My mother and father both looked at me with worry written all over their faces. My mother opened her mouth and softly said, "Son..." She must have wanted to tell me to come with them, to leave this battlefield and escape together. But just as she was about to say more, my father placed his hands on her shoulders and gently shook his head. Seeing that, my mother stopped herself.
Then my father looked directly into my eyes. Despite the chaos around us and the destruction shaking the village, his gaze remained steady. With a serious expression, he said, "Do what you should." I nodded after hearing his words. Clearly, my father was telling me to fight according to my abilities and save as many people as I could.
After that, Daiki and Haruto, who were carrying my parents on their backs, immediately began running away from the area at full speed. My mother glanced back one last time, her eyes filled with worry and reluctance. For a brief moment, our gazes met. However, not wanting her concern to become a burden on me, she forcefully steadied herself. Then, with determination in her eyes, she gave me a firm nod before turning her head forward. Soon, they disappeared into the distance.
I silently watched them leave. Only after I could no longer see them did I turn around once more and face the Nine-Tails. The massive beast stood amidst the ruined landscape, radiating an overwhelming negative aura. Its entire front right leg, which I had previously cut into multiple sections, had already fully recovered. A few bubbles still lingered around the restored limb, floating briefly before merging back into its body. Those bubbles were chakra from the Nine-Tails itself, continuously reconnecting and restoring the damaged portions of its body.
I wasn't surprised by this. After all, Tailed Beasts were creatures made entirely of chakra. Cutting them, injuring them, or even severing parts of their bodies only reduced their chakra reserves slightly. As long as they possessed enough chakra, they could regenerate such injuries almost instantly.
The Nine-Tails flexed its recovered leg, and then its enormous crimson eyes locked onto me. The beast was furious; its hatred-filled gaze seemed capable of crushing ordinary people through pressure alone. The next moment, it threw its head back and released a deafening roar directly at me.
"ROOOOOAAAAARRRRRR!"
The sound exploded across the battlefield like a shockwave. Dust rose into the air, broken debris trembled, and even the ground beneath my feet vibrated from the sheer force of the roar. I raised my right hand, still holding my sword, while lifting my shoulder to partially cover one ear.
Then I casually said, "Oi, oi. Stop roaring." I frowned slightly. "Or else you won't succeed in killing me. You'll just make me deaf."
The Nine-Tails only looked even angrier after hearing that, but I couldn't care less. The tension that had been weighing on me ever since the Nine-Tails appeared was finally gone. The heavy burden that my parents were in danger, the constant worry at the back of my mind, and the fear that something might happen to them while I was fighting—everything had disappeared. Now my parents had been safely taken away from this place. Now I was free. With my parents safe elsewhere, I had nothing left to worry about. No distractions. No restraints. I could freely fight the Nine-Tails as I pleased.
Just at that moment, a figure suddenly appeared beside me. It was Hiruzen Sarutobi, the previous Hokage, the Third Hokage. He was in his battle armour as he stood beside me and looked toward the Nine-Tails.
Then he turned his head toward me. "You are Ryuma Hatake, cousin of Kakashi Hatake, right?"
I glanced at him before replying, "Yes." Then I raised an eyebrow. "You, the Third Hokage, know me? I'm surprised."
After hearing my words, Hiruzen remained silent for a few moments. His old eyes studied me carefully. Perhaps he was evaluating me; perhaps he was thinking about everything that had happened tonight. Eventually, he simply said, "Well, I will not ask why you were hiding your strength and why you haven't reported it to the village until now." His gaze shifted toward the Nine-Tails. "But now that you have decided to help us deal with the Nine-Tails, what exactly is your plan?"
After hearing his question, I smiled. Then the smile widened—a broad, unrestrained smile similar to Zoro's, filled with absolute confidence. There wasn't even the slightest trace of hesitation in it. I looked at the gigantic beast towering before us and replied, "Well, what else would I do?" I slowly lifted my sword, the blade gleaming under the moonlight, and pointed it toward the Nine-Tails. "I'll do what I'm best at." My smile widened even further. "I am going to cut this beast good."
As soon as I finished speaking, the Nine-Tails responded with pure fury. Its enormous body trembled with rage as all nine of its tails shot toward us at once. The giant tails tore through the air like living mountains, carrying enough force to flatten entire streets. The moment the attack came, Hiruzen immediately jumped away from the rooftop we were standing on, not even attempting to block it head-on.
