"That fat, wheezy voice… is that—?"
Hearing the shout, Kai instinctively turned his head.
Forget anything else—just from the sound alone, you could tell whoever made it had to be huge.
Down on the street, the spectators had already been completely evacuated.
As the fight escalated, Shukaku's attacks had grown more and more reckless. Even with barrier teams deployed, ANBU couldn't guarantee civilian safety, so everyone had been moved out.
The ones left behind were mostly chunin and jonin-level shinobi.
"ROOOAAAR!!! SHUKAKU! SHUKAKU!"
A deafening howl exploded outward, instantly drawing every eye.
Only then did they realize—
Gaara's body was swelling and twisting violently.
The sand that had once shielded him now surged skyward, wrapped in dark red chakra.
In moments, a colossal yellow-brown monster—formed entirely of flowing sand and savage chakra—rose from the ground.
Ten stories tall.
A single eye carved with violet markings.
A grotesque grin stretching ear to ear, drool spilling endlessly.
The One-Tail — Shukaku.
Not a chakra avatar like Yugito's.
The real thing.
A full manifestation breaking free from Gaara's body.
And there was only one reason it appeared.
One person.
WHOOSH!
The instant it formed, Shukaku swung a hill-sized claw and burst into wild laughter.
"HAHAHAHA! STUPID FOX! I'M OUT!"
"You dared provoke me?! Get out here! Hurry up! I can't wait to beat you into the dirt!"
Its single eye locked straight onto Naruto.
Brimming with anticipation.
It had sensed the Nine-Tails' chakra—and smashed through the seal purely for the chance to fight.
Naruto: …
For some reason, staring at the wildly arrogant sand beast gave him a strange sense of déjà vu.
Hadn't he seen this kind of scene before?
Inside Naruto's seal space—
Kurama lazily cracked one eye open and glanced outside.
"Heh. Go on, keep barking," the Nine-Tails scoffed. "Let's see how long you can keep that up."
Even the Two-Tails had been beaten into hiding.
Did Shukaku really think he'd fare better?
Of course not.
"Uh… this…"
Nearby, Sasuke's face twitched.
The scene felt oddly familiar.
And somehow…
this monster's personality felt familiar too.
Like someone who suddenly thought the sky had cleared and the rain had stopped.
He wanted to say something—but the overwhelming pressure pinned him in place.
Gritting his teeth, he forced out a shout:
"BRO!! SECOND BRO!! SOMEONE'S BULLYING ME!!"
ANBU watching: …
Naruto and Lee: …
Even Temari and Kankuro, who were preparing to intervene, froze.
Shukaku itself turned its massive head slowly toward Sasuke.
Then—
It covered its mouth with one ugly claw and burst out laughing.
"OH HOHOHO!"
"What family's this idiot brat from? Calling for his big brother?!"
"HAHAHAHA! That's the funniest thing I've heard in centuries!"
After laughing, its gaze suddenly turned cold.
Its single eye swept across the distant crowd… the Hokage Tower battle… everywhere.
But it didn't see anyone dressed like Sasuke.
Its mouth curled into a savage grin.
"HEY!"
"INSECT! COME OUT!"
"Humans are nothing but sand under my feet!"
"COME OUT! I wanna see what kind of drunk fool thinks he can protect this brat!"
Silence.
The street remained dead quiet.
"Not coming out?"
Shukaku snorted and grabbed Sasuke in its claw.
"You don't want to see your little brother crushed into paste, right? Ohoho!"
"…Sigh."
A soft sigh suddenly echoed.
It sounded like it came from nowhere—
or everywhere.
Subtle.
But in that instant—
Time itself seemed to hesitate.
The fleeing crowd slowed.
The smoke above the Hokage Tower paused.
Even Shukaku's laughing jaw stiffened.
A sudden, inexplicable chill crawled through its core.
"No… impossible! There's no one in this world who could make me feel afraid!"
"Must be a trick! Definitely a trick!"
"Yeah—Kurama's trying to scare me!"
"That damn fox! Always bullying me!"
Convinced of this, Shukaku inhaled deeply—
then clenched its claw.
If you dare threaten me, I'll crush this hostage right now!
CRUNCH—
But at the exact moment it tightened its grip—
A tiny black dot appeared in front of its eyes.
Next frame—
WHOOSH!
No hand signs.
No warning.
A blurred shadow tore through the crushing pressure Shukaku emitted, slicing the air with a piercing sonic shriek.
Too fast.
Far beyond anything in Shukaku's memory.
Even the most agile tailed beasts couldn't move like that.
"What… is that?"
It barely caught three afterimages—
before suddenly noticing—
a fist.
A small, youthful human fist.
Wrapped in a faint silver glow.
Compared to its massive body, the fist was dust-sized.
Shukaku grinned mockingly.
"Heh, human!"
"You're fast? So what?!"
"Out here, it's all about fi—"
WHUMP.
The punch landed.
Clean.
Direct.
CRACK.
No flesh impact.
No explosive boom.
Only the sharp, brittle sound of something shattering—like glass breaking sideways through the air.
The fist stamped into Shukaku's sand-forged jaw.
Time resumed.
BOOOOOOOM!!!!
Unimaginable force erupted instantly.
Shukaku's mountain-sized head exploded into a storm of pulverized sand.
The shockwave burst outward in a massive ring.
Even its colossal body was ripped upward—
its entire upper half snapping backward at an absurd angle.
The unfinished sentence in its throat collapsed into a strangled wail.
At that moment—
All of Konoha fell silent.
Only the soft hiss of sand raining down remained.
And beneath that falling sand—
Kai Uchiha slowly emerged.
Hovering where Shukaku's head had been.
He flicked his hand once in mild annoyance, violet lightning faintly crackling around him.
Not even his clothes were disturbed.
Catching the stunned Sasuke effortlessly, Kai looked at the regenerating beast and spoke two cold words—
that drilled straight into Shukaku's mind:
"Too loud."
Read 50 chapters ahead on P@treon -> patreon.com/SorenSwiftTL