Chapter 163: Eight-Tails, Your Power Is Too Strong!
"Nice one!" Jiraiya praised him internally. He knew that even if his student Minato were here, he couldn't have done it any better.
Genichi's first exchange with the A-B Combo had almost perfectly replicated Minato's original battle with them. But the second wave was different. In the original timeline, Minato had also targeted Killer Bee, but Bee had reacted quickly and postured for a mutual-kill. Now, however, Genichi had neutralized A with a genjutsu, causing Bee to focus on the rescue and neglect his own defense, allowing Genichi to land a decisive blow. This was the difference between him and Minato. His abilities were more comprehensive.
"Damn it!"
Though heavily struck, Killer Bee did not lose consciousness. But Genichi's strength was too great, and his body was wracked with pain, making it impossible to mold his chakra for a moment.
Genichi held Bee's head down with one hand. With his left, he summoned Samehada, which opened its mouth and bit down on Bee's thigh, rapidly devouring his Tailed Beast chakra. The octopus tails extending from Bee's body quickly receded.
Inside the sealed space, the Eight-Tails, Gyūki, roared, "Give me your body! Otherwise, you're dead! This guy can drain your chakra!" It had been watching the show, but it couldn't stand by any longer. If Bee died, it would also die once. Although it could be revived, it didn't want to die and then be captured and sealed. Besides, it thought this weirdo Bee was not bad.
Killer Bee hesitated for less than a second before making a decision. "I trust you!"
The next moment, the seal was released.
At this moment, A, seeing Genichi draining his brother's chakra, charged forward again.
"Hmm?" Genichi sensed a terrifying power erupting from Bee's body, so much that even Samehada couldn't absorb it all. Bee's body then began to transform.
He released the seal? Genichi was slightly surprised and immediately vanished.
A charged forward, but was met with the rapidly expanding form of the Eight-Tails. He became even more anxious. "Bee!"
"Big Brother, I'm fine!" Bee's voice came from the Eight-Tails' mouth.
Only then did A sigh in relief. He turned to face Genichi again, his expression growing even more grave. This kid was more troublesome than any enemy he had ever faced.
On the other side, Genichi couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. "Did the moment of crisis actually foster cooperation between them?"
The Eight-Tails. A hint of excitement rose in him, his fighting spirit surging. And so, he put away the Flying Thunder God kunai in his hand.
The first thing the Eight-Tails did after emerging was to have A cut off one of its tails, the one where Genichi had left his marker. After the tail was severed, it quickly grew back. The Eight-Tails looked down at him. "Kid, how do you have my chakra on you?"
Genichi recalled the reluctant Samehada and summoned his greatsword, Kaminotachi. "Beat me, and I'll tell you," he smiled.
"Then… die!" the Eight-Tails roared.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Two octopus tails shot toward him, while the other six were poised to strike. And A, the future Fourth Raikage, was also watching the Flying Thunder God kunai. The moment Genichi moved, he would charge at top speed, coordinating with the Eight-Tails.
In the rear, Jiraiya grew tense. He clapped his hands together and began to prepare for Sage Mode.
Facing the two tails, Genichi raised his sword and charged. The wide blade glowed with a brilliant white chakra. He swung it with one hand, a heavy, powerful blow that easily sliced the two attacking tails in half.
Suddenly, the ground exploded. A tail shot out from under the earth behind him, trying to wrap around his legs. At the same time, two more tails attacked from the front, and two from the sides.
"Fly! Fly!" A's eyes were fixed on him.
However, Genichi did not use the Flying Thunder God to dodge. Instead, he activated his Sharingan genjutsu, the Binding God Technique, freezing the Eight-Tails' consciousness. At the same time, he threw the Kaminotachi, which flew straight for the Eight-Tails' head.
Although Bee was not a perfect jinchuriki before, the two were now working in perfect harmony. The genjutsu was broken by Bee in an instant. But in that brief moment, Genichi had leaped into the air, dodging the attack of the five tails.
The Kaminotachi was still in the air. Genichi's hands flew through seals.
The octopus tails, having missed their target, struck again, passing through his body.
A genjutsu? Not his real body? Both the Eight-Tails and A were puzzled, their gazes sweeping toward the other kunai.
Genjutsu: Five Senses Seal!
