The five of them looked at one another, then finally nodded in reluctant agreement.
"All right..."
Deep down, they all knew the truth. Against a monster on the level of a Tailed Beast, they would not be able to help. They would only divide Akira's attention.
To be honest, even Samui stepping out there would probably just complicate things. A Tailed Beast was a walking natural disaster. Most Kage-level fighters would think twice before facing one head-on.
Watching them hesitate, Akira still did not feel at ease. His hands flashed through seals.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
With a pop, another Akira appeared beside him.
The original glanced at the clone and said flatly, "Keep an eye on them. If anyone tries to come out, break their legs."
The shadow clone gave a cool nod.
Just as the five of them were being herded into the cave like a flock of ducks, a roar suddenly tore across the outside world, one so savage it seemed to shake the soul itself.
"ROAR—!!!"
The sound felt ancient, overflowing with violence.
Akira's brows drew together as he turned toward the source.
"It's here."
The heavy mist still blocked ordinary sight, but his sensing ability had already locked onto that vast, cold chakra.
Looking at the artificial sea fog the Kiri ninja had created under Akita's orders, Akira clicked his tongue.
"Come on. We're heading to the shore."
Samui took a deep breath, tightened her grip on her blade, and nodded.
"Right."
The two of them moved like streaks of light, crossing the terrain in a few bursts until they reached the beach.
Akira's hands blurred again.
"Sealing Art: Barrier Release!"
With a quiet shout, the mist barrier surrounding the island shattered like glass.
Against someone like Akira, who had mastered Uzumaki sealing jutsu, a barrier like this was as flimsy as paper.
The moment the barrier broke, his hands did not stop.
"Wind Style: Super Hurricane!"
A terrifying current of air burst from Akira's mouth.
The wind screamed as it took shape, becoming a tornado wall over a hundred meters high, sweeping outward with the force of a natural disaster.
"WHOOOOSH—!"
The immense pressure tore through the fog for miles around, shredding it and blasting it away. In moments, the sea lay clear.
Standing beside him, Samui stared at Akira's profile in silent disbelief.
He had just unleashed a massive jutsu, and now he was tossing out a large-area Wind Style like it meant nothing.
Was his chakra actually endless?
The difficulty of a B-rank Wind Style jutsu was one thing. The amount of chakra he had poured into it was something else entirely.
And for some reason, standing beside this man filled her with a strange sense of security.
Now that the view was clear, they immediately spotted it.
Several hundred meters away, a living island was moving across the water toward them.
It was a gigantic turtle-like creature, its body wrapped in a shell harder than fortress walls, three tails thrashing wildly behind it and smashing waves into spray.
Akira's tone stayed casual.
"That's Isobu. The Three-Tails."
Samui's eyes widened, her voice tightening.
"It's not as big as the island turtle back in our village, but that chakra... it's suffocating."
Akira turned and grinned.
"I've heard Kumo has a giant turtle carrying an island on its back. One day I'd like to see it for myself."
Samui looked back at him and found, to her disbelief, that he was still smiling.
He really did have nerves of steel.
"If you survive today, come visit Kumogakure sometime. I'll take you myself."
"Deal. I happen to be very fond of staying alive."
The pressure radiating off the Tailed Beast was real, oppressive enough to turn Samui's knuckles white around the hilt of her sword.
Sensing her tension, Akira reached out and lightly held her wrist, warmth passing from his hand to hers.
"Relax. I said I'd bring everyone back alive, and I meant it."
It was only a simple gesture, but it loosened the knot in her chest a little.
Samui let out a bitter laugh.
"I'd like to believe that. But this is a rampaging Tailed Beast..."
Out on the water, the Three-Tails had clearly noticed the two humans standing there. The explosion from before had been their doing.
Still irritated at being woken, it narrowed its eyes, opened its enormous mouth, and instantly began condensing chakra.
A high-pressure water beam five or six meters thick erupted forth like a laser cannon, tearing toward the shore with enough force to erase anything in its path.
If that hit Samui directly, there would not even be a body left.
"So this is the power of a Tailed Beast? Even a basic attack is this absurd..." Samui's pupils shrank as she prepared to throw herself aside.
"Water Style: Severing Wave!"
Akira's voice was frighteningly calm, his hands flying through seals.
At once, dozens of razor-thin high-pressure water lines rose from the sea, slicing forward to intercept the Three-Tails' attack.
"BOOM—!"
The two Water Style jutsus collided midair, throwing up waves dozens of meters high as though a tsunami had exploded into existence.
More shocking still, Akira's Severing Wave cut straight through the Three-Tails' water blast and shredded it apart, turning it into a rainstorm that came crashing down.
Akira shook a few droplets from his hand and smiled faintly.
"As expected of a Tailed Beast. It took an A-rank jutsu just to barely cancel that out."
Samui stared at him as if he had lost his mind.
Barely?
He had just beaten the Three-Tails in a direct Water Style clash and called it barely.
As the distance between them and the beast shrank to less than a hundred meters, Akira's gaze sharpened. Without hesitation, he bit his finger.
"If we're doing a monster battle, we might as well commit to the spectacle."
"Summoning Jutsu!"
He slammed one hand down onto the sand.
"BOOM!"
A towering mass of white smoke erupted, swallowing the shoreline from view.
Samui felt the ground lurch beneath her feet, then realized her body was rising.
"Hissssss—"
The sound of a serpent's tongue flicking out beside her sent a chill crawling down her spine.
"Hahaha! Akira, what kind of big show is it this time that you had to drag me out for?"
As the smoke cleared, Samui looked down and her whole body locked up.
She was standing on the head of a crimson giant serpent.
Its body stretched across the beach like a mountain range in motion, over a hundred meters long.
This was Shinra of Ryuchi Cave. That violent one-eyed lunatic.
Akira himself was already terrifying enough, and now even his summon was this kind of boss-level monster.
"Shinra, less talking. Look ahead."
The one-eyed serpent rolled its great eye forward and finally saw the Three-Tails.
"Are you insane, Akira?! That's a Tailed Beast! You summoned me out here to box a Tailed Beast?"
Akira smirked.
"What's wrong? The big boss of Ryuchi Cave getting cold feet?"
"The hell I am! There's no such word in my dictionary!" Shinra hissed, but there was unmistakable tension in his voice. "What's that thing doing here? Shouldn't it be sleeping in the deeper waters of the Land of Water?"
"We ran into it, so call it a warm-up before dinner."
Seeing Akira summon a giant snake only made the Three-Tails feel more provoked. It opened its mouth wide, red and blue chakra swirling into a violent sphere. The air around it warped from the pressure.
Shinra's one eye widened.
"Hey! No more jokes! It's charging a Tailed Beast Bomb! That thing kills snakes!"
Akira shot one glance behind him toward the island. If that Tailed Beast Bomb landed here, everything would be over.
"I'll handle the Tailed Beast Bomb. You wait until it fires, then rush in and bite it."
Shinra had no idea where Akira's confidence came from, but the trust forged by their contract left him no choice except to grit his teeth and go along with it.
Worst case, he could always swallow Akira and reverse-summon them both out of here. He was a snake. Pride could wait.
Soon enough, a pitch-black sphere of destruction fully formed in the Three-Tails' mouth.
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