Chapter 421 – Fourth-Stage Susanoo and the Complete Eight-Tails.
"Judging by the time… Kei and the others should have already run into the Raikage brothers."
Minato Namikaze and Uchiha Fugaku stood atop a tall tree, gazing into the distance.
Minato had not returned to Konoha yet.
For him, returning would take only an instant.
But he wanted to see just how far Uchiha Kei and the others intended to push things.
Only then could he decide what actions he should take after returning.
Fugaku had already cleared the surrounding area of all personnel.
Minato didn't want anyone discovering that his Flying Thunder God Technique had already reached the level of long-distance teleportation.
Back when he had gone to Kirigakure to retrieve Kei's group, his ability had technically been revealed.
However, at the time he had worn a mask and covered his signature blond hair with a cloak.
He was confident that no one had recognized him.
And so, he preferred to maintain that sense of mystery.
Moreover, this operation was hardly something that could be called honorable.
Minato certainly had no intention of exposing himself.
Nor did he want Kei and the others to reveal themselves either.
---
"By the timing, they should have met already," Fugaku said with a nod.
"There's really nothing to worry about. We both know Kei's strength, don't we?"
"That kid… has completely exceeded our expectations."
"That's true," Minato scratched the back of his head.
"Kei really is unbelievable."
"How exactly did your clan raise a child like him?"
"That kid…"
"He learned everything on the battlefield," Fugaku replied.
"And he's always been exceptionally good at analyzing things."
In truth, even Fugaku himself found it baffling.
Uchiha Kei placed enormous pressure on him.
Fortunately—
Although Kei could become utterly ruthless when pursuing a goal, displaying a coldness that bordered on inhuman…
He still retained his humanity.
The only condition was simple:
You must not be his enemy.
Otherwise—
He would reveal the cruelest side of himself.
So far, aside from the Third Hokage, whose position made things complicated—
Almost everyone who had opposed him had already gone to the Pure Land.
"Is that so…" Minato sighed softly.
"War really twists everything about a person."
"But it also helps people grow."
"Perhaps it was those experiences in war that gave him ideas different from the other shinobi of this era."
"I read the reports. His teammates saved him many times."
"They died… but he survived."
"Perhaps," Fugaku said quietly.
He didn't know how to answer that.
But after less than a second of thought, his tone became firm.
"That child has never limited his vision to a single clan—or even a single village."
"Of course, he is loyal to Konoha."
Minato simply smiled without responding.
His eyes remained fixed on the distance.
In that direction—
Lay the Kumogakure camp.
Suddenly, Minato's expression changed.
He felt an immense chakra presence gathering in the distance.
It was so powerful it made the air feel suffocating.
At the same time, the Nine-Tails sealed inside him stirred slightly.
Minato's face grew serious.
If nothing unexpected had happened—
The Eight-Tails had likely appeared.
And sure enough—
Within the distant Cloud camp, a gigantic creature suddenly emerged.
A massive beast wrapped in pale crimson chakra.
Even from afar, Uchiha Fugaku noticed it immediately.
A faint smile appeared on his face.
"Looks like the Eight-Tails has been forced out."
"Yes," Minato replied.
"I wonder if Kei can handle it."
"There's no problem," Fugaku said calmly.
"His strength surpasses mine by far."
Then Fugaku paused thoughtfully.
"In fact…"
"Maybe this is a good chance for me to launch a surprise attack on the Cloud forces."
Minato raised an eyebrow.
"That's pretty shameless of you, Fugaku."
Then he chuckled.
"But… go ahead."
"I'll be waiting for good news."
After Killer B drove all the surrounding Cloud shinobi away, the chakra in his body suddenly surged.
The chakra was violent and explosive, yet it possessed astonishing discipline as it rapidly condensed and reorganized.
In only a moment, a colossal creature appeared in the Kumogakure camp.
Its body stretched over a hundred meters long—
even while crouching, it stood more than fifty meters tall.
It was a monstrous ox with octopus-like tentacles for tails.
Two horns rose from its head—one intact, the other broken.
Seeing this, Imai Kenta was stunned for a moment.
Did I anger him that much?
Otherwise, why would he release the Eight-Tails so casually—especially when the fight hadn't even reached a serious stage yet?
Taking a deep breath, Kenta realized he had to get serious.
Truthfully, he hadn't been fighting seriously before.
If he had been, the Eight-Tails' jinchūriki would never have endured so long without fully grasping his attack rhythm.
He hadn't even coated his blade with chakra.
Part of the reason was that constantly maintaining chakra flow on the blade while teleporting placed a heavy burden on him.
But that didn't mean he couldn't do it.
After all—
He hadn't even used Wood Release yet.
Taking another breath, chakra began to gather along Kenta's sword.
Fortunately, his blade wasn't an ordinary one.
Otherwise, with the way he had been fighting earlier, it would have shattered long ago.
---
"Hm?"
Suddenly Kenta's expression changed.
The enormous Eight-Tails had begun spinning violently.
A terrifying vortex formed around it, as if trying to drag everything nearby into its center.
Everything in the surrounding area was being destroyed without restraint.
This guy is even more reckless than Uchiha Kei.
At least Kei wouldn't cause this level of destruction inside Konoha.
Even if people had been evacuated, what about the camp itself?
But in the next moment, Kenta's face darkened.
Because the spinning radius—though not very large—had wiped out all the "sprouts" he had planted in the area.
Those sprouts were the carriers of his Flying Thunder God markers.
Had the Eight-Tails discovered them?
If that was the case, things would become troublesome.
A perfect jinchūriki could fully unleash the terrifying chakra and power of a tailed beast.