It targeted both A and the Eight-Tails. Losing his five senses, A once again fell face-first to the ground. The Eight-Tails' attacks also became chaotic. The Kaminotachi had already reached its head.
After finishing the genjutsu, Genichi appeared in front of the greatsword and grabbed it. At this moment, the Eight-Tails had recovered, and three tails shot toward him. These three tails had been prepared for him all along. The sword's target was too obvious; it was clearly a marker for the Body Flicker. So, the Eight-Tails hadn't tried to knock it away before, letting it fly to him, intending to deliver a fatal blow the moment he arrived.
But clearly, the fact that Genichi's body could ignore attacks was a huge surprise.
He swung the sword, and the Eight-Tails' one remaining good horn was sliced off and fell. Genichi immediately let go, and the sword fell with the horn.
Swoosh!
He vanished from the air, causing the tails' attack to miss. Genichi, who had grabbed the Kaminotachi, also grabbed the falling horn at the same time.
"Bastard!" The Eight-Tails was furious. Its two arms simultaneously slapped at him.
Genichi vanished again, appearing in a tree. The moment he appeared, an octopus tail whistled toward him. He threw the Kaminotachi at the Eight-Tails again. This time, it didn't let the sword get close. A tail swung out, knocking the greatsword away.
In the tree, Genichi raised a single hand, and a current of water gathered around him, spinning at high speed.
Boom!
The octopus tail broke through the water, sending a splash everywhere. Genichi stood on the branch but did not use the Flying Thunder God to leave. The horn was no longer in his hand. Instead, he had wrapped both his arms around the tail that had pierced through.
"Up!"
With a roar of effort, he grabbed the Eight-Tails and actually managed to lift it up.
"Such strength!" The Eight-Tails was shocked and quickly dug its hands into the ground.
A, who had been freed from the genjutsu by a tail, charged forward, his hand a blade. He cut the tail and then leaped up, bringing his leg down on Genichi in a powerful axe kick.
Boom!
The thick tree branch exploded. Genichi used the Flying Thunder God to teleport away again.
The Eight-Tails was now enraged. It opened its mouth, and chakra quickly gathered. A Tailed Beast Bomb was rapidly forming, and it was aimed at Jiraiya and the other Konoha ninja.
"Not good, I'm not ready yet…" Cold sweat dripped down Jiraiya's face. He quickly yelled, "Scatter!"
It was too late. The Eight-Tails formed the Tailed Beast Bomb very quickly. Before the Konoha ninja could react, it had already been fired.
Genichi suddenly appeared in front of them, a Flying Thunder God kunai in his hand. The formula seals spread out, and with a distortion of space, the incoming Tailed Beast Bomb was swallowed up and vanished. Far away in the eastern sea, on a certain reef, the Tailed Beast Bomb suddenly appeared, then expanded and exploded, blowing the reef to smithereens.
Looking at the charging A, Genichi shouted, "Eight-Tails, your power is too strong…"
Clap!
He clapped his hands together. A, who was charging at him, was caught between massive ice pillars that shot up from the ground.
"Ice Release!" A's face changed.
And then, more ice pillars erupted from the ground, like a forest of peaks.
Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!~
The octopus tails whistling toward Genichi were pierced by the sharp ice. Then, an ice dragon condensed and coiled around the body of the Eight-Tails, which was about to unleash its power. A terrifying cold quickly seeped in, freezing it and stiffening its body.
"Damn you, kid! To think you've mastered such an Ice Release…" the Eight-Tails roared. It wanted to form another Tailed Beast Bomb, but the ice dragon coiled around it opened its mouth and spat out a blast of cold air, and its head was instantly turned into a block of ice.
Boom!
A broke through the ice pillars, his hair standing on end. He flickered, swinging his arms and shattering the ice pillars that had pinned the tails. And the other ice pillars also failed to hit him. After freeing the tails, A charged at Genichi again. He knew he had to disrupt the caster.
The Eight-Tails' tentacles quickly retracted, coiling around its own body. The ice dragon cracked and then shattered.
"Get back!" the Eight-Tails roared. He was going to use the Eight-Tails' Coil to clear the entire battlefield.
Seeing the Eight-Tails break free, Genichi unleashed another big move.
