"Feel the wrath of my destroyed notebook, you, big idiot!"
Killer Bee's ox skull-powered Lariat slammed into Ye Zi's chest, its sheer force bending his body into a U-shape upon impact.
Anyone hit head-on by a Lariat in the second stage of Tailed Beast Transformation was guaranteed to die.
Killer Bee was certain of his victory.
However, when Ye Zi's body didn't get sent flying, Killer Bee's expression suddenly changed.
Zzt—zzt—zzt!
Ye Zi's bent form instantly dispersed into crackling black lightning, scattering into the air in a wave of energy. Countless black lightning threads flickered around Killer Bee.
After rushing forward a few more steps, Killer Bee planted his foot into the ground, twisting his body as he turned back, only to see Ye Zi standing a hundred meters away, completely unharmed, his face as cold as ever.
"That was a Lightning Clone?! Super fast!" Killer Bee shouted in excitement.
"Why the hell are you excited? Your finishing move just got dodged!" Gyūki snapped.
Killer Bee let out an "Oh," then, still in his second Tailed Beast form, placed his left hand under his right elbow and stroked his chin with his right hand.
"You've got a point," he mused, looking oddly comical in his massive, ox-skull-adorned form.
Black lines formed on Gyūki's forehead. "Take this seriously! That guy is strong!"
"Of course!" Killer Bee's expression turned serious as he locked onto Ye Zi. "I'm Killer Bee, the stylish Eight-Tails Jinchūriki!"
At that moment, Ye Zi suddenly extended his right hand toward him.
"Bee, he's about to use a big move! Be careful!" Gyūki warned.
"Hmm?" Killer Bee's eyes sharpened, his focus intensifying.
Zzt—zzt!
The black lightning around Ye Zi's right hand suddenly flared outward. A thick, baby-arm-sized black lightning beam shot straight toward Killer Bee.
"This is your big move? Too simple!"
Killer Bee sidestepped three steps to the right, easily dodging the incoming lightning beam. He then launched into a full sprint toward Ye Zi.
But as the lightning beam passed him, it suddenly twisted unnaturally in the air, doubling back to chase after him.
"Bee, behind you!" Gyūki shouted.
"Behind me?"
Trusting Gyūki's warning, Killer Bee instantly abandoned his attack and turned his head, only to see the black lightning beam curving back toward him. His face changed, and he immediately leaped to the right again, narrowly dodging the pursuing attack.
"A tracking lightning attack? Cool!"
Now fully aware of the nature of the attack, Killer Bee began dashing around the platform at high speed, moving in unpredictable patterns. However, the black lightning beam was even faster. Getting caught was only a matter of time.
Ye Zi observed Killer Bee's erratic movements, remaining cold and unmoving.
He didn't need to do anything, simply maintaining the chakra flow was enough. The tracking lightning beam automatically homed in on its target due to the marked medium left on Killer Bee's body.
"Can't shake it off… Maybe I should just charge at him directly?" Killer Bee considered.
"Bee, fire a Tailed Beast Bomb at Ye Zi. I figured out why the lightning is tracking you! Just fire it, I'll handle the rest!"
Unlike Killer Bee, Gyūki didn't have to focus on fighting. This allowed him to analyze their situation and notice the faintly flickering black lightning threads clinging to Killer Bee's body.
That had to be the reason why Ye Zi's attack was tracking him.
This was the danger of fighting a perfect Jinchūriki, it might look like a one-on-one fight, but in reality, it was always two-on-one.
Killer Bee trusted Gyūki completely. He immediately stopped dodging, planting his feet firmly on the ground and skidding to a halt.
As the ground beneath him cracked from the force of his movement, he turned toward Ye Zi and opened his mouth, gathering chakra for a Tailed Beast Bomb.
"Hmm?"
Seeing Killer Bee ignore the tracking lightning and charge up a Tailed Beast Bomb, Ye Zi's eyebrows twitched.
A Tailed Beast Bomb required a short preparation time, just enough for the black lightning beam to hit him.
Yet, if Killer Bee was choosing to fire the bomb despite that, he must have a plan.
As Killer Bee focused on gathering chakra, Gyūki took action, removing the lingering black lightning threads from Killer Bee's body.
