"What? The Eight-Tails jinchūriki?!"
Chiba's face instantly paled. His first thought was impossible. What village in its right mind would let their ultimate weapon wander around freely?
But Kazekaze wouldn't lie to him about this.
'Unless the enemy's chakra was so immense it exceeded what the Rinnegan's absorption could handle…' Chiba recalled Nonō's earlier words, his brows knitting together tightly. Damn. Maybe the squad really was taken down by the Eight-Tails jinchūriki.
He wanted to ask more, but Kazekaze had nothing left to give.
After straining to deliver his final warning, the man's hand fell limp. He slumped forward in Chiba's arms, life extinguished.
"I'll take you home, brother. Sealing Scroll—Seal!"
Chiba produced a scroll pre-etched with sealing formulae. He slapped it onto Kazekaze's body, channeling chakra. The corpse vanished, stored safely within the scroll.
Tucking the scroll into his robe, Chiba turned to leave this cursed place. He needed to regroup with Nawaki and the others first.
At his current level, he could bulldoze through most of the shinobi world's weaklings. But a prime jinchūriki wasn't weak. Neither was that old fossil hiding underground, for that matter.
CRASH!
Just as he cleared the rocky area, a crimson shadow burst from the sky, slamming down right before him. Earth and stone erupted.
Shwoosh!
Chiba shot backwards, putting distance between them instantly. His eyes narrowed, assessing the threat.
"Who gave you permission… WHO GAVE YOU PERMISSION TO KILL MY MEN?!"
Within a haze of scarlet chakra, the silhouette of a dark-skinned young man was visible. He clutched his head in agony, unleashing a roar that was pure beast. Behind him, four tails of bloody chakra thrashed violently.
"Hm? Just seeing his teammates' bodies pushed him into a partial transformation?" Chiba's eyes gleamed. He stopped thinking about retreat. "This jinchūriki's state… seems unstable."
The youth before him was Kumogakure's current Eight-Tails jinchūriki—B.
B was talented. Powerful enough to control the Eight-Tails. But after becoming a jinchūriki, he watched everyone around him change. The beloved Kumo genius became a monster to be feared and avoided.
The whiplash shattered him. He threw himself into brutal battles, trying to purge the darkness festering inside. It never worked.
In the original timeline, B never filled that void. He'd die later, consumed by the Eight-Tails' rampage after one of Orochimaru's schemes.
'He's not right in the head. Forget perfect control. He might not even manage half the beast's power.'
The assessment flashed through Chiba's mind. His eyes lit up. The urge to run evaporated. A different, wilder idea took root.
This whole mission had been a bust so far. Zero rewards.
Before leaving… could he carve off a piece of this unstable jinchūriki? Test the waters?
If he couldn't win, he'd just bolt. It wasn't like the Eight-Tails could fly like the Seven-Tails…
Shwoosh!
Chiba's moment of thought ended. B vanished. Reappeared at his flank. Hands like claws raked towards his face.
So fast!
Chiba's pupils contracted. The violent tailed beast chakra burned like open flame. He didn't dare block. His paper wings snapped open, propelling him sideways. The claws tore through empty air.
"Paper won't hold against that corrosive chakra. Can't let him land a hit."
Even a "defective" jinchūriki was a serious threat. Chiba's expression turned grave. He had to be careful.
"Fire Style: Flame Bullet!"
Still in mid-air, Chiba refined chakra into oil in his mouth. He spat. A fireball shot towards the pursuing B—a surprise attack.
Shwoosh!
B didn't even slow. He veered at an impossible angle, dodging the fireball with contemptuous ease. His speed increased, closing the gap in a crimson blur.
Thump!
No time for another jutsu. Chiba crushed a poison sac in his hand. A cloud of toxic mist erupted. He retreated through the haze, putting space between them again.
Sizzle…
The poison gas evaporated the moment it touched B's tailed beast cloak. Useless.
"Lariat!"
B roared, charging. Lightning chakra surged within him. His speed tripled.
"Paper Dance—Rain of Paper!"
Chiba's scalp prickled. He shot skyward. His wings flared, releasing a dense storm of sharpened paper slips. They rained down on B like lethal hail.
Shwoosh!
B dropped to all fours. Became a red lightning bolt skittering across the ground. He cleared the paper rain's kill zone with ease.
He didn't press the attack. Instead, he rose to his feet, glaring as Chiba landed again.
"You can fly. Why aren't you running?!" B growled, his voice a rough mix of anger and confusion.
"Hmm."
Chiba considered. He needed to piss B off. Ideally, piss him off enough to trigger a full transformation. Once the Eight-Tails' chakra was fully manifested… then he could try to grab a piece.
