Gyuki's earsplitting roar echoed through the jagged peaks, causing Jiraiya—who was rushing toward the scene with the Sealing Corps—to curse under his breath.
Having survived the Second Great Ninja War, Jiraiya understood the apocalyptic power of the Eight-Tails all too well. If the beast wasn't contained immediately, the casualties would be beyond calculation.
"I'll move ahead to support! You lot keep up!"
Without worrying about his reserves, Jiraiya flooded his legs with chakra, his speed accelerating into a blur.
On the battlefield, the eruption of the Eight-Tails' chakra left many ninja paralyzed with primal fear.
"Dad! What the hell is that?!" Kurenai Yuhi asked, her voice trembling as she stared at the gargantuan monstrosity. It was a horror that defied logic, radiating a physical weight of malice.
Genhai, who had been riding a high after helping Shinku kill two Cloud ninja under Saiki's protection, looked ready to faint. He instinctively huddled closer to Saiki's shadow clone.
"That is a Tailed Beast," Shinku Yuhi said, his voice heavy with grim realization. "A monster manifested from a mountain of chakra."
The Nine-Tails was technically the strongest, and a "Perfect Jinchuriki" of the Fox would be a god-tier powerhouse.
But that power was a nightmare to control. Even Mito Uzumaki—wife of the "God of Shinobi" Hashirama Senju—couldn't fully harmonize with it, relying instead on her own massive chakra to suppress the beast and unlock a limited Golden Body Mode.
Kushina, the current host, struggled just to keep the seal intact, let alone tap into its power.
Whenever she lost control, the entire Sealing Corps had to be mobilized to keep the village from being erased.
The Sage of the Six Paths had been notoriously biased when he split the chakra; the Nine-Tails held half of the total sum of all tailed beasts combined.
Being that powerful meant it was too dangerous to use. While other villages treated their Jinchuriki as conventional artillery, dropping Tailed Beast Bombs like common grenades, Konoha's Fox was a true nuclear deterrent—only to be used if the village was on the verge of extinction.
The Cloud was being ruthless. They intended to drop a Tailed Beast Bomb directly onto the Medical Camp, shattering the Leaf's sustainment and forcing a total surrender.
Among the Five Nations, the Land of Fire was uniquely blessed with fertile plains and a perfect climate, providing the foundation for its economic dominance.
The Land of Wind was a barren desert; the Land of Earth was a jagged, resource-poor wasteland.
The Land of Lightning sat on a high, storm-swept plateau. While technologically advanced, they lacked the agricultural base for true prosperity.
The Land of Water was an isolated, fog-drenched archipelago with a struggling economy.
The resources of the world could have been shared, but the Leaf ate more than its fair share while the others starved. It was only natural for the rest of the world to hate them.
War was always about profit. The "Hatred" the Leaf elders preached was just the seasoning; greed was the main course.
To tear a chunk of flesh from the Leaf, the Cloud had risked everything to bring the Eight-Tails to the front.
As Gyuki manifested, its sheer size and destructive aura forced everyone—even the Uchiha—to retreat.
Without Kage-level power or specialized sealing teams, a normal ninja would be vaporized just by being in the blast radius of its movements.
A single roar could act as an atmospheric cannon, crushing the lungs of anyone in its path. Every swing of its massive tentacles felt like the world was splitting apart.
Not just the Leaf, but the Cloud ninja were also fleeing.
Tailed Beasts were natural disasters with minds. Humans didn't hate them because they were "evil"; humans hated them because they were small and the beasts were gods of destruction.
Gyuki didn't even bother with a Tailed Beast Bomb yet. It simply thrashed its tentacles, turning several Leaf squads into red paste in a single heartbeat. Saiki watched in somber silence as the screams of the dying filled his ears.
Saiki's family was dead and the orphanage was exploited; he blamed the Leaf elders for much of his misery. He loved Tsunade and Nono'u, but he held no love for the village.
However, watching ordinary soldiers being crushed like ants by the beast sparked a complex knot of emotion in him. Despite his loathing for the leaders, these rank-and-file ninja were just as exploited as he was.
Amidst the carnage, Saiki stood perfectly still. Tsume and Shinku huddled with the children, staring at Saiki's shadow clone. "Saiki! Tell your main body to get back here!"
The clone shook its head. "Haven't you noticed? Gyuki is already looking at him."
"I guess I was a bit too flashy," Saiki thought with a sigh. As the beast loomed over him, he took a deep breath, his internal Qi surging as he prepped a lethal strike.
"Wind Style: Sky-Rending Slash!"
He didn't waste time with signs. A razor-sharp arc of pressurized wind tore through the air, aimed directly at the monstrosity.
The Eight-Tails viewed the attack as a mere nuisance, swinging a massive tentacle to swat the "fly" and his wind away.
"B! LOOK OUT!"
Inside the mental landscape, the Eight-Tails sensed a spike of absolute danger and screamed a warning to his host.
It was too late. The tentacle met the wind blade, and the result was catastrophic.
Gyuki's hide was tough enough to shrug off steel, reinforced by layers of Tailed Beast chakra.
But Saiki had poured his full power into this strike, infusing the blade with a thread of his precious Senjutsu Qi.
This wasn't a "Sage Art" from the toads or snakes. It was a refined energy that touched the tier of the Six Paths.
The wind blade didn't just cut; it erased. The massive tentacle was severed as easily as a knife through soft tofu, and a geyser of purple-black chakra-blood erupted into the night.
The blade didn't stop at the limb. It carved through the beast's defensive aura and sliced into its right flank, opening a wound so deep it exposed the "bone."
The Eight-Tails let out a shriek of agony that shattered the silence for miles.
Because it was a chakra construct, the wound began to knit back together immediately, but the pain was very, very real.
Sasuke's Chidori Spear—a move that weakened as it lengthened—had been enough to cut a tail in the future. Against Saiki's refined Dharma Power, the beast's defenses were a joke.
Saiki had only used a sliver of his reserves, but it was enough. The "Thunder Fang" had shown its teeth.