"Summoning Technique!"
Amamiya Raizen slammed his palm into the dirt, chakra surging out like a shockwave. Against eight thousand Hyūga coalition shinobi, there was no room for restraint. If he wanted to survive, he had to use everything.
A thunderous boom cracked through the valley as smoke exploded outward. Thousands of Hyūga turned in alarm, eyes widening as a shadow moved within the haze.
Then came the roar.
A sound so deep it shook bones and split clouds. Mist burst across the forest, and through it emerged a massive silhouette—dark, scaled, and terrible. Three thick tails lashed the air, and a suffocating chakra radiated from the creature like a storm of hatred.
"Is that… a tailed beast?!"
Fear rippled through the Hyūga ranks. Even veteran jōnin stepped back instinctively. They'd read about the Three Tails—but reading and facing it were two very different nightmares.
Raizen stood atop the monster's head, cloak snapping in the wind. "Three Tails. Submit."
The beast lifted its head, one monstrous eye locking onto him. "You dare—human?!"
It bellowed, thrashing violently. The ground rippled like water beneath its weight. Shinobi staggered, falling to their knees. But Raizen didn't move.
His right eye bled red. The Eternal Mangekyō spun like a cursed sun. The tailed beast's will fought back—raw fury clashing against unbreakable intent—until the Three Tails froze mid-roar. Its pupils twisted, replaced by the same scarlet pattern.
"Kill them all."
Raizen's command dropped like a guillotine. The beast moved.
The Hyūga line shattered as the Three Tails charged. Its tails swept through the ranks like falling mountains. Screams filled the air—then vanished under the sound of crushing earth.
"Encircle it!" Hyūga Tennin shouted from the front line, his Byakugan veins flaring. "Don't let it rampage!"
Ninja poured in from all sides, a tide of desperate courage.
"Earth Style—bind it down!" Tennin ordered.
Dozens of shinobi slammed their palms to the ground. Mud surged upward, sucking at the beast's legs, dragging its enormous body into a deepening mire.
"Fire Style—now!"
"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!"
Hundreds of fireballs merged into one roaring inferno that swallowed the Three Tails whole. The flames burned across its shell, and even without a mind of its own, the beast howled in pain.
That was their mistake.
The roar that followed wasn't sound—it was pressure. Wind blasted outward in a hurricane, tossing men and trees alike. The quagmire split apart as the Three Tails broke free, tails sweeping through squads like a divine punishment.
"Sealing team!" Tennin barked. "Contain it before we lose the entire army!"
The sealers dashed forward, weaving signs. Chains of glowing chakra snapped into place, wrapping around the monster's limbs.
And that's when Raizen smiled.
"You all forgot something," he said quietly. "I'm still here."
His Eternal Mangekyō spun again, faster, brighter. Crimson chakra burst from the Three Tails' form—flaring into shape. Bones, muscles, armor—Susanoo.
The hybrid monstrosity stood revealed: a tailed beast wrapped in the armor of a god.
"Now witness," Raizen said, voice echoing with madness and awe, "the power of a shinobi and a beast combined."
The hybrid swung a tail, and every sealing ninja in its path exploded mid-air like punctured bladders.
Screams turned to silence.
Then came the light—chakra gathering at the monster's mouth. A sphere formed, black and dense, crackling with death.
"A Tailed Beast Bomb!" Tennin shouted, horror twisting his face. "Retreat! Everyone fall back!"
But it was already too late.
The bomb shot forward like a falling star, smashing into the Hyūga ranks.
The world went white.
The explosion tore through the valley, consuming everything. Earth flipped. Trees disintegrated. The sound alone shattered bones. When the dust cleared, five hundred shinobi were gone—nothing left but molten armor and burned soil.
Tennin Hyūga staggered forward, chakra boiling in fury. "Amamiya Raizen!!"
He launched himself at the beast, hands flashing through seals. "Eight Trigrams: One Hundred and Twenty-Eight Palms!"
He struck faster than the eye could follow, each palm blow exploding with chakra. But when he stopped—panting, trembling—the armored hide of the Three Tails hadn't even cracked.
Raizen looked down through Susanoo's blazing eyes. "Done?"
Tennin's pupils shrank. The Three Tails' mouth glowed again—another Tailed Beast Bomb forming.
"Damn it—Revolving Heaven!"
He spun, chakra erupting outward into a barrier of pure rotation. The air screamed as the Tailed Beast Bomb launched straight toward him.
Light clashed with light.
And the battlefield held its breath.