Several days later, under the moonlight, Yōkō once again led Pakura to find Shukaku.
A dune slowly swelled, sand cascading down like a waterfall from all sides.
Through the gaps in the sandy waterfall, Shukaku's ferocious, murderous eyes appeared.
In the next instant, Shukaku's gaze became noticeably clearer.
It saw a figure approaching from not far away, wearing a mask with a black background and a lightning pattern.
"Shukaku, hand over the Bunpuku Tea Kettle and submit to being sealed by me."
Shukaku knew intuitively that the person before it was powerful, but upon hearing such arrogant words, it burst into laughter.
The sound echoed within Shukaku's plump body before emerging from its throat, exceptionally shrill.
"Oh haha! What did you say? Submit to being sealed by you? Do you think you're the Sage of the Six Paths?"
Yōkō thought to himself, I'm not the Sage of the Six Paths, but don't be in a hurry. Sooner or later, the Sage of the Six Paths will also get a taste of my blade, just like you.
Yōkō formed a hand seal with both hands, and a powerful jet of water shot from his mouth.
Shukaku was taken aback. Wasn't this the Second Hokage's Water Cutting Wave technique? It had seen it before.
While Water Cutting Wave was quite powerful among Water Release ninjutsu, it didn't have much lethality against Shukaku.
The next moment, one of Shukaku's arms flew off!
Shukaku turned its head in horror, seeing its shoulder severed by the water jet!
No!
This wasn't Water Cutting Wave!
Shukaku sensed sand within the water jet—it was a Water Cutting Wave containing sand!
"Second Kazekage! You bastard! You stole Magnet Release and Sand Release from me and didn't even keep it secret. Now people who can control sand are everywhere!"
Yōkō nodded repeatedly. His newly developed technique was excellent.
By adding diamond dust to Water Cutting Wave, it transformed into a diamond dust water-jet cutter.
Yōkō named this new technique: Gold Sand Cutting Wave.
Judging by its power, it had fully reached S-rank.
Sand written on Shukaku's shoulder, growing a new arm.
However, a second Gold Sand Cutting Wave shot forth.
The water jet cut through Shukaku's hardened body at the shoulder, sending its left arm flying high into the air behind it once more.
Shukaku tried to control the sand within the water jet, but the sand moved too fast. It managed to control a bit of sand at the front, but the water stream behind carried even more sand.
Shukaku's right The arm also flew backward, landing heavily on the ground.
Shukaku hurriedly tilted its head back, condensing a Tailed Beast Ball.
Under pressure, the Tailed Beast Ball formed quickly, heading straight for Yōkō.
If Yōkō used his Three Worlds Wood Human, he could catch the Tailed Beast Ball barehanded. However, he instead conjured a Sand Hand.
A tanuki beast's claw appeared before Yōkō, blocking the path of the Tailed Beast Ball.
BOOM!
The Tailed Beast Ball exploded within the Sand Hand.
Shukaku finally caught its breath, shouting loudly.
"You can't stop it! You simply can't stop it! I know the strength of the Sand Hand all too well; it's no match for a Tailed Beast Ball!"
Sure enough, the Tailed Beast Ball blasted the Sand Hand apart. The explosive shockwave scattered the sand, filling the sky with dust.
Pakura, watching from afar, was blown off her feet by the gale, tumbling backward before hurriedly turning over and flattening herself against the ground.
She looked up, stunned, watching the battle.
Is this the battle between a Tailed Beast and a Kage-level ninja?
Just the aftermath of the fight blew me away.
Pakura's current strength was only at the Elite Jōnin level, still some distance from Kage-level.
Neither the Gold Sand Cutting Wave, the Sand Hand, nor the Tailed Beast Ball were something her Scorch Release fireballs could handle.
The explosion created a mushroom cloud of sand and dust. A black shadow shot out, piercing through the sandy mushroom cloud.
Yōkō slid across the sandy ground for a long time before coming to a stop.
The defensive strength of Sand Release was far inferior to that of Wood Release.
