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Taiichi charged straight through the Sand ninja with his short sword, no dodging, no hesitation. He swung like the guy in front of him had murdered his parents. The raw aggression froze the Sand fighter for a split second. He barely got his kunai up in time to block.
The blades crashed together and a massive jolt of force blasted through the Sand ninja's arms. He stumbled back hard, off balance. Taiichi didn't even look at him. He slipped past and kept moving while Yohei took the opening, dragging his kunai across the man's throat in one clean motion before rushing forward again.
That was how battle worked. No time to reset. One wrong step and you were dead. Against a team like Taiichi's that moved like one body, it was even worse.
Taiichi was the spearhead. He kept cutting through Sand ranks, not always going for kills. He just needed to break their rhythm. His teammates cleaned up whatever he left behind.
The more he carved through them, the more Sand ninjas recognized him. Shouts of "White Death" started spreading. Higher-rank Sand shinobi stayed steady, but the chunin and genin who'd heard the rumors? Their faces went pale the second they realized who they were facing. Their aggression dropped fast.
If the Fourth Kazekage ever found out his little rumor campaign was backfiring this hard, he'd probably cough up blood.
On the far bank, five figures approached under heavy guard. The One-Tail jinchuriki and his four sealers. They reached the river's edge and the sealers immediately formed hand seals, yanking the iron chains off the jinchuriki's neck.
The heavy chains hit the ground with a loud clatter. The jinchuriki slowly lifted his head. His eyes weren't human anymore. They were pure beast.
The lead sealer pointed straight at the Leaf side. "Ryo, this is your chance to die for the village. Don't worry. We'll take care of your family. Now go kill every last Leaf ninja."
He stepped back three paces, waved at the others, and they all retreated fast.
Left alone, the jinchuriki started laughing. Low at first, then louder, his whole body shaking. His form began to swell. Sand rose from the ground and wrapped around him. A thick yellow tail pushed out from his spine and grew longer. His chakra exploded outward in violent waves.
He threw his head back and roared. Black energy gathered in front of his mouth. Five seconds later he spat it out. A Tailed Beast Bomb screamed across the river straight toward the thinning smoke on the Leaf side.
The moment that massive chakra signature hit, Jiraiya reacted instantly from the wall. He pointed toward the source and barked orders. "Special attack teams, get in there and pin down the One-Tail jinchuriki no matter what it takes! Sealing unit, get ready!"
He turned to Minato. "Water, take four jonin and go help them."
Minato didn't waste a word. He jumped off the wall with four jonin and headed straight for the Tailed Beast chakra.
Before Jiraiya could give the next order, a sensor ninja's face went white. "Massive chakra spike! Tailed Beast Bomb incoming—right on top of us!"
"Move! Everyone off the wall, now!"
Jiraiya leapt down first. The others followed fast. Mid-air he flashed through seals and slammed his hands to the ground the second he landed.
Earth Style: Earth Prison Dome.
A thick dome of earth rose up around them just as the Tailed Beast Bomb tore through the smoke, punched through the first wall, and slammed into the command wall above.
The explosion shook everything. The wall above them shattered. Dirt and stone rained down while the dome cracked and repaired itself under Jiraiya's chakra. Everyone inside felt the raw power.
When it finally went quiet, Jiraiya dropped the dome. A twenty-meter crater sat where the wall had been. They were standing on the only piece of ground still raised in the middle of it.
People swallowed hard. Most of them had never felt a Tailed Beast Bomb before. If they hadn't been under Jiraiya's protection, the aftershock alone would've killed half of them.
"Stop staring. Push forward. We can't let the front line think we're dead."
Jiraiya started barking fresh orders. White signal flares went up to tell the assault teams to keep attacking. Sensors locked onto the jinchuriki's position and relayed it to the sealing unit.
Out on the front line, Taiichi felt the same massive chakra spike the second the jinchuriki started transforming. He cut down the Sand ninja in front of him, then stopped dead and stared toward the source. His eyes lit up with pure excitement.
His team stopped with him, forming up and knocking away incoming kunai and shuriken.
