The thick mist slowly dissipated after Asuka departed, leaving behind a furious Killer Bee and the Eight-Tails.
The Eight-Tails' octopus tentacles whipped through the air. One of them, missing a large chunk of flesh, was slowly regenerating.
…
On the other side, Asuka had already escaped. Even so, he couldn't help but feel exhausted. Fighting the Eight-Tails—the strongest Tailed Beast aside from the Nine-Tails—had given him his first real experience of chakra depletion.
After releasing the Hidden Mist Technique earlier, he had planned to escape immediately. But he suddenly remembered that a Tailed Beast was essentially a massive concentration of chakra. Now that he had finally encountered one, it would be a shame not to obtain some of that chakra.
With that thought in mind, Asuka squeezed out the last of his remaining chakra to cast two final ninjutsu. He had only intended to try his luck, but the result exceeded his expectations.
He successfully obtained a section of the Eight-Tails' tentacle.
After sealing it in a scroll, Asuka relied on his powerful physique to sprint away, quickly putting distance between himself and the battlefield.
By the time his body and mind were reaching their limit, he spotted a river ahead. His vision spinning, he plunged straight into the water and closed his eyes, allowing the current to carry him away.
When Asuka opened his eyes again, the sky had already darkened. Bright stars hung high above.
He expanded his sensory range and confirmed that no Cloud Ninja were nearby. Then he lightly leapt out of the river, found a hollow tree, and lay inside it, gazing at the night sky through the cracks in the wood.
As the starlight filtered down, Asuka's exhausted spirit eased slightly.
At that moment, his stomach let out a loud growl. After such an intense battle, he urgently needed to replenish his energy.
Asuka sat up and retrieved the Eight-Tails' tentacle from the sealing scroll.
Poof!
A puff of smoke cleared, revealing the large octopus tentacle.
Rubbing his chin, Asuka pondered how he might absorb the high-quality chakra contained within a Tailed Beast.
After thinking for a while, he couldn't come up with any method to absorb it directly.
In the end, he decided on the simplest approach—eat it.
A red glow flickered in his eyes as he carefully controlled the output of energy, projecting a faint laser onto the surface of the tentacle.
Before long, a rich aroma filled the hollow tree.
The smell immediately stimulated Asuka's appetite, and he eagerly took a bite.
To his surprise, the Eight-Tails' tentacle actually tasted surprisingly good.
As Asuka devoured it greedily, the massive tentacle gradually shrank. By the time he leaned back with a satisfied expression, only a small portion remained.
Just as he was savoring the aftertaste, a sharp wave of pain suddenly surged from deep within his body.
He clutched his stomach and rolled across the ground.
Asuka's tolerance for pain far exceeded that of an ordinary person. After all, thanks to Wolverine's mutant ability, his fighting style had always been one of trading injury for injury. Without his extreme regenerative power, he would have died countless times already.
But the pain he felt now was far worse than any injury he had ever suffered—far beyond even the agony of standing on death's edge.
His entire body turned crimson like a boiled shrimp. Veins bulged across his skin as he curled up and rolled continuously on the ground.
The overwhelming pain nearly caused him to lose consciousness.
A red chakra cloak began to emerge from his body.
Gritting his teeth, Asuka relied on his iron will to guide the violent Tailed Beast chakra raging inside him.
With a roar, he forced the chakra toward the mutant gene bank within his body.
As the Tailed Beast chakra flowed inside, the genes stored within the gene bank began to tremble.
Gene sequences that had never responded to Asuka's own chakra before now vibrated violently, as if they had been waiting for this high-quality energy to finally begin their feast.
In the end, the soul-piercing pain overwhelmed him, and Asuka lost consciousness.
…
While Asuka lay unconscious, the situation on the Cloud Ninja's side was far from calm.
Killer Bee sat inside the main camp tent with a grim expression. Irritated, he wasn't even speaking in his usual rap style.
"Have you still not found that Kaguya kid?"
Shui Yi glanced at Killer Bee's expression and knew that this lord was on the verge of erupting in anger. He quickly replied,
"Lord Bee, I've already sent more troops to expand the search area. I believe we'll receive news soon."
"Hmph."
Killer Bee knew how troublesome their opponent was, so he didn't press the matter further.
Still, he spoke in a deep voice.
"What's the deal with that Kaguya kid? I've never seen any Kaguya with the ability to fire such powerful energy from their eyes. And that Wind Release—since when did the Hidden Mist have someone with such strong Wind Release?"
"Please forgive us, Lord," Shui Yi replied nervously. "Based on our encounter, the Hidden Mist ninja with such powerful regeneration must be the one known as the Undying Kaguya Asuka. According to our intelligence, he's always been famous for his regenerative abilities. But we've never seen him use powerful Wind Release—or that mysterious red laser."
Killer Bee looked at the frightened Shui Yi and chose not to question him further. He waved him away and fell into deep thought, recalling every detail of the battle.
Meanwhile, the Cloud Ninja patrol squads continued expanding their search area.
One squad eventually arrived near the hollow tree where Asuka had been hiding.
The squad leader noticed the unusually large tree and signaled to the others.
"That tree looks strange. Follow me—we'll check it."
The squad slowly approached the giant tree. When the leader spotted the hidden hollow, his eyes lit up.
He gave a hand signal.
In the next moment, the squad hurled kunai and shuriken into the hollow, several of them carrying explosive tags.
Boom!
After the explosion, the giant tree slowly collapsed.
But the figure they expected did not appear. The inside of the fallen tree was completely empty.
Just as they were feeling both relieved and irritated, a voice sounded from nearby.
"You people are really persistent. Can't you just let me get some proper rest?"
The squad froze.
Turning toward the voice, they saw Asuka standing calmly nearby.
Panic immediately spread through the group as they drew their ninja swords.
"M–Monster! It's that monster!"
"He's actually here?!"
"Damn it, don't panic!" the squad leader shouted. "Use ninjutsu and pin him down from a distance!"
At the same time, he fired a flare into the sky.
Under his command, the squad quickly regained their composure and began launching ninjutsu one after another.
"Lightning Release: Lightning Signal!"
"Lightning Release: Gratitude Wave!"
"Earth Release: Earth Dragon Bullet!"
"Fire Release: Great Flame Bullet!"
A barrage of ninjutsu crashed toward the spot where Asuka stood.
As usual, Asuka didn't dodge.
But unlike before, the energy from the various ninjutsu began to converge toward a single point, forming a swirling vortex of energy.
When the vortex slowly faded, Asuka's figure reappeared.
The Cloud Ninja couldn't tell if it was their imagination, but Asuka seemed to be in much better condition than just moments ago.
Clearly, he had awakened a new ability.
The emergence of this power made Asuka realize just how lucky he had been. In such a short time, he had unlocked two incredibly powerful mutant abilities.
This new ability belonged to the famous Black King, Sebastian Shaw.
The Black King possessed the ability to absorb and store all forms of energy—kinetic energy, heat, electricity, nuclear energy, and more.
He could also convert the absorbed energy into physical strength, enhancing his body and even slowing the aging process.
Of course, there was a limit to how much energy he could absorb. But he could also release the stored energy at will. As long as the incoming attack wasn't powerful enough to destroy him instantly, he could absorb and release energy simultaneously, making him almost impossible to defeat.
For Asuka, the inability to store energy permanently wasn't much of a problem.
After all, he had a massive energy consumer inside his body.
Judging from how easily he had absorbed the Cloud Ninja's ninjutsu just now, Asuka was extremely satisfied with this ability.
In the world of shinobi, it was essentially a superior version of the Rinnegan's Preta Path.
---------------Author---------------
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