"Meooow!!!"
Inside the sealed space, the cries of the One-Tailed Shukaku echoed endlessly.
Its enormous body—formed from powerful chakra and sand—was gradually deforming and twitching under the relentless beating.
Boom!
Kai raised his hand, fingers clenched tightly.
His figure flashed, and another heavy punch smashed viciously into Shukaku's bulging belly.
Bop~
The impact sounded like a surface of water being pressed down before springing back.
In the next instant, waves of sand surged violently.
A massive crater was blasted into Shukaku's stomach.
Boom!
Another punch followed, landing squarely on Shukaku's head.
The huge head it had only just repaired shattered again, half of it blown apart.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
At this moment, Kai's fists were as dense as a pile driver.
One punch after another crashed into Shukaku's enormous body.
The beating was so brutal that the tailed beast had practically turned into a whimpering kitten, crying out nonstop.
"ROAR! Stop! Stop it!"
"Ow! Ow! That hurts! It hurts! This great lord is dying, meow—!"
"I'm a tailed beast! The strongest tailed beast in the ninja world! How can you… how can you hit me like this—meoww!"
The unbearable pain made Shukaku's mental screams warp out of pitch.
As the proudest of the tailed beasts, its sense of dignity had always been unmatched.
But today—
Today of all days—
The mighty Shukaku, the strongest tailed beast, was being pinned down and beaten senseless!
It stretched out its massive claws, trying to protect its head—but its stomach immediately took a punch.
When it covered its belly, its back was hammered instead.
Pure.
Unreasonable.
Brutal physical force.
Even its proud sand defense was as fragile as an eggshell before this human.
For the first time in its life, a strange emotion appeared in Shukaku's heart.
Even when the Nine-Tails had pinned it down and smashed its head in, it had never felt this.
Was it—
…grievance?
It almost wanted to cry.
In fact, two streams of sand actually shot out from its dark eye sockets like tears.
It simply couldn't understand!
Why?!
Why could a mere spiritual projection punch it and leave its entire body aching?!
And the pain was getting worse!
After staying inside a Jinchūriki for so many years, Shukaku—the mighty guardian of sand—felt the urge, for the first time, to actually talk things out with its opponent.
If it remembered correctly, this guy had tried to talk to Gaara earlier, hadn't he?
If he could talk to Gaara, surely he could talk to Shukaku too!
Seizing a brief opening, Shukaku quickly covered its face and blurted out:
"Human! How about we talk? Just ten minutes!"
"Talk?"
Kai raised an eyebrow, looking at the massive creature trembling in front of him.
The irritation brought by the Insomniac trait had already been vented quite a bit.
Tilting his head slightly, he considered for a moment.
"You really want to talk?"
"Yes, yes, yes! Let's talk! We can talk as long as you want!"
Shukaku let out a long sigh of relief, its entire body of sand trembling.
Its enormous raccoon-like head nodded frantically.
It truly feared this kind of lunatic.
Soon, the sealed space fell quiet.
Only the soft sound of sand flowing remained.
Shukaku awkwardly rubbed its huge palms together.
Its big toes dug nervously into the ground beneath it.
For all these years, it had either been treated like someone's pet or like a cat stuffed inside a jar.
Shukaku had absolutely no idea how to chat with a human.
But—
It had been the one to suggest the conversation.
It couldn't just stay silent, right?
That would be playing tricks on the other party!
And if the human decided to slap it again, who could it complain to?
Thinking this, Shukaku's little eyes spun rapidly as it desperately searched for a topic.
Suddenly, its eyes lit up.
"L-Lord… how about I show you Magnet Release?"
If it didn't know what to say, it could just perform something!
That counted as conversation, didn't it?
Thinking this, Shukaku even felt the urge to let out another "meow."
Brilliant!
Absolutely brilliant!
"Oh? Go ahead and show me."
Kai didn't move again.
He was curious too—maybe conversation really could reveal something useful.
Buzz… buzz…
Soon, Shukaku clapped its huge hands together.
The black sealing runes on its body began to rotate, subtly flowing into the surrounding sand.
Moments later, grains of golden sand began appearing within the ordinary sand.
Their color stood out clearly from the surrounding grains.
Under Shukaku's control, the golden sand quickly formed into a tiny golden Nine-Tails fox.
It hopped around energetically in front of Kai.
Like an obedient servant, it knelt and bowed repeatedly.
Extremely humble.
It was obvious that Shukaku was highly skilled with this technique.
The sand fox moved with remarkable intelligence and agility.
"If this guy lived in the modern world, he'd definitely be one of those creepy doll-curse masters."
Kai shook his head slightly.
At the same time, the crisp system notification sounded again in his mind.
[Conversation with One-Tail Shukaku for three minutes. Trait analysis in progress.]
[Copyable traits detected:]
[Seal Master (Black)]
[Self-Respect (Black)]
[Chatterbox (Black)]
[Desert Layered Grand Burial (Gold)]
[Tailed Beast Bomb · Pseudo (Purple)]
[Feigning Sleep Technique (Purple)]
[Magnet Release Mastery (Purple)]
[Wind Release Mastery (Blue)…]
Looking at the list of traits, Kai nodded thoughtfully.
Most of them were quite useful.
Except for the black traits.
Those three black traits looked suspiciously like the kind of traits possessed by the old men who talked endlessly outside residential gates.
Useless—but extremely enthusiastic.
However…
Seal Master caught Kai's attention.
His eyes drifted toward the black runes covering Shukaku's body.
These tadpole-like sealing symbols…
Just how powerful was the sealing power contained within them?
Kai didn't know.
But in some aspects, it might rival the Adamantine Sealing Chains.
While he was thinking—
The surrounding sand continued to gather in greater and greater quantities.
The small Nine-Tails fox formed from sand grew larger and larger.
Then suddenly—
It transformed into a massive pyramid.
A towering sand structure, layer upon layer.
At first glance, it looked almost like a giant pagoda.
And right at the center—
Was Kai.
"HAHAHAHA!" Shukaku finally couldn't hold back its excitement once everything was ready.
"Foolish! Foolish human! You've been tricked by the great Shukaku's brilliant strategy!"
"With the power of sealing inside this sand, no matter how strong you are, you won't escape!"
As it spoke, both of its claws slammed down onto the ground.
It unleashed the full power of its sealing chakra!
Yes—
Sealing power!
After suffering both physical and mental humiliation, sealing techniques were the only solution Shukaku could think of.
As for being discovered beforehand?
It wasn't worried in the slightest.
After all—
Who would expect a tailed beast to cultivate ninjutsu?
Only after the golden sand pyramid fully formed did it reveal its trap.
"Desert Layered Grand Burial Seal!"
A supreme sealing technique formed from Shukaku's unique chakra and the black sealing runes within its body!
Forget a human—
Even if the Nine-Tails appeared here, Shukaku believed it could still win!
That was its confidence.
RUMBLE! RUMBLE!
Almost instantly, the triangular pyramid of sealing sand rose into the air.
And at the center—
Was Kai.
"Hehehe… under my sealing technique, human, you'll become nothing more than my toy!"
Seeing Kai suppressed inside the pyramid, Shukaku finally vented all the humiliation it had endured.
The pride it had lost earlier returned all at once.
Overjoyed, it even stuck out its plump backside and wiggled it toward Kai.
Then it glanced back smugly and sneered.
"Damn human! Hmph!"
"Come on, hit me if you can!"
"Come on!" 😈
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