Chapter 242: God Against Beast
Uchiha Akira, standing serene amidst the swirling dust and debris within his colossal Susanoo, looked down at Shukaku's giant, sandy back as the Tailed Beast fled in a blind panic.
A cold, utterly dismissive voice echoed from the Susanoo, amplified by chakra, rolling across the ruined landscape like thunder.
"Did I say you could leave?"
Shukaku, who was scrambling away at full, desperate speed, skidding through the ruins of his own village, suddenly froze mid-stride!
Sand cascaded off his massive form as he dug his claws in, grinding to a halt.
[Damn it!] Shukaku shrieked internally, his chaotic mind filled with pure, animalistic terror. [He wasn't bluffing! He sees me as nothing but a trapped rat!]
[This bastard... this Uchiha monster... he never intended to let me go from the start!]
A surge of desperate, cornered fury momentarily overcame the fear.
[In that case... if I'm going to die anyway... LET'S DIE TOGETHER!]
Shukaku spun around violently, kicking up a massive cloud of sand. His huge, distorted tanuki face was now filled with utter ferocity and raw, Tailed Beast brutality!
"YOU FORCED ME!" he howled, his voice a distorted, sand-choked shriek that carried for miles. "YOU THINK YOU CAN CONTROL ME?! I AM SHUKAKU OF THE SAND!"
Shukaku suddenly took a deep, impossible breath. His huge, pot-bellied abdomen swelled grotesquely, expanding at a visible rate like a monstrous balloon! The air itself seemed to rush towards him.
The next second!
Puff! Puff! Puff! Puff! Puff! Puff! Puff! Puff! Puff! Puff! Puff! Puff!
Over a dozen highly compressed, cannonball-sized spheres of pure wind energy – Drilling Air Bullets (風遁・練空弾, Fūton: Renkūdan) – were furiously blasted from his gaping maw towards the Perfect Susanoo where Uchiha Akira stood! Each one screamed through the air like a miniature tornado!
[Inorin's Note: Wind Release: Drilling Air Bullet (Fūton: Renkūdan) is one of Shukaku's signature techniques, involving inhaling deeply and then expelling highly compressed spheres of wind chakra.]
The result was… anticlimactic. Obvious, even before they hit.
Over a dozen Drilling Air Bullets struck the impervious purple armor of the Perfect Susanoo.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
They impacted with metallic shrieks, splashing harmless ripples of blue-white energy across the ethereal surface.
They failed to even make the colossal Susanoo budge an inch! Not a scratch. Not a tremor.
"..."
Shukaku's furious roar abruptly stopped, choked off in his throat.
His massive, sand-rimmed eyes widened in stunned disbelief.
[Ineffective?]
[How… How is that possible?! My Drilling Air Bullet… even ninja with strong defenses fear it! That armor… it's… impossible!]
The huge, undeniable disparity in strength instantly extinguished the suicidal madness that had just ignited in Shukaku's heart. Fear, cold and absolute, flooded back in.
But at this moment, driven by primal instinct, he couldn't care less! He had already committed!
While the Air Bullets were still flying, Shukaku had begun gathering chakra in front of his mouth. Not just wind chakra. But raw, chaotic, Tailed Beast chakra. Positive black and negative white, swirling, condensing.
A small, impossibly dense black sphere, exuding a terrifyingly ominous, destructive aura, was rapidly forming, growing larger second by second!
The Tailed Beast's ultimate secret art! Their final, most devastating weapon!
The Tailed Beast Ball! (尾獣玉, Bijūdama)
[Inorin's Note: The Tailed Beast Ball (Bijūdama) is the ultimate technique of a Tailed Beast. It's formed by mixing positive black chakra and negative white chakra in a precise 8:2 ratio, creating an incredibly dense and destructive sphere of energy.]
In the distance, amidst the ruins, Rasa, the Fourth Kazekage, who had completely fallen into the abyss of despair after witnessing the Deep Forest Emergence and the Susanoo's might, saw that swirling black sphere.
