Chapter 48: The Price of a Seal
Akatsurugi's expression tightened. There was no easy way to counter a Tailed Beast Ball. Not every shinobi possessed a Susano'o to block it. While his elementalization could save his life, it wouldn't stop the projectile itself. And his current position was perilous; if the Tailed Beast Ball passed through him, it would fly straight into the heart of the battle between Konoha and Suna. The resulting explosion would be catastrophic.
This was the true danger of the Tailed Beasts, the reason Hashirama Senju had sought to control them. It wasn't about posturing; it was about preventing a single beast from leveling a village from miles away.
Gritting his teeth, Akatsurugi made a decision. His right fist clenched, and his arm erupted into a limb of pure, superheated flame.
"Fire Fist!"
He launched himself forward, his arm elongating and expanding into a colossal fist of fire that shot toward Shukaku's open maw with impossible speed.
Shukaku's beady eyes widened in shock. He had never seen a ninjutsu like this.
The flaming fist slammed into the half-formed Tailed Beast Ball, driving it back down the beast's throat.
The resulting detonation was deafening. Akatsurugi's fire fist was blasted apart into a shower of embers. Shukaku's massive, sandy body disintegrated under the internal explosion, scattering into a cloud of granular debris.
Akatsurugi had already dissolved into flame. As shrapnel-like, glassified sand—a product of his intense heat meeting the desert—shrieked through the space he occupied, he realized that without his intangibility, he would have been shredded.
"ROAR!"
An enraged bellow echoed as the scattered sand began to swirl and coalesce, reforming Shukaku's shape. Akatsurugi felt a headache coming on. Even a point-blank Tailed Beast Ball explosion wasn't enough. As long as there was sand, Shukaku could regenerate.
The figure of Fū reappeared atop the reforming beast's head, his eyes now open. "Wind Release: Infinite Sand Cloud!" he commanded, his hands forming seals.
A massive sphere of compressed wind and sand shot from Shukaku's mouth.
Akatsurugi shot skyward, evading the attack. He drew Ryūjin Jakka. "All things of this world, turn to ashes. Ryūjin Jakka!"
Flames sheathed the blade. "Jōkakō Enjō (Scorching Flaming Prison)!"
A roaring tornado of fire enveloped Shukaku, the intense flames burning fiercely.
"Such powerful Fire Style, and no hand seals... is this his Kekkei Genkai?" Fū mused, feeling the heat.
"Not just that," Shukaku's voice grumbled in their shared consciousness. "This guy can become intangible. I saw it!"
Fū nodded. The intelligence gathering was crucial. In just a short exchange, they had identified one of Akatsurugi's key abilities.
"Should we use the seal?" Shukaku asked, unconcerned by the surrounding inferno.
"Not yet," Fū replied. "If we fail, he will be on guard. We need the perfect moment."
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!" Fū formed another set of seals. A layer of swirling wind wrapped around Shukaku, catching the fire tornado and lifting it harmlessly into the sky, carrying the flames away.
Resourceful, Akatsurugi thought, impressed despite himself. Ninja battles were a constant game of adaptation and counter-tactics.
"Wind Release: Sand Shuriken!" Shukaku roared, and Fū provided the chakra control. Countless shuriken formed from hardened sand materialized around Akatsurugi, homing in on him from all directions.
Knowing evasion was futile, Akatsurugi began to dissolve into flame. Simultaneously, he raised Ryūjin Jakka, preparing to close the distance and strike at Fū directly.
But then, he froze. His eyes widened in horror.
He couldn't move.
Grains of sand, microscopic and infused with Fū's chakra, had infiltrated his body during the earlier explosion and attacks. They now acted as anchors, locking his form in place.
Fū saw his chance. He thrust his palm forward. "Now!"
The sand beneath Shukaku mimicked the motion, a colossal paw of sand rising to crush Akatsurugi.
"Desert Layered Imperial Seal!"
This was it. The finishing move. Shukaku's arm morphed, transforming into a massive, pyramid-shaped seal covered in esoteric markings, descending to entomb Akatsurugi forever.
A cold dread washed over Akatsurugi. If this landed, it was over.
No!
At the critical moment, the three tomoe in his left eye spun wildly, morphing into the stark, four-pointed windmill of the Mangekyō. The pupil power expenditure was immense; a single trail of bloody tears traced a path down his cheek.
Forced Transposition!
In the instant before the seal could complete its descent, the positions of Akatsurugi and Fū were violently swapped.
Fū's eyes shot open in stunned disbelief. Then, darkness. The pyramid of sand, meant for his enemy, slammed down over him, the sealing formulae flashing brightly before solidifying.
Shukaku let out a confused grunt. Where did Fū go? The loss of its Jinchūriki's stabilizing presence was immediate. The massive form of the One-Tail shuddered and then dissolved, collapsing back into an inert dune of sand.
Akatsurugi lay sprawled on the dune that had been Shukaku, coughing dryly. He now understood his paralysis. Fū's sand had gotten inside him during his elemental state. It was a terrifying vulnerability he hadn't considered.
Gathering his focus, he forced his body to transform into flame once more, expelling every last grain of foreign sand. Only then did he feel his body was truly his own again. He lay there, breathing heavily, the cost of the Mangekyō a dull, painful throb behind his eye. The Jinchūriki was sealed, but the victory felt pyrrhic. He had been forced to reveal another trump card and had discovered a potentially fatal weakness.