Ice Release: Ice Person Jutsu!
A giant ice golem rose up, an ice dragon coiled around its body, no smaller than the Eight-Tails. The golem threw a punch, but A dodged it. The next moment, he was hit by Genichi's Wind Release: Rasengan and sent flying.
Genichi landed on the golem's head. The golem took a step, and the earth shook violently. In the shocked eyes of both the Konoha and Cloud ninja, it raised its right hand, and a giant ice sword condensed.
The Eight-Tails' Coil hadn't even started when the giant ice sword came crashing down.
"Damn it!" The Eight-Tails could only raise both its hands to catch the blade. The ice dragon slithered across the ground and coiled around it, but it was caught by the octopus tails. But the dragon's cold was astonishing, constantly corroding the tails. It was the same for the Eight-Tails' arms. The cold seeped in, and it could only use its chakra to resist.
It opened its mouth, about to fire another Tailed Beast Bomb, a continuous one this time. But the ice golem slammed its fist down, hammering its head and forcefully interrupting the casting. Then, a giant ice sword condensed in the golem's left hand and slashed down at the Eight-Tails' head. Two octopus tails wrapped around the golem's legs and pulled with all their might. The golem staggered, and the ice sword went off course. At the same time, the Eight-Tails tilted its head. The sword slashed into its shoulder, cutting diagonally downward and slicing its body in half.
"ROAR~" The Eight-Tails roared in pain. Then, a small Tailed Beast Bomb was condensed with extreme speed. Before the golem could pull its sword out, it was fired, hitting the golem's head.
BOOM~
The golem's head exploded. But Genichi had already vanished from it a step earlier, returning to the rear. The ice golem collapsed.
The half of the Eight-Tails' body with the head quickly shrank, finally turning back into Killer Bee.
"Bee!" A rushed over, immediately grabbing him and retreating. "Fall back!"
The Cloud-nin, as if waking from a dream, all retreated.
Genichi's chest heaved, his breathing a little heavy.
"Genichi, are you alright?" Jiraiya appeared beside him, asking with concern.
"I'm fine, just a little drained," Genichi shook his head. This was the first time he had expended so much chakra. It was also the first time he had fully unleashed the power of his Ice Release. When he had fought the Fourth Kazekage, he had first laid the groundwork with Water Release, then used Ice Release. It wasn't that he couldn't directly create ice, but he had done it to conserve chakra. Although his chakra was vast, he never wasted it in battle. This was related to his early days when he had suffered from a chakra deficiency.
But after today's battle, he knew that his chakra deficiency would become even more severe. Directly creating ice harder than steel really did consume a lot of chakra. Of course, he hadn't used his Yin Seal yet, nor the chakra in his Eight Trigrams Seal.
I have about thirty percent of my stamina left. A jutsu like the True Several Thousand Hands is definitely out of the question, Genichi exhaled. By this comparison, he was still far from even a non-Rinnegan Madara.
But beside him, Jiraiya looked at the headless giant ice golem and couldn't help but marvel, "Genichi, your chakra reserves are much larger than I expected."
"Compared to the First Hokage, I'm still far off," Genichi shook his head.
Jiraiya was speechless, a look of complaint on his face. Does this kid know how to have a conversation?
Ignoring the devastated Jiraiya, Genichi appeared in front of the half of the Eight-Tails' body.
"What are you going to do with it?" Jiraiya followed. The other Konoha ninja also came forward, looking at the giant half-corpse and the headless ice golem, all of them in awe.
"Seal it, of course," Genichi said, forming hand seals and then pressing his hands onto the body.
Eight Trigrams Seal!
The half of the Eight-Tails' body immediately distorted and shrank, flowing into his palm.
Jiraiya opened his mouth, wanting to say something but holding back. With Genichi's strength, to be able to slice the Eight-Tails in half, just sealing half of its body should be no problem at all.
After sealing the body, Genichi was finally satisfied. This was a good harvest. First, one of the Eight-Tails' horns, and now half of its body. A pity he couldn't actually split it in two and take half, or extract the whole thing. Even with Jiraiya's help, they couldn't have done it. A's speed was too fast; only the Flying Thunder God could beat it. Jiraiya couldn't have completely stopped him. And Genichi wouldn't have had enough time to seal it.
