"Ah la la, looks like I'll have to suppress you first."
"Chōmei, move back a bit!"
Kazuyama Gekkō pressed his palms together, and an overwhelming surge of chakra erupted from his body—instantly triggering what could only be described as a dramatic "clothing burst."
No, it wasn't his clothes exploding. As the Crystal Release flared, his upper garment crystallized and disintegrated into nothing. His bare torso, now laced with faint crystal lines, looked eerily unnatural—yet beneath that strangeness lay an unmistakable, terrifying power.
"Hmph! I'll bury you in this desert, brat!"
"Desert Burial!"
Shukaku slammed his claws into the sand, and massive waves of yellow sand surged forward, rushing toward Kazuyama. He even manipulated the sand beneath Kazuyama's feet, turning it into a whirlpool of quicksand that sought to drag him under.
"Shukaku, if you stop now, you'll suffer less."
"Bastard! Die!"
Kazuyama sighed helplessly. If the other party insisted on asking for a beating, he'd simply oblige.
Sage chakra flared to life.
"Sage Art: Infinite!"
The moment he spoke, the Crystal Release exploded outward from his body.
The original Crystal Release Kekkei Genkai could crystallize all matter except chakra—air molecules, blood in the human body, anything. But empowered by Sage chakra, that ability became far more terrifying.
Its spread accelerated to blinding speed. The crystals it produced were completely under Kazuyama's control—he could shatter them, reshape them, or manipulate them freely.
And with the Transparent Release enhancing it, Kazuyama's Sage Mode could remain active indefinitely—an infinite-sustain mode. Unless he depleted his Sage chakra completely in one burst, he was essentially a perpetual motion machine.
"Shatter—crystal."
With a mere pulse of chakra, everything around him crystallized and instantly shattered.
To the naked eye, it looked as if reality itself was being erased in all directions from where he stood.
Even Shukaku's sand—his greatest weapon—crumbled into dust under the overwhelming force.
"What is this? Even my sand is being destroyed?!"
Just like Rasa once had, Shukaku stared in shock at the impossible sight before him.
While he was still stunned, Kazuyama moved.
He thrust out his right hand. The shattered crystal fragments gathered into his palm, swirling together.
He twisted his wrist, aiming straight at Shukaku in the distance.
"Sage Art: Spear of Oblivion!"
A sharp, piercing sound split the air. Before Shukaku could react, a transparent spear had already impaled his right arm.
"What the—?!"
"Impossible!"
His confusion lasted only a heartbeat before it turned to shock. He recoiled violently, slicing off his own arm at the shoulder.
The instant the crystal spear pierced his limb, it began to disintegrate from within. Had he hesitated even a moment longer, his entire body might have been shattered.
"What kind of technique is that?"
"Why can it even damage my body?!"
Losing a limb wasn't a problem for Shukaku; with chakra and sand, he could rebuild it easily. What unsettled him was the sheer destructive nature of Kazuyama's attack—so unassuming, yet so devastating.
"Now, can we talk properly?"
"Shukaku."
The sand beneath Kazuyama's feet rapidly crystallized, slipping entirely beyond Shukaku's control. His attacks had become meaningless.
"Hey, Shukaku, give it up."
"You can't win against Kazuyama. This is Sage Art—his personal Sage Art."
"Even if the Sage of Six Paths himself were here, he wouldn't beat Kazuyama in a straight fight using only Sage Jutsu."
Chōmei hovered above Shukaku, a mocking grin on his face.
As Kazuyama's closest companion, he knew exactly how terrifying his power had become.
Even without external help, Kazuyama's Sage Art alone surpassed the power of most Kage-level shinobi. Considering his full strength, maybe only the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, or a revived Madara Uchiha could truly suppress him—and even then, the outcome of such a fight would be far from certain.
Shukaku was fierce and temperamental, but he wasn't stupid.
"Hmph! What the hell do you two bastards want from me?!"
"Shukaku, you do realize we're in danger, right?"
Chōmei shrank his form, landing gently on the sand.
Kazuyama raised his hands again, surrounding himself and both tailed beasts in layers of shimmering illusionary crystal. He then used chakra to completely mask the tailed beasts' presence.
He'd been maintaining this concealment from the start, though it had briefly faltered while subduing Shukaku. Even so, it was still nearly impossible for Sunagakure to sense Shukaku's chakra now.
After all, they were in the same place Kazuyama had once slain the monk Bunpuku—the deepest part of the desert.
"Danger? You're joking, right, Chōmei?"
"If anyone's in danger, it's me! You two jerks keep coming after me over and over again!"
"Hmph!"
Shukaku flexed his newly regenerated arm, his expression sour. But he didn't attack again.
"Get lost already."
"'Big boss' this, 'big boss' that—who isn't a big boss around here?"
"Kazuyama, tell me, aren't I Big Boss Chōmei?"
Shukaku's constant use of "this old man" grated on Chōmei's nerves until he retaliated by declaring himself one too.
Kazuyama just looked at them both like they were idiots.
"Alright, Chōmei. You're a big boss too. Now let's get serious."
"Shukaku, someone's trying to become the Ten-Tails Jinchūriki. You know what that means."
Without hesitation, Kazuyama dropped a verbal bomb so massive it nearly fried Shukaku's brain.
"What? Ten-Tails Jinchūriki?"
"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"
"Besides that old man—the Sage of Six Paths—who else could become the Ten-Tails Jinchūriki? That's not something mortals can do!"
Shukaku didn't believe it for a second. The nine tailed beasts were the Ten-Tails, split apart long ago. To become its Jinchūriki, one would have to capture and absorb all nine at once. That was impossible!
For nearly a thousand years, no one had ever come close.
"The candidate possesses the Rinnegan."
"Still impossible!"
"An Uchiha... with the power of the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju."
"Even so—wait, are you serious?"
Kazuyama nodded once. Shukaku froze.
An Uchiha... with awakened Rinnegan? That was already half a step into the realm of the Six Paths!
And on top of that, the Wood Release of Hashirama Senju—both Yin and Yang Release combined?
Holy crap. The Ten-Tails Jinchūriki… for real?!