Rōshi's presence surged yet again.
Crimson Tailed Beast chakra burned around him like something tangible,
melting the surrounding sand into flowing magma.
The most obvious change was this...
White exoskeletal armor had begun to appear across his body.
It covered key areas like his arms, shoulders, and chest.
Like a layer of natural armor.
That was a deeper manifestation of Tailed Beast transformation.
The chakra was no longer just enhancing his strength and speed.
It was beginning to alter the structure of his body itself.
Rōshi breathed in ragged gasps.
A trace of struggle flashed through his scarlet eyes.
The second tail... this was his limit.
He warned himself inwardly.
He absolutely could not release the third one.
Once he crossed that line,
the Tailed Beast's consciousness would gain the upper hand.
He would completely lose his reason and become an uncontrollable monster.
At that point, forget killing the enemy.
He would not even be able to tell friend from foe.
"Hah..."
He drew in a deep breath, suppressing the violent impulse raging inside him.
Then...
He lifted his head, and the vertical slit in his pupils slowly faded.
A five-meter-tall body, black armor, cold crystal eyes...
At this moment, it was looking down at him from above.
Like an immovable mountain.
Rōshi suddenly laughed.
The smile was savage and wild.
"So it looks like Sunagakure really did come up with something new."
He flexed the clawed hand covered in white exoskeleton, savoring that surging power.
"Then let me test it... just how hard this thing really is!"
Boom...
The instant his words fell, his figure disappeared from where he stood!
The speed of Version 2 Tailed Beast cloak
was on an entirely different level from Version 1!
In the blink of an eye, he had rushed in front of the puppet mecha,
and his exoskeleton-covered claw slammed hard into the mecha's abdomen!
Clang!!!
The huge metallic crash made people's eardrums go numb!
The gigantic frame of the mecha giant shook slightly.
A deep claw mark was gouged into the abdominal armor...
But that was all.
Rōshi's pupils shrank.
That strike had not even broken through the armor!
This thing... it only left a mark?
But he had no time to think.
Because the mecha's counterattack had arrived!
That massive body twisted violently.
A thick front leg swept sideways like a war hammer!
Rōshi had no time to dodge and could only cross his arms in front of himself.
Bang!!!
With that dull impact, Rōshi was blown sideways through the air.
He rolled several times across the ground,
carving out a deep trench!
"Ptui!"
He climbed out of the trench, spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva, and an even crazier grin spread across his face.
"Interesting! This is too interesting!"
He charged up again!
Clang!
Bang!
Boom!
A bizarre slaughter began.
There was no technique, no tactics.
There was not even any attempt to dodge...
Only the purest, most savage exchange of blows!
Again and again, Rōshi's claws tore at the mecha's armor.
Leaving one deep gouge after another.
That Tailed Beast chakra, enough to melt steel,
left scorched black marks all across the mecha's body.
And the mecha piloted by Kankurō and the others struck back just as viciously...
Every collision from that gigantic body was like a landslide.
Every sweep of its thick forelegs carried the force of a thousand pounds.
Again and again, it smashed Rōshi flying.
Again and again, it hammered blood from his mouth.
Again and again, it cracked the white exoskeletal armor covering his body.
But Rōshi did not care.
It was as if he knew no exhaustion. He was still laughing wildly.
Every time he was knocked away,
he would climb right back up and charge in again at the first possible moment!
"Hahaha... come on! Again!"
He laughed madly. The wounds on his body grew more and more numerous, yet the frenzy in his eyes only deepened.
The mecha did not care either.
The armor plates torn open, the sections melted by chakra, the dents hammered into its frame...
It seemed to feel absolutely nothing.
It simply continued attacking with mechanical indifference, continued crushing forward,
continued sending that reckless little thing flying.
The center of the battlefield
had already become a living hell.
Magma flowed everywhere, and shattered stone blasted through the air.
Fragments of steel and the shockwaves of Tailed Beast chakra shot out in all directions.
Those Suna ninja lucky enough to survive had long since fled far away,
hiding behind cover as they stared dumbstruck at the battle before them.
"Th-This... is that still a human...?"
someone muttered.
No one answered.
Because what they were seeing had already gone beyond their understanding.