"Taiichi, what the hell is that chakra?" Yohei asked, tense. Standing still in the middle of a battlefield was asking to die.
"That's a Tailed Beast. The One-Tail, Shukaku," Taiichi said, voice vibrating with energy. "Same kind of thing as the Two-Tails we fought up north."
Yohei and Saori's faces went tight. They remembered exactly how helpless they'd felt against that monster. Now Sand had one too, and they'd thrown it into the fight.
"Yohei, you're in charge. I'll be right back."
Taiichi didn't wait for an answer. He flashed through Body Flicker, then Flying Thunder God, cutting down two Sand ninjas in his path before vanishing deeper into enemy lines. In seconds he was gone.
What the actual fuck.
They were supposed to stay in formation. He'd drilled it into them nonstop. But the second something interesting showed up, all that went out the window.
Everyone turned to Yohei. He was the captain now. He looked just as pissed as the rest of them.
"Saori, Rin, right side. Kakashi, Obito, left. Keep the formation tight. We keep pushing."
Yohei gave the order even though he didn't sound thrilled about it. No one was going to call him out on it though. Not when their real captain had just ditched them.
Taiichi kept moving. When the path was clear he cut through. When it was blocked he threw a marked kunai and teleported past the mess.
He finally broke through the last line of Sand ninja just in time to see the jinchuriki finish firing another Tailed Beast Bomb.
Taiichi tracked the shot. A bright explosion lit up the command area seconds later, followed by a deep, rolling boom. That was exactly where Jiraiya and the others had been.
He didn't have time to worry. The whole battlefield had seen the blast. Sand's side erupted in cheers, morale spiking hard. Leaf's side faltered for a moment until three white flares shot up from behind, signaling the command post was still standing.
Taiichi didn't care about any of that anymore. His fists were already clenched. He sheathed his short sword and sprinted straight at the half-transformed jinchuriki.
The guy was already over five meters tall and still growing. Human shape was gone. At that size a short sword was useless. Taiichi went in with his fists.
He hit the jinchuriki hard and fast while the guy was still recovering from the Tailed Beast Bomb. Chakra-enhanced strength smashed into the sand-covered chest and caved it in. The massive body flew backward like it had been shot out of a cannon, sand spraying everywhere.
The sight hit Sand's side like a slap. Their cheers died down fast.
"Fuck—fuck—fuck! I'm gonna kill you!"
The jinchuriki roared and pushed himself up. His chest was already reforming. He was bigger now, over six meters. He swung an arm and sent a storm of sand kunai flying at Taiichi.
Taiichi didn't back off. He charged straight into them, small water bullets forming around him to knock the dangerous ones out of the air while he slipped past the rest.
He closed in and started hammering the jinchuriki's legs with heavy punches. The sand body went soft on impact to absorb the damage, but Taiichi just kept swinging. Five rapid strikes later one of the legs buckled and the giant crashed down.
Taiichi circled to the head and kept pounding. The jinchuriki panicked, flailing his huge arms wildly to protect his face. The swings were clumsy but powerful enough that Taiichi had to give ground.
He backed off and reassessed. The jinchuriki had raw power but zero control or experience. He'd probably never used Shukaku's strength properly before. In this half-transformed state he was dangerous but predictable.
The jinchuriki stood back up, completely enraged. He started shouting about killing Taiichi while flinging bigger and bigger sand kunai. At the same time, waves of sand tried to wrap around Taiichi's legs from below.
Taiichi kept moving, dodging and weaving until he saw his opening. He threw a Flying Thunder God kunai high over the jinchuriki's head and teleported the second it reached the peak.
He reappeared three meters above the giant, seals already finished. A roaring golden fire dragon exploded from his mouth.
Fire Style: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet.
At that range the flames swallowed the jinchuriki instantly. Sand melted and ran down his body in glowing streams. A horrible, pained scream tore out from inside the half-beast form.
Back on Sand's side, the higher-ups had been watching the whole fight. They'd been confident at first. No one expected some random Leaf ninja to actually hurt their jinchuriki. But after Taiichi kept knocking him down and then hit him with that fire dragon, their expressions changed fast.
"Stop him! Get that Matsushita Taiichi now!"