In the endless, sand-swept desert.
The terrifying pressure emanating from the Ten-Tails, which moved like a walking mountain, made everyone in the merchant caravan feel their livers and gallbladders were about to split from fear.
The four Sunagakure's patrol Ninja, who had been preparing to leave, had long lost their previous arrogance and composure.
"Th-that... what kind of monster is that?!" A young Sunagakure's Ninja stammered, his face as pale as paper.
The two older Ninja, who had experienced Shukaku's rampages before, had their legs go weak, collapsing directly onto the scorching sand, their eyes filled with fear from the depths of their memories.
"N-no... not Shukaku... this... this is even more... terrifying than Shukaku!" One of them shouted incoherently.
The Sunagakure's team leader, though also frightened out of his wits, still retained a shred of reason.
Suppressing the horror in his heart, he roared hoarsely, "Retreat! Retreat immediately! Take the intel back to the village! Now!"
He pulled up his collapsed companion, and the four of them scurried away like frightened rabbits towards the direction they came from, even using Body Flicker Technique, desperate to get away from this desert that was about to become hell.
Before fleeing, the team leader took one last glance at the chaotic caravan, a complex look flashing in his eyes, but it was soon overwhelmed by the instinct to survive.
He could only think, 'Good luck to you,' before disappearing behind a sand dune without looking back.
The caravan was in complete chaos.
"M-monster!!"
"It's the desert god! We've angered the spirits!"
"Run for your lives!"
Screams of terror, cries, and the whinnies of camels mixed together.
Many caravan workers and hired rogue samurai were scared out of their wits by the Ten-Tails, collapsing to the ground, unable to even stand up.
The leader, Sharo, was thrown off his panicked mount, landing face-first in the sand and getting a mouthful of grit.
Ignoring the pain, he scrambled up, his voice distorted by extreme fear: "Turn around! Turn around now! Run the other way! As far as you can!"
However, the frightened camels wouldn't obey, crashing into and trampling each other, making the chaotic scene even more out of control.
The camels carrying Tsunade and Shizune also reared up, letting out terrified whinnies.
Without hesitation, Tsunade grabbed Shizune, and the two leaped lightly from their camels, landing steadily on the sand.
"Tsunade-sama! Shizune-san! Quick... come with us..." Sharo saw them and tried to call out for them to escape together.
Tsunade took a deep look at the roaring behemoth in the distance.
Then she saw a dark red nine-tailed fox that had suddenly descended from the sky, grappling with the giant beast.
"The Nine-Tails?!" Tsunade's eyes showed surprise, her pupils trembling slightly.
"You go first!" She left only these words before forcefully kicking off the ground, her figure shooting like an arrow from a bow towards the battlefield where the two terrifying giant beasts were fighting!
The sand beneath her feet was kicked into deep pits.
"Tsunade-sama!" Shizune exclaimed, without hesitation, she held the shivering Tonton tightly and used the Body Flicker Technique to follow closely.
She knew it was extremely dangerous ahead, but she absolutely could not let Tsunade go alone.
The two ran at high speed across the undulating sand dunes, the strong wind whipping their hair and clothes.
As she ran, Tsunade asked in a low voice, "Tonton, can you sense the Chakra of those two monsters? What's the specific situation?"
The pink-and-white pig, Tonton, held tightly in Shizune's arms, was so scared its fur stood on end, its small eyes wide open, letting out trembling 'Buu~ Buu~' sounds.
It possessed perception abilities far surpassing ordinary Ninken.
Shizune, while running at full speed, concentrated on interpreting Tonton's cries, her face growing paler: "Tsunade-sama, Tonton says... it has never felt such vast, such savage chakra! Especially that ten-tailed Tailed Beast, its Chakra level is simply unfathomable, and it's filled with an aura that wants to destroy everything!"
"That dark red Nine-Tails... its Chakra Attribute is very strange, also terrifyingly powerful, but it carries a sense of... nothingness!"
Hearing this, Tsunade's expression was as heavy as water.
'The Nine-Tails should not be here!'
Her gaze was fixed on the dark red Nine-Tails. Especially when it nimbly dodged the Ten-Tails' savage slap and bit down hard on the Ten-Tails' pale body, causing the Ten-Tails to let out a loud roar of pain, Tsunade keenly noticed that on the head of the Dark Nine-Tails, there seemed to be... a tiny but clear human figure!
'Someone... is controlling that Nine-Tails?!' This discovery caused even greater waves of shock in Tsunade's heart.
To stand on a Tailed Beast's head and seemingly command the battle was something no ordinary Ninja could do!
And Shizune finally saw the outline and tail count of the dark red giant fox clearly, her voice trembling with disbelief: "N-nine... nine tails?! That's the Nine-Tails?! But... shouldn't the Nine-Tails' Jinchuriki be in Konoha?!"
The scene before them completely overturned their understanding.
…
On the distant battlefield, the fight had reached a fever pitch.
