who took the brunt of the shockwave with their own bodies and were reduced to charred remains.
Danzo was slammed against the rock wall, sending a sharp, stinging pain through him.
"Why is there a Tailed Beast Ball?"
Danzo stood up from the rubble, leaning on his cane, the left side of his face burned.
His pupils constricted as his mind raced through every possibility.
Nine-Tails Jinchuriki?
Impossible!
The Nine-Tails Jinchuriki had no record of ever using a Tailed Beast Ball. He couldn't even voluntarily call upon Nine-Tails Chakra.
One-Tail?
Its Tailed Beast Ball was notoriously unstable, and its trajectory was never accurate.
Could it be One-Tail?
But this direction and this precision...
A coincidence?
Or was someone using a Tailed Beast Ball to bomb him?
No, that's impossible. No ninja in Konoha could summon a Tailed Beast Ball, not even Hiruzen could do it.
***
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