Naruto remained completely unaware that a substantial wave of Konoha shinobi was converging on his position. Even if he'd known, he wouldn't have particularly cared.
Right now, his entire focus remained locked on Gaara, who stood atop Shukaku's massive head like a puppet master who'd surrendered control.
"Listen here, you bloated raccoon." The Nine-Tails addressed Shukaku in a tone that brooked absolutely no argument. "My Jinchūriki wants to befriend your Jinchūriki. Go back into your seal immediately so my Jinchūriki can properly make friends with yours."
"What?! Go back?!" Shukaku's head shook vigorously, his movements frantic. "Absolutely not! I struggled to escape with tremendous difficulty! The air out here is magnificent, saturated with the atmosphere of freedom! I haven't had nearly enough enjoyment yet! I'm not going back! I refuse under any circumstances!"
His chubby tanuki head wagged back and forth like a child's rattle, expressing complete defiance.
"If you insist on refusing, fat one, then you're actively preventing my Jinchūriki from making friends." The Nine-Tails clenched his massive fists, chakra flickering around the knuckles. His voice carried unmistakable threat. "That cannot be tolerated."
Shukaku paid no attention whatsoever to the Nine-Tails' intimidation attempts. He'd heard these threats countless times before.
The Nine-Tails glanced at Shukaku with obvious disdain, then turned toward Naruto. "Naruto, this idiot is preventing you from making friends. What should we do about that?"
Naruto's smile widened, revealing perfectly white teeth. His response came with absolute certainty. "What should we do? Obviously, we give him a thorough beating."
"Hahaha! Great minds think alike!" The Nine-Tails felt deeply satisfied with Naruto's answer. Laughter burst from his throat with genuine joy.
"WHAT?!" Shukaku's rage ignited instantly. "Human, you actually just declared you want to beat ME up?! Who gave you the audacity to speak such disrespectful words?! Don't think that just because you've transformed to match our size, you can genuinely defeat a great tailed beast!"
His fury manifested in every syllable. "My Jinchūriki asked me to crush you! I wasn't planning to argue with you for the stinky fox's sake, but if you dare threaten to beat ME, that's absolutely unforgivable!"
Shukaku's chakra flared with building intensity. "Brat, prepare to die!"
"Desert Layer: Great Burial!"
Shukaku proved himself a decisive tailed beast. The moment he committed to teaching Naruto a lesson, he launched his attack without further preamble. Countless tons of sand suddenly swept toward Naruto from all directions. The technique didn't just attack—it systematically closed off every possible escape route. The sand intended to completely seal Naruto within a crushing tomb.
Regarding Shukaku's assault, Naruto didn't waste breath on words. He stepped forward with devastating force and released a low, rumbling roar that shook the air itself.
"Ten Thousand Buddhas Ascend to Heaven!"
Countless materialized fist shadows erupted outward, each one a perfect replica of Naruto's striking technique. The phantom punches blasted toward the encroaching sand from every conceivable angle, creating an impenetrable barrier of pure kinetic force.
"Tailed Beast Ball!"
The Nine-Tails wasn't content to sit idle either. A sphere of dark, concentrated chakra slowly formed between his jaws, growing from marble-sized to massive in seconds. The technique's malevolent energy distorted the air around it.
Witnessing this preparation, Shukaku shrieked with indignation. "Stinky fox! You're going straight for your ultimate technique?!"
The Nine-Tails completely ignored Shukaku's complaint. The Tailed Beast Ball represented his only true offensive capability. Everything else was just creative applications of raw chakra.
Shukaku processed this reality quickly. If the fox was committing fully, he needed to respond in kind. He frantically began condensing his own Tailed Beast Balls, forming them one after another in rapid succession. Nine spheres of destructive chakra materialized in a row, each one crackling with compressed power.
The Nine-Tails completed his own condensation simultaneously. Without ceremony, he launched his single massive Tailed Beast Ball directly at Shukaku. The sphere tore through the air, spinning with apocalyptic force as it charged forward.
Seeing the incoming projectile, Shukaku arranged his nine Tailed Beast Balls in a perfect line. He fired them sequentially, creating a chain of explosive energy directed straight at the Nine-Tails' attack.
The first Tailed Beast Ball collided with the Nine-Tails' sphere. Instantly, brilliant light flooded the entire area. The resulting shockwave swept outward in all directions, tearing nearby trees from their roots and stripping grass from the earth. The ground itself cracked from the pressure differential.
During the moment of collision, Sasuke and the other spectators had already retreated a full thousand meters from ground zero.
Witnessing this scene that resembled an actual natural disaster, multiple people's jaws dropped in shocked disbelief. The raw power being displayed exceeded anything they'd imagined possible.
But Shukaku wasn't having an easy time. After his first Tailed Beast Ball collapsed against the Nine-Tails' technique, the fox's sphere had only diminished slightly in size and power. Shukaku's second sphere immediately struck the continuing attack.
"BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!"
Nine consecutive detonations thundered across the landscape, the sound rolling like continuous artillery fire. Finally, silence descended. Shukaku's nine Tailed Beast Balls and the Nine-Tails' single technique had completely canceled each other out.
"That damned old man is so unfair!" Witnessing how his nine Tailed Beast Balls barely equaled one of the Nine-Tails' spheres, Shukaku cursed the Sage of Six Paths internally. The chakra distribution among tailed beasts had never been remotely equal.
Can that old fossil even count properly?!
The collision of Tailed Beast Balls had consumed only moments, just enough time to draw a single breath. But those nine consecutive techniques left Shukaku's chakra circulation slightly unstable. In precisely that vulnerable instant, Naruto burst free from Shukaku's sand seal completely.
The moment he escaped, Naruto activated Instantaneous Movement. He appeared behind Shukaku in the space between heartbeats and drove his fist forward with tremendous force.
Shukaku released a piercing scream. Although tailed beasts couldn't die through conventional means, they absolutely could feel pain. Naruto's punch directly destroyed the sand defense layering Shukaku's surface and struck the chakra-constructed body beneath.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
In the span of mere seconds, Naruto had already delivered thousands of punches. Shukaku's screams echoed continuously as his body began deteriorating into tatters. As a desperate measure, Shukaku had no choice but to constantly repair his form using available chakra.
But his regeneration speed couldn't match Naruto's destructive pace. Naruto moved too quickly. Shukaku couldn't track his position at all. He possessed no capacity to fight back whatsoever. He could only endure while this human systematically dismantled his physical form.
This can't continue!
Shukaku's mind raced desperately while he screamed "Ahhh!" repeatedly from the unrelenting assault. His tactical instincts kicked in despite the pain. Being beaten passively like this infuriated every fiber of his tailed beast pride.
Another minute of this treatment and his body would be completely pulverized by this human brat. Worse, that stinky fox stood watching nearby, probably preparing to join in the beating.
Shukaku began formulating countermeasures frantically. This kid is incredibly fast. I can't catch him through normal means. But he still needs to keep his feet planted on solid ground. Therefore, the solution is to transform this entire battlefield into desert. Let him sink into sand. Only by removing his footing can I successfully trap him!
Committing to this strategy, Shukaku endured the continuous pain and began performing the necessary technique. The next moment, the ground started heaving like ocean waves. But instead of water, the surface became pure sand, undulating in massive swells.
Naruto immediately felt the earth beneath his feet transform, becoming soft and unstable. His footing grew treacherous.
"Planning to limit my speed through environmental manipulation?" Naruto grasped Shukaku's strategy instantly. He felt completely calm despite the changing terrain. This method won't successfully restrict my movement.
Because by the time Shukaku fully desertified the land, Naruto would have already finished dealing with him. The timing simply didn't work in the tailed beast's favor.
Understanding this advantage, Naruto accelerated even further. He circled Shukaku at blinding speed, his strikes coming from every conceivable angle like a king surrounding a pillar. Simultaneously, he called out to the Nine-Tails standing nearby. "Join me! Let's beat him together!"
"With pleasure!" The Nine-Tails immediately leaped into action, his massive fists joining Naruto's relentless assault.
"Just... a little... more..." Shukaku's expression twisted into something barely recognizable as his face. The pain was genuinely excruciating. That human kid's fists hurt with shocking intensity despite the size difference.
"Die, you irritating brat! Hahaha!" The ground had completed its transformation into pure desert. Shukaku laughed with wild triumph. He could already envision the scene: the human brat and that stinky fox sinking helplessly into sand while he pummeled them without mercy.
But at precisely that moment, something felt profoundly wrong.
Shukaku noticed the human kid and the Nine-Tails both looking at his body with knowing smiles playing across their features.
"Why are you staring at me like that?" Confusion colored Shukaku's voice. "What, are you scared now? Seeing my magnificent, burly figure, do you want to beg for mercy? Hahaha! Let me inform you—that's completely impossible! However you treated me just now, that's exactly how I'll repay the favor!"
The declaration concluded triumphantly. Then Shukaku suddenly felt his head lying in the sand at an unusual angle. He looked downward.
Where was his body? What happened to his torso?!
Obviously, it had been completely pulverized into loose sand by Naruto and the Nine-Tails working in perfect coordination.
Fury consumed Shukaku's consciousness.
Seeing Shukaku's bodiless state, both Naruto and the Nine-Tails raised their fists simultaneously, preparing to continue the assault on his head.
"Let me go back! Please, let me return to the seal immediately!" Witnessing those approaching fists, Shukaku's bravado shattered completely. Panic flooded his voice. He frantically awakened his sleeping Jinchūriki, desperately wanting to retreat into containment.
Freedom had lost all its appeal.