Chapter 161: Great Battle with the One-Tails
Seeing Uchiha Kagami's skill level and Orochimaru's formidable physical strength and combat ability, Nagai Hōsai decided not to wait any longer. He wanted to avoid any potential complications and immediately played his final trump card, weaving the hand signs for the Tailed Beast Jinchūriki Feigning Sleep Technique!
Watching Nagai Hōsai complete that sequence of hand signs, both strange and familiar, Orochimaru couldn't help but tremble slightly all over. It was coming. It was finally coming.
He continually licked his lips, his excitement impossible to contain.
As Nagai Hōsai completed the final hand sign, his eyes glazed over, and he plummeted from the tree as if he had lost consciousness.
While he was still in mid-air, Orochimaru and Uchiha Kagami suddenly saw the ground within hundreds of meters of Nagai Hōsai abruptly shatter into pieces. In the blink of an eye, it liquefied into surging yellow sand, quickly rising into the sky like an erupting sand fountain.
As this sand fountain first appeared, Nagai Hōsai's unconscious body was entirely lifted and supported in the air by an immense, unknown force.
Shhh, shhh, shhh. The sand erupting from underground seemed endless, rising with the enormous momentum of crashing waves, shaking the surrounding air with a deafening roar.
The boundless yellow sand quickly coalesced beneath Nagai Hōsai's feet. Before the form was fully condensed, Orochimaru and Uchiha Kagami felt a frantic, savage, brutal, and powerful aura, as if intending to destroy everything, suddenly surge up from Nagai Hōsai's body, shooting straight to the heavens.
This mighty aura was filled with a great shock and terror that instilled fear, heavily impacting the minds of Orochimaru and Uchiha Kagami.
As the surging yellow sand condensed, a terrifying giant beast, comparable in height to the Hokage Rock, materialized beneath Nagai Hōsai's feet.
Its massive, yellowish-brown body was covered in purple markings that symbolized the power of the Wind God. Its two huge claws, which hung at its sides, were the size of rooms, and a thick, nearly hundred-meter-long tail trailed behind it, smashing countless towering trees on the ground.
As the huge, tanuki-shaped head finally finished condensing, a primal roar shook the eardrums of Orochimaru and Uchiha Kagami: "Hahaha! I'm finally out!"
The two massive claws hanging at its sides danced in the air. Simply swinging them generated fierce gusts of wind, unleashing streams of wind blades.
The thick, long tail excitedly slapped the ground repeatedly, each strike carving a long ravine into the solid earth.
This was, indeed, the One-Tails, Shukaku!
The gigantic Shukaku indulged in its frenzy for a moment. Its two square, diamond-shaped black eyes finally spotted Orochimaru and Uchiha Kagami, who were watching warily. It opened its mouth and let out an excited roar: "Aha! I just got out, and now I have little bugs delivering themselves to me!"
Uchiha Kagami glanced at Orochimaru and charged forward without hesitation. He couldn't retreat, not because he didn't want to, but because he couldn't; a retreat would mean utter disaster for the Konoha ninja on the battlefield.
So, Uchiha Kagami braced himself and rushed forward.
Orochimaru, slightly trembling with excitement, showed no fear. Highly experienced in fighting Tailed Beasts, he knew clearly that Shukaku had only just emerged from the Jinchūriki's body and would need time to recover its strength; it was in its weakest state.
Orochimaru followed closely behind Uchiha Kagami. He planned to seize an opportunity to land a critical blow on Shukaku and activate the Ten Thousand Seals Technique, which he had been preparing for years.
Shukaku, overjoyed to finally be free from the Jinchūriki's body, was suddenly enraged when it saw the two figures, whom it considered mere bugs, launch an attack first, challenging its authority. It fiercely opened its monstrous mouth.
Wind Style: Drilling Air Bullet!
A highly condensed, deep-blue vacuum air sphere containing a massive amount of Chakra shot out from Shukaku's mouth like a cannonball, heading straight for Uchiha Kagami.
The One-Tails, Shukaku, which naturally mastered the ultimate forms of Wind Style and Earth Style and could fuse them to create the ultimate Sand Style, possessed terrifying power.
The propelled vacuum air sphere violently compressed the air, and as it flew, it continuously drew in surrounding airflow, increasing its rotation speed and enhancing its destructive force.
Uchiha Kagami dared not be careless and unleashed his strongest Fire Style Jutsu!
A massive amount of Chakra, nearly half of Uchiha Kagami's reserves, was refined and converted. With a sequence of profound hand signs, it was released into the air in front of him.
Fire Style: Great Fire Annihilation Technique!
A torrent of golden-red flame, highly condensed and compressed, about the thickness of a water barrel, instantly appeared from the air in front of Uchiha Kagami. Like a laser beam, it shot toward the incoming Drilling Air Bullet.
The surrounding air near the scorching flame torrent was intensely warped by the heat, creating a dazzling golden-red column of fire in the air that slammed into the Drilling Air Bullet.
Bang! A muffled sound, like a giant balloon being pricked by a fine needle, echoed. The golden-red pillar of flame instantly shattered and pierced through the deep-blue Drilling Air Bullet, striking Shukaku's enormous body.
The scorching, high-temperature flame torrent showed terrifying power, forcibly severing Shukaku's left arm at the shoulder. With a loud crash, the arm fell into the forest, kicking up dust and sand.
Uchiha Kagami was momentarily stunned. He hadn't expected Shukaku's attack to be so weak.
Orochimaru, who was right behind Uchiha Kagami, was not surprised at all. He knew that, on one hand, Fire Style countered Wind Style, and on the other, because Shukaku had just emerged from the Jinchūriki's body, its power was still very weak, at most only at the level of a newly formed Semi-Kage. The deep-blue Drilling Air Bullet, launched using the ultimate Wind Style, wasn't condensed enough, and the Chakra contained within it was insufficient.
While Uchiha Kagami was surprised, Orochimaru's eyes lit up at this "strike while the enemy is down" opportunity. He boldly performed the Summoning Technique.
Poff! A violent explosion sounded where Orochimaru stood. A cloud of white smoke rose into the sky, and Manda, like a skyscraper, forcefully emerged from the summoning space.
As soon as Manda saw the One-Tails, Shukaku, it immediately cursed: "Orochimaru, you wretched brat! Every time I come out, you land me in this mess! I'm going to eat you when I get the chance!"
Orochimaru was unconcerned. He knew that ever since Manda was subdued by Yamata no Orochi, it merely liked to talk tough and vent its brutal nature with words.
While Orochimaru was summoning Manda, Shukaku wasn't idle. Its severed arm rapidly condensed and regenerated, and it continuously spat out increasingly stronger Drilling Air Bullets from its mouth.
Orochimaru knew this meant Shukaku's power was quickly recovering. Without hesitation, he commanded Manda to launch a dark-purple poison sphere.
The room-sized poison sphere struck Shukaku's severed arm precisely with a boom.
The intense poisonous gas and liquid caused Shukaku to let out another enraged roar directed at the sky.
The large amount of poisonous gas and liquid corroded Shukaku's severed arm, making it sizzle and continuously emit clouds of misty white smoke. The speed of the arm's regeneration was greatly slowed, and Shukaku's power was further weakened.
Orochimaru smiled sinisterly and was about to make his next move when, suddenly...
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