One after another, the seals on the One-Tail chakra that Shukaku had gifted him were released. A violent aura erupted. The sea beneath Hii Kōri's feet was blasted apart by the overwhelming force, reduced to fine mist that shrouded his figure like thick fog.
"?!"
Bunta's instincts screamed a warning, but he had no time to react. In the next instant, dozens of highly compressed air bullets—so dense they seemed to distort the very air—tore through the mist.
With a shrill screech that pierced the eardrums, the invisible cannonballs bombarded Bunta's massive frame.
He didn't even have time to warn Jiraiya behind him. Frantically, he swung his giant short sword, shattering the first dozen or so air bullets.
But now, his enormous size became a liability. The scattered air bullets were too many to intercept in such a rush.
Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!
A series of dull impacts erupted across Bunta's body. Even his hide—reinforced by natural energy, tough enough that Hii Kōri's ninjutsu and cursed tools had barely scratched it moments ago—was torn open.
His massive form staggered backward under the force of the impacts. Dark red blood sprayed from the two dozen or so vicious craters gouged into his flesh, streaming down his similarly dark red skin to pool beneath him in a foul-smelling rivulet.
"Hey, Bunta! Are you alright?!"
Jiraiya, who was in the process of gathering natural energy with the help of the two sages he had just summoned, called out anxiously.
"Tch! Just a scratch...?"
Bunta tried to respond in his usual brash manner, but his words failed as the mist cleared, revealing what lay beyond.
"Haaah~ A toad's blood is red too~"
Crimson chakra bubbles surged across Hii Kōri's body, forming a Tailed Beast Chakra Cloak. The sea beneath him was flattened by the overwhelming pressure. His voice, amplified by the chakra, had taken on a sharp, distorted quality. He tilted his head, looking at the craters left on Bunta, and spoke in a light, almost lazy tone: "Or is it because your vision's turned red?"
Before the words faded, the One-Tail chakra condensed further, forming a dark red shell.
In his half-tailed beast form—neither fully human nor fully beast—Hii Kōri crouched slightly on the sea's surface, his frame noticeably bulkier. His arms, wrapped in the Tailed Beast Cloak, had lengthened. The same cross-shaped pupils as Shukaku appeared in his eyes. A massive tail, marked with violet patterns and nearly matching his new body in length, swayed lazily from the base of his spine.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa… what the hell?! Jiraiya, you bastard, you didn't say the enemy was a jinchūriki this advanced—hell, I don't know a damn thing about this guy!"
Gamabunta's voice boomed, but it lacked its usual bravado. Yet he made no move to retreat. He lowered his stance, holding his short sword before him, every line of his body screaming wariness.
To remain unaffected by the violent nature of tailed beast chakra even in the Tailed Beast Cloak state, to maintain such stability after further transforming into the half-tailed beast form—this was essentially no different from having fully mastered the tailed beast's power.
But Jiraiya, who glimpsed this scene through the gap between Bunta's crouched body and the beach, seemed even more shocked.
"You've become the new One-Tail jinchūriki?!"
The implications of a strategic weapon like a jinchūriki infiltrating the Land of Fire were too terrible for Jiraiya to even imagine. "Are you trying to start another war?!"
Having set out on his journey following the Great Toad Sage's prophecy, Jiraiya had witnessed the horrors of war in countless small nations and villages. He had spent his life contemplating how to bring peace to the world. Now, his animosity toward Hii Kōri hardened even further.
"Little Jiraiya, calm down!"
The toad sage Shima, perched on Jiraiya's shoulder, suddenly spoke. Her sensory abilities were the sharper of the two, and she focused on Hii Kōri's form before concluding: "This young man doesn't have much tailed beast chakra. That half-tailed beast form is likely just something he's achieving through sheer precision."
Even as she said this, the purple toad sage felt something was off.
Thinking of how Jiraiya's mastery of Sage Mode was still incomplete—how he couldn't even use it in battle without their assistance through Sage Art: Two-Beings Technique—then looking at this young man achieving half-tailed beast transformation with only a fraction of tailed beast chakra through sheer precision… Shima sighed inwardly.
When comparing people, one despairs. When comparing goods, one throws them away.
"Ah~ This elder, who's probably quite beautiful by toad standards, has such good eyes~"
Hii Kōri, still adjusting to the changes in his body and the new limbs, let out a sharp laugh. "This is just a bastardized form I made using the sample Shukaku lent me for Magnet Release research."
"Master Bunpuku's still going strong. Looks like he's got many more years of peace and comfort ahead~"
"As for you, Jiraiya-san already cursing my teacher to die. You're quite the bastard yourself."
Suddenly, Hii Kōri's tone turned vicious. He swung his massive claws, and eight vacuum blades—so sharp they seemed to tear through vision itself—ripped from his fingertips, screaming toward Jiraiya faster than sound.
"No wonder Tsunade doesn't like you. Your mouth stinks!"
"!"
