"That Tailed Beast Ball is enormous. Even if I use Hakke Kūshō at full power, I can only slightly alter its trajectory. And with the blast radius of a Tailed Beast Ball…"
Hyūga Hizashi stood firmly in stance, eyes locked on the rapidly approaching sphere of destruction. Sweat beaded across his forehead. He couldn't finish the sentence.
There was no need.
One of the reasons Tailed Beasts were treated as ultimate weapons by the Five Great Nations was precisely because of attacks like this—power capable of leveling mountains in an instant. Ninety-nine percent of shinobi in the world had no answer to such force. Once deployed, it could overturn the course of a war.
Yes, Hizashi's Hakke Kūshō might nudge it slightly off course.
But "slightly" meant nothing against something that erased everything within its radius.
That was why he stopped speaking.
Even so, staring at the looming Tailed Beast Ball now nearly upon them, Hizashi grit his teeth and prepared to act. If nothing else, he would do what he could and leave the rest to fate.
But just as he was about to strike—
Uchiha Jin suddenly leapt into the air.
The three tomoe in his Sharingan spun violently before reshaping into the intricate pattern of the Mangekyō Sharingan. Two thin streams of blood slid from the corners of his eyes.
At the same time, a colossal translucent skeleton formed around him—golden-red chakra weaving into a half-body frame. One skeletal arm rapidly grew flesh, skin, then armored plating.
"Rise!"
Jin roared.
The massive Susanoo arm swung upward and smashed into the underside of the incoming Tailed Beast Ball.
Boom.
The impact echoed like a cannon blast.
The enormous sphere of chakra was batted away like a baseball, hurtling into the distant mountain range at even greater speed.
A second later—
"BOOM!!!"
A towering mushroom cloud erupted into the sky. Several mountain peaks collapsed instantly, pulverized into dust.
Jin dropped back to the ground, breathing heavily.
Every cell in his body screamed in agony. The burden of manifesting Susanoo far exceeded his expectations. Without the Eternal Mangekyō, sustaining it was like grinding his very life force away.
"Jin! Enemy forces, two o'clock direction, eleven kilometers out—around five hundred strong. Likely Iwagakure's vanguard!"
"They're preparing a second Tailed Beast Ball!"
Hizashi's urgent voice cut through the ringing in Jin's ears.
Iwagakure's methods were as ruthless as ever. No probing, no warning—straight to deploying a Tailed Beast. It was entirely in line with their Tsuchikage, Ōnoki—calculating and utterly pragmatic.
Jin didn't hesitate.
Flames erupted around his body. Jets of fire blasted from his hands and feet, propelling him skyward like a rocket.
Midair, he adjusted direction—
Then the flames roared, breaking through a sonic barrier as he shot toward Hizashi's coordinates.
Halfway there, another massive Tailed Beast Ball hurtled straight at him.
Jin's eyes turned glacial.
Susanoo manifested again.
With a single slap, he sent the sphere flying off course.
Moments later, he arrived above the battlefield.
Below him stood several hundred Iwagakure shinobi, their faces twisted in shock and disbelief. They were clustered around a black-and-crimson monstrous form in partial transformation—five tails lashing behind it.
The Five-Tails' jinchūriki.
Han.
They hadn't expected Jin to cross more than ten kilometers in an instant.
Jin brought his palms together.
Chakra surged wildly within him, dyeing both hands in blazing gold-red.
His voice rang cold and clear across the sky.
"Have you ever witnessed a palm strike descending from the heavens?"
He twisted midair and dove.
"Scatter! Scatter! Find cover!"
The Iwa vanguard commander sensed the danger and shouted instinctively.
But Han moved first.
White steam erupted violently from his body. Lowering his stance, he launched upward with unstoppable force.
"Boil Release: Unrivaled Strength!"
Jin's gaze sharpened.
His hands pushed forward slowly.
"Fire Release Secret Art—Manji Buddha Seal: Great Brahma!"
Two colossal golden-red flame palms condensed instantly in front of him. Between them spun a blood-red sphere etched with the manji symbol.
The blazing palms advanced, growing larger and larger as they moved—until they seemed to blot out the sky itself.
Han, who had leapt halfway up, was forced back by the overwhelming pressure. The wind alone crushed his ascent, driving him downward along with the descending inferno.
"BOOM!!!"
The earth convulsed.
A pillar of fire surged skyward. Within the flames, a crimson lotus seemed to bloom—expanding, devouring everything in its path.
Jin was thrown by the shockwave and landed several kilometers away atop a tree branch, gasping.
That attack had nearly drained him dry.
When the aftershocks finally subsided—
The area where the Iwagakure shinobi once stood had become a scorched crater over two kilometers wide and dozens of meters deep.
In raw destructive power, Jin's Great Brahma was no weaker than a Tailed Beast Ball.
He quickly pulled several soldier pills from his pouch and swallowed them, forcing chakra recovery.
He knew better than to assume victory.
That attack wouldn't have killed them all—
Especially not Han.
And sure enough—
Seconds later, dozens of battered Iwagakure shinobi emerged from beneath the earth.
Most had died instantly.
Some had used Earth Release techniques—such as Earth-Style: Subterranean Voyage—to burrow underground and evade the blast.
Even then, many had been too slow or hadn't tunneled deeply enough, crushed by the cascading earth or consumed by the flames.
The ones who survived were the elite of Iwagakure's vanguard.
Jin leapt from the tree and turned toward Kikyo Mountain Fortress.
He needed distance. Time.
And then—
"Wooooom—"
A sound like a steam engine roaring to life exploded beside him.
A towering figure appeared instantly at his flank—
A fist, wrapped in white steam and monstrous force, crashed toward Jin's head.
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