So, under B's bewildered stare, Chiba slowly raised a hand. Extended his middle finger.
"You're just a failure who couldn't protect his own team. Why would I run?"
He wasn't done. He turned his mockery to the beast itself. "They say the Eight-Tails is trash. Seeing it now, it's true. This pathetic power? It's not even close to the Nine-Tails. Hell, you're not fit to lick the One-Tail's feet!"
BOOM.
The taunt hit perfectly.
B's entire body trembled. Tailed beast chakra erupted from him like a broken dam. The four tails behind him doubled. Quadrupled. Eight bloody appendages whipped the air. Bone-like plates formed over his head and arms.
"He dares call me trash?! B, let me out! I'll tear him apart!"
"Shut up! This is my body! It's not your turn!"
B's expression twisted into madness. He argued with the voice in his head, his own consciousness fraying at the edges, overwhelmed by the beast's rage.
'He still has some control. More than Kushina right now, at least. He's not fully lost it.'
"Eight Gates—Third Gate of Life, OPEN!"
An enraged B would be a nightmare. Seizing the moment of internal struggle, Chiba blasted through the first three gates. Verdant energy crackled around his body.
"Hah. Body's fully adapted to the Third Gate now. Should be good for half an hour of 'dancing'."
THWIP! THWIP! THWIP!
While Chiba observed, the eight tails behind B suddenly lashed out. They elongated, fueled by chakra, morphing into eight whip-like rope darts. They shot towards Chiba from different angles—a net of crimson death descending from above.
'Trying to pin me to the ground?'
Chiba snorted. He didn't retreat. He charged forward, straight at B. Hiding wouldn't force a full transformation!
"Rasengan!"
A streak of green light, Chiba weaved through the eight whipping red tendrils. He slipped past, a hair's breadth from being skewered. At B's side, his right hand formed a massive Rasengan. He slammed it towards B's skull.
B didn't dodge. Let the spinning orb of destruction smash into his bone-plated head. His own right hand shot up in a vicious stab aimed at Chiba's heart.
'Trading injury for injury? Perfect!'
The thought was lightning-fast. Chiba didn't flinch. He leaned into the attack. Around his neck, the First Hokage's necklace hung, cold against his skin.
The next instant, both attacks connected.
But there was a difference.
B's hand passed straight through Chiba's chest. No resistance. No feeling of impact.
Chiba's Rasengan, however, landed squarely on B's head with a CRUNCH.
The devastating rotational force drilled through the bone plate, pierced the tailed beast cloak, and exploded against B's skull. The jinchūriki was launched backwards like a broken doll.
"GAAAH!"
At the same time, Chiba cried out in pain.
The paper body had dissipated instantly under the tailed beast chakra's assault. If not for the brutal conditioning of the Living Puppet Blood Refinement, the feedback pain alone would have knocked him unconscious.
"Got you!"
A moment ago, B's body had briefly brushed against the necklace. Chiba felt it—a resonance. The remnant energy inside reacted to the Eight-Tails' chakra. It wasn't exclusive to the Nine-Tails.
As B flew back, Chiba gritted his teeth against the pain and followed. He yanked the necklace off, wrapping it in a protective layer of his own chakra, and slapped it onto B's chest.
"Finally! My turn! Now I'll just—WHAT IS THIS?!"
The Eight-Tails had just seized control. It dug its heels into the earth, skidding to a stop. That's when Chiba's palm, and the necklace, made contact.
SHWING! SHWING! SHWING!
Beams of turquoise light erupted from the crystal, binding the beast in layers of searing energy. The bonds seemed to feed on its chakra, growing stronger, tighter!
"You won't stop me! Damn brat! I'll show you my true power!!"
The Eight-Tails roared. The eight translucent chakra tails solidified, shifting from bloody mirages into thick, fleshy octopus tentacles of pinkish-brown. They swelled rapidly, lifting the beast's monstrous form off the ground.
BOOOOOOM!
In the next heartbeat, the turquoise bindings shattered under the Eight-Tails' fury, dispersing into motes of light.
The beast kept growing. And growing.
Until a colossal monster with the head of a bull towered over Chiba, nearly seventy meters tall. Chiba was smaller than a single suction cup on one of its tentacles.
"Little bug." The voice was a subterranean rumble. Two ringed eyes stared down with frigid disdain. "Are you ready to die?"
But the panic and terror Gyūki expected didn't appear.
The kid below wasn't scared. He looked… thrilled. Ecstatic. He actually beamed up at the mountain of rage.
"Ready? I've been waiting for this!"
Gyūki: "???"
"Sealing Art: Adamantine Sealing Chains!"
~~~~❃❃~~~~~~~~❃❃~~~~
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