However, in a one-on-one situation, he was confident he could freeze the Eight-Tails with his Ice Release. But with the addition of the future Fourth Raikage, A, it was a different story. A was fast, and in his Lightning Release Chakra Mode, he had an astonishing resistance to Ice Release and his explosive power was immense. It might have seemed like A was just playing a supporting role in today's battle, but in reality, his presence could not be ignored. Without him, Genichi would have made an octopus-bull stew out of the Eight-Tails.
"Let's go! Fall back!" The Konoha forces all retreated.
And after this day, the Cloud's defensive line pulled back completely. Konoha took the opportunity to push forward. And wherever Genichi went, the Cloud-nin would retreat and avoid battle. No one dared to face him, even if he was alone and they had a dozen men, they had no courage to fight.
After six days, the Cloud had retreated from the Land of Fire and was holed up in the Land of Hot Water.
The Cloud's forward command post.
Killer Bee, or rather, the Eight-Tails, had recovered, but he said helplessly to A, "Big Brother, unless I master Eight's power, it will be very difficult to deal with that Kinoshita Genichi."
"In that case," A said after a moment of thought, "then we will retreat to the Land of the Moon. Bee, you will immediately return to the village and go into seclusion. Emerge only after you have mastered the Eight-Tails' power."
"Big Brother," Bee said quickly, "without me, you are no match for that Genichi and Jiraiya either."
"Although I am no match for them," A snorted, "I don't necessarily have to face them. It is a fact that Konoha's forces are insufficient. That is not something he can change. And he can't stay on the battlefield forever." He still had no intention of ending the war.
"But in that case, you will be in too much danger," Bee said, not reassured.
A placed a hand on his head. "Bee, you are crucial. But you must master the Eight-Tails' power. Only by becoming a perfect jinchuriki can you not be afraid of that guy's genjutsu, and only then can we once again coordinate closely and beat that bastard."
Inside the sealed space, Gyūki also spoke. "Bee, this guy is right. Although I hate to admit it, that kid is extraordinary. That kind of Ice Release, it was the first time I've ever seen it. It looks almost no weaker than the Wood Release of the God of Shinobi, Hashirama Senju, back then."
Bee could only nod. He psyched himself up. "Alright, I will definitely master Eight's power, and then beat that guy Kinoshita Genichi up and show him the power of the great Killer Bee, ya fool, ya fool!"
The day after making the decision, the Cloud retreated again, into the Land of the Moon. And in Genichi's perception, Killer Bee's chakra had also disappeared. This was a bit of a pity for him. Another fight to fleece some more wool would have been nice.
March 4, Konoha Year 48.
Genichi bid farewell to Jiraiya, left the battlefield, and returned to Konoha. After debriefing with Hiruzen, he was just about to leave when Hiruzen said, "Kakashi was injured on the Kannabi Bridge mission. You should go see him in the hospital."
Genichi's heart skipped a beat. He quickly took his leave and hurried off.
Konoha Hospital.
In a hospital room, when Genichi arrived, he saw Rin Nohara taking care of Kakashi. And Kakashi's right arm was missing, but both his eyes were intact.
It's different.
Countless thoughts flashed through Genichi's mind. He then walked in. "Kakashi, Rin."
"Genichi!" Both of them were pleasantly surprised. They had heard from Sakumo that he had gone to the Kumo front, and they hadn't expected him to be back so soon.
"What happened? How were you injured so badly?" he asked. His dominant right arm was missing. In the past, a person would have been mostly crippled by such an injury, ten times more serious than Sakumo's left arm.
Both of their expressions turned grim.
"We ran into two Iwa jonin," Kakashi explained. "The first one was a guy who was good at stealth. Obito and I took him out together. We didn't expect someone else to be hiding underground. He attacked suddenly and cut off my right arm, the one I hold my sword with."
"Obito," Rin said in a low voice, "to save me, was buried in a cave-in caused by an earth jutsu."
As expected. Genichi frowned. Did Madara Uchiha personally intervene? If the one hiding underground was a real Iwa-nin, he wouldn't have attacked after his comrade had been killed.
"I see. You should rest well, Kakashi. Don't worry about your arm. We currently have the technology to reattach it."
With that, Genichi vanished from the hospital room.
(End of Chapter)
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