Meanwhile, on the far side of the battlefield, a very different spectacle was unfolding.
Guy was locked in combat with the Two-Tails' Jinchuriki—and he wasn't the slightest bit pressured.
If anything, he seemed to be having fun.
Leaping around effortlessly, Guy teased the Jinchuriki with a bright grin, shouting things like,
"What a wild cat!"
"Beautiful kitty! Come here!"
each taunt designed to needle both host and beast.
With every jab and every playful insult, the Two-Tails grew more irritated—its chakra bubbling, tails lashing, fury rising.
And Guy only laughed harder.
After being mocked again and again by Guy's nonstop taunts, the Two-Tails' Jinchuriki finally snapped.
Rage surged, chakra flared, and with a bestial roar, the Tailed Beast decided it had had enough.
Without hesitation, it formed its ultimate attack—the strongest weapon in the arsenal of any tailed beast:
the Tailed Beast Bomb.
A gigantic sphere of compressed chakra—dark, swirling, and humming with annihilating energy—launched toward Guy like a meteor.
Guy glanced at the incoming mass of destruction and smirked.
"Well now," he said, voice light and confident,
"let's see if that can break my barrier."
His stretched his palm forward and chakra erupted around him.
A second later, multiple translucent layers of glowing barrier materialized before him—the Multi-Dimensional Barrier.
One shield atop another, each one shimmering like stacked panes of hardened light.
The Tailed Beast Bomb struck.
The world flashed white.
A deafening explosion tore across the battlefield, shaking the very air and sending a colossal shockwave rippling outward, flattening trees and kicking up dust like a desert storm.
But when the light faded, the barrier remained—and Guy stood floating calmly in the sky, arms crossed, unrattled and untouched.
He didn't have a scratch.
As the last remnants of smoke drifted away, Guy peered down at the stunned Two-Tails Jinchuriki.
"You've shown me your best," he said, voice suddenly flat and cold.
"Now take one of mine."
He pointed a single finger.
"Death Streak."
A pitch-black beam burst from his fingertip—moving so fast it covered the distance between them instantly.
The attack tore into the Jinchuriki, swallowing flesh, chakra, and beast alike.
In the next heartbeat, the target began to disintegrate, body unraveling into dust and fragments of fading chakra.
And within moments, the Two-Tails' Jinchuriki was gone—erased completely.
Guy let out a slow sigh and shook his head.
"Sigh… couldn't even take a single attack."
The "Death Streak" had wiped the Jinchuriki out so cleanly that even the Two-Tails' chakra construct was shredded beyond recognition.
Of course, like all tailed beasts, it would eventually reform somewhere within Kumogakure's territory. A creature made purely of chakra could be destroyed—but never permanently killed.
If tailed beasts had been made of flesh and blood, Guy's attack would have wiped the species from existence.
But Guy just rolled his shoulders, completely unbothered.
He had long since reached a realm of power where very few people could challenge him, let alone push him.
Even Shanks might not match him anymore—though Guy held deep respect for Onii-san and wouldn't even dream of attacking him. So naturally, fighting Shanks was out of the question. Respect came before testing strength.
…
Meanwhile, a very different clash thundered in another corner of the battlefield.
The Three-Tails vs. Antares.
The landscape had been torn apart.
Smashed trees, shattered rock, shredded shoreline—entire sections of coast had turned into mud and cratered sand.
Waves rose in great walls, smashing against land as the immense chakra and physical force of the clash between Three-Tails and Antares churned the sea.
And yet, throughout the entire encounter, the Three-Tails never gained the upper hand.
Not even once.
Finally, pushed into a corner, it unleashed its trump card—a massive Tailed Beast Bomb, shrieking through the air toward its foe.
High above, Antares hovered in his full dragon form—scales glowing, wings spread wide like storm clouds.
He eyed the incoming blast with pure disdain.
Then he inhaled.
And exhaled.
He unleashed his strongest technique—
Breath of Destruction.
A torrent of annihilating fire roared forth, saturated with the raw element of destruction itself.
It tore through the Tailed Beast Bomb, pulverizing it as if it were mist—and continued forward, engulfing the Three-Tails' Jinchuriki in a single devastating sweep.
The Three-Tails disappeared into nothingness—chakra, flesh, and will extinguished in an instant.
Just like that, the battle ended.
For warriors like Guy and Antares, combat was little more than a warm-up routine—
a chance to stretch their muscles, move their limbs, and amuse themselves.
If they had wanted, both could have ended their fights the moment they began.
There was simply no urgency…
and no opponents worthy of their true strength.
…
Antares and Guy were now brushing the edge of their full power.
Even in their current state—not yet at their true peak—Shanks could no longer defeat them alone.
If the two ever fought him seriously, there was a very real possibility they could injure him badly.
Of course, neither Antares nor Guy would walk away unscathed—any clash at that level would leave all three battered and bleeding.
This reality meant one thing:
If Shanks wished to remain the strongest among the Uzumaki—the shinobi standing unquestioned at the very top—then he would need to push himself even further.
He would have to refine his Haki beyond the peak he had already reached.
He would need to explore new powers, new concepts, new techniques.
Strength belonged to those who refused to be surpassed.
And that future would come.
Shanks did not mind being surpassed by his siblings—in fact, nothing would make him happier—but he also understood a simple truth: even if his current strength placed him above every being in this world, the threat did not end here.
The Otsutsuki existed, and their shadow loomed over everything.
So Shanks would continue to grow stronger—stronger than ever—until he reclaimed the pinnacle that belonged to him.
One day soon, he would once more stand unrivalled among the Uzumaki—the unparalleled Red-Haired Emperor.
----
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