Chapter 104: Leave the Tailed Beasts to Me
Uchiha Dali had just subdued the entire Land of Water, compelling the Hidden Mist Village—the nation's strongest military force—to submit to his rule.
After stabilizing and returning most of the Land of Water to the ground, he turned to Yagura Karatachi and asked, "By the way, how many Tailed Beasts does the Hidden Mist Village have?"
Yagura was momentarily stunned before replying, "Two—Three-Tails and Six-Tails."
He thought to himself, Weren't these distributed by the First Hokage of Konoha, Hashirama Senju, in the first place? Why ask as if it's news?
"Three-Tails and Six-Tails, huh? Where are they now?" Uchiha Dali continued.
At this question, Yagura and the others showed a visible reaction.
"Lord Dali, you…"
"Tailed Beasts are dangerous entities. Since you've submitted to me, you naturally fall under my protection. Without these chakra monsters acting as strategic weapons, you'll be safer—not more vulnerable."
"So let me manage them in a unified manner."
Hearing Uchiha Dali so righteously demand the retrieval of the Tailed Beasts, Yagura and the others looked troubled.
"What's wrong? Are you unwilling?"
"It's not that we're unwilling, Lord Dali," said Hoshigaki Fuguki with a fawning smile, "but... we actually don't know where the Three-Tails and Six-Tails are right now…"
At that, Uchiha Dali turned to look at him. "Then I'll find them myself."
With that, he activated the Flying Thunder God Technique and vanished from sight.
Activating his extraordinarily powerful sensory abilities, Uchiha Dali soon detected a massive chakra source somewhere in the Land of Water.
In the next instant, he appeared in front of a small child, who looked to be no more than four or five years old.
The child had shoulder-length black hair and looked emaciated and fragile.
Upon seeing a stranger appear out of nowhere, he blinked his large eyes curiously, but still looked at Uchiha Dali with wary vigilance.
But Dali's brows furrowed deeply the moment he laid eyes on the child.
"What a hassle…"
The immense chakra he had sensed was unmistakably that of a Tailed Beast.
But at this moment, that chakra was emanating from within the child's body.
Which meant that either the Three-Tails or the Six-Tails had already been sealed inside him.
It wasn't hard to figure out which one. If he wasn't mistaken, this child was the Six-Tails' jinchūriki—the one who would later be known for constantly blowing bubbles, Utakata.
As for the Three-Tails, Uchiha Dali had sensed another powerful chakra signature coming from a different direction—out at sea.
Kakashi had personally killed Rin Nohara, triggering Obito Uchiha's awakening of the Mangekyō.
At the time, the Three-Tails had been sealed inside Rin's body by the Hidden Mist's Anbu under Madara Uchiha's control, and had perished along with her.
But unlike humans, a Tailed Beast doesn't truly die. After some time, it will reappear in its chakra form.
The Three-Tails must have already revived and was now making its way back toward the Land of Water across the open sea.
After all, this was its homeland.
"Come with me, kid," Uchiha Dali said, turning his attention back to the Six-Tails' jinchūriki.
Since the Six-Tails was already sealed inside him, it wouldn't be appropriate to extract it—doing so would kill the child.
Dali had no personal grudge against the kid, so there was no need to go that far.
"Why should I go with you?" the boy asked in his soft, childish voice, blinking his big eyes.
Dali looked around.
They were in the middle of nowhere—just a thatched hut halfway up a mountain slope.
Clearly, either the village didn't want to keep the jinchūriki nearby, choosing a location that was easy to monitor but distant enough to avoid any potential Tailed Beast rampage…
Or the boy had come here on his own.
Either way, Dali didn't care.
He returned his gaze to the boy's face. "Tell me your name first."
"What's your name?" the boy countered, still watching him.
"I'm Uchiha Dali. The 'Dali' in 'Dali makes miracles happen.'"
"I'm Utakata."
"Oh? You're pretty interesting. You're not afraid of me?"
That piqued Dali's interest.
And confirmed that this really was the Six-Tails' jinchūriki—Bubble-user Utakata.
"Why should I be afraid of you? Everyone in the village is afraid of me," the boy replied.
Just as I thought, Dali mused.
Because he'd become a jinchūriki, the poor kid had been ostracized and targeted by his village—forced to live alone in this remote, desolate area.
"Well, I'm not afraid of you, and you're not afraid of me. That's perfect."
"Stick with me from now on—I guarantee no one will ever look down on you again."
Smiling, Dali reached out his hand to Utakata.
The boy clearly didn't fully understand, but after a moment's hesitation, he actually grasped one of Dali's fingers.
This kid really was something else.
With Utakata in hand, Dali activated a high-level Flying Thunder God Technique and, in an instant, the two of them were above the vast ocean.
Waves roared beneath them, and a massive shadow was moving quickly through the water below.
"A monster?" Utakata thought, stunned by the enormous figure under the sea.
At that moment, Uchiha Dali used his power over gravity.
The ocean churned violently, waves towering and winds howling.
The giant shadow in the deep sea, caught in Dali's gravitational pull, rapidly ascended.
Moments later, it broke through the surface.
A massive body, like a small mountain, emerged—covered in a hard shell and with three distinctive tails trailing behind it.
If this wasn't the Three-Tails, who else could it be?
"Young one, why do you attack me?" the Three-Tails asked.
Bound by gravity and unable to break free, it raised its head to glare at Uchiha Dali and the boy above.
"Come with me, Isobu," Dali called out, addressing it by name.
The Three-Tails' pupils contracted in shock, staring up at him in disbelief.
It had been many, many years since anyone called it by its true name.
And this boy—just who was he, to know that?
Eyes trembling, Isobu asked the question on its mind: "Kid… who are you, to know my name?"
"Just answer the question—will you come with me or not?" Dali replied with a faint smile.
"I prefer to live free and unrestrained," said Isobu.
"So, my answer is no."
"A refusal, huh?" Dali's smile vanished in an instant.
The gravitational pull restraining Isobu turned into repulsion.
Overwhelming and brutal—absolutely terrifying.
The devastating force of the repulsion struck Isobu instantly, nearly making it cough up blood on the spot.
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