"It's the Ino-Shika-Cho formation! They actually stopped that monster!"
"Counterattack! Counterattack!"
"Go for it, Choza! Crush that thing!"
The routed Konoha Ninja, previously fleeing in absolute terror, ground to a halt when they saw Shukaku immobilized by Nara Shikaku's shadows. A desperate cheer went up as they pinned their hopes on Akimichi Choza's descending, mountain-sized fist.
"So this is Konoha's legendary Ino-Shika-Cho trio?" Pakura murmured from the Sand's backline, her eyes narrowing. "Their coordinated strength is unexpectedly high... but it still won't be enough."
Pakura scanned the chaotic battlefield, still searching for the Leaf's supreme commander.
Still not showing your face? Pakura sneered inwardly. Are you so patient that you expect a single Jonin trio to stop a Perfect Jinchuriki? How incredibly naive!
She looked up at Chisuke, whose head was still bowed atop the immobilized beast, and felt a surge of pride. Go wild to your heart's content, Chisuke! After today, your name will strike terror throughout the entire Ninja World!
BOOM!
Just as Choza's titanic fist was about to obliterate Chisuke, Shukaku's eyes snapped open. The beast violently raised a massive, sandy hand and caught Choza's descending wrist mid-air.
Simultaneously, the thick shadow tendrils binding Shukaku's arm violently snapped apart one by one with the sound of tearing steel.
The earth shook under the sheer kinetic impact. The cheering Konoha Ninja fell dead silent in absolute horror.
"This kind of raw physical power... damn it!" Choza roared.
Thick veins popped across Choza's expanded face. He gritted his teeth, burning his chakra to push down with every ounce of his colossal strength. The ground beneath his feet cracked and cratered under the pressure, but his fist remained frozen a mere meter above Chisuke's head, trembling violently, unable to descend a single millimeter further.
Chisuke snapped his eyes open, looking up at the giant, lethal fist hovering just inches from his skull. He was instantly furious.
"You bastard Tanuki!" Chisuke yelled, stamping his foot on the beast's head. "I told you to stop playing around! I told you to take care of the intruder faster! I almost got squashed into meat paste!"
Shukaku snorted, a massive gust of sand blowing from its snout.
"This Great Lord still came out too early," Shukaku grumbled loudly. "It would've been much better if you were beaten to death! And how dare you call me a Tanuki! I am the majestic Shukaku!"
"Tanuki, Tanuki, stupid fat Tanuki!" Chisuke shot back.
He absolutely refused to indulge the beast's ego, secretly debating whether he should ask Ooka Shin to lend him the Rinnegan again just to properly traumatize the oversized raccoon. Or better yet, maybe he'd just have Nagato pop into the dreamscape to let Shukaku feel what true, god-like terror actually felt like.
Hearing Chisuke's genuinely angry tone, Shukaku knew the boy was pissed. Remembering the suffocating, apocalyptic pressure of the Rinnegan and the Gedo Statue, the beast actually shuddered. It didn't dare argue further, choosing instead to vent its profound irritation on the enemies in front of it.
It fully displayed its natural disposition: bullying the weak and fearing the strong.
"All of you annoying Leaf bugs! Die for this Great Lord!"
In its anger, Shukaku thrashed violently, tearing through the rest of Shikaku's shadow shackles with brute force and lunging forward.
Caught entirely off guard by the sudden burst of strength, Choza couldn't withstand the pushback. He stumbled backward, his massive feet crushing trees as he nearly lost his balance.
At that exact moment, Yamanaka Inoichi's physical body violently convulsed on the ground. He opened his eyes, spat out a massive mouthful of blood, and immediately fainted.
"Inoichi!" Shikaku cried out, dropping his hand seals to check on his oldest friend.
Shikaku knew the fatal flaw of the Mind Transfer Jutsu. While it was a mysterious, unblockable technique that allowed for direct spiritual possession, it carried immense risks. Because the user's spiritual energy directly entered the target's body, any physical damage the target sustained was reflected back.
More fatally, if the enemy's spiritual energy was overwhelmingly stronger than the caster's, the user essentially walked into a spiritual meat grinder and suffered a catastrophic psychic backlash. At best, the user's mind was severely damaged, requiring months of rest; at worst, it resulted in instant brain death.
After quickly confirming Inoichi was still breathing, Shikaku handed him over to a nearby Medical Ninja and instantly sprinted back into the fray to support the struggling Choza.
Having knocked Choza back, Shukaku proudly patted its round, sandy belly. It opened its cavernous mouth, rapidly gathering highly compressed chakra, and spat out three titanic spheres of wind in rapid succession.
"Wind Release: Consecutive Air Bullets!"
"Argh! I absolutely cannot fall here! Super Multi-Size Jutsu!"
Choza roared, his voice booming across the plain. He rapidly consumed vast amounts of his own Chakra, stimulating his cells to their absolute limits. He grew yet another size, becoming slightly taller than even Shukaku, his physical strength skyrocketing proportionally.
With a massive swing of his left fist, Choza shattered the first Air Bullet, the shockwave flattening the grass for miles.
His right fist struck out like a battering ram, violently knocking the second Air Bullet off its trajectory.
But the final Air Bullet followed too closely, reaching Choza before he could properly reset his guard.
