The chatter around him didn't affect Minato. He had already teleported to the head of the giant panda next to Panda Ming.
At the same time, the two sages seized the moment, instantly unleashing a wind-style jutsu and a fire-style jutsu.
The wind aided the flames, and in an instant, the fire spread to the explosive clay.
The clay, ignited by the wind and fire, flickered strangely.
Panda Ming's expression changed drastically.
"Damn it!"
"Run—" he started to shout, but before the words left his mouth, he looked up and saw that every panda around him had vanished.
Yuki Seisui and the Panda Sage had retreated far away.
Seeing the red-hot flickering explosive clay nearby, Panda Ming knew he couldn't escape.
This is it. I give up. Let it end in destruction.
After all, in this world, no one truly dies.
Thinking this, Panda Ming howled to the sky, "Oh, vast heavens, why are you so cruel to me?!"
BOOM!
BOOM! BOOM!!
The clay exploded, instantly consuming Panda Ming.
Sage Art: Goemon unleashed temperatures comparable to the surface of the sun. Even sage-level techniques could do nothing against this jutsu.
In that instant, the heat far surpassed the sun's surface temperature.
At tens of thousands of degrees, no one could withstand it lightly.
Although the temperature quickly fell afterward, the explosion remained terrifying.
The blast continued—but Yuki Seisui and the Panda Sage had anticipated this and were long gone.
The explosion's effect on them was negligible.
Feeling a breeze brush past, Yuki Seisui turned to see a mushroom cloud rising from where the clay had been.
Even if a few pandas survived, they wouldn't be able to reproduce.
When I return, I'll move Panda Ming's research site several miles further out!
"Reasonable," Yuki Seisui nodded. Too reasonable.
He didn't want to be the first person to contract a summon and then have the summon's clan destroyed.
That would be catastrophic.
Kurama and Shukaku exchanged glances. Then Shukaku spoke, "Is this the dangerous explosion you mentioned?"
"Doesn't look like much."
"Huh?" Panda Sage's eyes widened. Before Yuki Seisui could reply, he snapped, "If you don't understand, don't talk!"
"Think you can do better?"
"I'll show you!" Shukaku had never been taunted like this.
Their tailed beast energy was just as infinite, if not stronger!
"Open your little eyes wide!"
"Watch closely!"
Shukaku gathered immense chakra in his mouth, forming a massive black Tailed Beast Ball.
The target wasn't the site of the explosion—it was farther away.
Minato, watching the mushroom cloud, saw the two sages stunned into silence.
After a long moment, Shima muttered, "Has the world really become like this while we were gone?"
The explosion had left her bewildered.
Just as Fukasaku-sama was about to comfort his partner, a massive black chakra sphere shot toward them.
Danger! he yelled.
"That's a Tailed Beast Ball!"
"Damn it!" Minato instantly vanished as the sphere approached.
The ball hit the ground, sending a visible shockwave in all directions. Chakra surged violently from the impact point.
Moments later, fire shot skyward, forming a mushroom cloud far larger than the earlier clay explosion.
"Too small, too small," Kurama slapped Shukaku's head.
"Your Tailed Beast Ball has that much power?!"
"You're useless!"
"Damn it!" Shukaku snapped back angrily. "You think you're strong?!"
"Come on, then, if you can do better!"
"We're both tailed beasts with infinite chakra! Your Tailed Beast Ball is stronger than mine?!"
Though born together and growing up side by side, they had never seen each other's full power before.
Tailed Beast Balls required charging and enormous chakra, so they were rarely used at full strength.
"Watch this!" Kurama sneered.
Shukaku had forgotten: despite all tailed beasts having infinite chakra, Kurama's output was the highest.
The Tailed Beast Ball's size and damage depended on the amount of chakra infused.
"You charged for three seconds? I'll show you what a minute looks like!"
Kurama glared at Panda Sage, irritated by his posturing.
Yuki Seisui, atop Kurama, twitched at the sudden power display.
Minutes of Kurama's chakra condensed into a Tailed Beast Ball now twice the size of him.
As it fired, the ball expanded even further.
Shukaku shivered—the sheer scale and length were terrifying.
Kurama smiled and launched the Tailed Beast Ball. It expanded rapidly, growing dozens of meters in size.
A minute of concentrated chakra from the Nine-Tails—who could predict its true power? Not even Kurama himself.
As the ball flew, he warned Yuki Seisui, Panda Sage, and Shukaku to retreat in the opposite direction.
Uchiha Haru, seeing the action, guided Hiruzen and Setsuna away from the impact zone.
She knew Yuki Seisui well; if it wasn't dangerous, he wouldn't have moved.
Meanwhile, Minato began restoring his chakra.
Flying Raijin consumed very little. But after using it across the battlefield and teleporting between dozens of pandas, his chakra was nearly depleted.
As he recovered some, Fukasaku's voice rang out again.
Minato opened his eyes, only to see a colossal Tailed Beast Ball hurtling straight toward him.
…..
Completed version available on Available on [P]atreon.[c]om/Veltoria [remove brackets]