His eyes, previously dull and lifeless, instantly lit up with a renewed, frantic, desperate excitement!
"It's… IT'S THE TAILED BEAST BALL!"
"That's right! Shukaku is using the Tailed Beast Ball!!"
Rasa scrambled to his feet, ignoring his injuries, roaring like a madman, tears of desperate hope streaming down his face!
"THIS IS IT! THIS IS THE TAILED BEAST'S STRONGEST ATTACK! THE POWER THAT CAN LEVEL MOUNTAINS!"
He pointed a trembling, accusatory finger at the distant Susanoo.
"UCHIHA AKIRA! NO MATTER HOW STRONG YOUR DAMNED SUSANOO IS, YOU CAN'T TAKE THIS HEAD-ON! NOTHING CAN!"
"DIE! JUST DIE! BE ERASED!"
Rasa placed all his hopes, the hopes of the entire dying Sunagakure, onto Shukaku's final, desperate attack!
Uchiha Akira, standing calmly within the Susanoo's protective crystal, looked at the rapidly condensing Tailed Beast Ball. He felt its immense, chaotic power.
But instead of concern, a hint of genuine, clinical interest appeared on his face.
"A Tailed Beast Ball, huh…" he murmured to himself. [The pinnacle of raw chakra manipulation, balanced perfectly between positive and negative energies. Impressive… for a beast.]
Uchiha Akira's thought moved.
The hundred-meter-tall Perfect Susanoo slowly, deliberately, released the giant Sword of Kusanagi analogue in its right hand.
The colossal blade of black lightning slowly dissipated into harmless motes of energy in the air.
Immediately after.
The Susanoo raised its two giant, armored arms and brought them together slowly, purposefully, in front of its chest.
Its massive, ethereal hands formed a gesture like a flower calyx, palms facing each other, fingers slightly curled.
Buzz—!!!
A terrifying, world-shaking chakra fluctuation erupted from within the Susanoo, originating directly from Akira! Far greater, far more controlled, than the Tailed Beast's chaotic surge!
Raw, pure energy – neither positive nor negative, but something more – furiously surged from Akira, channeled through the Susanoo, pouring towards the Susanoo's cupped palms!
An energy sphere, visibly, significantly larger than the Tailed Beast Ball, began to condense between its hands! It wasn't black and white; it was a swirling vortex of pure, blinding, destructive purple energy, crackling with contained power!
The Susanoo Collapse Orb! (須佐能乎崩壊球, Susanoo Hōkai Kyū - Fanfic Term)
[Inorin's Note: The "Susanoo Collapse Orb" appears to be a fanfic-specific technique, likely Akira's original creation, combining the immense chakra of his Perfect Susanoo with advanced shape transformation, possibly mimicking or exceeding a Tailed Beast Ball.]
"Wh-what… what is THAT?!"
The ecstatic, hopeful expression on Rasa's face instantly froze, replaced by utter disbelief and a dawning, soul-crushing horror.
[That… that energy… it's… it's bigger than the Tailed Beast Ball! How?!]
"DIE!!!"
Shukaku, sensing the terrifying power gathering before him, couldn't wait any longer! He fiercely spat out the Tailed Beast Ball that had already formed!
The black sphere shot forward, screaming through the air, leaving a trail of distorted space in its wake!
"It's over."
Uchiha Akira's expression hardened. His eyes were cold, absolute.
The Susanoo's massive, armored arms suddenly pushed forward!
The Susanoo Collapse Orb, condensed to its absolute extreme, radiating palpable waves of destructive force, shot forward, bravely meeting the incoming Tailed Beast Ball!
The next second.
Two energy spheres of terrifying, world-altering destructive power collided head-on in mid-air, halfway between Shukaku and the Susanoo!
There was no immediate sound. No light.
Instead, for a horrifying instant, there was only absence.