More importantly—
They retained the consciousness and combat instincts of a ninja.
Every move a ninja made in battle had meaning.
Seeing the Eight-Tails deliberately sweep the area clean made Kenta uneasy.
Grinding his teeth, he formed a seal with one hand again.
Countless tiny sprouts quietly appeared around him and the Eight-Tails once more.
But the moment the seal was completed—
A gigantic tentacle whipped toward him.
Kenta instantly vanished.
When he reappeared, he was standing beside Hyūga Ayaka.
His face was dark with frustration.
His markers had been destroyed again.
---
"Looks like we're in trouble," Kenta sighed.
"Indeed," a voice suddenly sounded behind him.
"But don't worry. I'm back."
Kenta relaxed the moment he heard that voice.
He knew it instantly.
Uchiha Kei.
Perhaps because of that relief, Kenta's mouth began running again.
"You took your time. If you'd arrived any later, your girlfriend and your best friend might've died."
Kei shot him an annoyed glance.
For a moment he wondered if he had come too early—Kenta still looked full of energy.
"I doubt it. You seemed to be enjoying yourself," Kei said dismissively.
"But you're pretty unlucky. Your technique got figured out."
Kenta sighed.
"No choice. Every technique has its pros and cons."
"Unexpected though—the Eight-Tails has sensing abilities. It noticed my markers and wiped them out."
Kei nodded slightly.
Strictly speaking, he doubted the Eight-Tails itself had sensing ability.
More likely, Gyūki inside had noticed them.
Still, every technique had weaknesses.
Even Susanoo had its own limitations.
For instance—
Sometimes it was simply too big.
Kenta's method of embedding Flying Thunder God markers into Wood Release sprouts allowed extremely high teleportation frequency within a limited area.
But it also restricted his mobility.
Once someone realized what was happening, escaping the marked area—or destroying the sprouts—would neutralize the technique entirely.
Then Kei shook his head.
Actually achieving that required either spatial techniques or overwhelming durability.
Otherwise, avoiding it was nearly impossible.
"You were just unlucky," Kei said.
Then black chakra began to emerge from his body.
He turned to Ayaka.
"You okay?"
"I didn't fight. He didn't let me," Ayaka replied calmly.
"What about you? What happened to the Fourth Raikage?"
"Him?" Kei shrugged.
"He's alive."
The black chakra around him continued expanding.
A crystal-like cockpit formed around Kei and Ayaka.
"He helped me learn a new technique, so I didn't kill him."
"But if he keeps asking for death, I won't hold back next time."
The black chakra solidified.
A towering Susanoo nearly one hundred meters tall appeared.
Its appearance was terrifying—like a wrathful demon statue carved in a temple.
Ferocious.
Oppressive.
Just looking at it inspired fear.
Kei and Ayaka stood inside a crystalline chamber at the Susanoo's forehead.
Kenta had already teleported away.
He had almost been crushed by the massive construct.
"Go hunt the Cloud shinobi," Kei's hoarse voice echoed from atop the Susanoo.
"Do whatever you want. If things get bad, teleport to me. I'll handle the rest."
Kenta stared at the hundred-meter giant and sighed helplessly.
Then he vanished again.
---
Kei calmly watched the Eight-Tails not far away.
A black Tailed Beast Bomb had already formed in its mouth.
A faint smile appeared on Kei's lips.
He had never truly fought a fully transformed tailed beast before.
During the Nine-Tails incident, he had his own plans.
He hadn't intended to reveal his full strength, so he had only sent a shadow clone.
But now—
He possessed Fourth-Stage Susanoo.
And his opponent was a perfect jinchūriki in full tailed-beast form.
Finally—
He could unleash his power properly.
Suddenly, the Susanoo moved.
Like a god descending, it drew the sword from its waist—
And slashed.
The strike seemed to tear through space itself.
The earth split apart.
The horizon tilted.
There was no hesitation.
No mercy.
Kei had fully entered combat mode.
Faced with such overwhelming power, even the Eight-Tails seemed alarmed.
It immediately fired its Tailed Beast Bomb.
The massive energy sphere collided with the chakra blade's slash.
For a brief instant—
Everything condensed into a single point.
Then the energy erupted outward with unprecedented force.
Blinding white light filled heaven and earth.
They were simply too close.
The Eight-Tails snorted.
Its eight tentacles wrapped around its body while its arms crossed defensively over its chest.
The explosion lasted a long time.
From afar, a giant mushroom cloud rose into the sky.
The cracked earth spread for nearly a hundred miles.
---
"Is… is that an earthquake?"
"Damn it—the ground is splitting apart!"
"What was that explosion?!"
"It came from the Cloud camp!"
Even the Konoha camp, which wasn't far from Kumogakure's forces, was affected.
Cracks spread across the ground.
The camp itself was split by a massive fissure.
Even the defensive barrier shattered instantly.
Minato Namikaze and Uchiha Fugaku stared at the scene in stunned silence.
They had expected the battle between Kei and the Eight-Tails to be intense.
But now—
They realized they had still underestimated it.
"Fugaku," Minato said after a moment of thought.
"Assemble the troops."
"This might become our chance to negotiate a ceasefire."
"And also an opportunity to gain advantages."
Fugaku blinked.
"What about Kei's original plan?"
He immediately understood Minato's meaning.
After all—
Right now Kei was acting as one of those mysterious villains.
Minato smiled slightly.
"I think Kei will understand."
"Especially since we have someone inside that organization."
"For now, that group can't become so notorious that everyone in the world wants them dead."
"…I see."
Fugaku nodded.
"I'll make the preparations."
---