Then...
A faint current suddenly flashed through Teizawa's eyes.
It was not the violent kind of current from Raiton (Lightning Release).
It was something stranger, subtler. A far more obscure gleam.
The ultimate application of Jiton (Magnet Release).
Absolute control over all metallic substances.
A Tailed Beast Bomb was not metal.
But it was condensed chakra.
And chakra...
On a certain level, it too was a form of existence that could be affected by "magnetism."
The Satetsu (Magnet Release Sand Iron) giant raised its enormous fist and met the Tailed Beast Bomb head-on.
"Bzzzzzt!!!"
A bizarre sound exploded into the air.
It was not the roar of an explosion.
It was a shrill, grating, razor-sharp screech, like electric friction tearing at the ears and making teeth ache.
The Tailed Beast Bomb slammed into the Satetsu giant's fist...
But it did not explode.
It stopped.
It simply hovered there in front of the fist.
Spinning wildly. Struggling madly. Yet unable to advance even a single inch.
As if an invisible giant hand had seized it in a death grip.
"What?"
The Four-Tails stared with its eyes wide open, unable to believe what it was seeing.
Its Tailed Beast Bomb... its strongest attack... had actually been blocked?
No, not just blocked.
It saw the black sphere begin to tremble.
Then twist, twist...
And turn?
Standing atop the giant's head, Teizawa curled his lips into a cold smile.
"Take it back."
He spoke those three words lightly.
The Satetsu giant suddenly swung its fist.
The Tailed Beast Bomb looked as though it had been caught by some unseen force.
It carved a bizarre arc through the air...
Then shot straight back at the Four-Tails.
"What?!!!"
Even the Four-Tails' roar came out distorted.
It could only watch in horror as its own Tailed Beast Bomb flew back toward it.
It tried to dodge, but the giant had already closed the distance.
Its massive body had no time to move!
"Boom!!!"
A world-shaking explosion drowned out even thunder itself.
Black light swallowed everything.
The shockwave expanded outward in every direction, flattening everything within several hundred meters.
The ground collapsed. Rocks shattered. Deafening crashes rang out one after another.
A massive mushroom cloud rose into the sky.
It covered half the heavens.
"ROOOAR!!!"
The Four-Tails' shrill scream rang out from inside the blast.
Then it was swiftly devoured by the roar of the explosion.
In the distance, Kankuro's jaw dropped open. He looked as if he had been struck by lightning, completely dumbfounded.
"H-how is that possible..."
His voice drifted like he was sleep-talking.
"The Tailed Beast Bomb... got thrown back..."
The other two Suna shinobi went limp on the ground, their minds completely blank.
What had they just seen?
Lord Kazekage had caught a Tailed Beast Bomb with the steel giant's fist...
Then thrown it back...
And slammed it into the Four-Tails itself...
What kind of insane feat was that?
On the high ground, genuine shock appeared in Sasori's eyes for the first time.
He stared at the smoke slowly beginning to clear, stared at the figure still standing atop the giant's head, and muttered,
"So that's how Jiton (Magnet Release) can be used..."
He suddenly remembered what Teizawa had said before.
"This is what true eternity looks like."
At the time, he had thought it was just a wildly arrogant declaration about power.
Now he understood.
It was not just eternity.
It was control.
Control over matter. Control over power.
Control over everything that could be influenced by a magnetic field.
Even the Tailed Beast Bomb lay within his control.
The smoke slowly dispersed.
A gigantic crater appeared on the battlefield.
At the bottom of the crater, the Four-Tails' enormous body lay sprawled out.
It was covered in wounds.
Lava streamed from its injuries, staining the surrounding rock red.
Its four tails drooped weakly.
Its eyes were half-shut, and faint groans escaped its mouth.
The Tailed Beast Bomb had exploded on its own body...
Even a Tailed Beast could not withstand its own strongest attack.
Teizawa leaped down from the mech's head.
He landed at the edge of the crater.
