The shockwave alone erased everything directly in front of the Two-Tails, wiping the area clean in a sweeping wave of destruction.
And that was merely the prelude.
Immediately afterward came the real main act.
The Tailed Beast Ball was fired like an artillery shell, launched straight from the Two-Tails' mouth.
Almost the very next instant, thunderous explosions and blazing firelight erupted far in the distance. Judging by the range and sheer destructive power alone—it was terrifying.
In Minato's hands, even an incomplete Rasengan was more than enough to instantly kill an enemy ninja.
But witnessing the detonation of a Tailed Beast Ball made it feel as though this single technique could erase humanity itself without difficulty.
Even Hagoromo couldn't guarantee he could completely evade an attack with that kind of area coverage.
This was the true meaning of a chakra weapon.
Thankfully—
They had Minato, the Yellow Flash.
At its core, a tailed beast was a fragment of a vast chakra entity that had lost its original body.
Yet in outward form, the tailed beasts differed greatly.
Some—like the Eight-Tails or Six-Tails—possessed clearly defined physical bodies.
Others, like the Two-Tails, looked almost entirely like chakra given shape.
And then there were anomalies like the One-Tail, a mass of physical material.
On the Two-Tails, chakra danced across its surface like blue flames.
At this moment, an immeasurable swarm of kikaichū completely enveloped the beast, leaving not a single gap.
The insects Aburame Shibi used possessed extremely strong chakra-absorption capabilities. Individually, each insect could absorb only a limited amount—but together, such a swarm could drain any ordinary ninja dry.
The problem was—
Their opponent was not an ordinary ninja.
Against a chakra monster like a tailed beast, absorbing chakra was attacking it where it was strongest.
The Two-Tails clearly didn't care about losing such a negligible amount of chakra.
It gave off the unmistakable impression of "If you can drain me dry, then you win."
Sure enough, the insect cloud quickly shifted from pitch black to pale white, then dulled into ash-gray before falling to the ground in clumps.
"It's useless, Shibi," Minato said calmly.
"Even ignoring the difference in chakra quantity, tailed beast chakra is highly corrosive. Once your insects absorb a certain amount, they won't survive."
Indeed, Shibi's efforts were futile. Against that kind of chakra, his insects would likely die from corrosion long before they could be "overfilled."
"…Looks like the next generation of insects will need further refinement," Shibi said evenly, pushing up his dark glasses without any sign of frustration.
"For now, continue according to the original plan," Minato said.
Though he spoke with resolve, in truth, Minato had already begun to abandon their initial objective.
The most effective way to kill a tailed beast was to kill the jinchūriki before full transformation.
Once things reached this stage, Minato's individual offensive power was… insufficient.
Hagoromo's earlier strike had been the correct decision by sheer coincidence—but no one had known Yugito was the Two-Tails' jinchūriki. Though the blow was nearly fatal, as long as she still had a breath left, the tailed beast could forcibly keep her alive.
And now there was another problem.
Even though the Tailed Beast Ball had missed, it functioned as an enormous signal flare.
As long as Kumogakure's forces weren't blind or stupid, they would realize immediately that their jinchūriki was in trouble. A large enemy force rushing here was almost guaranteed.
Konoha would respond as well—but Kumogakure had the advantage of distance. Minato would need to judge the timing himself.
After shaking off the dead insects, the Two-Tails immediately turned its head toward Minato's team. At this range, the iron arrows embedded in its left eye were clearly visible.
The formation shifted again.
Hagoromo slowly retreated.
For ordinary living creatures, an attack that penetrated the eye that deeply would have been fatal. But tailed beasts were different. Hagoromo couldn't even be certain the damage was permanent—given how fluid the Two-Tails appeared, its injuries might simply vanish the next time it fully reconstituted.
The battle wasn't over.
Akimichi Chōza, standing at the front, stuffed something into his mouth.
In an instant, his body rapidly expanded.
Partial Expansion Technique.
He prepared to engage the tailed beast head-on.
Chōza wasn't as durable as the Raikage—who could trade blows with the Eight-Tails—but after using Expansion, his offensive power could not be ignored.
He couldn't truly stop a tailed beast.
But in this team, he was the only one who could stand at the front.
Minato wasn't idle either.
He formed hand seals and used Summoning Technique.
With a thunderous arrival, Gamabunta appeared.
Now it was a man and a giant toad engaging a tailed beast together.
As for maximum offensive output—
That role still belonged to Hagoromo.
Unfortunately, his strongest techniques were currently "on cooldown," so he couldn't unleash his trump card. All he could do was continue firing iron arrows from a distance.
This had nothing to do with hiding strength or hoarding secrets. Hagoromo simply never violated self-imposed constraints unless the situation was absolutely worth it.
Because once trouble started—
It became very troublesome.
Only a truly urgent, high-value situation would justify exposing his instantaneous burst power.
This wasn't one of them.
Given the Two-Tails' enormous size—and the limited effect of his earlier hits—Hagoromo switched to larger iron arrows.
With his firing speed and constant repositioning into the Two-Tails' blind spots, most of his shots still landed, even if the beast occasionally dodged at the last moment.
But this exposed a familiar problem.
A very famous one.
The front line couldn't hold aggro.
The Two-Tails whipped its massive twin tails in a wide arc, smashing Gamabunta aside.
Then it charged forward, slamming Akimichi Chōza away—
And rushed straight at Hagoromo.
The blue-furred beast let out a furious roar.
It had only one goal:
Kill the one firing cold-blooded shots from afar.
It was said—only said—that when the Sage of Six Paths first created the nine tailed beasts, they were quite adorable.
How they changed from fierce-cute to truly ferocious over time was impossible to verify. But across history, they had been exploited, sealed, and abused by countless ninja.
Before the village system even existed, those who sought to use tailed beast power were already innumerable.
Gradually, the tailed beasts became incarnations of accumulated hatred.
(Genetics might have played a part, too.)
Targeting Hagoromo first wasn't a wrong decision.
But Hagoromo calmly reached into his ninja pouch.
"Minato-senpai—everyone, retreat immediately!"
"Get at least two hundred meters away!"
And as he said that—
He added one more thought to himself.
From ancient times to the present, there had been one widely accepted principle:
To deal with a tailed beast, you use sealing techniques.
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