Chapter 95: The Eight Tails Beast Ball
At Konoha's command tent, Hiruzen frowned in silence.
He was weighing two problems at once: how to handle Kumogakure's pressure, and how to keep the other villages from smelling blood in the water. Either one alone would be a headache. Together, it was enough to make even him feel tired.
Just then, the commotion outside grew louder.
Before Hiruzen could ask what was happening, an ANBU rushed in. It was Kakashi.
Since Kumogakure had intensified its offensive, Kakashi's unit had been pushed to the front lines to deal with the Cloud shinobi. He had been prepared for that. This was war.
"Third Hokage," Kakashi said quickly, "a huge monster has appeared over Kumogakure's side. Based on our observations, it's the Eight Tails."
"What?" Hiruzen stood up so fast his chair scraped the ground.
Everyone in the tent froze for a heartbeat.
A tailed beast.
Among the villages, there was an unwritten rule: tailed beasts were the equivalent of nuclear weapons. You did not casually deploy them on a battlefield. Especially not the Eight Tails Jinchuriki, Killer B, who was rumored to have unusually good coordination with his tailed beast.
Even a tailed beast that went berserk could cause catastrophic destruction. A tailed beast that was not out of control was worse. It was a nightmare given form.
For ordinary shinobi, fighting a tailed beast was the same as throwing their lives away. Only Kage level fighters had any chance of holding the line.
In past clashes, even when the A B duo faced Minato, they had not transformed into tailed beast form. And now Killer B had done it on the open battlefield.
What was Kumogakure planning?
Hiruzen hurried outside.
From the edge of the camp, he saw it at once. A massive, ominous silhouette in the distance, radiating pressure that made the air feel heavy. It was unmistakable.
The Eight Tails.
A tailed beast second only to the Nine Tails in sheer power. And Kumogakure did not only have one.
If the Eight Tails was here, was the Two Tails on the battlefield as well?
"Is Kumogakure trying to turn this into a full scale war?" Hiruzen asked, voice grim.
Then his gaze sharpened.
The monster was gathering chakra, compressing it with terrifying precision. It was forming a Tailed Beast Ball, but the direction was wrong.
It was aiming upward.
"The sky?" Hiruzen looked up, but he saw nothing.
Still, he was certain. That Tailed Beast Ball was aimed at something above.
For some reason, a memory surfaced.
Not long ago, an organization had contacted him. They claimed responsibility for what happened in Kumogakure and demanded payment. Hiruzen had not fully believed them, so he had made a counter demand.
Prove it again on the battlefield, and then Konoha would pay.
The attack Kumogakure suffered had come from the sky.
And the mysterious attacker had a name: Heavenly Punishment.
"Has Kumogakure realized Heavenly Punishment has returned?" Hiruzen murmured. "Then what that organization said was true…"
He exhaled, a quiet breath of relief.
As long as Kumogakure was not using the Eight Tails to escalate the war against Konoha itself, then there was still room to breathe. Konoha was weaker than it had ever been.
All three Sannin had left the village. Minato had fallen. The Nine Tails Jinchuriki was still a child, unable to do anything.
At least, for now, Kumogakure's target was not Konoha.
"Sarutobi," Danzo said from beside him, eyes locked on the distant beast, "could the enemy in the sky be remnants of the Sky Ninja Village?"
Just the sight of that monster made Danzo's body tense. The fear was real, and it only fueled his hunger for power.
"No," Hiruzen said, though his hesitation showed. "We wiped out the Sky Ninja Village. Those flying machines…"
He paused.
Even if they had been destroyed, it was hard to say whether someone had escaped, hidden, and survived.
Elsewhere on the same battlefield, Nagato also watched the distant Eight Tails, his expression calm.
"The Eight Tails Jinchuriki," he said softly.
Akatsuki would capture tailed beasts, but not now. Their sequence started with the One Tail. The Eight Tails was a later stage target, so Nagato had no intention of making a move here.
What interested him was something else.
"Jade," Nagato thought, gaze shifting toward the sky, "show me what you can do."
He wanted to observe his subordinate's value more clearly. If Kenichi truly was exceptional, then improving his treatment and benefits would be justified.
Konan had mentioned before that Kenichi was a loner. He had even refused something as basic as the organization's nail polish. Nagato remembered glancing down at the manicure on Pain's hand afterward and staying silent for a long time.
Kakuzu and Orochimaru, who were currently on a separate mission, noticed the Eight Tails as well. Orochimaru even stood on a treetop, eyes narrowed, already guessing what the Eight Tails was doing.
He wanted to see what was so special about his disciple, why so many eyes kept turning toward him.
As for Kenichi himself, now the most watched figure on the battlefield, he only wanted to swear.
He had not even thrown the thermobaric bomb yet.
And Killer B had already targeted him.
The Tailed Beast Ball had left the Eight Tails' mouth and was tearing through the air toward him at terrifying speed.
"Sasori, drop the bomb in seven seconds!" Kenichi took a deep breath and jumped straight down.
The pressure from the incoming Tailed Beast Ball was suffocating, but Kenichi had already entered Sage Mode. He was not helpless against it.
Sage chakra surged into his hands, condensing into a raging torrent of lightning. The lightning was black, threaded with red patterns, and it carried a sinister aura that made even the air seem to recoil.
To meet the Tailed Beast Ball head on, Kenichi refined his chakra again and again, forcing it tighter, purer, denser. The lightning around his hands grew more violent with every breath.
Then a thought flashed through his mind.
What would happen if he combined the lightning from both hands and fired it out in one burst?
He brought his palms together.
The instant the two masses merged, Kenichi's expression changed.
The energy became far harder to control, swelling beyond his expectations. He immediately aimed downward, forcing the merged lightning toward the incoming Tailed Beast Ball before it detonated in his hands.
A beam of light erupted.
For a moment, everything ahead turned into a blank white blur. Kenichi could not see anything at all.
Then a violent surge of energy roared upward and slammed into him, blasting him higher.
When his vision cleared and he looked down, the Tailed Beast Ball was gone.
A beam of light continued straight downward, but it was blocked by the Eight Tails.
At the same time, a black object swept past Kenichi at high speed, plunging toward the Eight Tails Jinchuriki below.
<><><><><>
Merry Christmas, everyone! 🎄✨
Thank you for reading, supporting, and sticking with my translations and chapters this year. Whether you've been here since day one or you just discovered my work recently, I truly appreciate you.
If you want to support me this Christmas season, the best way is simple: keep reading, leave a comment, share the story, and tell a fellow fan. Every little bit helps more than you think.
Wishing you a warm, peaceful holiday and a great new year ahead. More chapters are coming—stay tuned. 🎁📖