"Woof!"
Kuromaru suddenly looked behind Tsume, his pupils shrinking and his eyes widening; he even forgot to wag his tail.
Even without looking, Tsume knew she had been discovered. She grabbed Kuromaru and used Body Flicker to dash forward, leaving the spot where she had been lurking.
When she turned to look, a black-haired youth was sitting where she had just been, legs crossed, with a lazy smile on his face.
Behind this person was a massive yellow beast, like the incarnation of the desert—none other than the One-Tail Shukaku.
"Tsume, long time no see!"
Tsume pulled out a Kunai and looked at Ryou with full alertness.
"Uchiha Ryou, how did you find me?"
Ryou glanced at Kuromaru, who quickly looked away guiltily to avoid his gaze.
Ryou ignored Kuromaru and smiled at Tsume: "Tsume, you aren't even willing to call me Senior?"
Tsume shouted: "You are a rogue Shinobi who fled the Village; you've long since ceased to be my senior."
"Insolent!"
Ryou barked, standing up as his massive chakra weighed down on Tsume and Kuromaru like a tsunami.
Kuromaru was immediately suppressed to his knees by this immense chakra, and even Tsume struggled to stand.
Kuromaru pleaded: "Lord Ryou, I beg of you, do not hurt Tsume, she is pregnant!"
Snowy jumped onto Ryou's shoulder and barked: "If she's pregnant, why did she come out to perform a mission?"
Tsume roared at Kuromaru: "Stand up, Kuromaru! Do not kneel! The Inuzuka Clan will never wag their tails for mercy from their enemies."
Remembering his identity as a Shinobi Dog, Kuromaru struggled with all his might to stand up.
But Ryou's power and excessive chakra weighed on his body like a great mountain.
"Woof! Uchiha Ryou, you cat demon, don't dream of making our Dog Clan kneel and beg for mercy."
Kuromaru barked like a mad dog; even if he was pressed down and couldn't get up, he would still bark at his enemy.
Ryou withdrew some of his chakra.
Kuromaru slowly stood up, his dog eyes glaring at Ryou with a bloodshot gaze, his front paws pressed firmly into the ground as a low, fierce growl rolled in his throat.
Candy appeared on Ryou's other shoulder, taking gold bars formed from a scroll and dropping them onto Kuromaru's back.
"Woof woof—"
Kuromaru continued to bark.
Candy dropped more, and before long, the gold pinned Kuromaru flat to the ground.
"Woof! Tsume, this weight is truly making it hard for me to breathe!"
Kuromaru was stifling a laugh.
He had heard that the Fourth Kazekage Rasa's Ninjutsu used gold to crush people; back then, Kuromaru thought that might be the most luxurious Ninjutsu.
Countless people dreamed of being crushed to death by gold.
Seeing Kuromaru's dog-like behavior, Tsume extended her sharp claws in anger: "You useless trash, these are just the enemy's sugar-coated bullets! Stand up!"
Ryou stopped Tsume's hissing: "Enough, Tsume. Tell me, what is a pregnant woman like you doing on the battlefield?"
"Is Konoha out of people?"
Tsume glared at Ryou and said: "Konoha has plenty of people, it's just that as the head of the Inuzuka Clan, I can't stay idle!"
Ryou was speechless: "You Inuzuka Clan members really are dogs!"
Ryou then jumped onto Shukaku's head, looking down at Tsume with his arms folded.
"Tsume, kneel down now and call me 'Grandpa,' and I'll let you go!"
"Call your own damn grandpa!"
Tsume cursed at Ryou and then began to refine the chakra throughout her body.
Kuromaru also broke free from the gold's suppression and jumped to Tsume's side.
"Kuromaru, use our ultimate move!"
"Woof!"
Tsume formed hand seals, using the Shadow Clone Jutsu to create one clone, and then fused her own chakra, the clone's, and Kuromaru's together.