He gathered a portion of chakra, wrapped it around the marked lightning threads, and flung them away.
The moment the lightning threads were detached, the black lightning beam lost its tracking ability.
At the same time, the Tailed Beast Bomb was fully formed.
A massive sphere of compressed chakra blasted toward Ye Zi at incredible speed.
Ye Zi had been expecting something tricky, his reaction was instantaneous.
Recognizing that his tracking lightning was now useless, he instantly deactivated it. Then, as the Tailed Beast Bomb hurtled toward him, he activated Wood Release, summoning a massive wooden giant's hand to intercept the incoming attack.
The colossal wooden palm caught the Tailed Beast Bomb mid-air.
For a brief moment, there was silence.
Both Killer Bee and Gyūki froze.
Even a Tailed Beast would normally try to dodge a direct hit from a Tailed Beast Bomb. And this guy just caught it?
"Wait, can you even do that?!"
This was why intelligence was crucial.
If Killer Bee had known that Yugito had already suffered horribly from this exact tactic, he never would have used a Tailed Beast Bomb so recklessly.
And if he did, he definitely wouldn't have fired just one.
"Bee, dodge! Now!" Gyūki shouted.
But it was already too late.
Ye Zi hurled the Tailed Beast Bomb straight back at them.
"Partner, can you catch it?!" Killer Bee asked in a panic.
"RUN!" Gyūki roared.
Killer Bee's face twisted in disappointment as he spread his limbs wide and sprinted for his life, desperate to escape the blast radius of the returning Tailed Beast Bomb.
The sphere itself was small, making it easy to dodge. However, the real destructive power of a Tailed Beast Bomb lay in the explosion. Unless one could either tank it head-on or escape instantly, getting caught in the blast was inevitable.
The Tailed Beast Bomb struck the spot where Killer Bee had stood just moments ago, triggering a massive explosion. The resulting heatwave surged outward, instantly engulfing the retreating Killer Bee and hurling him through the air.
When the dust settled, a huge crater remained where the platform once stood, with seawater rapidly pouring in to fill the void, forming a newly created water pit.
Meanwhile, the Third Raikage and A were closing in on The Valley of Clouds and Lightning.
The sudden explosion in the distance immediately caught their attention. Seeing the massive plume of destruction, they instantly recognized it as the aftermath of Killer Bee's own Tailed Beast Bomb.
This meant only one thing, Killer Bee was already fighting Ye Zi.
Their hearts grew heavier.
With Killer Bee's strength, there was no way he should be taken down so quickly. But still…
On the battlefield.
"So this is what it feels like to get hit by my own Tailed Beast Bomb."
Lying flat on the ground in a spread-eagle position, Killer Bee stared up at the starlit sky. His Tailed Beast Chakra Cloak had completely vanished, leaving him in his normal human form.
"Get up already!" Gyūki sighed in exasperation.
With a sudden kip-up, Killer Bee bounced back to his feet, seemingly unharmed.
"His Tailed Beast Transformation is undone? The timing isn't perfect, but I don't have a choice."
Ye Zi's hands began to move at blinding speed, forming a rapid sequence of hand seals.
Time was running out.
He was placing all his hopes on this next move, if he failed to capture Killer Bee now, he'd have to deal with the Third Raikage and A as well.
"Deep Forest Emergence!"
With the power of senjutsu-enhanced Wood Release, the scale and intensity of Deep Forest Emergence surged to an unprecedented level!
The ground in front of Ye Zi erupted violently. Massive, thick roots burst forth from below, shattering the earth as they surged toward Killer Bee like a tidal wave of destruction.
"Now THIS is a real ultimate move!"
Killer Bee's eyes widened in shock, then, without hesitation, he turned and ran.
Fueled by a massive surge of Senjutsu Chakra, Deep Forest Emergence expanded at an insane speed, consuming half the platform in seconds, transforming the battlefield into a man-made jungle.
And it wasn't stopping.
In the face of this overwhelming surge of trees, Killer Bee's human-sized form seemed tiny, insignificant, like a mouse being chased by a cat, darting around in sheer desperation.
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Currently on Chapter 557 - Ye Zi Must Die