"Damn human!"
The Nine Tails thrashed in rage, its tails cracking through the ground like whips. Each movement shook the battlefield, hurling debris the size of houses. Its massive chakra arms tore chunks of earth and stone free, launching them toward the towering blue giant before it.
"—Sword of Amaterasu!"
Raizen's voice was a calm snarl inside the howling storm. Susanoo raised its burning blade, black fire coiling down its edge. The sword cleaved through the heavens, splitting the world into light and shadow.
The boulders never even reached him—they disintegrated midair, devoured by the flames.
The black sword fell, slicing into the Nine Tails' skull with a sound like thunder cracking stone.
A shockwave tore through the field. The beast's roar followed—an ancient sound that made even hardened shinobi tremble. Nine Tails struck back, its tails lunging like serpents to coil around Susanoo's limbs.
But Susanoo grabbed hold of one tail, pulled hard, and slammed the monster into the earth.
"ROAR!"
The beast's jaws opened wide, chakra spiraling into a seething sphere.
The air burned with pressure.
"Tailed Beast Bomb—!"
"Kamui shuriken!" Raizen barked back, hurling a distorted shuriken spinning with dimensional energy. Space itself twisted, swallowing the Tailed Beast Bomb whole before it could explode.
"Nine Tails—kneel!"
Susanoo seized the fox again, hurling it skyward, then brought the Sword of Amaterasu crashing down. The flames of the black sun erupted, spreading across the monster's body. The fire clung to fur and chakra alike, consuming everything.
Nine Tails screamed, thrashing and rolling in agony, but Amaterasu's blaze was merciless—feeding on chakra, it only burned hotter.
"Damn human!" the fox roared again, its chakra flaring violently. Bubbles of energy burst from its body, wrapping it in a shield of crimson light. The chakra erupted skyward, forcing the fire to scatter.
Raizen grimaced. "Even Amaterasu can't hold you…"
Susanoo's form flickered, cracks spreading across its armor of light. Raizen's breath came heavy, the strain of battle eating away at his body.
The complete Nine Tails was a nightmare—the kind of power even legends feared. Susanoo alone wasn't enough.
"So be it," he muttered. "Let's try the old Uchiha trick."
Raizen's gaze sharpened, his eyes bleeding into scarlet whorls. His chakra flared violently, frost forming across Susanoo's armor.
"Hyōton—Absolute Zero!"
The world froze.
The explosion of cold consumed the battlefield, air turning to crystal and snow erupting from nowhere. The frost raced outward, devouring stone, fire, and soil. The Nine Tails froze mid-roar, its massive body locked in ice, fangs bared, eyes wide with fury.
Raizen dropped to one knee as Susanoo vanished. His breath rasped through the cold, pale steam curling from his mouth.
"Now… the last move."
He stumbled toward the frozen beast, blood on his lips, vision shaking. Every step echoed with exhaustion and defiance. His chakra was gone—only sheer will carried him forward.
"Continuous Susanoo use… damn near killed me…" he muttered, coughing blood into the snow.
Still, he stood before the fox and lifted his head. His eyes—his Eternal Mangekyō—flared once more.
"Nine Tails… look at me."
Cracks began spreading across the ice as the fox's fury boiled beneath the frost. It roared, shaking the air.
"Submit," Raizen commanded. The tomoe within his eyes spun, bleeding into a pattern like a boomerang set in motion. The illusion struck deep.
Inside the fox's mindscape, a blood-red moon rose. The sky warped into a pattern of spiraling eyes—endless, devouring. The fox struggled, its will roaring in defiance. But Raizen's Mangekyō was relentless, his will pressing down like gravity.
"Surrender, Nine Tails!"
Bit by bit, the beast's resistance crumbled. Its eyes twisted into the same spinning shape as Raizen's. Its roar fell silent.
And then—
"Agh!"
Pain seared through Raizen's skull. Blood ran from his right eye, hot against the freezing wind. His vision blurred.
Something snapped.
The ice exploded.
Nine Tails burst free, a wave of crimson chakra leveling the frozen field. It leapt into the night, vanishing toward the northeast.
Raizen dropped to one knee again, clutching his face. "Damn it… failed…"
He could only watch as the beast's chakra faded into the distance. If he had tamed it, the entire Amamiya–Senju Alliance could have changed the tide of this cursed war. But now? The Nine Tails was free—and next time, it would be ready.
He sighed once, bitterly, then vanished in a shimmer of space.
Far to the northeast, past the Fire Country's borders, the Nine Tails finally slowed. It crossed into the land of thunder, panting, wounded—but alive.
And somewhere near a mountain village, two young boys with silver and gold hair paused in their training. They looked up at the sky, sensing a power beyond human comprehension. They didn't move closer. But curiosity had already taken root.
...
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