When Jie stopped smiling, fear rose in Shukaku's heart.
It felt as if something terrifying had opened its eyes.
For the first time, Shukaku regretted refusing.
Thinking about it now, being kept by Jie did not sound completely unacceptable. With someone this strong behind it, most ninja would never dare bother it again. If it met that damn fox one day, Jie might even be able to teach Kurama a lesson.
If Jie won, that arrogant fox might end up as Jie's pet or summoned beast too. Then Shukaku could finally laugh at Kurama for once.
If Jie lost, that was fine as well.
Kurama could kill Jie, and Shukaku would be free again.
At worst, it would be mocked a little more. After being mocked by that fox for so many years, one more time hardly mattered.
Thinking about it that way, Shukaku hesitated.
Maybe it should change its answer before Jie truly made a move.
Jie did not know what Shukaku was thinking, and he did not care.
He still needed Shukaku's chakra to recreate the Ten-Tails, so destroying it completely was not an option. No matter what he did with Shukaku afterward, he had to take part of its chakra first.
Jie raised his hand.
"Adamantine Sealing Chains."
Several huge chakra chains shot out from behind him.
Before Shukaku could react, the chains wrapped around its body layer by layer and locked it in place.
Only then did Shukaku react and start struggling.
It was useless.
The chains looked like ordinary chakra, but Shukaku could not break them. Worse, even its own chakra had been sealed.
Without chakra, a tailed beast had almost nothing left.
Shukaku finally panicked.
Jie ignored its reaction and took out a sealing scroll from the Kamui space.
Guided by his chakra, the scroll unfolded and floated into the air.
"Four Symbols Seal."
Jie raised two fingers together and swept them toward Shukaku.
A black line of chakra shot out and split Shukaku's body from the middle.
It was a method Jie had developed from the Rinnegan's black rods. It was no Truth-Seeking Ball, but it was more than enough to cut Shukaku's chakra apart.
The moment its body was split, Shukaku finally understood how badly it had misjudged Jie. This human was different from every other human it had met.
Jie could hurt it.
And Jie was far stronger than it.
Why had it let old pride cloud its judgment?
Was it too late to regret it now?
Shukaku was just about to speak when a powerful pull came from the right half of its body. A huge amount of tailed-beast chakra surged out and flowed into the sealing scroll beside Jie.
Feeling its power drain away, Shukaku no longer cared about pride.
"I was wrong! I was wrong!"
"I'll go with you! I'll be your pet!"
"Stop! Hurry and stop!"
But Jie's sealing technique was already active.
In just a few breaths, half of Shukaku's chakra had been sealed inside the scroll.
Hearing Shukaku beg for mercy, Jie's lips curved slightly.
He had expected Shukaku to resist. As an immortal chakra lifeform, even the One-Tail had its pride. Besides, Jie needed part of its chakra anyway.
He had planned to take less, but Shukaku's refusal had raised the price to half.
The result was clear enough.
Shukaku had yielded.
Still, Jie wanted to make sure it understood its situation completely.
He closed his eyes for a moment.
When he opened them again, purple ripples spread through his eyes.
Shukaku froze.
"You actually have the Rinnegan?"
'Wasn't the Rinnegan the old man of Six Paths' eye?'
'How could it appear in an ordinary human?'
Seeing Jie's Rinnegan, Shukaku almost cursed out loud.
Humans really were cunning.
If Jie had something as terrifying as the Rinnegan, why had he not shown it earlier?
If Shukaku had known from the beginning, it would have surrendered without wasting any effort.
The Rinnegan was the old man's eye, tied to the origin of the tailed beasts. Against it, a tailed beast's power would be heavily suppressed.
Worse, if the wielder knew the secret of the Gedo Statue, he could seal the tailed beasts back into it and turn them into the Ten-Tails again.
That would not be ordinary death.
They would not revive after enough time passed.
They would disappear completely.
Jie had not expected Shukaku to lose its nerve the moment it saw the Rinnegan. He had not even used its power, yet Shukaku already looked wronged enough that Jie nearly laughed.
He did not know exactly what Shukaku was thinking, but the result was clear.
Originally, he had planned to give Shukaku one more warning with the Rinnegan.
Now, that no longer seemed necessary.
"If you understand now, I do not need to say much more."
Jie looked at Shukaku calmly.
Shukaku felt another burst of anger, but it had no choice. Its body slowly shrank until it was only about a meter tall.
Jie nodded in satisfaction.
He stepped in front of Shukaku and reached out, pinching its round head.
Shukaku's body did not feel like an ordinary pet. It felt strange, soft but grainy, with the warmth of chakra underneath.
Jie suddenly felt that the extra effort had been worth it.
Shukaku stood there stiffly, angry but too afraid to resist.
Not only that, it still had to force out a smile.
"Since I've surrendered, can you give back the chakra you sealed away?"
Jie looked at Shukaku's pleading face and suddenly felt like teasing it.
"Of course..."
Shukaku's eyes immediately brightened.
"...No."
"That chakra is your punishment. Do not think about taking it back."
"Losing it is not much of a problem for you anyway."
The chakra inside the scroll was one of the materials Jie needed to recreate the Ten-Tails. There was no chance of Shukaku getting it back.
Besides, tailed-beast chakra recovered over time. Jie had only removed half of Shukaku's chakra, not split it into two separate beings. At most, Shukaku would recover in a few months.
There was no reason to return it.
Shukaku had already expected this answer, but it still felt disappointed.
Its anger had not disappeared.
This human was going too far.
One day, it would get revenge.
Shukaku was weaker than Jie now, but it did not believe Jie would remain strong forever.
Even the old man of Six Paths had eventually died to time, while the tailed beasts had survived until now.
Jie was still human.
One day, he would grow old.
When that day came, Shukaku would make him regret everything.
The thought made Shukaku smile.
Jie saw that strange expression and knew exactly what it meant.
Unfortunately for Shukaku, Jie was not an ordinary human.
Still, he did not bother explaining.
Instead, he used Wood Release to create a small teapot and looked at Shukaku with a smile.
"So, are you going in on your own, or do I have to seal you inside myself?"
A tanuki in a teapot suited Shukaku perfectly.
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