"Break!" Choza bellowed.
He leaned his massive upper body back sharply and slammed his head forward in a devastating headbutt.
BOOM!
The wind chakra violently scattered into a localized hurricane. Choza successfully blocked the final Air Bullet, but a huge, bloody laceration opened across his face. The sheer concussive force caused his colossal body to slump backward onto the ground.
"Bwahahaha! To think a squishy human could actually block this Great Lord's attacks! You're not bad!" Shukaku cheered. "Let's go again!"
Just as Shukaku was about to pursue the downed giant, it suddenly felt its body freeze. Looking down, the beast saw that its feet were once again heavily entangled in thick, black shadows, many of which had hardened and pierced directly into its sandy flesh.
"Everyone, attack together! Buy time for Choza!" Nara Shikaku yelled, maintaining the hand seals while sweat poured down his face.
The surrounding Konoha Ninja didn't hesitate. They immediately launched a massive, coordinated barrage.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"
"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique!"
"Lightning Release: Lightning Snake Technique!"
A chaotic storm of elemental Ninjutsu, shuriken, and explosive tags bombarded Shukaku's body like thousands of colorful fireworks. For a brief, agonizing moment, the beast was entirely unable to move under the sheer volume of suppressing fire.
Seeing this, Chisuke decided it was time to step in and offer his partner a highly effective buff.
"Hey, Shukaku," Chisuke yelled over the explosions. "Don't you want to beat up the Nine-Tails? If you get held back here by a bunch of standard infantry, you won't even get to see Kurama's face! Konoha's Hokage will think you're way too weak and pathetic to even bother deploying the Nine-Tails against you!"
Chisuke smirked. "And if the stupid fox hears about this, he will definitely mock you, despise you, and laugh at you for the rest of eternity!"
Hearing Kurama's name used as an insult, Shukaku's fighting spirit exploded into the stratosphere. Its combat power spiked unnaturally.
"Don't you bugs ever think you can stop this Great Lord!"
Shukaku let out a deafening, earth-shattering howl. The massive soundwaves created a physical windstorm, blowing away the incoming Ninjutsu and forcing hundreds of Konoha Ninja to shield their eyes and retreat.
Completely ignoring the shadows anchoring its feet, Shukaku opened its mouth. Red and blue bubbles of terrifying, ultra-dense chakra began to rapidly condense into a pitch-black sphere.
It was preparing to sweep everything away with a Tailed Beast Ball.
"This terrifying chakra... run! Everyone fall back!"
Feeling the suffocating, apocalyptic density of the Tailed Beast Ball forming, Nara Shikaku's expression morphed into pure, unadulterated horror. Knowing that no standard defense could withstand it, he desperately tried to order a full retreat.
But they were a step too late. Shukaku had already completed the sphere and fired it.
Tailed Beast Ball!
"It's over."
Looking at the incoming sphere of localized destruction, many Konoha Ninja dropped their weapons, feeling a profound, paralyzing sense of powerlessness. Against a strategic strike of this magnitude, human tactics were utterly meaningless.
This was no longer a battle for mortals. They were all going to die.
"Butterfly Bullet Bombing!"
A resolute, booming voice echoed across the battlefield. Akimichi Choza's massive, battered figure suddenly stepped directly in front of the retreating Konoha Ninja.
With a roar that tore his throat, Choza delivered an apocalyptic, perfectly placed punch that violently deflected the Tailed Beast Ball upward.
On Choza's back, his majestic, burning life-force chakra had condensed into two gigantic, luminous butterfly wings. They were breathtakingly beautiful in color, yet fueled by a terrifyingly lethal, sacrificial power.
The deflected Tailed Beast Ball sailed over the army and impacted a distant mountain range, instantly vaporizing the peaks in a blinding dome of white light. The massive, delayed roar of the explosion finally snapped everyone out of their dazed terror.
"He... he did it! We survived!"
"We're not dead! We're really not dead!"
The Konoha Ninja wept with absolute joy, cheering hysterically for the miracle.
The Sand Ninja, however, found the scene utterly unbelievable. A ripple of fear spread through their ranks as they began to doubt Shukaku's absolute invincibility.
"How is that physically possible?! He actually knocked away a Tailed Beast Ball with his bare hands!"
"Could it be... that even with a Tailed Beast on our side, we still can't defeat the Leaf?!"
Standing atop the beast, Chisuke was also genuinely shocked for a moment, but he quickly recovered with an appreciative smile.
So this is the ultimate, life-risking secret technique of the Akimichi Clan? Chisuke thought. It's undeniably powerful, but the physiological side effects must be unimaginably severe. To force two members of the legendary Ino-Shika-Cho out of commission on the very first day of the war... that's quite a fantastic result on my end.
Chisuke had never deluded himself into thinking the Sand Ninja could unilaterally conquer Konoha, nor was that his personal goal. He had only one objective: to make a terrifying name for himself, secure political power and resources in the village, and continuously grow stronger without actually dying.
"Shukaku, you're being severely underestimated," Chisuke goaded. "It's time to stop holding back."
"Don't tell this Great Lord what to do!"
Furious that its ultimate attack had been batted away like a toy, Shukaku let out a furious roar and charged straight toward the glowing giant.