Having already witnessed Hii Kōri's brutality earlier, how could Bunta let his guard down just because the man's tone had sounded conversational moments ago?
He spat out an Iron Cannonball beneath himself, thrust his short sword into it, and stirred it into a swirling vortex that neutralized the vacuum blades.
Hearing Tsunade mentioned again stirred Jiraiya's heart. He wanted to demand whether she had left the village because of Hii Kōri, what he had done to her now—but before he could speak, a tongue slapped the back of his head. The sticky, heavy impact jolted him alert.
"Little Jiraiya, focus!"
Shima's voice was sharp. "Complete Sage Mode quickly!"
In her assessment, even if Hii Kōri only held a fragment of the One-Tail's chakra, the fact that he had been able to overwhelm Jiraiya and Bunta's combined assault before releasing that power—forcing Jiraiya to resort to his incomplete Sage Mode—was proof enough of his strength. And his chakra control at this level… there was no way Bunta could hold out long against it.
Jiraiya, after all, had been active in the ninja world for over twenty years. He knew when to prioritize. He fell silent, focusing on entering Sage Mode to assist Bunta.
Before the words had fully faded, everyone—Jiraiya, the toad couple, and Bunta—could feel a violent tremor beneath their feet.
To their shock, the sea behind Hii Kōri was overtaken by a dark, heavy color, spreading for over ten meters. The deep hue, so alien against the blue water, expanded, deepened like ink spilling across a page.
In the next moment, with a deafening roar, a tidal wave of jet-black Iron Sand—blotting out the sky—ripped through the sea's surface, lifting Hii Kōri in his half-tailed beast form high into the air.
"Though our big-tailed pig of a tanuki loves using Wind Release, in this form, I'm much better at his innate Magnet Release!"
The voice that emerged from Hii Kōri's throat was growing closer to Shukaku's. Crimson tailed beast chakra spread rapidly from his body, enveloping the Iron Sand gathering around him.
"Since this is just borrowed power, it won't last long before it runs out and this form ends. But before that… it's enough to deal with anyone getting in my way."
In the blink of an eye, the Iron Sand, now wrapped in tailed beast chakra, formed the shape of Shukaku. The black color and the flame-like crimson cloak transformed the tanuki's usually almost-cute appearance into that of a savage demon.
"Right, you stupid bastard who shows up out of nowhere looking for a fight, then starts blabbering about starting another war?"
Before the Iron Sand Shukaku had fully formed, it lunged forward with a devastating uppercut—a piledriver of pure force that could shatter mountains—slamming into Bunta's jaw. The massive toad was launched into the air.
At the same moment, dazed by the blow, Bunta felt an irresistible force wrench the giant short sword from his grip. Under the influence of Magnet Release, the blade flew away.
The Iron Sand Shukaku's hand twisted, and with a sickening screech of metal, the weapon forged by countless master craftsmen was warped into a crude, jagged drill.
"Annoying toad! Die!"
The dark claws swung. The twisted blade-drill spun like a giant boring machine, screaming as it streaked toward Bunta's relatively soft underbelly.
"Bleh!"
In the nick of time, Bunta spat a powerful stream of water at the Iron Sand Shukaku's face, using the recoil to twist aside and narrowly avoid the lethal strike.
But no sooner had he dodged the drill than he saw the Iron Sand Shukaku casually flicked his hand, scattering a dense swarm of Iron Sand pellets—like a cloud of hornets—toward Jiraiya, who was gathering natural energy and couldn't move freely.
"Ma!" the toad sage Fukasaku cried.
"Leave it to me!"
Shima reacted swiftly, her tongue whipping through the air like a blur, scattering the pellets one by one.
To Hii Kōri, controlling the Iron Sand Shukaku, this seemed like a mere afterthought. His focus remained on the wounded Gamabunta.
"Take this! ROCKET PUUUUNCH!"
As if some switch had been flipped, Hii Kōri, "piloting" his giant external armor, let out a hoarse, ecstatic cry.
Before anyone could understand the two words that followed, the Iron Sand Shukaku's massive arms separated at the elbows, launching toward the just-stabilized Bunta like homing missiles.
The two iron claws opened wide, then slammed shut with earth-shattering force, gripping Bunta's massive body tight!
"You motherf—"
Bunta cursed furiously, struggling with all his might. But the claws had become a prison;Magnet Release held him fast.
"Ah, this isn't personal. Blame your summoner for calling you at the wrong time."
The Iron Sand Shukaku's mouth opened, revealing Hii Kōri in his half-tailed beast form within. His arms extended forward, fingers curved, palms meeting—like a calyx, or a beast's closing jaws.
Yang-natured blue chakra and Yin-natured black-purple chakra gathered and fused before his hands, forming a sphere no larger than a soccer ball, pure black.
"No! That's a Tailed Beast Ball!"
Fukasaku inhaled sharply, spitting a high-pressure water jet as sharp as a blade to disrupt Hii Kōri's charge. But most of their focus was on stabilizing Jiraiya's Sage Mode; the attack was weak.
