Chapter 225: Imperial Armor
"Majestic Armor: Susanoo!"
As Sasuke's voice fell, the Nine Tails was clad in Susanoo's armor. This not only enhanced the Nine Tails' suppressive force but also dramatically boosted its defense.
The Nine Tails and Ten Tails clashed once more, the impact sending violent gusts of wind in all directions.
"Hmph!"
Kurama let out a snort, then lifted the Ten Tails and slammed it hard into the ground.
The Ten Tails let out a cry of pain from the blow.
"Ten Tails!"
Code looked at the Ten Tails worriedly. In truth, ever since childhood, Code—who could understand the language of the Ten Tails—had been a withdrawn and isolated boy. The Ten Tails was essentially his first friend.
Dark shadow energy began to surge over Code's body.
"Hey, Boro, calm down. It's just a beast. The leader doesn't even need the Ten Tails anymore..."
But Boro's attempt to calm him seemed to agitate Code even more.
The exotic beast possessing Code was the Qiongqi—like the Taowu, it was one of the legendary ancient beasts, resembling a bat with blade-like arms and horns sprouting from its head.
Boro, in his transformed Qiongqi form, let out a strange screech. Then, from his abdomen, he fired a barrage of purple energy blasts toward Kurama, who was pinning down the Ten Tails.
The blasts struck the Susanoo armor on Kurama, but did no damage at all.
Boro glanced at the Nine Tails and let out a bitter laugh. "Looks like we're not getting out of here unless we transform too."
He walked over to the brainwashed, half-mindless Amado and suddenly grabbed him by the throat.
Amado instinctively struggled. As the suffocating sensation of death approached, shadow energy began to manifest on his body.
Aside from willingly transforming into an exotic beast, one could also be forcibly transformed at the brink of death.
Shrouded in shadow energy, Amado ultimately transformed into Chaos—one of the ancient exotic beasts. He had four arms, four legs, an ovoid body, no eyes, and two pairs of bat wings.
The instant Chaos appeared, he blasted Boro—who was strangling him—away.
Sent flying, Boro crashed to the ground. Shadow energy rose around him as well.
He then transformed into Taotie, one of the ancient exotic beasts, sporting ram horns and the face of a gorilla—like a warrior straight out of myth.
At that moment, all four of the ancient exotic beasts had made their appearance and joined the battle against the Nine Tails.
"You damn pests!"
Kurama let out a growl of irritation as he was continuously harassed by laser-like attacks. His nine tails swept across the battlefield.
Taking advantage of the opening, the Ten Tails suddenly lunged forward and bit into the Nine Tails, tearing off a chunk of chakra and swallowing it.
Having consumed the Nine Tails' chakra, the Ten Tails let out an ecstatic cry and gazed at Kurama with increasing greed.
"Kurama, are you alright?"
"Mm..." Kurama grunted, then opened his mouth at the Ten Tails. "Tailed Beast Bomb!"
The Tailed Beast Bomb, radiating an aura of death, blasted toward the Ten Tails.
It struck squarely, pushing the Ten Tails back and ultimately exploding.
"Bullseye!"
Naruto looked toward the explosion and exclaimed.
"Don't celebrate too soon, Naruto. That thing won't go down so easily..."
"Sasuke, what's—"
"Naruto, watch out!" Sasuke's voice cut off Naruto's words and Kurama's reply. "It's an exotic beast!"
The four ancient exotic beasts had entered Kurama's chakra domain. They each began to battle the Flame Dragon Armor, Wind Shadow Armor, Sasuke, and Naruto.
"Demon-Sealing Slash!"
The Flame Dragon Armor's ultimate move was easily blocked by Taowu's shield. In return, white destructive rays shot out from Taowu's eyes, forcing the Flame Dragon Armor to dodge in a panic.
"Piercing Wind Thrust!"
The Wind Shadow Armor's ultimate move was effortlessly shattered by Qiongqi's scythe-like arms. Using the momentum, Qiongqi fired purple blasts from its abdomen, sending the Wind Eagle Armor flying.
"Rasengan!"
Naruto's Rasengan struck Chaos's torso to no effect. Increasing his chakra output, he unleashed a Giant Rasengan, but even that failed. Chaos retaliated by firing a purple laser from the dip in its head.
As for Sasuke and Taotie, their fight was a contest of pure combat skill. But with Taotie's strength far surpassing Sasuke's, the battle was extremely dangerous for him.
"Why... why can't I do anything to help?!"
Kawaki clenched his fists, watching Naruto dodge and roll across the field with a look of frustration and concern.
After Naruto and Sasuke were both sent flying and crashed together, Naruto stood up and looked at Sasuke. "You alright, Sasuke?"
"Yeah," Sasuke nodded, then his expression shifted dramatically. "Naruto, behind you!"
"Huh?"
Naruto turned to see a beam of purple light already heading his way.
"Seventh!"
Kawaki instinctively lunged forward to block the attack, but with his speed, it was impossible to reach in time.
In the blink of an eye, a dimensional rift opened above them, and a beam of golden light shone down on Kawaki.
Kawaki transformed into a yellow flash, leaping in front of Naruto. As the blinding light faded, a brilliant golden suit of armor was revealed: dragon-shaped helm, eagle-like wings, tiger shoulders, mastiff back, and rhino legs.
Chaos's purple beam struck the armor but failed to inflict even a scratch.
"Is that a new armor? Don't tell me Kawaki is also one of the Daimyō's descendants?"
Naruto speculated.
Kawaki's sudden transformation seemed to alarm the four ancient exotic beasts—Taowu, Qiongqi, Chaos, and Taotie all took an instinctive step back. This didn't escape Sasuke's notice.
"Fear? That can't be..."
Sasuke muttered. The five Armor Warriors were supposed to be equal in strength. If the exotic beasts could overwhelm the Flame Dragon and Wind Eagle Armors so easily, there should be no reason to fear this new one.
But with every step Kawaki took, the four exotic beasts stepped back.
Eventually, black mist appeared on the beasts' bodies and they retreated into the black domain.
A flash of golden light streaked across the sky. The Emperor Steed—white and gold—descended and stood beside the Imperial Armor.
Kawaki mounted the Emperor Steed and rode it into the black mist. Then the mist vanished completely.
"Naruto, that armor's not normal."
Sasuke came up beside Naruto and said quietly.
"Yeah."
Naruto nodded. The way those four ancient beasts had reacted said it all.
"Seventh, Dad! Something serious happened back in the village!"
Sarada ran up to Naruto and Sasuke, cutting in on their conversation.
"What?!" Naruto's expression turned grave as he looked at Sarada. "What happened in the village?"
"Well, it's like this..."
As Sarada explained, both Naruto and Sasuke's faces gradually darkened with concern.