The Dark Nine-Tails, relying on the large amount of Ten-Tails' Chakra it had absorbed from Jigen's dimension, seemed more solid, the dark red hue of its fur deeper, faintly revealing a black glow.
It was like the most cunning hunter, using its relatively 'smaller' size compared to the Ten-Tails to shuttle and jump between the Ten-Tails' ten wildly swinging giant tails, each pounce tearing off large chunks of Chakra from the Ten-Tails.
The Ten-Tails, which had just broken free from the seal and some of the black rod restraints, had fallen into complete savagery.
Its giant single eye, the Six-Tomoe Rinnegan, spun madly, filled with primitive anger and pain.
Its ten pillar-like tails descended with a whistling sound, savagely whipping and slapping everything around, splashing sand into the sky, dyeing it a dull yellow.
Menma stood on the Dark Nine-Tails' head, the strong wind making his priestly robe flap loudly.
His eyes were calm, his hands continuously pulling out specially made Flying Thunder God kunai from his tool pouch, seemingly randomly scattering them to various corners of the battlefield, laying down an invisible network of spatial coordinates.
"Kyu-chan, dodge left, prepare a Tailed Beast Bomb for the sandy area ahead on the right!" Menma issued instructions through their mental link.
The Dark Nine-Tails let out a low growl, its massive body displaying astonishing agility. It slid sideways, dodging the pincer attack of two giant tails, while charging into a thick area of sand and dust stirred up by the battle.
"Roar!"
The Ten-Tails' giant Rinnegan immediately locked onto the Chakra Fluctuation in the sand and dust. It opened its maw, several Tailed Beast Bombs of varying sizes, containing terrifying energy, instantly condensed and shot towards the Dark Nine-Tails' location like a string of firecrackers!
Almost at the same time, the Dark Nine-Tails also thrust its head out from the sand and dust, a condensed dark red Tailed Beast Bomb whistling as it met the attack!
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Boom-!!!
A continuous, nuclear explosion-like roar exploded in the desert!
Tailed Beast Bombs collided and exploded one after another. The blinding light produced instantly swallowed everything around. Huge mushroom-shaped clouds mixed with sand and dust shot into the sky!
The shockwaves from the explosions spread outwards layer by layer, scraping the sand sea below several meters lower, forming huge ring-shaped craters!
Taking advantage of the chaos and visual cover created by this earth-shattering exchange, a sharp light flashed in Menma's eyes.
He pressed his palms together in front of his chest, vast Chakra rapidly gathering. A giant chakra rod over ten meters long, completely black, with an eerie glow flowing on its surface, quickly took shape in his hands!
Spotting a temporary opening in one of the Ten-Tails' tails exposed by its attack, Menma leaped out from the Dark Nine-Tails' head, his figure diving down like lightning!
He gripped the giant rod tightly with both hands, pouring all his strength and chakra into it, and savagely and precisely stabbed into the root of one of the Ten-Tails' wildly dancing giant tails!
"Roar-!!!"
The Ten-Tails let out an extremely piercing shriek. The stabbed tail instantly stiffened, the intense pain making its massive body convulse!
It jerked its head around, its giant Six-Tomoe Rinnegan fixedly locked onto the tiny Menma in the air, its eyes filled with deep-seated hatred and savagery!
It opened its maw, large enough to swallow mountains, bringing with it a stinking gale, and snapped towards Menma!
Menma's expression didn't change. The moment the giant mouth was about to close, his figure suddenly blurred!
Flying Thunder God Technique!
The next moment, he appeared next to a kunai he had just thrown not far away.
Without the slightest pause, he condensed another giant Chakra Rod, looking for the next target.
And so, Menma, like a calm and deadly assassin, used the Flying Thunder God Technique to appear and disappear unpredictably, repeatedly narrowly avoiding the Ten-Tails' counterattacks, and repeatedly stabbing the giant rods containing sealing power savagely into the Ten-Tails' rampaging tails!
Simultaneously, behind him, five thick, completely condensed Chakra Chains, shimmering with a golden light, shot out with a whistle!
These chains contained the powerful sealing power of the Uzumaki Clan. They deftly wrapped around the Ten-Tails' tails temporarily restrained by the black rods, complementing the power of the rods, further restricting the Ten-Tails' movements.
Under Menma's precise tactics and powerful sealing techniques, the Ten-Tails' savage struggles were finally gradually suppressed.
Its massive body was firmly bound by several giant black rods and five Adamantine Sealing Chains.
Although it still let out unwilling roars and twisted madly, its range of movement was greatly limited.
Menma floated in mid-air, looking down from his superior position at the temporarily subdued primordial beast below, lightly snorted, and said to himself, "It seems the Adamantine Sealing Chains are quite effective against this not yet fully grown Ten-Tails juvenile."
He possessed the pure bloodline of the Uzumaki Clan and the vast amount of Chakra provided by the Dark Nine-Tails. The Adamantine Sealing Chains he executed were far more powerful than those of ordinary Uzumaki Clan's members.
That's why this juvenile Ten-Tails found it difficult to break free.