In Yuki Yoru's hands now, besides Uzumaki Naruto, the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki, there were five other tailed beasts.
After the chakra sources such as the Dragon Vein and the Star were consumed, these tailed beasts became the most vital sources of chakra for Kirigakure.
Among them:
The Three-Tails sustained Kirigakure's village-wide barrier.
The Four-Tails powered the Kirigakure Duel Tower.
The Five-Tails, stationed on Shadow Island, assisted Miroku in converting chakra into spiritual power.
The Six-Tails was placed in a secret laboratory in Kirigakure, supporting research on chakra and spiritual power.
And the Seven-Tails resided in Hueco Mundo, providing for all the needs of that desolate land.
Each of the five tailed beasts had its own guardian.
The guardian of Hueco Mundo was originally Shisui, but Shisui had fallen in battle. Tsunade, being restless and curious about the Hollows, had thus become the Seven-Tails' guardian in Hueco Mundo.
But who would have thought she would encounter Sarutobi Hiruzen!
"ROAR!!"
The monsters in the Hollow Realm seemed to have felt the suppressed aura here and howled toward the sky.
Tsunade, who had already released her Zanpakutō, clenched her fist, her beautiful eyes fixed firmly on the figure before her—a face she knew better than anyone else.
The youthful face overlapped with the gentle and kind appearance from her memories. The conflicted emotions in her heart at this moment turned into an indescribably vast power that slowly released itself.
"Sensei…"
The former Princess of Konoha stared at her former Hokage. Her complicated expression was filled with disappointment, resentment, and determination.
"I don't know why you've become like this, but today, I will definitely use my fists to knock some sense into you!"
"This aura… Is this the ultimate power you Shinigami wield—Bankai?"
Feeling the terrifying spiritual pressure erupting from Tsunade, which made countless Menos Grande in Hueco Mundo tremble with fear and emit terrified screams, Hiruzen couldn't help but narrow his eyes slightly.
Under Hiruzen's gaze, the Zanpakutō in Tsunade's hand slowly disappeared, turning into streams of light that merged into her body.
In the next instant, Tsunade turned into a streak of light, lunging fiercely towards Hiruzen.
"So fast—!"
Hiruzen's pupils constricted sharply, shocked by the terrifying speed Tsunade was now displaying.
However, the moment Tsunade moved, Hiruzen's eyes turned pure white. A chakra-covered hand moved to block, actually deflecting the fist that struck like lightning!
"What?!"
Although her attack was blocked, Tsunade wasn't too surprised. The strength Hiruzen displayed was far beyond the Third Hokage she once knew.
What truly shocked her, however, were the pure white eyes that now appeared in Hiruzen's sockets!
"Sensei… you actually laid hands on the Hyūga?!"
Tsunade was no stranger to Konoha's dirty dealings. Any powerful military force inevitably experimented with powerful bloodlines—something she could understand, since the whole shinobi world did the same.
Even when her grandfather's cells were freely experimented on, she hadn't protested—everything was "for the village." And truthfully, the real culprit was Danzō, not Sarutobi Hiruzen.
Ridiculous as it sounded, Hiruzen himself had never personally committed such acts. Publicly, even after retiring as Hokage, he maintained the image of a righteous, spotless leader.
But now, after so many years, the teacher before her was unrecognizable.
"…This feeling… is it the Chimera Technique?" Tsunade clenched her fists as she struggled against him. She had once fought Hiruko, and was very familiar with this kind of chakra. "Sensei… you've become the very ugly thing you once despised the most!"
"I've merely found my true pursuit and purpose, that's all."
Sarutobi Hiruzen's eyes were like a bottomless, still well—devoid of emotion. He knew full well that with his actions, he would inevitably run into certain people, so he had already steeled himself for it.
Even if that person was once his student.
Even if she was his teacher's granddaughter.
Even if she was Konoha's princess.
Tsunade didn't waste any more words. She knew her teacher had already fallen into madness; nothing she said would reach him anymore. The only thing left was the strongest weapon she possessed—her fists!
"Byakugan… and Grandfather's cells…"
"Chimera's technique requires five kekkei genkai fused together. Sensei never had any kekkei genkai of his own, which means aside from Byakugan and Grandfather's cells, he must have three more kekkei genkai."
Tsunade's mind raced.
