Shisui?!
But… he wasn't alone.
Arai, Amane, and Hayakumo—every single one of them had come back.
Those idiots… they actually turned around and returned!
Now the three of them were charging at Shukaku from different directions, closing in without hesitation.
"Run!!" Shisui shouted at the top of his lungs, pouring every last bit of strength into his eyes as he tried to drag Shukaku into the illusion he had created.
But with only a pair of two-tomoe Sharingan, even if he exhausted all his ocular power, he could only affect Shukaku for a fleeting instant.
And yet—for Shimizu, that instant was the difference between life and death.
In the split second that Shukaku froze—
Body Flicker!
In the very next moment, the massive claw crushed the water sphere, shattering the Water Wall that had protected him.
"So it was those eyes… no wonder you could affect me," Shukaku muttered, its attention shifting entirely onto Shisui, who now stood there with his eyes tightly shut.
That single attempt had already drained him of all strength. At this moment, he was completely defenseless.
The power of a tailed beast was not something a mere chunin could stand against.
"Die!"
Shukaku's massive tail lashed toward him—
Boom!
Another towering wave surged into the sky.
"And you little pests too!!"
Shukaku had already noticed the other three trying to close in. With a combination of sweeping claws and several Air Bullets, it forced them back instantly.
Once again, the already violent sea erupted into towering, chaotic waves.
…
A short while later, the five of them stood together once more, gathered on the surface of the ocean several hundred meters away from Shukaku.
So much for splitting up and escaping.
"You guys…" Shimizu began, his tone lacking any real reproach. After all, if they hadn't come back, there likely wouldn't have been enough of him left to bury.
He gently lowered Shisui, whose eyes were still bleeding.
If they had been even a moment later, that last strike from Shukaku would have killed him outright—this key figure of fate, gone just like that.
Seriously… the nerve of him, trying to confront a tailed beast with just a two-tomoe Sharingan.
"Heh… we did leave at first," Amane scratched his head with a sheepish grin before continuing, "but then we thought about it. Uzuki-senpai stayed behind to lure Shukaku away so we could survive…"
Shimizu almost wanted to explain that it wasn't intentional—that Shukaku simply had a personal grudge against him.
But… at a time like this, it was better to let the misunderstanding stand.
"Even if we made it out alive, I wouldn't be able to live with it," Amane finished.
Arai nodded in agreement. "If you had ordered one of us to stay behind as bait, I would've accepted it without question. An order is an order."
"But letting you face this alone while we walk away unharmed…" He clicked his tongue. "You're our hero, you know. I can't do something like that."
Hayakumo gave a firm nod, then added quietly, "I didn't become a ninja just to run away. I became one to fight."
A bit dramatic—but the spirit was there.
Shimizu glanced at him, slightly surprised. For someone usually so cold and reserved, he had quite the fiery side.
"Shisui… your eyes?" Shimizu asked, concern flickering in his voice as he looked at the blood still trickling down.
"I've just exhausted my ocular power… I'll be fine after some rest."
"…Good."
Shimizu let out a quiet breath of relief.
Then his gaze shifted back to the distant beast. Shukaku stood motionless for the moment, perhaps slightly drained from its earlier barrage of reckless, self-damaging attacks.
"Well… now none of us are getting away."
"Then we don't leave," Amane said, raising his kunai with a grin. "Let's figure out how to kill it."
"You all came back so bravely…" Shimizu said slowly. "Got a plan?"
"You've fought the One-Tail multiple times, senpai," Hayakumo said. "You must have something in mind."
If I did, would I have almost died just now?
Still… there was one way.
"Provoke it," Shimizu said at last. "Make it use a Tailed Beast Bomb… and then detonate it prematurely."
"A Tailed Beast Bomb? You mean the thing you said shaved off half of Mount Kikyo?" Shisui asked.
The group instinctively swallowed.
If something like that exploded near them… there wouldn't even be ashes left behind.
"Yes. That black sphere of chakra," Shimizu continued. "Last time, when it was gathering the Tailed Beast Bomb, I got close and used Wind Release to deal enough damage to disrupt it. The backlash caused the bomb to detonate on itself… that's how I won."
"Then we just do that again," Amane said without hesitation.
Placing their hopes on the enemy making the same mistake twice… wasn't exactly the preferred strategy of a shinobi.
"Doesn't Shukaku have any weaknesses?" Arai asked.
Shimizu searched carefully through the distant corners of his memory. Back when Shukaku had first appeared, Gaara in his tailed-beast form had nearly been broken by Naruto's absurd OneThousand Years of Death attack… and had even admitted it himself—that it was his one and only weakness.
"…Its anus?"
"…."
For a moment, the air froze.
"Wait—what?! Senpai, are you serious?!" Amane's jaw practically dropped to the surface of the water.
"Yes. Its anus—that's the most vulnerable spot," Shimizu said, recalling it once more to be certain.
There wasn't a hint of a joke in his tone. After a long moment of stunned silence, the others finally forced themselves to accept this… rather shocking truth.
"…But we're out of explosive tags," Arai said with a trace of regret.
"I've got something better." Shimizu immediately took out two Lightning Release chakra-infused kunai. "These are more convenient than tags—just throw them, and they'll explode."
At that, everyone's eyes lit up.
Which left one final problem—
How were they supposed to locate that exact weak point?
Almost instinctively, all eyes turned toward Hayakumo's Byakugan.
…
Shimizu glanced at the "sea," now reduced to less than half its original size.
No… calling it a lake would be more accurate now.
Sand simply couldn't retain water like normal soil could.
At the same time, Sunagakure's shinobi had already gathered around the perimeter of the lake, lying in wait. They were clearly ready to swarm in the moment Shimizu's group fell.
Shisui could no longer take part in the operation. Still unable to open his eyes, he stood beside Hayakumo, who would be responsible for relaying precise information.
Arai and Amane would act as bait.
Everything… hinged on this final strike.
"Move. We only get one chance," Shimizu ordered.
"Yes!!" they responded in unison.
Three figures shot forward at once, racing toward Shukaku.
"Is it… asleep?" Arai asked uncertainly, eyeing the motionless beast.
"More like recovering…" Shimizu replied, though even he wasn't entirely sure. "Stick to the plan—and stay alert. It's cunning… and good at setting traps."
"Ahahaha—bingo~! I was just pretending to sleep!" Shukaku suddenly lifted its head and burst into laughter.
In the next instant, the ground beneath the dunes began to tremble violently, and the once-calm lake surged with renewed turbulence.
Even the Sand shinobi surrounding the area fell into brief chaos.
"Run!!" someone shouted from afar.
"Full retreat!!" a commander's voice rang out.
"All Sand ninja—withdraw!!"
"I've decided," Shukaku shrieked, its voice rising to a manic pitch, "to bury you—and this entire sea—forever in this desert!"
BOOM!!
Behind it, an enormous wall of sand surged upward—hundreds of meters high and stretching over ten kilometers wide.
In an instant, even the early morning sunlight was completely swallowed.
It was as if the end of the world had arrived.