The Ten-Tails clearly recognized Natsuki. Right now it was both terrified and consumed by hatred.
It probably couldn't understand it—how, after swallowing all the tailed beasts and reaching what should've been its absolute peak, it was still getting beaten down by this human.
From the moment this man had appeared, he'd blown off one of its legs. After that, he kept dragging people into battles meant to kill it outright.
Every severed arm, every broken leg—it all traced back to him.
If it hadn't been absurdly hard to kill, it would've been erased long ago. It wouldn't have had any chance to recover to full strength.
Today should've been its day of freedom—its day to rampage—because it was finally restored.
And yet this human was here again.
Beating it down again.
So why… why is this human this strong?!
No.
It couldn't just sit there and take it.
It had to strike back!
The Ten-Tails roared. Its damaged tails twisted into massive hands and lunged for Natsuki, trying to grab him—
But Natsuki only snapped out a few whip-kicks, and those hands were swept off at the "wrist" on the spot, making the Ten-Tails howl in even greater pain.
Natsuki glanced over the Ten-Tails' gigantic body and decided that punching it one strike at a time was a waste.
A finisher would be faster.
Down below, Sasuke activated a Perfect Susanoo. The Susanoo's massive blade came down and managed to cleave open three of the Ten-Tails' toes.
There was no helping it—the Ten-Tails was simply too big. Even a Susanoo giant over a hundred meters tall looked like a kitten in front of it, so the damage was naturally limited.
But Sasuke kept hacking, and the accumulating cuts finally gouged out a respectable wound. The Ten-Tails hissed and retreated.
Seeing Natsuki dominating in midair, Sasuke refused to keep playing "toenail technician." He made the Susanoo beat its wings and lift off, flying straight to the Ten-Tails' hideous face.
"Amaterasu!"
Fwoosh—! Black flames erupted across the Ten-Tails' cheek.
The Ten-Tails let out a furious roar, immediately tore away the burning portion of flesh, and flung it aside—then launched its impalement technique at Sasuke.
Sasuke dodged easily and swung his blade again, pressing the attack.
Naruto saw how active Sasuke was and immediately entered Sage Mode. His golden aura turned into a streak of light as he leapt skyward, hurling a Super Massive Rasenshuriken that cleanly sliced off one of the Ten-Tails' tails.
Gaara floated in the air on a sand cloud, repeatedly firing off Practice Air Bullets in rapid succession.
Even so, he raised his voice in warning.
"Naruto, Sasuke—Fū, Killer B—be careful! You still have parts of the tailed beasts inside you… and the Ten-Tails can control them again with its sutures!"
"Don't worry, yo!" Killer B barked, wrapped in tailed-beast chakra as he swung and struck in a frenzy with Lightning Tremor Blades. "All I wanna do now is pound the ugly freak and save my Gyūki buddy, yo!"
The Eight-Tails being taken had him furious—he looked downright feral.
Fū released a swarm of insects, feeding them a small amount of tailed-beast chakra to enlarge them, then driving the swarm to tear at the Ten-Tails with vicious bites.
"Go, bugs! We're saving Chōmei—saving your insect king!"
The Ten-Tails, clearly enraged by the relentless assault, triggered another Heaven-and-Earth Upheaval—this time on a smaller scale, only covering Natsuki and the others, with Chōmei and tornadoes under its control constantly battering them.
But these were all battle-hardened fighters. They weren't about to get clipped easily—dodging wasn't difficult.
Seeing the Ten-Tails still having the leisure to attack everyone else, Natsuki decided he was done with "little punches."
He shouted, "Sasuke, Naruto, Killer B, Gaara, Fū—watch yourselves! I'm about to use a finisher! Don't get caught in it!"
A finisher?
Natsuki was using a finisher?!
Sasuke and the others immediately pulled back. They knew how terrifying Natsuki was—if he called it a finisher, it would be monstrous.
Better to create distance.
Natsuki raised both hands and started compressing the air. Under the pressure of his powerful straight punches, the atmosphere collapsed into a single point—forming a tiger-shaped air cannon.
Then he drove it into the Ten-Tails' abdomen.
"Morning Peacock!"—No.
"Evening Elephant!"
No—
He called it:
"Star Tiger!"
BOOM! The tiger-shaped air cannon detonated with a ferocious, tiger-like roar, tearing into the Ten-Tails' midsection.
In the next instant, the Ten-Tails released a shriek so hysterical it scraped the sky—
And under everyone's stunned gaze, its massive body was swept cleanly in half at the waist.
Star Tiger's force expanded into a horrifying shockwave, scything across several kilometers and kicking up a cyclone-grade gale. Mountains cracking and the earth splitting were nothing. The surrounding Ten-Tails clones were wiped out in a single pass.
THUD! The Ten-Tails' upper body smashed into the ground. Its lower half swayed, as if refusing to fall.
But once your body was severed, staying upright wasn't easy.
It finally toppled with a rumbling crash that shook the whole battlefield.
Silence.
Then the entire Allied Forces erupted into cheers—roaring, screaming, celebrating Natsuki's blow and celebrating victory.
To a lot of people, cutting the Ten-Tails in half was basically the same as winning.
If Natsuki could do it once, he could do it again. And again. Until it died.
The Ten-Tails couldn't stop him.
So this battle was over.
"Natsuki… he took Bushy Brows-sensei's move and pushed it this far—this is insane, dattebayo!" Naruto gaped.
"This is the power of Hachimon Tonkō (Eight Gates)," Sasuke said, clearly more familiar with the mechanics. "Natsuki's always respected Guy-sensei. He's even said Guy-sensei is Konoha's strongest. Before, Guy-sensei's Seventh Gate fought Madara evenly. Now Natsuki's Seventh Gate just tore the Ten-Tails in half. Eight Gates… terrifying. If I'd known, I would've learned it too."
Killer B, Gaara, and Fū could only nod. They didn't even know what to say anymore.
Natsuki shut down the Seventh Gate. Steam rose off his body, and his muscles still ached—this was the price of that overwhelming power.
Fortunately, he'd trained for years in the gravity chamber. He was long used to this level of strain. Aside from the first time he'd opened the Seventh Gate and passed out from pain, the later training runs had gone smoothly.
Forget the Seventh Gate—he'd even opened the Eighth Gate in a special lab before. It was unbelievably strong… and unbelievably dangerous.
Once the Death Gate opened, it might not close.
He'd spent hours experimenting before he finally figured out the trick to shutting it. Back then, he'd been drenched in cold sweat.
But this situation didn't require the Death Gate.
And besides—he still had trump cards. It hadn't come to that.
Looking at the Ten-Tails, still howling and struggling despite being split into two pieces, it was clearly too stubborn to die easily. Maybe he should pulverize its head into paste to be safe.
Off to the side, before the Ten-Tails fully collapsed, Tenten and Shino circled back in.
Kabuto calmly adjusted his glasses, and he was actually smiling.
"So it's you two handling me? What a pity. I was hoping Natsuki would come kill me personally."
"You're not worth Natsuki's attention," Tenten snorted. "Dying to us is the same. Kabuto, you've done nothing but evil—time to go."
Shino didn't waste words.
He simply released a cloud of insects.
(End of Chapter)
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