A pitch-black, spherical mass of destruction flew across the limited land of the narrow island before plunging into the vast ocean in the next moment.
A crimson light flickered on the distant horizon, accompanied by continuous thunderous roars. A towering wall of water was instantly shaped from the impact, standing like a cliffside for a brief moment—before gravity finally exhausted its potential energy. Under the pull of gravity, hundreds to thousands of tons of seawater collapsed back into the ocean.
It sounded as if tens of thousands of Philippine divers were jumping into the water simultaneously—the crashing sounds of water hitting the sea surface ringing in everyone's ears one after another.
The scorching blast turned seawater into swirling steam that billowed outward like smoke, while droplets flung high into the sky rained down like hail.
If someone gets hit by a Tailed Beast Ball, it's a total disaster... But what's even crazier is that there are actually people who can survive a direct hit from one.
Haseo's figure flickered. Though he seemed unchanged, his real body had already swapped places with one of his clones.
"Don't stop, keep moving forward."
Because of the sudden explosion caused by the Tailed Beast Ball, the squad hesitated slightly. Haseo spoke while moving from the rear of the formation to its front, leading the group onward in a single direction.
"Lord Haseo, are we heading toward the Land of Whirlpools next?" Shikou asked.
Actually, she secretly hoped he wouldn't confirm it—since traveling toward the Land of Whirlpools was one thing, but doing so with a tailed beast following behind them was something else entirely.
"No, keep heading west. We'll see if there's a chance to fight at sea; if not, we'll just land wherever seems best at the time. As long as we don't bring the Two-Tails onto Fire Country's territory, I think the Third Hokage and the village won't have any objections," Haseo replied.
He wasn't stupid. In some ways, the Uzumaki were more 'home' to him than Konoha now—so how could he possibly lead a tailed beast toward the Land of Whirlpools?
Yet if the team continued going straight westward from their current position, once they crossed the sea and landed somewhere, that landing point couldn't really be considered "random"... Unless tectonic plates moved faster than Haseo Squad could travel, they were bound to bring the Two-Tails straight into the Land of Iron.
That didn't matter, though—the Land of Iron was neither the Land of Whirlpools nor the Land of Fire.
From far behind, the Two-Tails' growling reached their ears once again, reminding the squad they must continue onward.
Meanwhile, among the Cloud and Mist ninja forces surrounding the Two-Tails, unexpected developments began causing changes in the situation.
Even though scouts within these two teams earlier sensed the sudden appearance of a powerful chakra signature nearby, they still couldn't comprehend why the Tailed Beast suddenly went berserk and charged off in that direction.
Breaking free from Cloud's encirclement, the Two-Tails created significant chaos for their sealing operation and presented an opportunity for Mist.
"Follow it! Be ready to engage the Two-Tails anytime. Also... battle engagement is permitted from this point onward."
The captain of the Mist squad ordered his subordinates.
The so-called "permission to fight" obviously wasn't about battling the Tailed Beast—that went without saying. It meant they were allowed to engage Kumo and Konoha shinobi.
Everyone had already given Cloud plenty of face. If Cloud couldn't control Two-Tails, others would take their turn next. Cloud probably wouldn't object too much.
Since Mist's formation remained intact, they immediately gave chase as Two-Tails bolted away. But Cloud's formation had just been shattered by Two-Tails' charge and needed time to regroup before catching up.
In an instant, their positions switched.
Moving at incredible speed, Two-Tails soon reached the location of Haseo's shadow clone. By then, Mist's squad had already distanced themselves from Cloud's group. Mist captain signaled his team to make a move on Two-Tails.
A seal ninja attempted to approach Two-Tails under another ninja's protection. Right now, Two-Tails was especially frenzied, seemingly having lost all reason. So even though its chakra surge was intense, it might actually be easier to seal than before—beasts with reduced intelligence meant lower capture ratings.
However, Mist's ninja seemed to have forgotten one thing.
Cats are delicate and sensitive, just like young girls. Given Two-Tails' current mood, she was basically a raging teenage girl on her period.
So she quickly sensed someone approaching and greeted these two human friends with a tail strike accompanied by a fierce whistling sound.
The seal ninja stood frozen in shock while the guard beside him got instantly smashed away. Looking closer, the unfortunate fellow was bleeding profusely, limbs twisted and embedded into a tree trunk.
Obviously, he wouldn't survive.
"Continue."
Without a flicker of emotion in his voice, Mist captain merely glanced at his fallen comrade before ordering them to keep trying... Losing the weakest member didn't affect the team's combat effectiveness.
"Hold on, Captain!"
Right at that moment, the squad's scout shouted suddenly, wanting to warn them—but it was already too late.
Everyone's attention had been fixed on Two-Tails, and the intense chakra radiating from it interfered with their sensors and reconnaissance abilities. By the time anyone noticed something strange ahead, they'd already followed Two-Tails into a deadly trap zone.
Numerous scrolls placed around were activated by Two-Tails' completely unfamiliar powerful chakra, triggering explosions and shrapnel attacks.
These attack scrolls were connected together, so they all activated at once in a deadly chain reaction.
At Two-Tails' current speed, she should've passed through quickly. But a particularly crazy bunch of people had clearly anticipated this. The trap was set up in a pocket-style ambush formation.
One after another, giant shuriken gleamed with cold light as they shot toward Two-Tails' massive body, leaving no chance to dodge. The attack was dense and came from all directions, making the hit rate unusually high.
Tailed beasts were essentially energy beings, yet they still possessed physical forms and nervous systems, which meant they could feel pain when struck—just like anyone else.
Purely physical attacks could actually kill a tailed beast, and such a death would be especially gruesome... Fortunately, the traps set by Konoha's well-meaning individuals weren't fatal to tailed beasts. For one thing, they'd only cause Two-Tails to dissipate again; for another, Konoha's ninja simply couldn't build traps powerful enough to instantly eliminate a tailed beast.
Two-Tails was instantly pierced through, looking like a porcupine-like pincushion. Its furious roar unmistakably carried a clear note of agony. Immediately afterward, its originally straight-forward charging figure became crooked and staggered due to pain.
After sliding forward for some distance from momentum, Two-Tails finally managed to stop itself without falling over.
As soon as it steadied itself, Two-Tails spun around. At this point, its eyes had already turned completely blood-red—an injured and enraged wild beast was difficult enough to handle, but Two-Tails wasn't merely an animal; it was a tailed beast.
Originally, it had no intention of dealing with the annoying pests trailing behind it—but now, it seemed necessary to clear them out.
It goes without saying that ninja were more agile than tailed beasts. Moreover, the traps set by Haseo and others were large-scale equipment specifically designed for tailed beasts, so quite a few Mist ninja managed to dodge the previous attack...
To a tailed beast, that assault looked like a barrage, but for small-sized humans, there were enough gaps left to maneuver through. This was an elite squad; aside from a few unlucky souls, the rest hadn't suffered serious injuries.
There were pros and cons to everything. Compared to densely-packed smaller shuriken, these large-scale devices were easier for ninja to evade—but if you failed to dodge, you were absolutely dead. Pierced completely through, the ninja would have no hope of survival whatsoever.
Thus, the traps from Konoha didn't cause significant damage to the Mist shinobi. But the real problem now was that Two-Tails looked ready to go in close and unleash its full power.
What a poetic misunderstanding! After all, those traps hadn't been set by the Mist ninja themselves.
Yet how difficult it was for people to truly understand each other—let alone between human and beast?
Was the Mist captain going to explain the misunderstanding to Two-Tails right now? Even if he could explain, do you think the beast would actually believe him?
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