As for me, with Observation Haki active, the world seemed different. Every movement, every trajectory, and every angle of attack appeared clearly within my perception before the attacks even arrived. I simply took a step to the side, then another, and another. Each movement was minimal, yet perfectly timed. As the nine massive tails closed in around me from different directions, the anticipation in my heart grew stronger and stronger, and the excitement coursing through my body increased with every passing moment.
A grin slowly spread across my face. Well, it seems I was really craving a proper battle. One where I can actually use my full strength against someone other than Zoro. Honestly, I had become quite bored fighting Zoro again and again. Of course, sparring with him helped me improve continuously. Every battle pushed my swordsmanship further, sharpened my instincts, and strengthened my Haki. But at the end of the day, it was still the same opponent. The same fighting style. The same habits. The same battle every day. Eventually, even that became repetitive. Now, however, I was facing the Nine-Tails. A monster capable of destroying villages. A creature overflowing with power. A truly powerful opponent. My blood was boiling; my body was craving this battle.
One of the nine tails crashed into the location where I had been standing a moment earlier.
BOOM!
The roof exploded apart as chunks of wood, stone and dirt were launched into the air, and a massive crater instantly formed beneath the impact. But the Nine-Tails didn't care whether the attack hit or not. The remaining eight tails followed immediately afterward. Like gigantic whips, they swept toward me from different directions, attempting to tear me apart, crush me into paste, and erase me completely.
Yet under the guidance of Observation Haki, every attack felt painfully obvious. I could see them coming before they arrived, and I could feel where they would be before they moved. At that moment, I tightly gripped the handles of both swords in my hands.
Then I calmly spoke, "Two Sword Style: 72-Pound Ho."
The moment the words left my mouth, I swung both swords. Then I swung again, and again, and again. Dozens of flying sword slashes erupted from my blades. Sharp arcs of compressed flying sword slashes shot through the air one after another, forming a relentless barrage. While releasing those attacks, I wasn't using Armament Haki. There was simply no need. These were merely whip-like tail attacks, and my normal full strength flying slashes were already more than sufficient. Using Armament Haki here would only consume unnecessary stamina, and I had no intention of wasting energy when there was no need for it.
The barrage of flying slashes surged upward. In the next instant:
Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash!
One after another, the attacks struck the incoming tails. Deep cuts instantly appeared across all nine tails. Some slashes carved long wounds across their lengths, while others cut deeply enough to expose the bone cuts.
(A/N: I am assuming that the Nine-Tails will show bones and all, based on the tailed beast transformation stages in Naruto. Of course everything is chakra.)
The Nine-Tails immediately let out a furious roar of pain: "ROOOOOAAARRR!"
Its massive body shook as all nine tails rapidly retracted away from me. As they withdrew behind the giant beast, I could clearly see bubbles forming around the wounds. The chakra making up the Nine-Tails' body was already responding. Bubble after bubble emerged from the damaged areas and merged together. The deep cuts began healing at a visible rate as the torn flesh-like chakra rapidly reconnected. The wounds shrank and then disappeared. Within moments, it was almost as if the injuries had never existed in the first place.
I narrowed my eyes slightly as I watched. It was true that I was able to injure it, but it was equally true that the Nine-Tails could recover from those injuries with absurd speed. Any damage I inflicted was being repaired almost immediately. A normal opponent would have been crippled by those attacks, but the Nine-Tails simply healed and continued fighting. Still, that didn't bother me. After all, I wasn't planning to win this battle through small cuts.
Meanwhile, after exchanging blows with me for this long and suffering repeated injuries at my hands, the Nine-Tails' attention had completely shifted. Its crimson eyes remained locked solely on me, and its killing intent was focused entirely on me. As a result, the pressure on the others was dramatically reduced.
The ANBU, the Special Jonin, the Jonin, and the elite Chunin—all of the shinobi fighting alongside Hiruzen Sarutobi finally had room to breathe. Many of them had already retreated to safer positions and were now watching from the sidelines. Some looked shocked, some looked relieved, and others simply stared in disbelief. After all, for the first time since the Nine-Tails had appeared, someone was directly confronting the monster and forcing it to focus on a single target.
And that target was me.
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