Chapter 97: The Unleashed Tailed Beast
"Since you believe I cannot tame the Nine-Tails, then I will simply destroy you all here. Afterward, I will take Uzumaki Naruto and extract the sealed beast from his body."
"It's as straightforward as that."
Aizen's declaration was absolute, his demeanor shifting once more. The supreme, commanding aura he had wielded as the ruler of Hueco Mundo returned to him in full force.
It was true. Within the sealed prison of Naruto's mind, Aizen had once attempted to subjugate the Nine-Tails.
Are you satisfied with your current cage?
Do you not wish to ascend to a higher plane?
Let me assist you.
Submit to me, obey my will, and I shall grant you greater power and a new world!
His domineering proposition had ultimately failed to sway the proud fox. Moreover, Jiraiya's timely intervention had forced Aizen to withdraw, leaving the beast untamed.
But to Aizen, this was a minor setback.
Taming the Nine-Tails through persuasion was merely one path, a method suited to his disguise. Now that the mask was off and all pretenses were discarded, his approach would change accordingly.
He needed only to wield his own power to sever every obstacle in his path, and the Nine-Tails would be within his grasp.
There was nothing ahead of him that could be called an enemy.
Both Jiraiya and the grim-faced Gamabunta were momentarily stunned by Aizen's words. They had never encountered such sheer, unadulterated ambition. To them, this was no longer mere provocation; it was blasphemous arrogance.
"For a shinobi, how one lives may not matter, but how one dies is of utmost importance," Jiraiya said, his voice low and tight. The blue veins standing out on his arms betrayed the rage he held in check. "The Third Hokage… he gave everything for Konoha, poured his heart and soul into this village, and earned the love of the entire Land of Fire. It is a tragedy that his end came at the hands of someone so cruel and merciless!"
When he had rushed from the eastern district to the watchtower, Jiraiya had already known, in his heart, that the old man was gone. This heroic leader had held onto his will to protect Konoha until his very last breath. It was a singular, noble end.
As one of the Third's students, Jiraiya's duty was clear: to enact vengeance upon Aizen.
"Jiraiya, enough talk! Delaying any longer will only let the situation worsen!" Gamabunta bellowed. His massive webbed hand closed around the hilt of the giant tantō strapped to his waist, slowly drawing the blade. He was done with Aizen's provocations; it was time to strike first.
The polished steel of the blade gleamed menacingly under the sun. The sheer size of the sword, wielded by the colossal toad, added an immeasurable weight to its threat.
Swish!
Jiraiya understood. He leaped high, landing firmly atop Gamabunta's head. It was a scene from their youth, from battles long past—the legendary Sannin and the Toad Boss, fighting side-by-side once more against a common foe.
"Let's go, Boss!" Jiraiya yelled, his focus entirely on Aizen. His hands flew through a rapid sequence of hand seals.
"Fire Style: Flame Bullet!"
Jiraiya converted his own chakra into a highly flammable oil, which he spat forth while igniting it with a Fire Style technique. The result was a massive, heat-wave-distorting fireball that roared toward Aizen with terrifying force.
"It's been many years, hasn't it, Jiraiya boy? I never thought we'd get to perform this combo again!" Gamabunta laughed, his voice booming like thunder.
His cavernous mouth opened wide, and he expelled a torrent of thick, viscous toad oil. The oil merged seamlessly with Jiraiya's fireball, creating a conflagration of monstrous proportions. The combined ninjutsu expanded rapidly, its range becoming vast enough to fill the sky, attempting to engulf Aizen in an inescapable inferno.
"Fire Style: Toad Oil Flame Bullet!"
Faced with this all-consuming sea of fire, Aizen's brow furrowed slightly, but no panic touched his features.
He kept his hands behind his back and began to chant, his voice calm and clear.
"Beast bones of a spotted sparrow."
"The single horn, the red crystal, the steel wheel."
"Move with the wind, and stand still in the void."
"The sound of spears colliding fills the empty castle."
"Hadō Number Sixty-Three: Sōren Sōkatsui!"
As the chant ended, Aizen brought his palms together before thrusting them forward. A tremendous blast of blue spiritual fire, intertwined with crackling lightning, erupted from his hands. It swelled outwards like a raging tidal wave, meeting the oncoming ocean of flame head-on.
BOOOOM!
The collision of the two colossal energies was cataclysmic. The sky became a chaotic battlefield of opposing elements—a storm of fire and a typhoon of blue lightning. The resulting shockwave of energy pulsed outwards, shaking the very foundations of the village below.
It was the second exchange between them, and once again, it ended in a stalemate.
As the last vestiges of lightning and flame dissipated, the expressions on Jiraiya and Gamabunta's faces grew even graver. If even their combined assault could not overwhelm Aizen, then Jiraiya was left with only one, desperate option.
Sage Mode.
At that moment, Aizen's gaze drifted downward from the sky, locking onto the central competition grounds. There, Gaara lay gasping weakly, guarded by a frantic Temari and Kankuro.
During his earlier match with Aizen, Gaara had been pushed to the brink, causing the Tailed Beast within him to run rampant and further erode his body and mind.
"By my calculation, the time is now," Aizen murmured, a slight smile playing on his lips. Everything was proceeding according to his design. He made a subtle gesture with his fingers, and a faint pulse of spiritual energy rippled out from his fingertips.
The moment Aizen completed this gesture, Gaara's body on the ground below convulsed violently. His face lost all color, and he collapsed in agony, clutching his stomach.
The seal on his abdomen, which contained the One-Tail, Shukaku, began to glow and distort violently under the interference of Aizen's spiritual power.
It was breaking.
The One-Tail was about to be unleashed.
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