The Iron Sand Shukaku didn't even turn. Its massive tail swept sideways, forming a wall of black Iron Sand rippling with crimson chakra that easily blocked Fukasaku's Water-Cutting Technique.
"Bunta!"
Even from dozens of meters away, Jiraiya could feel the threat of that Tailed Beast Ball. Yet at this moment, there was nothing he could do.
"Ha!"
With a hoarse cry, Hii Kōri's hands clenched into fists. The Iron Sand Shukaku's jaws closed. The black sphere shot toward the trapped Bunta like a marble.
In the next instant—BOOOOOOM—!!!
The explosion tore through the sky, a blinding flash engulfing the coastline. A ring of energy surged outward, carving a massive crater from sea and sand.
When the light faded, Gamabunta's right foreleg and hind leg were gone. A third of his body was torn open; innards and bone a charred mess.
His massive frame flew backward like a discarded doll, trailing a rain of blood, crashing heavily into the rocky cliffs of the coastline. Whether he was dead or alive, no one could tell.
Rocks tumbled down with a dull boom.
The Iron Sand Shukaku turned, its form shrinking slightly to form new arms. Under Hii Kōri's control, it raised a claw toward Jiraiya's face.
"Next... is you."
Then he seemed to think of something; his tone soured. "…That's what I'd say, but Tsunade and Shizune are still in the town behind us."
Even though using such a "wheelchair-level" move was exhilarating—it made him understand why people who got Hashirama's cells gradually lost their minds—even if his calculations said it was perfectly safe, that the town wouldn't be affected, he couldn't actually fire in this direction.
And… was Jiraiya taking too long to finish charging?
"Tch. Annoying."
Ignoring the fact that from transformation to Bunta's defeat had taken less than fifty seconds, Hii Kōri clicked his tongue in displeasure and dismissed the Iron Sand Shukaku.
His half-tailed beast form reappeared, standing on a cloud of Iron Sand. He directed the disintegrating iron sand into a black tidal wave, trying to "apply some pressure" to Jiraiya and the two toad sages on his shoulders!
"Iron Sand Grand Burial!"
The black sand surged toward Jiraiya like a wave of death, blotting out the sky.
At this critical moment, dark red markings appeared around Jiraiya's eyes, his pupils turning horizontal like a toad's, his battered nose swelling and sprouting warty bumps.
Mount Myōboku Sage Mode: Complete!
"Haaa!"
Freed from his immobile posture, Jiraiya leaped, clearing the wave of cascading Iron Sand with barely a hair's breadth to spare.
Using Shima's extended tongue as a foothold, he vaulted higher, clapped his hands together. The two sages on his shoulders formed seals in unison.
"Sage Art: Goemon!"
Wind, oil, and fire—combined under the enhancement of senjutsu chakra—erupted into a blazing storm that swept across heaven and earth.
The burning wave matched the scale of Hii Kōri's Iron Sand sea blow for blow.
At temperatures reaching thousands of degrees, few things could resist. The Iron Sand melted almost instantly into molten slag.
Now lacking magnetism, the white-hot liquid rained down upon the beach and shallows with a deafening hiss.
White steam billowed. Where once had been a rocky beach, now flowed rivers of molten iron—a hellscape.
Jiraiya could still sense his contract with Bunta, knew his old partner was alive, knew Mount Myōboku could heal him. He dismissed the summon without hesitation, sending Bunta back.
"Crimson of Agony!"
Now bearing distinct toad-like features, Jiraiya snarled, grinding out the hated epithet, and unleashed a Fire Release that covered over a hundred meters.
Sage Art: Great Fireball!
A massive sphere of golden-red flame, carrying scorching, searing heat, slammed toward the half-tailed beast Hii Kōri!
Just as the Eight Gates Released Formation, while unleashing immense physical and chakra power, made chakra too volatile for precise technical control, so too did borrowing Shukaku's chakra affect Hii Kōri's Water Release.
The techniques enhanced by his half-tailed beast form—Wind Release and Magnet Release—were exactly what Jiraiya's senjutsu-infused Fire Release countered.
"When that borrowed tailed beast chakra runs out, you die!"
"Ha! Keep dreaming, you bastard who started this!"
Wrapped in the Tailed Beast Cloak, Hii Kōri's voice grew even sharper. He abandoned the Iron Sand cloud, now too hot to control, crushed the incoming sage-art fireball with his tail, and launched himself at Jiraiya on jets of Wind Release.
"Abandoned 'capture' in your rage, now just acting on killing intent, huh?"
"Dan Katō said the same thing!"
Ignoring elemental affinities, simply blasting Jiraiya's sage-art Fire Release with double the Wind Release chakra, Hii Kōri sneered as they engaged in aerial dogfighting.
"Forty seconds left. More than enough to twist your head off and kick it around!"
"You ungrateful toad demon!"
***
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