Then, a perfect, silent, black sun slowly rose above the battlefield, swallowing all light, all sound.
BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM—!!!
The sound waves, suppressed to the absolute extreme by the collision, completely, utterly erupted!
It wasn't a sound; it was a physical force that slammed into everything for kilometers around!
A terrifying shockwave, visible as a ripple in the very air itself, spread wildly in all directions in a perfect circular pattern, like a tsunami originating from the point of impact!
The ground below was instantly, brutally torn up, layer by layer! Trees from the Deep Forest Emergence were vaporized! Sand was turned to glass!
Even the disciplined Konoha army formation, kilometers away on the dune, was physically blown askew by the terrifying blast wave! Shinobi were thrown from their feet!
Everyone's faces – Konoha and Suna survivors alike – were filled with primal horror!
"The aftershock alone… is so terrifying!" someone screamed.
"What… what kind of world-destroying scene must the core of that collision be?!"
The blinding, then darkening, light lasted for a full dozen seconds before slowly, finally, dissipating.
In the sky.
The Tailed Beast Ball, spat out by Shukaku with all his might… had long vanished. Completely, utterly annihilated without a trace.
And Uchiha Akira's Susanoo Collapse Orb…
After defeating, overpowering, the Tailed Beast Ball, although most of its immense energy had been consumed in the collision… it still continued its terrifying momentum!
Smaller now, but no less potent, it shot forward, fiercely striking Shukaku's massive, sand-formed body before the Tailed Beast could even react!
"NO—!!!"
Shukaku let out a final, piercing, agonized scream!
His giant body was pierced through by the remaining energy of the Susanoo Collapse Orb! A perfect, gaping hole appeared in his chest!
Boom!
The residual power of the Susanoo Collapse Orb, having passed through Shukaku, finally landed on the massive, natural rock wall behind the Hidden Sand Village – the very wall Akira's earlier sword strike had cleaved.
It triggered another violent, echoing explosion, sending rock shrapnel flying for miles!
After the smoke and dust cleared.
Shukaku's giant body, once over a hundred meters tall, was now… only his upper half.
From the abdomen down – including his legs and tail – everything had been completely, utterly vaporized in that last, devastating attack!
His massive sand body, fundamentally destabilized, was continuously collapsing, disintegrating, shedding sand like a dying sandcastle.
"Heh..."
Uchiha Akira, still within his now-slightly-diminished Susanoo, chuckled softly.
"Alright. The game ends here."
His Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan (永遠の万華鏡写輪眼, Eien no Mangekyō Sharingan) slowly rotated, instantly locking onto the collapsing, wailing form of Shukaku below.
[Inorin's Note: The Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan is an advanced form achievable by transplanting the Mangekyō Sharingan of a close relative (usually a sibling). It grants immense power without the blindness associated with regular Mangekyō use.]
Dōjutsu activated! A subtle, invisible pulse of ocular power shot out.
Shukaku, who was wailing in agony and impotent fury, suddenly trembled violently.
His wild, chaotic, hate-filled eyes instantly became hollow. Blank. Unfocused.
All struggles ceased abruptly. The disintegration paused.
Uchiha Akira deactivated his Susanoo. The colossal purple giant dissolved into nothingness.
He slowly floated down from the sky, finally hovering silently in front of Shukaku's giant, now-passive, sand head.
Nearby, Rasa knelt blankly on the ground. He looked at the Tailed Beast – his village's ultimate weapon – first crippled beyond recognition, and then instantly, effortlessly, controlled by the Uchiha's eyes.
His mind was utterly blank. Shattered.
His so-called trump card… his final, suicidal gamble… it seemed so incredibly, pathetically ridiculous in the face of absolute, undeniable power.
Uchiha Akira looked past Shukaku's vacant eyes, focusing on the small, unconscious figure buried deep within the sand construct – Gaara, the Jinchūriki. The boy had red hair and heavy, dark circles around his eyes from Shukaku's influence.