Looking down at the dying giant ape, a trace of a smile tugged at his lips.
"Well?"
His voice was calm, but laced with indescribable mockery.
"How does your own Tailed Beast Bomb feel?"
The Four-Tails struggled to lift its head and glared at him with its blood-red eyes.
There was anger in that gaze. Resentment.
But even more than that...
There was fear.
It opened its mouth, wanting to say something.
But all that came out was a puff of black smoke.
Then Teizawa's body vanished from where he stood.
When he reappeared, he was already standing on the Four-Tails' nose.
He looked down from above at the dying giant ape.
The sensation under his foot was strange.
Though it was the body of a Tailed Beast formed from chakra, it possessed an almost real temperature and texture.
The lava flowing around his feet surged and churned, yet it could not harm him in the slightest.
"Tell me."
His voice was flat, as if he were asking something utterly trivial.
"What's your name?"
"Damned human..."
The Four-Tails panted heavily, its blood-red eyes full of venom and unwillingness.
Its voice was hoarse and low.
It sounded as though it were forcing the words out through clenched teeth.
"You... do you think defeating me means you can conquer me?"
Teizawa said nothing.
He merely looked at it in silence, that faint smile still lingering at the corner of his mouth.
That smile made the Four-Tails' skin crawl.
"I heard..."
Teizawa suddenly said, his tone tinged with amusement,
"Your name is Son Goku?"
The Four-Tails' body instantly stiffened.
Its blood-red eyes snapped wide open.
It stared at the tiny human in front of it.
How did he know that name?
Only the Sage of Six Paths knew that name!
When the Sage had given them their names, only the nine Tailed Beasts had been present.
Only they themselves knew each other's names.
How could a human possibly know?
How could this human know?
"You... how do you know that?"
Its voice cracked, trembling with disbelief.
Teizawa lowered his head and looked at it.
There was a mocking, meaningful sneer in his gaze.
"You?"
He spat out two words softly.
"You're not worthy."
The Four-Tails froze.
"You're an insult to that name."
After saying that calmly, Teizawa lifted his foot...
Then stomped down hard!
"Boom!!!"
Invisible magnetic force erupted at once.
This was not an ordinary attack.
It was a direct effect on the chakra within the Four-Tails' body.
The powerful magnetic force pierced through the Tailed Beast's body and reached straight for its core.
It forcibly compressed, bound, and sealed it!
"ROOOAR!!!"
The Four-Tails let out a miserable scream.
Its huge body began to tremble violently.
The flowing lava instantly solidified.
Its blood-red chakra surged madly, yet it could not break free from the invisible restraint.
Then...
Thump!
With a dull muffled sound, the Four-Tails' Tailed Beast body suddenly collapsed.
Like a deflated balloon.
The giant ape form that towered dozens of meters high rapidly shrank, twisted, and deformed...
In the blink of an eye, it collapsed into a lump of ruined flesh.
In its place was Roshi's gaunt body.
He lay motionless on the ground.
Covered in wounds. Breathing faintly. On the verge of death.
Teizawa withdrew his foot and lowered his gaze to the unconscious Jinchuriki.
A satisfied curve rose on his lips.
"Take him."
He spoke without even turning his head.
"Bring him back to the village and lock him up."
Behind him, Kankuro and the other Suna shinobi stood frozen for several seconds before finally snapping back to themselves.
"Y-yes... yes, sir!!"
The group rushed forward in a flurry.
They tied Roshi up and carried him away in a clumsy scramble.
Teizawa remained where he was.
He looked out over the distant land, now devastated beyond recognition by the battle, and narrowed his eyes slightly.
Then he stopped paying it any attention.
He simply turned and left.
Behind him, the mech giant made of Satetsu slowly began to dissolve.
It broke apart into countless black grains of sand and merged back into the earth.
In the distance, on the high ground, Sasori gave one last look toward the dying Jinchuriki, Roshi.
And in those eyes...
Something was quietly beginning to change.
(End of Chapter)
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