"Inuzuka Style Human Beast Mixture Transformation — Three-Headed Wolf!"
Ryou rubbed his chin, somewhat puzzled: "Man-beast?!"
"Roar—"
A massive roar rang out, and then a giant gray wolf, seven meters tall, burst from the desert with three heads, sharp fangs, and claws as sharp as curved hooks.
Though the three-headed gray wolf was large, it was still a small fry in the face of a natural disaster like a Tailed Beast.
Shukaku was about 20 meters tall even while lying down.
The three-headed gray wolf transformed from Tsume and Kuromaru was only the size of one of Shukaku's paws.
"Awoooo—"
The three-headed gray wolf let out a long, desolate, and wild howl that sent shivers down one's spine.
It then turned into a gray blur, rapidly charging toward Ryou's position.
"Wind Release: Drilling Air Bullet!"
Ryou controlled Shukaku to release Drilling Air Bullets; massive spheres of wind spat from Shukaku's mouth to attack the three-headed gray wolf.
With this kind of Tailed Beast Ninjutsu, Tsume and Kuromaru would be sent to their next lives if they took even a single hit.
They didn't have the damage-taking stats of someone like Gamabunta.
However, the three-headed gray wolf was quite agile, deftly dodging Shukaku's Drilling Air Bullets.
When the three-headed gray wolf was only 20 meters from Ryou, Shukaku's last Drilling Air Bullet hit the ground in front of it, erupting in a violent shockwave and kicking up thick sand and dust.
Ryou thought it was over, but to his surprise, the three-headed gray wolf jumped high into the air, transforming into a gray tornado.
"Fang Wolf Fang!"
The three-headed gray wolf spun at ultra-high speed, turning into a giant tornado that struck toward Ryou.
Within the three-headed gray wolf, Tsume's consciousness dominated the fusion, and she shouted loudly.
"Uchiha Ryou, it's over! Pay the price for your arrogance!"
"Ridiculous!"
"Wood Release: Wood Locking Wall!"
Ryou formed hand seals to release Wood Release, and immediately, shields formed from multiple wooden vines grew rapidly out of the desert.
The three-headed gray wolf slammed violently into the Wood Locking Wall; the wooden vines had great resilience, and the wolf stopped after crashing out a massive dent.
Tsume and Kuromaru were left dazed from the impact.
Taking advantage of their distraction, Ryou's next Wood Release arrived in an instant.
"Wood Release: Smothering Binding Technique!"
Massive logs emerged from the desert, winding like Wood Dragons to bind the three-headed gray wolf tightly.
In just an instant, a large amount of chakra was drained from the three-headed gray wolf by the wood.
The Three-Headed Wolf transformation of Tsume and Kuromaru immediately dispelled.
Tsume was full of rage: "Damn it!"
Kuromaru barked: "Uchiha Ryou, using Wood Release is cheating! Fight us fairly with real weapons if you have the guts!"
Ryou absorbed the three-headed gray wolf's chakra into himself, using the powerful replicative nature of White Zetsu cells to copy Tsume and Kuromaru's Secret Technique.
This kind of technique belonged to Secret Techniques, which the Sharingan could not copy; it could only be copied using White Zetsu cells' decomposition and reconstruction of chakra.
Having absorbed the three-headed gray wolf's chakra, Ryou also slowly became familiar with the Inuzuka Clan's Secret Technique.
"So that's how it is!"
Inuzuka Style Human Beast Mixture Transformation is a high-level Transformation Technique; the strength, speed, and defense of the giant wolf formed by the fusion of human and dog bodies and consciousnesses are significantly enhanced.
This is not a 1+1=2 effect, but rather a multiplication of two numbers greater than 1.
If Tsume's value is 5 and Kuromaru's value is 2, then the value of the giant wolf after their transformation is 10.
Tsume split half of her chakra and added a Shadow Clone to become the three-headed wolf, so the value of the three-headed wolf formed this way is 2.5x2.5x2=12.5.