Far away, atop a certain rise.
Teizawa stood with his hands clasped behind his back, quietly watching the battle.
There was not the slightest tension on his face.
Only the calm of someone evaluating a test.
"Defense is acceptable."
He suddenly spoke, his tone as flat as if he were commenting on a new piece of furniture:
"It actually hasn't been pierced by Version 2 Tailed Beast cloak attacks."
Behind him, a Suna ninja immediately pulled out paper and pen and started recording furiously.
"It's just a bit too clumsy."
Teizawa continued, his gaze falling on the violent track of that Tailed Beast chakra:
"It turns too slowly. Its reactions are too sluggish. Against speed-type opponents, it'll be at a major disadvantage."
"We can think of ways to improve that later... increase joint flexibility..."
"Optimize the control system. Avoid meaningless head-on collisions."
The Suna ninja's pen scratched rapidly across the page.
"And its attack methods."
Teizawa frowned slightly.
"They're too limited. It only knows how to ram, smash, and sweep... once those three tricks are done, that's it."
He paused, and a faint smile rose at the corner of his mouth.
"We could consider adding more throwable bombs."
"So the puppet mecha can not only fight in close combat, but also bombard from range."
"If necessary, it could even turn itself into a bomb..."
He looked at Rōshi, who was still attacking like a madman.
"If it doesn't blow him to death, it'll at least make him suffer."
The Suna ninja froze for a second.
Then he hurriedly wrote that down too.
Teizawa withdrew his gaze and looked back toward the battlefield.
The fighting there still had not stopped.
Rōshi was sent flying once more, then got up once more.
The mecha's movements were becoming slower and slower. The wounds across its frame were multiplying.
But neither side showed any intention of stopping.
"...Interesting."
Teizawa murmured softly, the smile on his lips gradually deepening.
"Let me see which of you lasts to the end."
...
After several more rounds of brutal head-on charging,
the puppet mecha had finally reached its limit.
Boom!
Its colossal body finally collapsed with a thunderous crash.
Dust exploded into the sky.
That mecha, once so imposing and invincible, now looked like a giant steel tower that had been brought down.
Its armor was covered in cracks, and black smoke poured from its joints.
One foreleg had twisted into a grotesque angle.
Those intricate mechanisms and complex internal structures,
in the face of raw Tailed Beast brute force,
had ultimately failed to endure.
Within the dust cloud, the ragged and battered Rōshi laughed wildly.
Kankurō was filthy and covered in dust, his whole body slick with sweat.
His clothes were stained with dirt and machine oil.
Even his arms were trembling.
Whether from exhaustion or excitement, no one could tell.
The other two Suna ninja looked even worse...
One had a dislocated arm, and the other's knee had bent backward.
But both were still alive.
Kankurō stood before the wreckage, gasping for breath.
Then he smiled.
That smile grew wider and wider, more and more brilliant, until it turned into loud laughter thrown at the sky.
"Hahahaha!"
He waved his fist wildly, his voice so loud even he could barely hear himself.
"I did it! I actually... I actually pulled it off!"
He turned back to look at that collapsed body of steel, and a feverish light burned in his eyes.
"I actually fought Tailed Beast-transformed Rōshi for that long! That long!"
A chūnin. An ordinary puppeteer.
Using a mecha that had only just been developed.
And he had gone head-to-head with the Four-Tails jinchūriki... a Kage-level powerhouse... for this long!
If word of this got out, who would believe it?
Kankurō clenched his fists, his whole body trembling.
If this mecha were improved a little more...
If the controls were more flexible...
If it had a few more attack options...
Suddenly, he thought of Gaara.
That little brother who had been called a "monster" since childhood.
That one with absolute defense and the power of a Tailed Beast.
That one he had always looked up to, always chased after, yet never managed to catch...
If he were piloting an improved Iron King...
Could he perhaps fight Gaara too?
That thought made his whole body shake with excitement.
"Kankurō-sama! Watch out!"
Suddenly, a Suna ninja's cry of alarm shattered his daydream.
Kankurō abruptly snapped back to his senses and turned toward Rōshi's direction...
Then his smile froze in place.
(End of Chapter)
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