The characteristic of Sand Release was flexibility—more flexible than Wood Release. Sand could surge from the ground anytime, anywhere. However, its loose structure resulted in lower strength.
It seemed Sand Release could only be used as a supplementary method.
Having figured out the properties of Sand Release, Yōkō stopped holding back.
"Shukaku, you are too strong... To avoid the Suna-nin discovering our battle, I must finish you quickly."
Shukaku shrieked strangely, "How can you be stronger than the Second Kazekage? I don't believe you can—"
Before it could finish speaking, Shukaku saw its opponent charging forward with extreme speed.
What kind of Taijutsu level was this?!
If it was just strong Taijutsu, if he had just stolen and learned its Sand Release, that might still be acceptable.
However, when the Wood Dragon appeared, Shukaku was completely dumbfounded.
A Wood Dragon bursts through the sand, crashing into Shukaku's waist.
Coiling upward from the lower back, the Wood Dragon bit down on the back of Shukaku's neck.
This was the most vulnerable spot for many beasts.
Once bitten on the back of the neck, many animals lose their ability to resist.
Coupled with the Wood Dragon's frenzied absorption of chakra, even a Tailed Beast's chakra couldn't last long before this dragon.
Sand rustled and fell. Shukaku actually couldn't maintain the shape of its skin. Finally, chunks of sand fell with loud pats, revealing the sand inside Shukaku's body.
Having been imprisoned together with Bunpuku in a temple-turned-cell, Shukaku was completely ignorant of events in the outside world. It didn't know that Konoha's Fox had mastered Wood Release.
"Are you a descendant of Senju Hashirama? Is this Wood Release?"
In the distance, Pakura was stunned. Kōji might be the Head of Konoha's Anbu... Fox!
In the entire shinobi world, only Konoha's Fox and Uchiha Madara's subordinate have mastered the secret Wood Release technique.
Thinking about it made her feel sad. She had known Kōji for six or seven years, yet she couldn't even determine his true identity.
As the sand collapsed, a tea kettle was revealed within Shukaku's belly.
Ignoring the collapse of its body, Shukaku gathered its last bit of chakra, forming a Tailed Beast Ball in its mouth.
The Tailed Beast Ball shot out, aimed at the enemy not far below its feet.
However, a wooden hand shot up from the ground, grabbing the Tailed Beast Ball!
The Wood Human's hand possessed powerful restraining ability. The Tailed Beast Ball actually couldn't explode.
"Don't act recklessly. I'm here to seal you, not to kill you.
Your body is almost collapsing. Taking a direct hit from your own Tailed Beast Ball at such close range would just blow yourself up, wouldn't it?"
Another Wood Dragon appeared. The Wood Dragon opened its mouth and bit onto the Tailed Beast Ball.
The immense chakra within the Tailed Beast Ball was actually absorbed by the Wood Dragon.
Shukaku was a standard Kage-level combatant. There was a significant gap between it and Yōkō, who was at a level beyond that.
Whether it was Wind Release, Sand Release, or even the Tailed Beast Ball, nothing could deal with Yōkō.
Iron Vine shot out, pulling out the Bunpuku Tea Kettle.
Yōkō waved, signaling Pakura to come over quickly.
Following the tea kettle sealing technique she had learned, Pakura began sealing Shukaku.
Under the control of the Wood Dragon Technique, Shukaku lost its last bit of resistance.
"You damned ninjas! How can this lord enter that damned tea kettle!
Second Kazekage! Bunpuku! It's all your fault! Why did you have to create something like a tea kettle specifically for sealing me?!"
After sealing Shukaku, Pakura turned to look at Yōkō, visibly angry.
"Why the sudden anger?" Yōkō thought for a moment and said, "I know. Is it because I concealed my identity?"
"Just who are you? Are you Konoha's Fox, or are you Uchiha Madara's subordinate?"
"You guess."
Pakura shouldered the tea kettle, rushed up to Yōkō, and used her forehead to push up against his chin, saying furiously:
"I'm telling you! The little fox is finished tonight!"
Yōkō only felt a tightening in his legs, thinking to himself that he was about to suffer again.
***
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(End of Chapter)