Her battle with Hiruko back then had ended in an overwhelming victory, but that was only because Hiruko's base strength was lacking. His power had been forcefully propped up by stacking kekkei genkai together.
But the Hiruzen before her was different.
Tsunade could feel it clearly—her teacher's strength was on another level entirely. That was a difference in quality itself.
With such a foundation, and with multiple kekkei genkai layered on top of it, Sarutobi Hiruzen's current power… was without question the strongest foe Tsunade had ever faced!
She launched her fists, each strike shaking the very air, booming explosions echoing with every blow. The ground beneath trembled, the nearby sea lashed violently, waves spraying high as the two figures clashed again and again in the storm.
"Boom!!"
The two powers collided evenly, forcing both back a few steps. Tsunade unclenched her fists and thrust her palm toward Hiruzen's direction.
"Bakudō #63: Ethereal Binding Chain!"
Thick, serpent-like chains coiled around Hiruzen's body. But in an instant, countless bone spikes burst from his flesh, shattering the spiritual shackles.
"Shikotsumyaku…"
Bone blades pierced from his palms like swords, their pale edges slicing through the air as they relentlessly targeted Tsunade's weak points—each strike lethal.
Combined with the precision of the Byakugan's sight, Hiruzen's attacks were unending. And with a physique and raw strength no weaker than Tsunade's, he quickly gained the upper hand, driving her onto the defensive!
In no time, several bloody holes appeared on Tsunade's body, fresh blood streaming down as her breathing grew ragged and unstable.
Hiruzen, on the other hand, remained calm, his breathing steady, his expression unshaken—almost as if none of this cost him any effort.
"You're not my match, Tsunade."
Holding a sharpened bone spur, he looked upon his battered, panting disciple and spoke once more with persuasion:
"As a Shinigami, if you die, it will be your true death. We were once teacher and disciple—I do not wish to kill you."
"Sensei, are you still my sensei?!" Tsunade roared, her voice sharp with fury.
"You want the tailed beasts because you've joined forces with Uchiha Obito, haven't you? Or is it because you have some terrifying scheme of your own?! Have you forgotten you were once Hokage? Forgotten the teachings of my grandfather and great-uncle?!"
As she spoke, several fireballs erupted from Tsunade's palms.
BOOM!!
Hiruzen didn't dodge or evade. The incoming fireballs were completely absorbed by some inexplicable power.
"Dark Release…? It can even absorb spiritual energy…"
Tsunade's expression grew grave. Closing her eyes, she clenched her fists, the azure aura surrounding her slowly shifting with each breath until it turned into a faint golden glow.
Bankai — Golden Hero, Withered Tree Reborn — Second Stage!
Tsunade's figure instantly vanished from her spot. Hiruzen Sarutobi's eyes narrowed—yet at this moment, even the Byakugan's 360-degree, blind-spotless vision could not track her
In just an instant, Hiruzen Sarutobi felt an unimaginably terrifying force slam into his body.
Dance of the Larch!
Even denser bone spikes burst out from his body. The moment an attack struck his back, countless razor-sharp spikes pierced through the assailant behind him.
Hiruzen was smashed hard into the ground by the monstrous strength, but the bone spikes on his back were also stained with blood.
His flesh writhed; Hashirama's cells rapidly repaired Hiruzen's body. The dozen or so bloody holes on Tsunade's body also healed completely in the blink of an eye.
The former teacher and student stood facing each other from a distance.
"Tsunade."
"Sensei!"
The space of Hueco Mundo rippled strangely. A figure appeared silently at its center, just outside the barrier core that held the special vessel sealing the Seven-Tails.
His gaze swept over Tsunade and Hiruzen, locked in fierce battle. After carefully confirming—again and again—that aside from Tsunade no one else was present and that there were no spatial fluctuations, he finally revealed himself.
"The Seven-Tails… is mine!"
With the power of Shinra Banshō, he tore open the barrier. The twisted space of Kamui swallowed the sealed vessel containing the Seven-Tails.
Having accomplished this, Obito did not hesitate for a moment. He vanished straight into the spiraling vortex of space—he had no interest in watching the so-called battle between master and disciple. Seizing as many tailed beasts as possible before Kirigakure could respond, taking full advantage of the chaos—that was his true goal.
"Space–time ninjutsu… it really was Uchiha Obito!" Tsunade, who had been fighting Hiruzen with dominating taijutsu, quickly noticed something was wrong. Seeing the empty barrier core, her expression turned extremely grim.