Akira formed a simple, one-handed seal and gently pressed his palm onto the sand above Gaara's abdomen, where the original seal was located.
"Seal!" (封印, Fūin)
A soft shout.
Instantly, Shukaku's collapsing, sand-and-chakra remains suddenly transformed into a massive, chaotic torrent of raw Tailed Beast chakra. This torrent surged madly, uncontrollably, into the seal on Gaara's abdomen, as if drawn by an irresistible black hole!
In just a few breaths of time.
The rampaging, partially destroyed Ichibi Shukaku was sealed once again within its young host.
After doing all this, Uchiha Akira casually reached into the dissolving sand, pulled out the small, unconscious form of Gaara, and just as casually, threw him dismissively onto the ground nearby.
He flew back into the sky. Next, it was time to finish off the broken Kazekage, Rasa.
Just then!
Whoosh!
A figure suddenly burst out from the nearby ruins, moving with surprising speed! He rushed desperately towards the unconscious Gaara lying on the ground!
It was Baki! He had somehow survived the earlier devastation, perhaps shielded by debris, and had been lurking in the shadows, waiting for any opportunity!
He didn't know why the Hokage still wanted to seal the Tailed Beast back into Gaara's body after defeating it, but that wasn't important!
What was important was that Gaara was the Jinchūriki! As long as he could reclaim the Jinchūriki, escape with Gaara… then Sunagakure still had hope! A future weapon!
"Gaara!" Baki gasped, reaching out.
"The Village's last hope!"
"Shinra Tensei!" (神羅天征, Heavenly Subjugation of the Omnipresent God - Almighty Push/Pull)
[Inorin's Note: Shinra Tensei is a gravitational technique granted by the Rinnegan's Deva Path, allowing the user to manipulate attractive and repulsive forces. "Almighty Pull" is the common fan term for the attractive variation.]
Uchiha Akira, sensing Baki's desperate movement below, didn't even turn around. Without any hesitation, he simply extended a hand downwards, palm open.
An invisible, terrifying gravitational force suddenly erupted from his palm, locking onto Baki!
"What?!"
Baki, who was sprinting at full speed towards Gaara, suddenly stopped dead in his tracks, his forward momentum instantly arrested. His face, filled with desperate hope just a second ago, instantly contorted in terror!
His feet lifted off the ground! His body was completely, irresistibly pulled upwards, backwards, uncontrollably, towards Uchiha Akira hovering in the sky!
"No! I can't move! What is this force?!"
Baki struggled desperately, his chakra surging wildly, trying to anchor himself, trying to break free. But he couldn't budge against that absolute, invisible gravitational force in the slightest! He was like an insect caught in a spider's web.
Looking down at Baki being pulled helplessly towards him like a puppet on a string.
A high-speed rotating ball of violent chakra appeared instantly on Akira's left hand. It wasn't just blue; it was a swirling vortex of crackling lightning and burning flames.
Lightning Fire Spiraling Sphere! (雷火螺旋丸, Rai-Ka Rasengan - Fanfic Term)
[Inorin's Note: This "Lightning Fire Spiraling Sphere" is another fanfic-specific variation of the Rasengan, combining it with both Lightning and Fire Release nature transformations.]
"Goodbye, Jōnin Baki."
Akira looked impassively at Baki, who was now sucked directly in front of him, his face a mask of pure despair and terror.
He casually pressed the violently spinning Lightning Fire Spiraling Sphere onto Baki's chest.
Boom—!!!
Baki screamed, a short, choked sound.
Overwhelming, destructive power instantly erupted, point-blank, in Baki's chest!
His body flew backward, several times faster than he had been pulled in! He tumbled through the air like a broken rag doll!
Then, the combined, volatile energy woven from lightning and flames completely, utterly engulfed Baki's body in mid-air!
There was a final, silent flash. And then... nothing. Only fading embers drifted down towards the desolate sand.
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