"Brat—call me Lord Shukaku right now, and maybe I'll spare your life. If you wait any longer, don't expect me to be gentle."
Shukaku's shrill, piercing voice boomed out. Paired with his enormous body, even the sand and dust on the ground trembled violently.
This was the Sand Village's tailed beast—Shukaku, the One-Tail, Guardian of the Desert. Though he wasn't considered the strongest among the tailed beasts, his overall combat power was still firmly among the upper ranks.
Shukaku could freely manipulate sand and earth, condense grains of sand into deadly weapons, and even wield Magnet Release, a powerful kekkei genkai that synergized with sealing techniques.More than that, he possessed an almost absurd level of defense—the so-called Absolute Defense, renowned across the shinobi world.
"Kid, I suggest you surrender right now. Otherwise, you're the one who's going to suffer!"
Shukaku stared down arrogantly at Uchiha Ran. He didn't recognize this particular Uchiha—Ran looked scholarly, glasses perched on his face, nothing like the demonic presence of Uchiha Madara. Clearly, just another weakling… or so Shukaku thought.
"It's fine," Ran replied calmly. "I don't feel like wasting words on you. Shukaku—beasts like you can't stir up any real waves in front of me."
As he spoke, Ran slowly raised his Zanpakutō.
"Don't worry. I'll give you a clean end. At the very least, you won't be appearing on this battlefield again."
Then Ran released his grip.
Clink.
With a clear metallic sound, the Zanpakutō fell to the ground.
"Ha! You little bastard—looking down on me?! You're asking to die!"
Shukaku exploded in fury. This Uchiha brat was insufferable! Tossing aside his weapon now—was that a provocation?! Utter stupidity!
In an instant—
Yellow sand surged violently around Shukaku. Suffocating torrents of sand began rolling outward in every direction.
"Just like you humans say—don't judge by appearances. So what now?" Ran said coolly."Are you, like the Nine-Tails, judging strength purely by the number of tails? Then the only thing waiting for you… is death."
Ran gazed at Shukaku with absolute certainty.
Shukaku was naïve—painfully so.
Ran never judged tailed beasts by their tails, nor did he underestimate his enemies out of arrogance. The truth was simple:
His Zanpakutō had already succeeded.
Shukaku—along with the monk Bunpuku—had been completely pulled into Ukiyo Yume, the hypnosis of Floating Life, Fleeting Dream.
"First—although your Sharingan might not work on me," Shukaku sneered, "I'll still play it safe!"
Clap!
Shukaku formed a seal with his massive paw.
"Wind Release — Infinite Sand Great Breakthrough!"
This was a Wind Release variant enhanced by sand, powered by the immense chakra of a tailed beast. Once unleashed, the sandstorm became as deadly as a storm of bullets—and more importantly, it completely blocked line of sight, preventing any interference from the Sharingan's genjutsu.
Immediately after, Shukaku slapped his belly and expelled compressed wind chakra.
"Wind Release — Air Bullet!"
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Invisible shockwaves erupted outward. Trees across the forest were flattened instantly. Branches rained down like a torrential storm, while others were pulverized into dust—no fragments left behind.
In Shukaku's perception, Uchiha Ran had been struck head-on by the Air Bullet and reduced to a grievously wounded wreck.
But that was nothing more than illusion.
The reality was far colder.
Both Shukaku and Bunpuku were already completely ensnared by Ukiyo Yume. Their five senses were utterly dominated.
"Boring," Ran muttered. "Just a beast. Without malice-sensing like the Nine-Tails, both you and your Jinchūriki fell into full hypnosis."
"In this dream… you're nothing more than a puppet."
Ran stepped forward and placed his left hand against Shukaku's massive body.
"Come, Shukaku. Let your enormous chakra fuel the growth of the Ten-Tails chakra within me."
"Let my Sharingan evolve… into the Mangekyō Sharingan."
A powerful suction erupted from Ran's hands.
Shukaku's chakra was drained continuously, pouring into Ran without resistance. Though completely hypnotized and deprived of sensory control, Shukaku could still feel his chakra plummeting rapidly.
Yet he felt no suspicion.
Within Ukiyo Yume, he was locked in a fierce battle against a towering Susanoo formed by Ran's Mangekyō Sharingan.
That was the terror of complete sensory domination.
Shukaku didn't realize his arms had never moved to form seals. Acting purely on instinct, he continued firing Air Bullets into the sky—wild, misaligned, meaningless.
Ran noticed another limitation of Ukiyo Yume.
Without activating Bankai, it couldn't manipulate internal chakra perception. Against tailed beasts that didn't need hand seals to fire Tailed Beast Bombs, he could only distort their aim—never fully suppress them.
But it didn't matter.
As Shukaku's chakra drained away, the pure Ten-Tails chakra inside Ran surged violently.
Wave after wave slammed into his Sharingan.
He could feel it.
Ran could feel it clearly.
His eyes were evolving—rapidly.
Meanwhile, Shukaku's body shrank smaller and smaller. Bunpuku's life force weakened with every passing second.
Tailed beasts were chakra entities—they could regenerate after death. Absorbing Shukaku entirely would be efficient… and Bunpuku's life meant nothing to Ran. They were enemies.
Even so, Ran felt a trace of respect for the old monk.
Still—
Ran increased the absorption.
Shukaku's massive form dwindled until it was no larger than a teapot. Just a little more, and Shukaku would vanish completely—reforming somewhere in the desert after three years.
Then—
Ran froze.
"Wait… something's wrong."
"The chakra inside me is Ten-Tails chakra… Isn't there a theory that once tailed beasts return to the Ten-Tails, they can't regenerate?"
A chill ran down Ran's spine.
He immediately stopped absorbing.
Thud.
The miniature Shukaku dissolved back into Bunpuku, whose frail body collapsed to the ground.
"That sensation just now…" Ran murmured, heart pounding."Was that… the Sage of Six Paths watching from the Pure Land?"
That old man was troublesome—but now wasn't the time to provoke him.
Ran released the control over their five senses and stepped toward Bunpuku.
"So. Monk. Shukaku. You weren't much in the end."
"Any final words?"
Ran gave him that courtesy.
Killing a Jinchūriki was one thing—tailed beasts could revive. But had he fully absorbed the One-Tail earlier, Shukaku might never have returned… and that was likely what drew the Sage's attention.
"I don't know what happened," Bunpuku said weakly, forcing himself upright."But I can feel our defeat."
"Thank you… for giving me the chance to say goodbye."
"There's something I want to say to Shukaku… and something I wish to ask of you."
His voice trembled.
"I hope… in this war… you can spare the innocent children…"
With those words, Bunpuku's consciousness slowly sank into his inner sea, leaving the battlefield in silence.