"Sensei, you've fallen completely!"
"So you actually came here yourself… You didn't trust me after all, did you?" Hiruzen's face remained expressionless. Vast chakra erupted from him in that instant.
Crack, crack, crack!
Enormous bone spikes burst from his body. Under Tsunade's astonished gaze, countless more erupted from the ground itself, spreading in every direction, transforming in an instant into a forest of white bone to rival the Wood Release's Deep Forest Emergence.
Dance of the Clematis! The strongest technique of the Shikotsumyaku!
But using such a technique in close-quarters combat with Tsunade spoke volumes about Hiruzen's intentions without needing words.
As the bone forest extended and took shape, Hiruzen's figure also vanished without a trace.
"Bastard!"
Tsunade punched the ground in frustration. The earth roared and shattered, countless bones collapsing.
But it was all meaningless now.
The Seven-Tails—was gone!
...
At the same time, in Kirigakure.
As Hueco Mundo came under assault, the Kirigakure itself was also attacked.
"Wood Release: Deep Forest Emergence!"
"Hadō #88: Hiryū Gekizoku Shinten Raihō (Dragon Strike Heaven-Shaking Lightning Cannon)!"
The violent 88th Hadō lit up the corners of Kirigakure. The surging explosion of spiritual power blasted away the towering forests that had erupted from the ground, scattering splinters of wood in every direction.
In a flash of shunpo, Yagura's figure appeared behind the cloned Senju Hashirama. As the clone staggered back helplessly, Yagura's Zanpakutō pierced straight through its throat.
But the clone's body turned to wood, trees sprouting forth, forming a giant hand that seized Yagura in its grip.
"Wood Release: Advent of a World of Flowering Trees!"
"Wood Release: Wood Dragon Technique!"
A roaring wooden dragon burst from the earth, carrying unstoppable might as it crashed down toward the restrained Yagura.
At the critical moment, a rippling Water Mirror appeared before Yagura. From the mirror, an identical wooden dragon emerged, colliding with the first. Twin dragons clashed, shredding wood into splinters.
Meanwhile, Yagura's silent incantation reached its end. The spirit particles he had been gathering condensed into pitch-black shackles—a torrent of crushing gravity.
"Hadō #90: Kurohitsugi!"
The surging current of gravity locked directly onto the clone of Hashirama. The air grew oppressively heavy, as though weighed down by thousands of tons. A deep, abyssal black engulfed his body in an instant, binding him completely.
Moments later, the Black Coffin dispersed. The bloodied, mangled clone of Hashirama collapsed to the ground. Though seemingly stripped of combat ability, its flesh still writhed faintly, as if trying to regenerate.
"Bakudō #62: Hyapporankan!"
Rods of spiritual light rained down, pinning the clone to the ground. Only then did its regeneration cease.
"Truly worthy of the title God of Shinobi. Even with only a fraction of his power, this clone can still fight to such a degree."
"If this is the clone, just how strong was the real Hashirama at his peak?"
Yagura raised his hand and cast Tenteikūra, transmitting the situation in full: "The intruders on the southeastern front have been completely wiped out."
"I've finished here as well." Orochimaru's hoarse voice followed, as he pulled his blade from the heart of the Jiraiya clone. His tone carried something unreadable.
"Jiraiya, Sarutobi Shinnosuke, Hanzō of the Salamander… These clones have about half the strength of the originals. We can't take them lightly."
"Indeed. And they can even use nearly all of their originals' techniques—including Sage Arts and space-time ninjutsu."
"How troublesome…"
"Forgive me…"
Tsunade's voice came faintly: "I was entangled by sensei. The Seven-Tails has already been taken by Uchiha Obito!"
Sensei?
The peculiar word stunned all the Shinigami receiving the message through Tenteikūra. From beginning to end, as the Princess of Konoha and one of the Legendary Sannin, Tsunade had only ever had one teacher—Konoha's former Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen.
"Sarutobi-sensei's clone was able to keep you occupied?" Orochimaru chuckled softly, glancing at the lifeless corpse of the Jiraiya clone at his feet. He sighed lightly. "So you still couldn't bring yourself to strike the old man, Tsunade."
"…No. Not a clone." Tsunade shook her head. "Sarutobi-sensei… it was the real one!"