Almost the instant the heavenly thunder faded, a sudden, violent surge of lightning erupted on the field once more! It shot forth like a pale arrow, instantly crossing the distance.
The figure skidded to a stop, twisted the ground beneath his feet, and dropped into a deep stance. He swung his arm back, hauling the artifact from his back—the Amber Purifying Pot!
A stared fixatedly at Ren Uchiha, who was charging toward Killer B.
At this moment, the boy's ears were bleeding, his throat was punctured by a kunai, and his body was scorched black. Only his blazing red eyes remained bright, like the first light of a rising sun.
A knew that for Ren Uchiha—who could not hear and could not speak—the Amber Purifying Pot's traditional sealing mechanism was useless!
However—
"Brat, don't underestimate the power of a Hidden Village..."
A's gaze was ice-cold. He recalled the intelligence regarding Ren Uchiha he had seen in the Raikage's office a month ago. In his mind, he could almost hear the voice of his subordinate, Guybuy:
"Lord Raikage, according to our investigation, the Tailed Beast inside Ren Uchiha does not belong to the nine Great Tailed Beasts."
"It is the 'Tail-less Tailed Beast,' artificially bred after the Second Great Shinobi War by the remnants of the destroyed Land of Sky. Its creator was Shinno, the leader of the Sky Ninja whom Orochimaru was hunting in the Land of Hot Water!"
"Its name is—"
Recalling this, A's gaze sharpened into a lethal beam. He slammed his foot into the ground!
Crack!
Spiderweb-like fissures spread rapidly. Rocks flew and trees shook! A took a deep breath, snapped the yellow lid off the Amber Purifying Pot with one hand, and held the jar high with the other. Like a perfect javelin thrower, he hurled it with explosive force!
His eyes bulged, his hair bristled, and lightning flared wildly across his body as he let out a sudden, thunderous roar:
"ZERO-TAILS—"
"KIZUNA!!!" (The Void)
With that massive shout, the Amber Purifying Pot transformed into a yellow blur, shot out by A's violent throw! One second before Ren could reach out and seize the desiccated throat of Killer B, the jar flew directly in front of his face!
Then—
A surging wave of chakra erupted from the mouth of the jar! It was as if an invisible giant hand had reached out from the pot, seizing Ren in the next second. No, more accurately, it seized Ren's abdomen!
Ren was suddenly startled. Because, despite being unable to hear anything, he heard a sound at that very moment!
It was a voice from his gut. It sounded like a miserable 007 office worker who was about to collapse from exhaustion when someone suddenly screamed in his ear, scaring him into sitting bolt upright and instinctively replying, "Boss, I wasn't slacking off!"
A voice as high-pitched and immature as a child's:
"—Chirp!?"
The sound vibrated through the chakra and echoed within his body through bone conduction!
"You stupid snake!?"
"Holy crap, you actually answered!?"
Ren's eyes widened as he looked at the bewildered Zero-Tails responding from within his gut. He felt a wave of pins-and-needles numbness travel from his scalp to his heels!
Indeed, the Zero-Tails had a name. And its name was Kizuna!
Before Ren could even process how this supposedly impossible-to-leak intel had reached the Raikage, a terrifying, irresistible dragging force erupted from the Amber Purifying Pot. It plunged into Ren's abdomen, seizing the little Zero-Tails like a crab claw grabbing Plankton. Its eyes, ears, nose, and tongue were squeezed outward by the grip, and then it was yanked outward with immense force!
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Ren inexplicably felt like he heard the sound of the little Zero-Tails' forehead slamming against the bars of the Eight Trigrams Seal. Then, he watched in horror as a gap was forcibly hammered into the seal!
Dark chakra began to pour out from his midsection. Realizing what was happening, the Zero-Tails' blank white eyes filled with fear. It immediately bit down hard on Ren's abdominal muscles, fluttering in the wind like a red-and-black flag, being pulled toward the Amber Purifying Pot.
At the same time, Ren felt the strength being drained from his body. He grew weak with terrifying speed!
Thud!
He collapsed powerlessly to the ground, staring in horror at the jar flying in mid-air. It was as if he had suddenly stepped onto the set of Journey to the West, with a Great Silver Horn King howling at him: "Hey, Ren Uchiha, do you dare to answer me if I call your name?"
Ren's internal monologue was screaming that he was a deaf-mute now, so it shouldn't work. But then—just when he thought he was safe—the "Silver Horn King" had effectively called out to his "pants."
And Ren's "pants" actually answered!
Now he was faced with the bizarre situation of having to desperately hold onto his metaphorical pants to maintain his dignity...
A Tailed Beast is not just a source of power; its existence is tied to the Jinchuriki's life! Just as Ren had extracted the Two-Tails from Yugito Nii, leading to her death—if the Raikage successfully extracted the Zero-Tails now, even with Ren's ridiculous constitution and the mess of "add-ons" in his body, it was hard to say if he would survive.
More importantly, if he lost the Zero-Tails' ability to convert extreme emotions into chakra, he would have no way to threaten the Third Raikage in this fight.
In other words: he would be a dead man!
However, at that moment—
Ren suddenly felt a sharp pain at the site of the Cursed Seal of Heaven on the back of his neck! A familiar surge of emerald-green chakra suddenly poked its head out!
This was the emerald Sage Art chakra light-ball he had taken from the cat's eye gemstone during the battle against Ebizo! As this chakra emerged, the Zero-Tails—which was currently biting Ren's abs so hard it was about to break its teeth—suddenly had a stress reaction as if it had been electrocuted.
Then...
"Cough, cough! Blegh! Chirp, cough—"
To Ren's horrified and confused eyes, the little guy started coughing violently, like someone who hadn't brushed their teeth in the morning and felt nauseous.
Then... it spat out an emerald-green necklace that looked incredibly familiar to Ren!
Ren stared, his mind going even more blank. Isn't that... Tsunade's necklace?!
In the dense forest beside the Hell Valley cliffs, a brown-haired, spiky-haired boy—who had been hiding at the edge of the battlefield with his ears covered, peeking through the trees—suddenly froze. He jerked his head up as if sensing something.
Yamato quickly reached out and pulled off his wrist guard. On his wrist was a cursed seal identical to Ren Uchiha's.
Currently, the seal was burning hot. The expanding patterns swirled out, forming a single character in the palm of his hand:
"ZERO."
Seeing this, Yamato looked up at the collapsed Ren and the towering Third Raikage. He gritted his teeth, his eyes wide, his face trembling.
This sudden change reminded him of the words Lord Orochimaru had said to him when he took him away from Lord Danzo:
"Now is the moment for you to burn for the sake of Konoha!"
Thus, faced with the threat of the "Silver Horn King" pulling at his pants—at the brink of life and death—the various demons and monsters inside and outside Ren Uchiha's body finally emerged to start their own fight!
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